What
The Yorkshire Museum of Farming occupies a 16-acre site on the edge of the village of Murton, just outside York.
Opened
1982. The museum closes for the season on 4 November and will reopen in April next year.
Collection
“The museum traces the history of farming in Yorkshire and specialises in the change to mechanised agriculture,” says its curator, Esther Graham. “As well as our farming and agricultural artefact collections, there is a large library on site with many rare volumes, an archive and a photographic collection.”
The museum also holds lots of information, manuals, uniforms and artefacts relating to the Women’s Land Army since its foundation during the first world war, making it a centre for researchers of the period.
Help at hand
In addition to Graham, who is the full-time curator, there is a part-time museum director and up to 20 seasonal and eight regular volunteers. There are also six full-time members of the onsite living history team.
Budget
“Our budget is reliant on income from admissions, shop sales and donations,” says Graham. The museum seeks grants for its major projects and has raised over £100,000 during the past two years. Adult admission is £6.
Highlights
“It’s a difficult choice but I’d opt for a collection of hand-written poems and songs by members of the Women’s Land Army during their service, some poignant, some hilarious,” Graham says. Her favourite item from the records is a card that reads: “Dead badger – awaiting stuffing!” She has not yet found the badger, but fears it is lurking in one of the museum’s recesses.
Visitors
An average of 12,000 each year, plus an average of 21,000 in school visits to the living history sites.
Sticky moment
“When an escaped cow from a local farm decided that it was going to skip past the admissions desk and then take a rather hot-footed tour of the museum grounds before heading down the lane towards Stamford Bridge,” recalls Graham. “Schoolchildren were locked in the farmhouse kitchen until the bovine threat was gone.”
Survival tip
It is important for museums to build partnerships with relevant interest groups and organisations, Graham says. “The York and District Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers have their meetings and events at the museum; the York and District Beekeepers Association have their apiary and pavilion on site; and the last stretch of the Derwent Valley Light Railway, which carried agricultural goods into York, runs across the museum land and is managed by a volunteer society.”
Future projects
The Heritage Lottery Fund recently awarded the museum £60,700 to support an outreach project and new exhibition that will open next year about the Women’s Land Army. Graham also hopes to reconstitute the museum’s Friends association.
The Yorkshire Museum of Farming occupies a 16-acre site on the edge of the village of Murton, just outside York.
Opened
1982. The museum closes for the season on 4 November and will reopen in April next year.
Collection
“The museum traces the history of farming in Yorkshire and specialises in the change to mechanised agriculture,” says its curator, Esther Graham. “As well as our farming and agricultural artefact collections, there is a large library on site with many rare volumes, an archive and a photographic collection.”
The museum also holds lots of information, manuals, uniforms and artefacts relating to the Women’s Land Army since its foundation during the first world war, making it a centre for researchers of the period.
Help at hand
In addition to Graham, who is the full-time curator, there is a part-time museum director and up to 20 seasonal and eight regular volunteers. There are also six full-time members of the onsite living history team.
Budget
“Our budget is reliant on income from admissions, shop sales and donations,” says Graham. The museum seeks grants for its major projects and has raised over £100,000 during the past two years. Adult admission is £6.
Highlights
“It’s a difficult choice but I’d opt for a collection of hand-written poems and songs by members of the Women’s Land Army during their service, some poignant, some hilarious,” Graham says. Her favourite item from the records is a card that reads: “Dead badger – awaiting stuffing!” She has not yet found the badger, but fears it is lurking in one of the museum’s recesses.
Visitors
An average of 12,000 each year, plus an average of 21,000 in school visits to the living history sites.
Sticky moment
“When an escaped cow from a local farm decided that it was going to skip past the admissions desk and then take a rather hot-footed tour of the museum grounds before heading down the lane towards Stamford Bridge,” recalls Graham. “Schoolchildren were locked in the farmhouse kitchen until the bovine threat was gone.”
Survival tip
It is important for museums to build partnerships with relevant interest groups and organisations, Graham says. “The York and District Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers have their meetings and events at the museum; the York and District Beekeepers Association have their apiary and pavilion on site; and the last stretch of the Derwent Valley Light Railway, which carried agricultural goods into York, runs across the museum land and is managed by a volunteer society.”
Future projects
The Heritage Lottery Fund recently awarded the museum £60,700 to support an outreach project and new exhibition that will open next year about the Women’s Land Army. Graham also hopes to reconstitute the museum’s Friends association.