History of Education at the Geffrye

Archive photograph of children arriving at the Geffrye Museum

By the 1930s much of the furniture industry was relocating to the suburbs and the museum’s focus changed to providing services for schools.

From 1935, the museum was managed by the Education Committee of the London County Council and the collections were reorganised into a series of period rooms, to provide London schools with a unique resource for learning about the history of domestic life.

Archive photograph of students in an earlier Victorian room display

The museum earned a reputation for its imaginative and pioneering education programmes. In 1965 the LCC was replaced by the Greater London Council and by the 1980s responsibility for the museum had transferred to the Inner London Education Authority.

Following the abolition of the metropolitan authorities in 1989, the government decided to transfer the museum to a new independent Trust, to be funded by central government.