they were interested and to see them in a way that is not usually possible in museums. These artists were almost invariably full of enthusiasm and often surprise, and found the show stimulating to their own work...Works were reserved by museums. The University of Minnesota bought the group of technical books on the crafts as well as a good deal of pottery and some textiles’.18 The establishment of a collection of crafts items, which could be enjoyed and understood in a tactile way by students, researchers and public alike, was very much at the heart of the aims and objectives of the Centre’s Founding Trustees. Evidence of the legacy that Muriel Rose left the Crafts Study Centre is therefore substantial. Owing to the lack of attention paid to her since her death, she has remained a somewhat shadowy figure in craft history books. It is hoped that this book will contribute to an understanding of her contribution to both the crafts movement of the 20th century, and her relationship with the nascent Crafts Study Centre in the 1970s. Janet Leach wrote to Rose in 1976: ‘I am delighted that the Museum is really going forward and I am sure that you must be relieved after working for it for so many years. Although other people have helped, I know it would not have ever come into existence without your inspiration and leadership’.19
1 2
Letter from Bernard Leach to Muriel Rose, 28 May 1976, unpublished. Muriel Rose Archive, Crafts Study Centre. Exhibition catalogue, 20th century craftsmanship: Work by Artist Craftmen of the Twentieith Century, Crafts Study Centre, 1972.
40 MURIEL ROSE: A MODERN CRAFTS LEGACY
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