Table Of ContentStories from Fiona Candlin,
During the late twentieth century, the number of museums in the C
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UK dramatically increased. Typically small and independent, the Toby Butler,
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new museums concentrated on local history, war, and transport. lin small museums
, and Jake Watts
This book asks who founded them, how, and why. B
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In order to find out more, Fiona Candlin, a professor in museology, a
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and Toby Butler, an expert oral historian, drove around the UK to meet d
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the individuals, families, community groups, and special interest societies a
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who established the museums. The rich oral histories they collected
provide a new account of recent museum history – one that weaves
together personal experience and social change while putting ordinary
people at the heart of cultural production.
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Combining academic rigour with a lively writing style, t
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Stories from small museums is essential reading for students and
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museum enthusiasts alike. i
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Fiona Candlin is Professor of Museology at Birkbeck, University of London o
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Toby Butler is a heritage consultant and public historian
Jake Watts is a researcher in politics and social history s
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Cover image: l
Mundesley Maritime Museum. m
UrbanImages / Alamy Stock Photo.
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ISBN 978-1-5261-6688-3
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www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Stories from small museums
Stories from
small museums
Fiona Candlin, Toby Butler, and Jake Watts
Manchester University Press
Copyright © Fiona Candlin, Toby Butler, and Jake Watts 2022
The right of Fiona Candlin, Toby Butler, and Jake Watts to be identified as the authors of this work
has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published by Manchester University Press
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 5261 6686 9 hardback
ISBN 978 1 5261 6688 3 paperback
First published 2022
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or
third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on
such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Cover image: Mundesley Maritime Museum.
UrbanImages / Alamy Stock Photo.
Typeset
by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Brixham
Contents
List of figures vi
Acknowledgements x
Map xii
Introduction: founding stories, finding stories 1
1 Transport museums: loving objects and each other 37
2 War and conflict museums: muttering in the corridors of power 67
3 Local history museums: at the centre of the universe 100
4 The museum founders: getting on the footplate 128
Conclusions: the micromuseums boom 162
Appendix: list of interviews 174
Notes 179
Selected bibliography 195
Index 203
v
List of figures
Every effort has been made to obtain permission to reproduce copyright material,
and the publisher will be pleased to be informed of any errors or omissions for
correction in future editions.
0.1 Patrick Cook at the Bakelite Museum, Somerset, photograph by
Caroline Mardon 1
0.2 E xhibition at the Cartoon Museum, London, photograph by Jim
Stephenson, courtesy of the Cartoon Museum 2
0.3 Neil Cole, the Museum of Classic Sci-fi, Northumberland, image
courtesy of Neil Cole 3
0.4 Schoolchildren on a day trip to The Way We Were, Wigan Pier,
Lancashire, 1986, photograph by Frank Orrell, image © The Wigan
Observer 10
0.5 Schoolchildren in costume at the fish stall diorama at The Way We
Were, Wigan Pier, 1996, image © The Wigan Observer 11
0.6 E lizabeth Cameron outside Laidhay Croft, photograph by
Fiona Candlin 23
0.7 Laidhay Croft Museum, Caithness, photograph by Toby Butler 23
0.8 Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, 1921, image courtesy of Norfolk Museums
Service (Ancient House, Thetford) 28
0.9 Li Yuan-chia outside the LYC Museum and Art Gallery, Banks,
Cumbria, circa 1971. © Li Yuan-chia Foundation (reg. charity
no. 1098517) and the University of Manchester. All rights reserved,
DACS 2022 29
1.1 45596 Bahamas at Edgeley Sheds, Greater Manchester, 1967,
photograph by Paul Ritchie 39
vi
List of figures
1.2 Dinting Railway Centre, Derbyshire; founding group with wives,
girlfriends, and children, at the opening on Easter Weekend 1969,
image courtesy of Ingrow Loco archive 41
1.3 A view of 45596 Bahamas working during the first Easter Steam
Weekend at Dinting Railway Centre, April 1969, photograph by
Pete Skellon 41
1.4 Trevor English, Museum of Rail Travel, Keighley, West Yorkshire,
photograph by Fiona Candlin 43
1.5 Upper Exhibition Hall prior to opening, Museum of Transport,
Greater Manchester, circa 1978, image courtesy of Museum of
Transport, Greater Manchester 46
1.6 Jasper Pettie, annual open day at Scottish Vintage Bus Museum, West
Lothian, circa 1988, image courtesy of Jasper Pettie 49
