Where
Welshpool, Wales.
What
The museum, housed in a converted 19th-century warehouse on the Montgomery Canal, focuses on local life from the stone age onwards.
Opened
1990.
Collection
Artefacts from stone age, Roman and Viking-era Montgomeryshire, lots of 19th and 20th-century domestic and agricultural items, maps and photos. "It's very much a local history collection," says curator Eva Bredsdorff. "The displays - from kitchen utensils to items relating to the local regiment, the Montgomeryshire Yeoman Cavalry - reflect this."
Help at hand
Bredsdorff left her native Denmark to study in the UK in the mid-1980s and never went home. She has been senior curator at Powysland for 20 years, and she curates the nearby Newtown Textile Museum and the Llanidloes Museum as well. Powysland also has an education officer (a post that two people job-share) and, during the summer months, six part-time museum assistants.
Budget
Powys County Council gives between £130,000-140,000 a year, says Bredsdorff. For its current exhibition on Queen Alexandra the museum received a Your Heritage grant of £47,500. Admission charges are nominal - £1 or 50p, and free to children and residents.
Annual visits
In 2007 the museum had 7,363 visitors and the year before, 9,600. Visitor numbers reflect the success of museum's temporary exhibitions. In 2003 there was a George Best exhibition and in 2006 many were attracted by a big exhibition on the entertainer Tommy Steele.
"No, he isn't Welsh, either," confirms Bredsdorff, "but you wouldn't believe how popular he is - in Denmark and here. We got a grant for a teacher to come to teach the local children rock and roll dancing, and we had a whole week of jiving. Even the town's councillors joined in."
Highlights of the collection
"A model of a guillotine made out of mutton bones by a French prisoner of war in the early 19th century," Bredsdorff says. "Lots of captured soldiers were sent to Powys because it was so far from the coast. There are many local stories of what they got up to."
Survival tip
"The biggest challenge for small museums is to keep having ideas for temporary exhibitions," Bredsdorff believes. To date, she's has had a lot of success by thinking outside the usual boxes. The George Best exhibition explored the footballer as, among other things, the first celebrity to enthusiastically endorse goods, such as a golf-linked aftershave called Fore.
Sticky moment
"I borrowed the original score for Half a Sixpence for our Tommy Steele exhibition," recalls Bredsdorff. "It was in a display case, but I managed to drop some stickytape onto it. This was on a bank holiday weekend. I had to wait until the Tuesday to contact the conservator, who saved the document. I was so ashamed."
Current project
Powysland's current temporary exhibition, Alexandra, Princess and Queen (until 30 September), is dedicated to the Danish princess who married Queen Victoria's eldest son (later Edward VII). Bredsdorff has borrowed extensively for the displays.
The Danish Royal Collection has loaned a number of items, including the couple's marriage certificate. The British Royal Collection has loaned pieces from a dinner service made for the wedding, fans, and two Fabergé pieces, including a Pekinese dog that was a present to Alexandra from Edward.
Other artefacts include photographs from the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal London Hospital Museum, of which the princess was a patron. Alexandra did visit Welshpool, albeit briefly.
Welshpool, Wales.
What
The museum, housed in a converted 19th-century warehouse on the Montgomery Canal, focuses on local life from the stone age onwards.
Opened
1990.
Collection
Artefacts from stone age, Roman and Viking-era Montgomeryshire, lots of 19th and 20th-century domestic and agricultural items, maps and photos. "It's very much a local history collection," says curator Eva Bredsdorff. "The displays - from kitchen utensils to items relating to the local regiment, the Montgomeryshire Yeoman Cavalry - reflect this."
Help at hand
Bredsdorff left her native Denmark to study in the UK in the mid-1980s and never went home. She has been senior curator at Powysland for 20 years, and she curates the nearby Newtown Textile Museum and the Llanidloes Museum as well. Powysland also has an education officer (a post that two people job-share) and, during the summer months, six part-time museum assistants.
Budget
Powys County Council gives between £130,000-140,000 a year, says Bredsdorff. For its current exhibition on Queen Alexandra the museum received a Your Heritage grant of £47,500. Admission charges are nominal - £1 or 50p, and free to children and residents.
Annual visits
In 2007 the museum had 7,363 visitors and the year before, 9,600. Visitor numbers reflect the success of museum's temporary exhibitions. In 2003 there was a George Best exhibition and in 2006 many were attracted by a big exhibition on the entertainer Tommy Steele.
"No, he isn't Welsh, either," confirms Bredsdorff, "but you wouldn't believe how popular he is - in Denmark and here. We got a grant for a teacher to come to teach the local children rock and roll dancing, and we had a whole week of jiving. Even the town's councillors joined in."
Highlights of the collection
"A model of a guillotine made out of mutton bones by a French prisoner of war in the early 19th century," Bredsdorff says. "Lots of captured soldiers were sent to Powys because it was so far from the coast. There are many local stories of what they got up to."
Survival tip
"The biggest challenge for small museums is to keep having ideas for temporary exhibitions," Bredsdorff believes. To date, she's has had a lot of success by thinking outside the usual boxes. The George Best exhibition explored the footballer as, among other things, the first celebrity to enthusiastically endorse goods, such as a golf-linked aftershave called Fore.
Sticky moment
"I borrowed the original score for Half a Sixpence for our Tommy Steele exhibition," recalls Bredsdorff. "It was in a display case, but I managed to drop some stickytape onto it. This was on a bank holiday weekend. I had to wait until the Tuesday to contact the conservator, who saved the document. I was so ashamed."
Current project
Powysland's current temporary exhibition, Alexandra, Princess and Queen (until 30 September), is dedicated to the Danish princess who married Queen Victoria's eldest son (later Edward VII). Bredsdorff has borrowed extensively for the displays.
The Danish Royal Collection has loaned a number of items, including the couple's marriage certificate. The British Royal Collection has loaned pieces from a dinner service made for the wedding, fans, and two Fabergé pieces, including a Pekinese dog that was a present to Alexandra from Edward.
Other artefacts include photographs from the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal London Hospital Museum, of which the princess was a patron. Alexandra did visit Welshpool, albeit briefly.