The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council has announced that 26 collections will share £1.5m under the new Designation Development Fund.
The fund has replaced the Designation Challenge Fund (Museums Journal December 2009, p9), which has awarded £13m of Renaissance money to designated collections since 2002.
There are 131 collections in non-national museums, libraries and archives in England recognised as of national and international significance. Of these, 53 applied to the Designation Development Fund.
The 26 successful applications secured grants ranging from £20,000 to £100,000. Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery has received £82,000 to reinterpret the castle keep and develop a regional centre to display British Museum collections alongside its own designated collection.
Three University of Oxford museums have won grants: the Museum of Natural History has secured more than £75,000 to document and rehouse its insect collection; the Ashmolean has been allocated £50,000 to create an online learning resource for its Egyptian collection; and the Pitt Rivers Museum will receive £78,000 to improve its world anthropology and archaeology database.
Four University of Cambridge museums have also received grants: the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; Museum of Zoology; Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences; and Fitzwilliam Museum.
Some of the winning bids involve new appointments. The Jewish Museum in London, which reopens this month after a £10m redevelopment, is seeking a community curator.
Simon Stephens
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