1.7 Nunlow leaving Dinting Railway Centre, 1990, photograph courtesy of
Ingrow Loco archive 51
1.8 Steve Peach on the footplate of Coal Tank during a visit to Severn Valley
Railway in 2015, photograph Pete Skellon 55
1.9 Vintage bus rally, Leven, Fife, 1971, image courtesy of Jasper Pettie 57
1.10 Edinburgh running day, undated, image courtesy of Jasper Pettie 57
1.11 British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Lancashire, image courtesy of
British Commercial Vehicle Museum 63
1.12 Woodham’s scrapyard, Barry, Glamorgan, 1968, photograph by
Tom Curtis 64
2.1 Brick-built memorial with a salvaged propeller, Metheringham
Airfield Visitor Centre, Lincolnshire, photograph by Toby Butler 70
2.2 Scale model of RAF Metheringham airfield at Metheringham
Airfield Visitor Centre, photograph by Toby Butler 71
2.3 Memorial at RAF Ingham, Lincolnshire, photograph by Toby Butler 74
2.4 Suffolk Regiment Museum, Bury St Edmunds, circa 1955, image
© the Trustees of The Suffolk Regiment Museum 77
2.5 The Black Watch Museum, Perthshire, image © The Black Watch
Castle and Museum 79
2.6 Angela House (left) at the opening of HorsePower: The Museum of
the King’s Royal Hussars, Hampshire, 1981, image courtesy of
HorsePower 81
2.7 Kevlar vest on display at the Black Watch Museum, 2021, photograph
by Alex Candlin 86
2.8 The Museum of Free Derry, photograph by Trevor McBride 92
vii
List of figures
2.9 D isplay including Fr Edward Daly’s handkerchief, Museum of Free
Derry, image courtesy of the Museum of Free Derry 93
2.10 Peace Museum, Bradford, West Yorkshire, photograph by Fiona
Candlin 96
3.1 Upper Nidderdale and Great Whernside, North Yorkshire,
photograph by George Hatton 101
3.2 Eileen Burgess in Nidderdale Museum, North Yorkshire, 1991,
photograph by Dan Oxtoby 104
3.3 M iss P. L. Mudd, First Prize Winner for butter flowers, London Dairy
Show, 1926, image courtesy of Nidderdale Museum 105
3.4 Cobbler’s shop display, Nidderdale Museum, photograph by Fiona
Candlin 106
3.5 Workers at the Brynmawr Factory, Blaenau Gwent, 1939, image
courtesy of People’s Collection Wales 108
3.6 Vivienne Williams at Brynmawr and District Museum, Blaenau
Gwent, photograph by Fiona Candlin 110
3.7 P erranporth, Cornwall, from the air, photograph by Fossick OU, CC
BY-SA 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via
Wikimedia Commons 112
3.8 Aldbourne, Hampshire, photograph by Fiona Candlin 116
3.9 Aldbourne Heritage Centre, Hampshire, photograph by David
Parmiter 119
3.10 S tuffed turtle, St Agnes Museum, Cornwall, photograph by Fiona
Candlin 121
3.11 Postcard depicting ‘the Legend of the Dabchick re-enacted’, image
courtesy of Aldbourne Heritage Centre 122
4.1 T ony Brooks with radon detector in the Great Condurrow Mine,
Cornwall, 1978, photograph courtesy of Tony Brooks 130
4.2 T ony Brooks talking to visitors at the 2010 Open Day at King Edward
Mine, Cornwall, image courtesy of Tony Brooks 132
4.3 Richard Larn wearing diving equipment, Falmouth Docks, Cornwall,
1970, image courtesy of Richard Larn 132
4.4 Celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of
Nidderdale Museum, 1999, image courtesy of Nidderdale Museum 134
4.5 Kay Matheson with Gavin Vernon (left) and Ian Hamilton (right).
The three removed the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Cathedral
in 1950 135
viii
List of figures
4.6 Schoolgirls digging out mud from river basin, National Waterways
Museum, Cheshire, 1974, photograph by Di Skilbeck 138
4.7 Mark Kennedy at Whitehead Railway Museum, Carrickfergus,
County Antrim, circa 1975, photograph by Charles Friel 139
4.8 Reception staffed by young volunteers, Museum of Transport,
Greater Manchester, circa 1980, image courtesy of Museum of
Transport, Greater Manchester 140
4.9 Croft house at Gairloch Museum, Ross-shire, Highland, 2018,
photograph Toby Butler 143
4.10 Margie Russell demonstrating how to make oatcakes to a young
visitor, Gairloch Museum, Ross-shire, circa 1980, image courtesy of
Gairloch Museum 144
4.11 Criterion Heritage Centre, Blue Town, Isle of Sheppey, Kent,
photograph by Fiona Candlin 145
4.12 Jenny Hurkett, founder of Criterion Heritage Centre, photograph by
Toby Butler 146
4.13 George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, and Viram Jasani in London circa
2000, image courtesy of Viram Jasani 147
4.14 Asian Music Circuit Museum, London, main gallery with interactive
console, circa 2007, image courtesy of Viram Jasani 149
4.15 Work in progress at RAF Ingham Heritage Centre, image courtesy of
Geoff Burton 156
4.16 Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre, Essex, photograph
by Toby Butler 157
4.17 Elizabeth Cameron outside Laidhay Croft Museum, with family and
friends, circa 1972, image courtesy of Elizabeth Cameron. 158
4.18 National Waterways Museum, June 1976, photograph courtesy of Di
Skilbeck 159
5.1 Johnny Glendinning, John Friel, and Will Glendinning on the footplate
of No. 186 locomotive, Whitehead Railway Museum, Carrickfergus,
County Antrim, 1970, photograph by Charles Friel 162
5.2 Ena Ragg and friends, Whitehead Railway Museum, Carrickfergus,
1972, photograph by Charles Friel 163
5.3 Civic Society and trustees of Museum of North Craven Life,
North Yorkshire, 1 January 1977, image courtesy of Anne Read 164
5.4 Whitehead Railway Museum, photograph by Charles Friel 171
5.5 Museum of North Craven Life, photograph by Phillip Sayer 171
ix
