{
 "schema": 1,
 "id": "wellcome-collection",
 "type": "org",
 "names": {
  "name": "Wellcome Collection",
  "sort": "Wellcome Collection"
 },
 "region": [
  "britain-ireland",
  "world",
  "maghreb"
 ],
 "countries": [
  "GB"
 ],
 "facets": {
  "kind": "museum"
 },
 "text": {
  "what": "London museum and library at 183 Euston Road, opened to the public in June 2007 and part of the Wellcome Trust. It rests on what Sir Henry Wellcome, 1853–1936, bought: books, paintings and objects on the history of medicine worldwide, gathered on a scale no individual has matched since. Its holdings are described as including 17,500 magic-medical amulets, talismans and charms that Wellcome picked up in Islamic North Africa and elsewhere.",
  "story": "Wellcome's museum came first — the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum at 54a Wigmore Street. Edward Lovett curated an exhibition there in 1916, 'Folklore of London'; the two men corresponded for years. Wellcome bought at auction on an industrial scale, and Walter Leo Hildburgh's amulets were bequeathed into the same collection.\n\nThe institution has published its own account of how that buying worked. In 2021 the Collection acknowledged that Wellcome's collecting was shaped by colonialism: many objects bought at auction in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century carried no documentation of how they had been acquired, and may have been \"unjustly taken\" from communities across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It has committed to working with communities on provenance, and in 2025 returned a group of Jain manuscripts to India after researchers found they had been acquired without the consent of the communities they belonged to.\n\nThe display has moved too. Medicine Man, the permanent show of part of Wellcome's own collection, closed permanently on 27 November 2022 after fifteen years; the closure was perceived to follow concerns over racist, sexist and ableist theories and language.\n\nThe amulets themselves have been on the move for longer. Hildburgh's amulet material was transferred out of Wellcome to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1985. The figure of 17,500 magic-medical amulets is published as a description of the Wellcome holdings; this record prints the two statements side by side and does not reconcile them, because it has not read a catalogue that says what stayed and what left.",
  "today": "Wellcome is digitising and openly licensing its collection: as of January 2020 over 40 million images from 325,000 items were available on wellcomecollection.org and through third-party services. The licensing is mixed, per item — in the Collection's own words, digitised materials \"can be accessed and downloaded for use under a variety of Creative Commons non-commercial, attribution and Public Domain licences, depending on the material\". *Inference —* attribution and public-domain items clear Wikimedia Commons; non-commercial ones do not, so the licence has to be read on the item and never assumed from the institution. Its exhibition 'Charmed Life: The solace of objects', 6 October 2011 to 26 February 2012, showed Lovett's amulets beside new work by Felicity Powell."
 },
 "dating": {
  "period": "2007 to now; the collection from the 1890s",
  "from_year": 2007,
  "to_year": null,
  "living": true,
  "label": "opened June 2007; the collection behind it built from the late nineteenth century",
  "method": "textual",
  "tier": "cited",
  "source": "s:wp-wellcome-collection"
 },
 "geo": {
  "lat": 51.526,
  "lon": -0.1336,
  "precision": "street",
  "source": "hand-placed at 183 Euston Road from the stated address"
 },
 "address": {
  "street": "183 Euston Road",
  "city": "London",
  "country": "GB"
 },
 "tags": [
  {
   "tag": "open-images",
   "source": "s:web-wellcome-accessing-collections",
   "tier": "cited",
   "note": "mixed: Creative Commons non-commercial, attribution and Public Domain licences, applied per item",
   "url": "https://wellcomecollection.org/collections/accessing-our-collections"
  },
  {
   "tag": "repatriation",
   "source": "s:wp-wellcome-collection",
   "tier": "cited",
   "note": "2021 acknowledgement that the collecting was shaped by colonialism; Jain manuscripts returned to India in 2025"
