The Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums is an organisation that runs several of the major museums around the Tyne and Wear area. Jewels in this North Eastern crown include The Shipley Art Gallery and The Laing Art Gallery, the latter being a result of a 1901 bequest by Alexander Laing, a wealthy wine and spirit merchant who made his fortune in Newcastle. The collection contains many views of the region throughout the ages, including a wonderful view of Sunderland’s dockside by the inimitable painter of the industrial north, L.S. Lowry.