This autumn, museums across the county want to know what you think.

We here at the Museums Advisory Service have devised a Visitor Survey to help us find out who visits museums in Wiltshire and what visitors think of them. Although the Museums Advisory Service doesn’t run any museums , we work with museums around Wiltshire giving advice and support and the Visitor Survey is one of the things we are doing with museums this year.

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 I am delighted to be able to share with you the news that ‘Photographing Wiltshire’s Treasures’, a collaborative project between ten independent museums and a local further education college, has won two awards at an event to celebrate the work of the voluntary and community sector in Wiltshire.

 
The Voluntary and Community Sector Award

The project, funded by a Renaissance South West Museum Development Fund grant, saw photography and media students from New College Swindon complete placements at museums across Wiltshire, most of which are run entirely by volunteers. During their placements the students received training in object handling and photographic techniques and were then able to work with staff and volunteers to select and professionally photograph items from the collections.

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From June to December this year at museums across Wiltshire you will be able to see a photographic display of some of the county’s marvellous museum objects.

Thanks to a grant from Renaissance South West the Wiltshire Council Museums Advisory Service has been able to work with photography students from New College, Swindon to photograph collections at nine museums across the county. Please 'read more' to see exhibiton venues, dates and more examples of the photography.

Jurassic ammonite from Cricklade Museum
                           

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Launched in 2009 the Wiltshire Treasures website allows you to search the catalogues of eleven museums in Wiltshire, along with the art and photographic collections owned by Wiltshire Council.


Example of a search on Wiltshire Treasures for all items made of mahogany in Market Lavington Museum!

There are more than 160,000 records to search containing items ranging from prehistoric flint tools to a 1960’s dolls house. The site is easy to use and searches can either be carried out by keyword, topic, place, date or name.

  The most recent addition has been 50 of the star objects from Mere Museum

 Wiltshire Treasures collections are from: [please 'read more']

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February. A month which hides between the excitement and liveliness of the New Year and the impending delights of spring. Often grey, rather dull, with only Valentine’s Day to cheer up the lucky few. However, if you are bored with the weather, frustrated with the new diet or already given up that New Year’s resolution, then a visit to one of Wiltshire’s many museums will light up the month for you. Within their varied collections lie many a fascinating item, and with that in mind, I have compiled a ‘February’ list to entice you to discover them.

February does seem to have a historical link with gloom, but how fascinating to travel to Mere Museum in south-west Wiltshire to discover the February 6^th souvenir copy of the Illustrated London News commemorating the state lying-in of Sir Winston Churchill, or the photographs showing the stone memorial built by local labour in 1999 and dedicated to the airmen killed in a Dakota crash at Beech Knoll, Stourton, on 19^th February 1945. On a lighter note, you may like to read the handwritten rules of the fife and drum band belonging to the Mere Temperance Society, February 1874 and while you are at the museum why not take a look at their six volumes of old local photographs and the local history collection.

Dakota crash memorial

Travel northwards to Warminster Dewey Museum and you will discover a wide range of local history material, including the Victor Manley collection of geology, and various Valentine dance tickets, such as the Frome Young Farmers dance (please contact our blog if any romance was found at the Longleat Restaurant, Horningsham, February 1969!). Whilst at the museum you might  be interested in the 78 rpm gramophone record of bell-ringing at St Denys Church, Warminster, 25^th February 1960, or the scrapbook donated by Barbara Norris containing details of local events, drama festivals, Women’s Institute and Girls Training Corps, compiled from 20^th February 1946 to 8^th June 1948. 'Read more' to find out which other Wiltshire museums have items associated with the month of February...

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In October 2009 Castle Combe Museum was awarded Accredited status by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

This is an excellent achievement for the volunteers who run the museum and means they are meeting nationally agreed standards for how a good museum should be operated. This is the same standard that all museums across the country work to so is a great success for Castle Combe. To continue, please 'read more'...

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At our recent Open Day at the History Centre the Museums Advisory Service ran a mystery objects activity. We borrowed a selection of objects from museums across Wiltshire and challenged visitors to identify them and also to try and date them.

 
Mystery Object Number One

It was a popular activity so we thought we would give you another chance at identifying museum objects online. 'Read more' to have a look at the other two objects....

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