 Oldham ’ s museum and gallery service dates back to 1883 . Since then it has established itself as a cultural focus for Oldham and has developed one of the largest and most varied permanent collections in North West England . The current collection includes over 12 @,@ 000 social and industrial history items , more than 2 @,@ 000 works of art , about 1 @,@ 000 items of decorative art , more than 80 @,@ 000 natural history specimens , over 1 @,@ 000 geological specimens , about 3 @,@ 000 archaeological artefacts , 15 @,@ 000 photographs and a large number of books , pamphlets and documents . 
