Customers at the Widow Frost, a pub in Mansfield that is part of the JD Wetherspoon chain, faced an unusual task one evening last October when they were asked to identify historical objects including a tooth extractor from 1900 and a mid-20th-century press for preparing beef tongue.
The challenge was part of a quiz organised by Mansfield Museum. It’s not unheard of for museums to contain pubs – Cardiff’s legendary Vulcan Inn is set to reopen in the open air at St Fagans National History Museum in 2019 – but some are reversing this logic, hosting events and exhibitions off-site in local watering holes.
About 65 people took part in the Mansfield Museum quiz, which cost £10 for a team of 10 and was run by two museum staff. It featured questions on general knowledge and local history, including identifying locations shown in old photographs.
Jodie Henshaw, the museum’s development officer, says the mystery objects were particularly popular. “You had a tables full of people enjoying the evening, talking through what they thought objects were, and moving parts to try and work out their function,” she says.
The partnership started when the museum was approached by the pub – which sits over the road – to explore ways of working together. Since the beginning of 2015, Mansfield Museum has also held two pop-up exhibitions at the Widow Frost – one on the history of the local tin factory, another on the town’s brewing heritage.
Benefits from this initiative include raised awareness of the museum’s work, and engagement with new audiences, says Henshaw: “Even though the pub is only over the road, there were regulars there who didn’t know where the museum was.”
Most of those taking part were over 30. “We do a lot of things aimed at children and families, so it was really good to do something specifically targeted at adults,” she says. The event also strengthened links with the local authority, with two teams from the council.
Other museums have run similar projects. Last year the People’s History Museum in Manchester held two politics quizzes in a city pub, and Oxford University Museum of Natural History hosted quiz nights in eight pubs.
Chris Jarvis, an education officer at the Oxford museum, says that the project came about when the building was closed for roof repairs in 2013 and was designed to help develop the museum’s adult education programme.
“It gave us the chance to try out different forms of engagement, look at audiences we might not otherwise meet, and evaluate people’s attitudes towards the museum,” he says.
The project was primarily aimed at people aged 18 to 24, from whom the museum had a low visit ratio. “We wanted to find out whether they visited, and reasons they might not – as well as reminding them that we are here,” says Jarvis.
The target demographic formed the third-largest group of participants and a survey afterwards showed that the activity was well received, says Jarvis. “It certainly raised our profile with that audience.
It made them think very positively about the museum and the sort of activities they could do there.”
The museum has since used a similar quiz format for on-site late events. “We now have a resource that we know can be used for occasions like that,” says Jarvis.
At Mansfield too, there are likely to be future quizzes, believes Jodie Henshaw. “I’ve had several emails from people asking when the next one will be,” she says.
The quiz was held in a studenty bar at the other end of the city, closer to other events.
The first quiz took place soon after the 2015 general election. The audience was definitely different to who we would have attracted on site. With no overheads, it was a low-risk activity that helped introduce people to what we were about.”
Catherine O’Donnell is the engagement and events officer at the People’s History Museum, Manchester
The challenge was part of a quiz organised by Mansfield Museum. It’s not unheard of for museums to contain pubs – Cardiff’s legendary Vulcan Inn is set to reopen in the open air at St Fagans National History Museum in 2019 – but some are reversing this logic, hosting events and exhibitions off-site in local watering holes.
About 65 people took part in the Mansfield Museum quiz, which cost £10 for a team of 10 and was run by two museum staff. It featured questions on general knowledge and local history, including identifying locations shown in old photographs.
Jodie Henshaw, the museum’s development officer, says the mystery objects were particularly popular. “You had a tables full of people enjoying the evening, talking through what they thought objects were, and moving parts to try and work out their function,” she says.
The partnership started when the museum was approached by the pub – which sits over the road – to explore ways of working together. Since the beginning of 2015, Mansfield Museum has also held two pop-up exhibitions at the Widow Frost – one on the history of the local tin factory, another on the town’s brewing heritage.
Benefits from this initiative include raised awareness of the museum’s work, and engagement with new audiences, says Henshaw: “Even though the pub is only over the road, there were regulars there who didn’t know where the museum was.”
Most of those taking part were over 30. “We do a lot of things aimed at children and families, so it was really good to do something specifically targeted at adults,” she says. The event also strengthened links with the local authority, with two teams from the council.
Other museums have run similar projects. Last year the People’s History Museum in Manchester held two politics quizzes in a city pub, and Oxford University Museum of Natural History hosted quiz nights in eight pubs.
Chris Jarvis, an education officer at the Oxford museum, says that the project came about when the building was closed for roof repairs in 2013 and was designed to help develop the museum’s adult education programme.
“It gave us the chance to try out different forms of engagement, look at audiences we might not otherwise meet, and evaluate people’s attitudes towards the museum,” he says.
The project was primarily aimed at people aged 18 to 24, from whom the museum had a low visit ratio. “We wanted to find out whether they visited, and reasons they might not – as well as reminding them that we are here,” says Jarvis.
The target demographic formed the third-largest group of participants and a survey afterwards showed that the activity was well received, says Jarvis. “It certainly raised our profile with that audience.
It made them think very positively about the museum and the sort of activities they could do there.”
The museum has since used a similar quiz format for on-site late events. “We now have a resource that we know can be used for occasions like that,” says Jarvis.
At Mansfield too, there are likely to be future quizzes, believes Jodie Henshaw. “I’ve had several emails from people asking when the next one will be,” she says.
Political pints
“In 2014 we opened the People’s History Museum up for Museums at Night but didn’t get much footfall, so we decided to do something different.The quiz was held in a studenty bar at the other end of the city, closer to other events.
The first quiz took place soon after the 2015 general election. The audience was definitely different to who we would have attracted on site. With no overheads, it was a low-risk activity that helped introduce people to what we were about.”
Catherine O’Donnell is the engagement and events officer at the People’s History Museum, Manchester