Collections

Gerald Coke Handel Collection

The composer George Frideric Handel was a Governor and benefactor of the Foundling Hospital, and annual performances of Messiah provided vital sources of income for the Hospital. In addition to the score and parts of Messiah bequeathed to the Hospital by Handel, the Museum now holds the Gerald Coke Handel Collection, an internationally important collection of material relating to Handel and his contemporaries, including manuscripts, printed books and music, libretti, paintings and engravings, memorabilia, art works and ephemera. The materials were collected by Gerald Coke over a period of 60 years and left by his widow to the Thomas Coram Foundation (now Coram) in the care of the Handel Institute; the endowment accompanying the Collection is now managed by the Gerald Coke Handel Foundation. The new home for the collection includes a public exhibition gallery, collection store, reading room and a small meeting room.

The full cataloguing of the collection is currently in progress, and the catalogue can be viewed online.

Please note that this is only a partial catalogue at present.

Library facilities

In addition to the public exhibition room, open during normal Museum hours, The Gerald Coke Handel Research Library is open Wednesday-Friday for research purposes by appointment.

For enquiries or appointments please telephone +44 (0)20 7841 3606 or email handel@foundlingmuseum.org.uk.

Publications

Available at the Foundling Museum Shop or order your copy for delivery on 020 7841 3611.

Handel the Philanthropist: Exhibition catalogue

£5.00

This publication has been produced to accompany the Foundling Museum's exhibition, Handel the Philanthropist which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the composer's death.  The catalogue is beautifully illustrated with reproductions of all the objects displayed in the exhibition, including loans from the National Portrait Gallery, the British Library, the Royal Collection and the Royal Society of Musicians.  With essays and contributions from the exhibition Curator, Katharine Hogg, Librarian of the Gerald Coke Handel Collection based at the Foundling Museum as well as Professor Donald Burrows.

Handel's Will: Facsimiles and commentary edited by Donald Burrows

Paperback £8.50, hardback £25.00

Produced as a commemorative publication of the 250th anniversary of Handel's death by the Gerald Coke Handel Foundation and to complement the exhibition Handel the Philanthropist.  This book includes high quality reproductions of Handel's will, both his personal copy that is on permanent display at the Foundling Museum as well as the executor's copy lent by the Royal College of Music to the exhibition.  These facsimiles are accompanied by essays by Professor Ellen Harris and others, edited by Donald Burrows.