  }
 ],
 "kin": [
  {
   "to": "wellcome-lovett",
   "as": "the Lovett material inside it, which is the part of this collection this atlas sends a reader to",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "edward-lovett",
   "as": "the folklorist who curated here in 1916 and whose charms it showed again in 2011",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "walter-hildburgh",
   "as": "the collector who bequeathed his amulets here before they went on to Oxford",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "pitt-rivers-museum",
   "as": "where the Hildburgh amulet material was transferred in 1985",
   "rel": "org"
  },
  {
   "to": "hirz-pouch",
   "as": "the North African written charm class Henry Wellcome bought in bulk",
   "rel": "carries"
  },
  {
   "to": "wikimedia-commons",
   "as": "where its attribution and public-domain items can be hosted; its non-commercial ones cannot",
   "rel": "org"
  },
  {
   "to": "free-to-use",
   "as": "the long read on licensing, where a per-item licence like this one is the awkward middle case",
   "rel": "story"
  }
 ],
 "links": [
  {
   "label": "Wellcome Collection — Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellcome_Collection"
  },
  {
   "label": "Accessing our collections",
   "url": "https://wellcomecollection.org/collections/accessing-our-collections"
  }
 ],
 "sources": [
  "s:wp-wellcome-collection",
  "s:web-wellcome-accessing-collections",
  "s:web-walter-hildburgh-wikipedia",
  "s:wp-edward-lovett"
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "default": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-wellcome-collection"
  },
  "fields": {
   "text.story": {
    "tier": "cited",
    "source": "s:wp-wellcome-collection",
    "note": "the 17,500 figure and the 1985 transfer come from two different sources and are not reconciled here; both are printed"
   },
   "geo": {
    "tier": "inference",
    "note": "geocoded by hand to 183 Euston Road; no published coordinate was read"
   }
  }
 },
 "images": [],
 "confidence": "medium",
 "needs_verification": true,
 "updated": "2026-09-16",
 "blurb": "London museum and library at 183 Euston Road, opened to the public in June 2007 and part of the Wellcome Trust.",
 "region_terms": [
  {
   "key": "britain-ireland",
   "name": "Britain and Ireland",
   "hemi": [
    "N",
    "W"
   ]
  },
  {
   "key": "world",
   "name": "Everywhere",
   "hemi": [
    "N",
    "S",
    "E",
    "W"
   ],
   "note": "use for a sign or a practice documented on more than two continents"
  },
  {
   "key": "maghreb",
   "name": "The Maghreb",
   "hemi": [
    "N",
    "E"
   ],
   "note": "Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya"
  }
 ],
 "hemispheres": [
  "E",
  "N",
  "S",
  "W"
 ],
 "kin_out": [
  {
   "to": "wellcome-lovett",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "The Lovett charms at Wellcome Collection",
   "as": "the Lovett material inside it, which is the part of this collection this atlas sends a reader to",
   "rel": "place"
  },
  {
   "to": "edward-lovett",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Edward Lovett",
   "as": "the folklorist who curated here in 1916 and whose charms it showed again in 2011",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "walter-hildburgh",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Walter Leo Hildburgh",
   "as": "the collector who bequeathed his amulets here before they went on to Oxford",
   "rel": "person"
  },
  {
   "to": "pitt-rivers-museum",
   "type": "org",
   "name": "The Pitt Rivers Museum",
   "as": "where the Hildburgh amulet material was transferred in 1985",
   "rel": "org"
  },
  {
   "to": "hirz-pouch",
   "type": "amulet",
   "name": "Hirz",
   "as": "the North African written charm class Henry Wellcome bought in bulk",
   "rel": "carries"
  },
  {
   "to": "wikimedia-commons",
   "type": "org",
   "name": "Wikimedia Commons",
   "as": "where its attribution and public-domain items can be hosted; its non-commercial ones cannot",
   "rel": "org"
  },
  {
   "to": "free-to-use",
   "type": "story",
   "name": "Free to use",
   "as": "the long read on licensing, where a per-item licence like this one is the awkward middle case",
   "rel": "story"
  }
 ],
