Letchworth Museum & Art Gallery

North Hertfordshire District Council currently runs two museums namely the Hitchin Museum and Art Gallery and the Letchworth Museum & Art Gallery.

Hitchin Museum was founded in 1939 by the Hitchin & District Regional Survey Association in a house donated by Ralph & Hubert Moss, a firm of local grocers. The building opened in 1939 as a Public Library and in 1941 the top floor opened as a Museum. There are six main galleries two of which are dedicated to its art collection.

Nearby Letchworth Museum & Art Gallery occupies an attractive Edwardian building facing Broadway Gardens, in the centre of the town. The museum has four main galleries one of which is a dedicated art gallery.

The art collections principally comprise works by local artists, particularly the Quaker brewers Samuel Lucas the Elder (1805-1870) and his son Samuel (1840-1919), while there are important works by Camden Town painters associated with the area. These include William Ratcliffe and Spencer Gore and also works by etcher Frederick Griggs.