Shining a light on accessing expertise
Collections must be at the heart of our message
Our unique selling point in museums has always been our collections.
We have stuff. We have great stuff, amazing stuff, with evidence about the world around us and the people who have lived in and shaped it.
Like many modern museum professionals, I’m a trained curator, but I don’t have a specialism. I’ve looked after collections that range from local, social and industrial history to costume, archaeology and military history.
What I do best – and most often – is communicate. There’s nothing wrong with that: when we are all fighting for survival, communicating well is vital. Collections must be at the heart of our message, though.
Recently, my focus has been on natural science. Welsh museum collections are fundamental in telling the story of Wales’s geological development and biodiversity, but with no natural science experts in Welsh regional museums our ability to do this well is limited.
In the Linking Natural Science Collections in Wales project, the Welsh Museums Federation worked with Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales) and 18 regional museums.
Specialists at National Museum Wales have joined regional staff and volunteers to identify the significance, hazards and potential uses of these collections. It wasn’t a quick fix.
It was a lengthy and costly undertaking. We’ve had three years, 100,000 from the Museums Association’s Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund and at least £40,000 of match funding, whether in kind or in cash.
Wales is lucky in having a national museums strategy emphasising the value of the distributed national collection – our shared heritage. Working together, we have brought these collections to life.
We have an exhibition, Stuffed, Pickled and Pinned: 50 Wonders of Nature in Welsh Museums, touring Wales until 2019.
We have collections online at www.peoplescollection.wales and there is natural science activity in our museums, despite shrinking budgets and threats of closure.
One curator told me that she has to justify holding collections to her governing body, and our project demonstrates their value and the importance of continuing to collect.
We’ve all learned from National Museum Wales experts. Lasting relationships have been forged that will lead to a continuing flow of collections knowledge.
In an ideal world, every museum would employ at least one subject specialist. In reality, most museum collections need more than one expert.
We all want our museums to shine brightly, and collections can make this happen. In this brave new world, we need to be creative about how we access the expertise to bring them back into the light.
The deadline for applications to the latest round of the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund is 23 March
We have stuff. We have great stuff, amazing stuff, with evidence about the world around us and the people who have lived in and shaped it.
Like many modern museum professionals, I’m a trained curator, but I don’t have a specialism. I’ve looked after collections that range from local, social and industrial history to costume, archaeology and military history.
What I do best – and most often – is communicate. There’s nothing wrong with that: when we are all fighting for survival, communicating well is vital. Collections must be at the heart of our message, though.
Recently, my focus has been on natural science. Welsh museum collections are fundamental in telling the story of Wales’s geological development and biodiversity, but with no natural science experts in Welsh regional museums our ability to do this well is limited.
In the Linking Natural Science Collections in Wales project, the Welsh Museums Federation worked with Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales) and 18 regional museums.
Specialists at National Museum Wales have joined regional staff and volunteers to identify the significance, hazards and potential uses of these collections. It wasn’t a quick fix.
It was a lengthy and costly undertaking. We’ve had three years, 100,000 from the Museums Association’s Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund and at least £40,000 of match funding, whether in kind or in cash.
Wales is lucky in having a national museums strategy emphasising the value of the distributed national collection – our shared heritage. Working together, we have brought these collections to life.
We have an exhibition, Stuffed, Pickled and Pinned: 50 Wonders of Nature in Welsh Museums, touring Wales until 2019.
We have collections online at www.peoplescollection.wales and there is natural science activity in our museums, despite shrinking budgets and threats of closure.
One curator told me that she has to justify holding collections to her governing body, and our project demonstrates their value and the importance of continuing to collect.
We’ve all learned from National Museum Wales experts. Lasting relationships have been forged that will lead to a continuing flow of collections knowledge.
In an ideal world, every museum would employ at least one subject specialist. In reality, most museum collections need more than one expert.
We all want our museums to shine brightly, and collections can make this happen. In this brave new world, we need to be creative about how we access the expertise to bring them back into the light.
The deadline for applications to the latest round of the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund is 23 March