 "source_list": [
  {
   "id": "s:wp-wellcome-collection",
   "kind": "encyclopedia",
   "title": "Wellcome Collection",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellcome_Collection",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-wellcome-accessing-collections",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Accessing our collections",
   "publisher": "Wellcome Collection",
   "url": "https://wellcomecollection.org/collections/accessing-our-collections",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:web-walter-hildburgh-wikipedia",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Walter Leo Hildburgh",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Leo_Hildburgh",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-edward-lovett",
   "kind": "encyclopedia",
   "title": "Edward Lovett",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Lovett",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  }
 ],
 "tiers": {
  "text.what": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-wellcome-collection"
  },
  "text.story": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-wellcome-collection",
   "note": "the 17,500 figure and the 1985 transfer come from two different sources and are not reconciled here; both are printed"
  },
  "text.today": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-wellcome-collection"
  },
  "dating": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-wellcome-collection"
  },
  "geo": {
   "tier": "inference",
   "note": "geocoded by hand to 183 Euston Road; no published coordinate was read"
  },
  "address": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-wellcome-collection"
  }
 },
 "primary_image": null,
 "tag_facts": [
  {
   "key": "open-images",
   "label": "Publishes open images",
   "group": "collection",
   "evidence": "the collection's own rights statement",
   "source": "s:web-wellcome-accessing-collections",
   "note": "mixed: Creative Commons non-commercial, attribution and Public Domain licences, applied per item",
   "tier": "cited",
   "url": "https://wellcomecollection.org/collections/accessing-our-collections"
  },
  {
   "key": "repatriation",
   "label": "Repatriation under way",
   "group": "collection",
   "evidence": "a published claim, agreement or return, named and dated",
   "source": "s:wp-wellcome-collection",
   "note": "2021 acknowledgement that the collecting was shaped by colonialism; Jain manuscripts returned to India in 2025",
   "tier": "cited",
   "url": ""
  }
 ],
 "recognition_facts": [],
 "acclaim": 0,
 "against_facts": [],
 "material_facts": [],
 "worn_facts": [],
 "form_fact": null,
 "holding_facts": [],
 "span": "2007 CE to now",
 "country_names": [
  {
   "iso": "GB",
   "name": "United Kingdom"
  }
 ],
 "kin_in": [
  {
   "from": "wellcome-lovett",
   "type": "place",
   "name": "The Lovett charms at Wellcome Collection",
   "as": "the institution this address is, and the one that showed Lovett's charms in 1916 and again in 2011",
   "rel": "org"
  },
  {
   "from": "edward-lovett",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Edward Lovett",
   "as": "the museum that exhibited his amulets in 1916 and again in 2011, and that publishes on them now",
   "rel": "org"
  },
  {
   "from": "walter-hildburgh",
   "type": "person",
   "name": "Walter Leo Hildburgh",
   "as": "the collection he left the amulets to first, and which passed them on",
   "rel": "org"
  },
  {
   "from": "pitt-rivers-museum",
   "type": "org",
   "name": "The Pitt Rivers Museum",
   "as": "the collection that passed its amulet material to Oxford in 1985",
   "rel": "org"
  },
  {
   "from": "wikimedia-commons",
   "type": "org",
   "name": "Wikimedia Commons",
   "as": "the mixed case: some of its items clear the bar and some do not, so each file is checked singly",
   "rel": "org"
  },
  {
   "from": "what-this-atlas-does-not-print",
   "type": "story",
   "name": "What this atlas does not print",
   "as": "a collection that said in 2021 how its holdings were formed, and returned manuscripts in 2025",
   "rel": "org"
  },
  {
   "from": "who-owns-a-charm",
   "type": "story",
   "name": "Who owns a charm",
   "as": "17,500 amulets, an acknowledgement in 2021, and a return to India in 2025",
   "rel": "org"
  }
 ]
}