to Hastings in 1919. It was kept in storage until the 1930s, when it was re-constructed at the museum as it looked in the Brassey family's London home. Today the hall is lower floor of the hall is regularly used for many different types of events, including talks, theatre performances, preschool groups and weddings & civil partnerships. The upper hall is one of the museum's world cultures galleries. Collections The collections of Hastings Museum & Art Gallery have been built up since 1890 when the Hastings and St Leonards Museum Association was founded. The collections are thought to number around 97,000 objects from around the world. Community history The museum's community history collections contain local and social history objects from Hastings and the surrounding areas. Together with the archaeology and decorative art collections they tell the story of the life and development of Hastings and the surrounding area from the 1500s to the present day. The museum's local and social history collections contain objects relating to tourism, fishing and boat building, smuggling, wrecks, the Cinque Ports, the Bonfire Societies, local industries such as ironworking, gypsum and gunpowder manufacturing. There is also a significant number of commemorative and civic items, photographs, guide books and printed ephemera. The collection also includes artefacts relating to domestic life such as cooking, toys and games as well as a number related to local theatre and entertainment, writing, education, law and order, firefighting, transport and the First and Second World Wars. The museum has significant collections relating to well-known local people including John Logie Baird, Robert Tressell and James Burton and Decimus Burton. Archives The museum has a large collection of papers relating to Hastings, the local are and significant individuals. These include John Logie Baird, Robert Tressell and Charles Dawson. There are also documents and books related the Cinque Ports, smuggling, fishing and local societies. The archive contains maps, photographs, documents and books. The Burton Collection relating to late Georgian London developer James Burton and his architect son, Decimus, are held by the museum. World cultures (ethnography) Hastings Museum has a diverse group of world cultures collections (Ethnography). The world cultures collection includes objects from India, Burma, China, Japan, Indonesia, the Middle East, the Balkans, Scandinavia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, South American and North America. The largest part of this collection area was donated in 1919 by the Brassey family and come