Temple Newsam is justly celebrated for its sumptuous collections of fine and decorative arts, especially paintings, furniture, silver, ceramics, textiles and wallpapers. The collection has been built up since 1923 when the estate was bought from the Hon Edward Wood (later Earl Halifax) by the city of Leeds and developed as a country house museum.

Despite the sale of many of the furnishings in 1922, the basis of the contents of Temple Newsam today is still the family collection. To this has been added over the years what now makes up one of the finest publicly owned collections of English decorative art outside London. In 1997 the collections were designated by the Museums and Galleries Commission as being of pre-eminent national importance.

A Collections History is available as a downloadable Adobe .pdf document :
Collections History