North Lanarkshire Council Museum and Heritage Service covers the main industries of Scotland with an emphasis on iron, steel, coal and engineering and complemented by artefacts connected with a range of ancillary industries. The social history collections provide an important record of the impact of industrialisation on Scottish society, with key categories including material relating to the Co-operative movement, friendly societies, political reform, education, leisure, culture and identity. The Monklands collection in particular reflects North Lanarkshire’s industrial heritage, from portraits of local workers and employers to landscapes portraying historical views and industrial works. John Levack's 'The Curlers at Rawyards' (1857) captures local people of note at a curling match in Airdrie, while C. R. Stanley's 'Gartsherrie by Night' (c.1853) is a rare example of a large scale depiction of a mid-nineteenth-century ironworks. Among these are portraits of provosts, baillies, town clerks and judges dating from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, including 'George Arthur, Provost' (c.1898) painted by Robert Gemmell Hutchison. The Strathclyde Regional Council collection comprises work by modern or contemporary artists, including William Littlejohn, John Houston, Bet Low, Hamish MacDonald, Peter Nardini and Helen Wilson. It also includes pieces by renowned North Lanarkshire-born artists, David Donaldson and Dan Ferguson. Four star paintings in the collection are 'We twae hae paidl’t i’ the burn', 'The Whung' and 'In Time of Peace' by Gemmell Hutchison, and 'The Buttercup Chain' (1927) by Glasgow Boys associate E. A. Hornel.