Emptying Vernon Park Museum and other stories

Natural History case before empyting

After Christmas, one of our priorities was to organise the decant of all objects from Vernon Park Museum before April.  The objects were displayed in the basement of the museum, in various themed cases; ethnography, retail, male costume, female costume, education, archaeology, natural history, sound, photography, contemporary collecting, and WWII.  Vernon Park will now become wholly run by Pure Innovations Ltd., who currently run a cafe in the building.  It is a shame about the museum being taken out of the equation as it is a significant building for Stockport’s museum history, and it held such an eclectic mix of objects which many people choose to visit and have voiced their sadness about.  Hopefully many of the objects will be redisplayed elsewhere, including after the redevelopment of Stockport Story museum which is starting soon after the completion of the Air Raid Shelters project.

Overall we removed over 2800 objects, and are still in the process of documenting the movements for each object and integrating them back into the collections storage.  Some of the items have needed precautionary freezing before this can happen – especially the natural history taxidermy.  Here are a few photographs from the move.  
 

Photography case before empyting

Skelebob coming back to the store

The move required multiple trips over the course of 3 months, many sheets of acid-free tissue paper for wrapping and packing, 56 boxes, and many individually wrapped large or bulky items. Some of the 56 boxes held under ten objects, some of them held hundreds. We had a list of the objects in each case and location, made corresponding labels for wrapping and checked each item off as they were wrapped and packed. Objects were also photographed as and when needed for the Modes database, as some of the objects on display had only brief records without an image on Modes.   We numbered the boxes which we then updated in the Temporary Location field of Modes, so we could keep track of what had been boxed together and what had been put back once we were back at the stores.   The wooden shelving units inside the display cases were also dismantled, and will be reused by Andy for various techincal projects (a good example of reusing what you can from exhibitions or permanent displays!).  We also removed all of the drawers in the foyer which contained geology and natural history specimens, as well as the model skeleton much to the dismay of the cafe staff! I think they had become quite attached to him.

Large sign inside the Architectural Salvage Store

Some of the larger objects such as shop signage which were fixed to the walls in Vernon Park are now stored in the architectural salvage store.  This is a secure storage unit which holds various large objects including shop doors, signage, outside lamps etc.  I hadn’t been inside the salvage store yet this year, so it was interesting to see all of the goodies inside!

A door in the Architectural Salvage Store

Once back at the collections store, we initially tried to keep up with putting the objects back into the collection but the boxes soon built up. As mentioned earlier, some of the records on Modes were rather brief so needed retrospectively upating with more detailed description and images.  Many of the objects also needed properly marking to accreditation standard; they were previously labeled with a tag but not securely marked. So I did lots of sewing, marking with paraloid or writing with 2B pencil on the objects.  This was required  before the items could go into their new permanent location. Some of the objects also showed evidence of pests, such as Carpet Beetle caracsses or their frass (bug poop!) – and so required brushing and freezing before they could be put with the rest of the collection.

Infestation of carpet beetles on Spoonbill taxidermy

Some of the objects from Vernon Park were earmarked for use in the redevelopment of the Air Raid Shelters, for a new display of collection items in the reception and shop area. A new larger display case (which will also be better suited to protecting the objects from the harsh environmental conditions) has enabled us to choose a variety of objects, some which have not been on display before.  

Objects for new case at the Air Raid Shelters

A trip to the IWM North in Trafford Quays meant we could see the way in which they display their variety of objects; the stands and plinths they have used for objects of varying size were excellent and were a good inspiration for presenting our lovely objects.

Angela and Janny at IWMN

Display of pins and badges at IWMN

Display of Home Front objects at IWMN

Our objects are currently spread out on a table in the stores (as in the earlier image), and have been re-jigged to see what looks best in what order.  The most important issue is to give the objects height in the case and so we hope to have specific perspex stands for certain objects.   The Air Raid Shelters site has been closed for a few weeks whilst the refurbishment of the reception and the installation of the new interpretation panels has been completed. There has been new flooring, improved electrics for the lighting and the shop has been refurbished.  New interpretation panels have been installed by Andy and Katie, the new techincal trainee.  Today the Air Raid Shelters are open again to the public, but there will be an official launch of the site later in June.

