Harwood Mineral Research and Reference Collection

The Harwood Mineral Collection is one of the most important and renowned mineral collections of its time. The collection comprises a fine and large selection of mineral specimens, collected from classic topotype locations, many of which no longer exist. Of particular strength are the elements, sulphides, sulphosalts and oxides, of which Dr Harwood was particularly fond.

Virtual Harwood Collection

The Virtual Harwood Collection is an interactive database containing data from the 8000 specimens that make up the Harwood Mineral Collection. The actual mineral samples are now housed in three separate collections following the division of the original collection after the death of Henry Harwood in 1974.

These three collections are located in the National Museum of Wales, The Manchester Museum and the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester. All the Harwood Collection specimens are accessible to academic researchers. Individual requests to access the minerals should be addressed to the appropriate institution.

Easy access to the re-united collection via this website has been made possible by means of a generous grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.