John Hunt and his wife Gertrude were collectors of art and antique dealers. they had a shop in Bury Street, London, and travelled in Britain and Europe in the 1930s colllecting art, some of which they sold in their shop. In 1940 they moved to Co. Limerick, John taking an interest in the archaeology of the area of Lough Gur where they lived, and continued to build their collection. They moved to Dublin in 1954, and in 1976 they decided to give their collection to the people of Ireland, setting up a trust to establish a permanent museum. This did noit come about until 1996 when 1996 the Hunt Museum was opened in the former Custom House in Limerick. For part of the interim period the collection was housed at the University of Limerick, where it was seen by our fieldworker Tessa Garton in 1989.
