In the 1970s Bernard Leach gifted an astonishing array of his own pots and historic ceramics from his personal collection to the Crafts Study Centre. He also gifted a massive archive of papers, diaries, photographs, manuscripts, memorabilia and original drawings which represent the largest public holding of his documentary work in the world. In the ensuing decades, the Crafts Study Centre has continued to add to this contextual archival material. The recently acquired Alan Bell collection of material created by and about Bernard Leach, and a collection of letters he wrote to Laurie Cookes (who was to become his second wife) while he was travelling in Japan in the 1930s have significantly enriched these holdings. The Crafts Study Centre archive collections thus form the bedrock for all Leach research.

The full catalogue of the original gift - The Papers and Books of Bernard Leach - can be downloaded here.

Details of other archival material relating to Bernard Leach can be found here.

To find out more about the pots in the collection, visit the Ceramics page.