News: New Museum Display Opens to Visitors
A permanent display at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall celebrates the remarkable life and legacy of Dr Maud Sellers, the pioneering historian, archivist and first woman to become a member of the Company in four centuries.
Few people have left a more lasting mark on York’s Merchant Adventurers’ Hall than Dr Maud Sellers (1861–1939). Now, a permanent display at the Hall tells the story of the extraordinary woman whose scholarship, determination and passion for York’s history helped secure the building’s future.
Born in Harrogate in 1861, Sellers studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, one of the University of Cambridge’s pioneering colleges for women. She later received her degree from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1907. A specialist in economic history, she first visited the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall in 1895 and quickly became fascinated by its history and collections.
At a time when women faced significant barriers in academic and professional life, Sellers became a trailblazer. On 26 September 1913, she was admitted to the Company of Merchant Adventurers of the City of York—the first woman to join in over four centuries.
Professor Sarah Brown, Governor of the Merchant Adventurers explains, “Dr Maud Sellers was an extraordinary scholar of national renown so how fitting and indeed, fortunate, that she discovered the Hall of the Merchant Adventurers during a private visit to the city, and thereafter committed herself to waking this medieval 'sleeping beauty.’ I am thrilled that as a Company we can now celebrate her life and achievements in this exciting new display.”
Sellers devoted herself to the restoration and study of the Hall and its garden, both of which were in a poor state of repair when she became involved. She painstakingly organised and researched the Company’s historic records, including account rolls, minute books and charters, helping to reveal the remarkable story of York’s commercial and civic past. In 1918 she became the Company’s Honorary Archivist and worked as Curator of the Hall.
Lauren Marshall, Museum Director at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall adds, “The new permanent display brings Maud’s story back into the building to which she devoted so much of her life. Visitors can discover her remarkable journey, her contribution to the Merchant Adventurers and their Hall, and the legacy of the archives and research she worked so tirelessly to preserve.”
The permanent Maud Sellers display can be seen at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, Fossgate, York.