The Spode Museum is thought to have been established in about 1925. Artefacts began to be collected by the Spode company and Copeland family to illustrate and record the history and manufacture of wares from the beginnings of Josiah Spode's manufactory in about 1770. The Museum became a charitable trust in 1987. Additions to the collection ceased in 2008. Galleries were developed to enable the collection to be displayed to the public and provide a reference for the Spode designers. In 1996 a new Museum was created but closed in 2009. Now in store and unavailable to the public, the object the collection holds many wares showing the genius of Josiah Spode I and II – the perfection of underglaze blue printing and the invention of bone china being two of the most important developments made by the Spodes. The paper archive is deposited at the Stoke-on-Trent City Archives and the Keele University Special Collections.