Utility Clothing and Make Do & Mend interpretation panels. These were put together by Bronwen Simpson and Jo Dunn, and fixed to the Air Raid Shelter walls by Andy Pedroza and Katie Senior (photographed by Andy Pedroza)

Dig for Victory interpretation panel. This was put together by Bronwen Simpson and Jo Dunn, and fixed to the Air Raid Shelter walls by Andy Pedroza and Katie Senior (photographed by Andy Pedroza)

Rationing interpretation panel. This was put together by Bronwen Simpson and Jo Dunn, and fixed to the Air Raid Shelter walls by Andy Pedroza and Katie Senior (photographed by Andy Pedroza)

Overall the move of objects from Vernon Park has been a great experience, albeit a challenging one! Moving so many objects to a deadline and sorting the documentation and integration at the other end has been a long process and is still going on.  With the Air Raid Shelters redevelopment happening simultaneously, as well as other day-to-day jobs, personal organisation (I love lists) and pulling together as a team has been crucial!

more of a catch up – Wood Hall, Stockport Heritage Trust, Vernon Park Museum, and HIL numbers…

The lone object in the collection directly involving Wood Hall. A negative plate showing ‘A View of Stockport’ (RD.21149).

A lot of the time up to the beginning of October was spent researching (search being the operative word) for information about Wood Hall, which was situated in Reddish. A community excavation organised by Dig Greater Manchester (DGM) and managed by the Centre for Applied Archaeology at the University of Salford gave all of the HLF trainees a chance to work on a community involvement project.  As touched upon above, there is not much documentation on Wood Hall other than census records which show the inhabitants.  Indeed, no known photographs or paintings of the hall exist, the only object in the collection directly including Wood Hall being a negative plate showing ‘A view of Stockport’. There are however some photographs of Wood Hall Farm and similar census records which show the inhabitants.  Volunteers and school groups were to be involved in the dig, and so I created some interpretation in the form of posters and a timeline. 

Screenshot of a poster showing objects in the collection relating to the dairy farming industry.

The posters showed images of objects in the collection, relating to the farming industry.  These objects may well have been used at Wood Hall Farm.  The timeline showed key dates in the history of Wood Hall and Wood Hall Farm as well as the Reddish area; and I put this into context by showing key dates and world events.  

Screenshot of part of my archaeological finds poster.

These can be handed to school groups, and can be used as background information for volunteers and other visitors to the site.  The Libraries and Archives trainees produced a report about the history of Wood Hall and Reddish, using records and other sources – which is also available to read at the site. 

Screenshot of my timeline.

 

 The actual dig commenced on Monday 8th October, and will continue for two weeks – leading up to an Open Day at the site on the 20th October. I will create a new post with images from my day of digging once I am up to date with my blogging….

Another project I have been working on is to catalogue the documentation belonging to Stockport Heritage Trust.  There are many files worth of research and reference documents at the Heritage Centre, with no way of searching for a specific item or area of interest.  With my new experience of using MODES and cataloguing objects, this is a good challenge for me to manage.  I immediately saw creating a database with Access or Excel as problematic; with visions of accidental deletions and various copies having to be made due to maximum document sizes…  So I searched the internet and quickly found a free database, specifically created for museums and archives by a man named Jim Halpin.  This database is called Museum Archive Software (MusArch for short), and can be found at www.musarch.com.  It was decided that this was worth downloading and using to catalogue all of the documents in the Trust’s collection.  To start with, it will be trial and error of how to configure the database in a way that works for the Trust and those searching for records.  I have changed the numbering system I originally started using, and will also have to alter the descriptions of objects.  This will be a long task, one which I cannot see through to the end due to my 12-month contract coming to an end in June – but can certainly help establish and create easy guildelines for volunteers to use so they can continue to document the reference collection.  Here are some initial screenshots from the software.

A screenshot of MusAarch – editing a record

A screenshot of MusArch – the list of records so far.

Finalising my display of the stockings at Vernon Park Museum.

Another recent task I helped with was to empty a case at Vernon Park Museum with Janny.  Maintenance work which involved the inside of the WWII case meant all of the objects from had to be decanted, packaged up and taken back to the heritage stores. 

A week later when the work was complete we were able to take the objects back to Vernon Park and re-display the items – which ranged from stockings to a fire log book – in the case. Vernon Park Museum is a lovely, traditional museum with fascinating displays of objects.  I had never visited before, and realised that I have missed out by not doing so!

The finished case that Janny and I re-displayed (a mash-up of two separate images hence the wonky join!)

 Finally, another of the projects I have started (but may have mentioned in an earlier post) is to document the reference material in the Hatting Information Lounge.  At the end of September I started to rifle through box 24 and add records to the reference catalogue on MODES.  When discussing how to go about this project, Katie and Nicola decided that there should be a system of recording each type of document: those with entry forms, those without, original delicate objects, photographs, books, photocopies of documents or photographs etc.   Each document has a HIL number, and this will eventually make it a lot easier to use resources as we will know where certain documents are and can assist people with their enquiries in a more organised way.