Leave a message Coronavirus (COVID-19) - updates from the University can be found on our coronavirus pages. Search Menu Betty Smithers Design Collection Home About us Facilities Betty Smithers Design Collection The Betty Smithers Design Collection (BSDC) is a teaching collection of mainly 20th-century objects housed in the School of Creative Arts and Engineering at Staffordshire University. It exists as a learning resource and therefore all the objects (with a few restrictions) are available to borrow and handle by staff, students and the wider educational community – in fact, handling of the objects is actively encouraged. We monitor the use of all the objects and students are given an induction and handling guidelines before being allowed to access the collection. Collection contents The collection was established in the early 1980s to complement the teaching of what was then the History of Art and Design Department of the North Staffordshire Polytechnic. Now housed in the Cadman Building, it supports courses across the university. It contains five main collections: Costume, fashion and textiles Advertising Products Plastics Periodicals There is plenty more to see including Britain's oldest washing machine, dresses from the 1920s and a handbag constructed with a secret compartment to take a gas mask! In Facilities Hospitality and catering The Art Shop Betty Smithers Design Collection Campus transformations Legal Advice Clinic Library Nursery Smart Zone Specialist Technical Facilities Sports centre Sports Therapy Clinic (SUST) Caroline Hunter Design Collection Assistant Cadman Building College Road Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire ST4 2DE caroline.hunter@staffs.ac.uk 01782 294411 Opening times Tuesday: 9.00am to 4.30pm every other week Friday: 9.00am to 4.30pm Please ring ahead to make an appointment. Connect with us Instagram Staffordshire University College Road University Quarter Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire ST4 2DE +44 (0)1782 294000 Contact us © Staffordshire University 2021 CONNECT WITH US Facebook Twitter YouTube Pinterest Linkedin Instagram Snapchat TikTok Study Undergraduate Postgraduate Part-time Professional Distance learning Two-year accelerated degrees Partnerships Information for Schools and colleges Alumni Current students Current staff Also see News Events Job vacancies Legal Accessibility Modern slavery Transparency return Please choose which content to search Search courses Search staffs.ac.uk Cookie settings We use cookies to help enhance site navigation, analyse site usage and assist in our marketing efforts. You can control which cookies are set when using our site by clicking 'Manage cookie settings'. Allow all cookies Manage cookie settings