Museum’s artefacts given new life across region

The largest single transfer from the closed-down Traditional Heritage Museum in Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, has been to Green Estate, operators of the Manor Lodge site, which overlooks the Don Valley and was once one of the finest Tudor dwellings in the north of England.

Many domestic household exhibits will be incorporated into the World War Two Living History Cottages, which are currently under construction, whilst a Stage Two application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will seek to see many of the museum’s shop displays reinstalled into a new street of period shops – including a Pollards Coffee Shop, chemist, cobblers and corner shop.

A decision on the HLF application will be made next Spring.

During the last 14 months, a team of museum professionals from Sheffield University has worked on the collections, sorting them and finding new homes for them.

Altogether, more than 46,000 items, representing more than 90 per cent of the collections, have found new homes.

The university’s director of library services, Martin Lewis, said: “The project team’s meticulous work has enabled over 90 per cent of the Traditional Heritage Museum’s collections to find new homes.

“In many cases this material will be more accessible, and will be available to be enjoyed by more people than was the case when they were housed at the Traditional Heritage Museum.”

He added: “Volunteers played a crucial role in preserving this material, and the university thanks them for their enthusiasm and hard work over many years.

“We’re delighted that many of the volunteers will be involved in supporting these collections in their new locations, especially at Manor Lodge, which has exciting plans for the future.”

Sheffield Archives will house the museum’s “extensive” archival holdings, mostly relating to the steel industry and metalworking trades.

Other major recipients include Museums Sheffield, which acquired items for the metalwork and social history collections.

Several hundred objects have been transferred to Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust at Kelham Island where many of them will be incorporated into their Little Mesters Street exhibit.

The Ken Hawley Trust, which manages the outstanding Ken Hawley tool collection at Kelham Island, has received nearly 7,000 items in total.

Smaller but important transfers have been made to specialist collections such as those at the Fire and Police Museum in Sheffield, the South Yorkshire Transport Museum in Rotherham, and Chesterfield Museum.

The Knitting and Crochet Guild at Holmfirth, meanwhile, has accepted more than 700 items including finished objects, patterns and knitting tools.

In all, 33 museums and heritage agencies have provided new homes for the Traditional Heritage Museum collections.

Some household items not required by other museums have been transferred to a local nursing home where they will be used for “reminiscence therapy”.

The chief executive of Museums Sheffield, Kim Streets, said: “We’re pleased to have been able to support the university in securing a future for these collections.

“The project team have worked very hard to ensure that this material will continue to be enjoyed by people in Sheffield and further afield for generations to come.”

The collections management assistant at Chesterfield Museum, Jan Gough, said that the Orwin Collection given to the museum features “many little gems, including several pieces of local stoneware”.

She added: “The collection was massive – I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg so far but we’ve already got an exhibition out of it and quite a lot has gone into our education collection.”

The Traditional Heritage Museum, owned by Sheffield University, opened in 1985.

It closed in 2011, when a university spokesman said it did not have the funds “to meet the necessary standards required of a public building”.