What? It is a museum of poo, says its co-founder Daniel Roberts. It started life as a “plop-up” exhibition in 2016 at the Isle of Wight Zoo, with the intention of raising funds for the Eccleston George artists’ collective. Such was the public response that Roberts and his colleagues realised they needed a museum.
Where? The museum is housed in the derelict Sandown Barrack Battery on the cliffs above Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight.
Why? “Poo is a neglected topic,” says Roberts. “Just about every form of life produces it so it makes up a large part of our natural environment. It’s an indispensable part of the biological cycle, and without it life would grind to a halt.”
Collection The museum boasts excrement from a variety of creatures including lions, spider monkeys, meerkats, lesser Madagascar tenrecs, skunks, elephants, foxes and humans. “We have collected in the wild and have also received samples from the public,” says Roberts. The museum holds a collection of coprolites (fossilised feces), which were donated by the Isle of Wight Dinosaur Museum and George Frandsen, who runs Poozeum in Florida.
Highlights Roberts selects a fossilised crocodile poo sent by Frandsen as one of his favourites. “Unlike most coprolites, which look like pebbles, this really looks like poo,” he says. “Because it’s made of rock you can put it in people’s hands quite safely. Holding poo feels odd and knowing it came out of a crocodile’s cloaca (bottom) between five million and 20 million years ago is something special.” The museum owns a high-powered biological microscope that is linked to a monitor. “Sometimes we will take visitors outside to find real poo. Each reveals itself to be an array of jiggling bacteria, parasites, fungi and other living organisms.”
Help at hand The museum is run by a small team of volunteers.
Budget The team invested £7,000 of their own money to create the exhibits and set up the museum as a not-for-profit. The Isle of Wight Council’s regeneration committee has recognised the popularity of the museum and, to enable it to have a permanent home, has made available the barracks site and contributed £15,000 for building repairs. The museum is launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise the rest of the funds needed.
Sticky moment “To encapsulate poo samples in resin they have to be dry, so I had built a small solar dryer and put our first samples in it on the flat roof of our studio,” Roberts says. “A storm ripped off the top of the dryer and the next day I had to ferry the ruined samples in plastic bags down a ladder for disposal.” His presence on the roof alerted the police, who thought he was stealing lead.
Survival tips Try to attract the public’s eye through unconventional means, says Roberts. “People love novelty and will be more ready to support you. It doesn’t mean you have to abandon serious messages, but people are more likely to remember something if it makes them laugh.”
Who has the biggest poo – this museum or York’s Jorvik Viking Centre? “Jorvik’s Viking poo is about 20cm long but we have even bigger ones in our museum,” says Roberts. “Elephant dung and cowpats are much bigger. Our lion poo would be about 80cm long if we could uncurl it, but it’s unfair to compare inter-species poo. A fairer comparison is our adult human poo, which came in at roughly 50cm long and 44.5mm wide, though it shrank a bit when it was dried out.”
Visitors In its first season, the National Poo Museum exhibition was shown in the IoW Zoo. It did not record visitor numbers but reported that it had had its busiest Easter to summer period ever.
Future plans The museum is renovating the barracks’ gatehouses for the collection, cafe and shop. It hopes to open fully this summer. The museum has also been working on a funding bid for a Dog Poo Roadshow – a touring public education and research scheme about dog fouling planned for September.
Louise Gray is a freelance journalist.
poomuseum.org
Where? The museum is housed in the derelict Sandown Barrack Battery on the cliffs above Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight.
Why? “Poo is a neglected topic,” says Roberts. “Just about every form of life produces it so it makes up a large part of our natural environment. It’s an indispensable part of the biological cycle, and without it life would grind to a halt.”
Collection The museum boasts excrement from a variety of creatures including lions, spider monkeys, meerkats, lesser Madagascar tenrecs, skunks, elephants, foxes and humans. “We have collected in the wild and have also received samples from the public,” says Roberts. The museum holds a collection of coprolites (fossilised feces), which were donated by the Isle of Wight Dinosaur Museum and George Frandsen, who runs Poozeum in Florida.
Highlights Roberts selects a fossilised crocodile poo sent by Frandsen as one of his favourites. “Unlike most coprolites, which look like pebbles, this really looks like poo,” he says. “Because it’s made of rock you can put it in people’s hands quite safely. Holding poo feels odd and knowing it came out of a crocodile’s cloaca (bottom) between five million and 20 million years ago is something special.” The museum owns a high-powered biological microscope that is linked to a monitor. “Sometimes we will take visitors outside to find real poo. Each reveals itself to be an array of jiggling bacteria, parasites, fungi and other living organisms.”
Help at hand The museum is run by a small team of volunteers.
Budget The team invested £7,000 of their own money to create the exhibits and set up the museum as a not-for-profit. The Isle of Wight Council’s regeneration committee has recognised the popularity of the museum and, to enable it to have a permanent home, has made available the barracks site and contributed £15,000 for building repairs. The museum is launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise the rest of the funds needed.
Sticky moment “To encapsulate poo samples in resin they have to be dry, so I had built a small solar dryer and put our first samples in it on the flat roof of our studio,” Roberts says. “A storm ripped off the top of the dryer and the next day I had to ferry the ruined samples in plastic bags down a ladder for disposal.” His presence on the roof alerted the police, who thought he was stealing lead.
Survival tips Try to attract the public’s eye through unconventional means, says Roberts. “People love novelty and will be more ready to support you. It doesn’t mean you have to abandon serious messages, but people are more likely to remember something if it makes them laugh.”
Who has the biggest poo – this museum or York’s Jorvik Viking Centre? “Jorvik’s Viking poo is about 20cm long but we have even bigger ones in our museum,” says Roberts. “Elephant dung and cowpats are much bigger. Our lion poo would be about 80cm long if we could uncurl it, but it’s unfair to compare inter-species poo. A fairer comparison is our adult human poo, which came in at roughly 50cm long and 44.5mm wide, though it shrank a bit when it was dried out.”
Visitors In its first season, the National Poo Museum exhibition was shown in the IoW Zoo. It did not record visitor numbers but reported that it had had its busiest Easter to summer period ever.
Future plans The museum is renovating the barracks’ gatehouses for the collection, cafe and shop. It hopes to open fully this summer. The museum has also been working on a funding bid for a Dog Poo Roadshow – a touring public education and research scheme about dog fouling planned for September.
Louise Gray is a freelance journalist.
poomuseum.org
