I’m Victoria Barlow and I’m the County Conservation and Museums Manager. Before moving to Wiltshire three months ago, I worked as Collections Manager for a maritime museum in Kent and have worked in museums for 15 years. During my first few weeks in post I visited all of the 18 museums that we work with and I was struck not only by the welcome I received but by the professionalism and enthusiasm of everyone working in Wiltshire’s museums.

Volunteer Mike Asbury of Pewsey Museum and Photographer Simon Harris collect an award at the recent Voluntary and Community Sector Awards. Copyright Wiltshire Council.

Many of our museums are run by volunteers and even those which do have excellent professional staff, rely on volunteers to some extent to run their services. You will have heard the government talking a lot about volunteers recently and the concept of The Big Society. Here in Wiltshire we have been doing that since the 1970s! Wiltshire Council doesn’t run a museum but instead we have a Museums Advisory Service and a team of Conservators who work with museums small and large across the county, supporting and helping them to look after their collections and meet professional standards. 

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I thought it may be of interest to take a look on your behalf at the kind of original documents visitors order out when they visit our search rooms, to give you an idea of the wide range of requests we receive for documents each day. I chose a day last week at random, and got peeking!

 
Pattern Book, Ref: 947/1802

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Hi, I’m Ange Green and, suffice to say, no two days are ever the same on Reception as our valued visitors hail from all over the country and abroad. Some visitors are on a long mission and some on a whistle stop tour. Visitors come from all walks of life to research all sorts of facts which our experienced and talented colleagues in the Search Room are only to happy to assist with. Some of our visitors are Record Office aficionados whilst others are still ‘in training’. We are also fortunate to have some very dedicated volunteers and very faithful regulars. We were very proud to celebrate our 50,000^th visitor earlier this year.

The Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre

Programmes like ‘Who do you think you are?’ have brought History and Heritage to the Nation’s attention and certainly help in promoting surges of interest in the facilities at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre. We are delighted when children and young people also come along as they are our future. We’d like to see more of them visit.

A warm welcome from staff at our reception desk

In Reception my colleagues and I from the Customer and Business Support team, aim to offer you a warm welcome, help you register quickly and settle in, and then open that door, the door to the Search Room, the point of no return but where the magic happens. It seems that visitors become entranced, certainly engrossed, and are often surprised to learn that hours have passed by in what seems like moments and they’ve forgotten to have lunch! It’s really important to take regular breaks away from the search room, both for your physical well being and your sanity when facts are eluding you! Please feel free to bring your own refreshments, especially if you are planning to be here for some length of time. We have vending machines and seating in the reception area and also outside picnic benches. Just in case you miss the lunch van (Tues – Fri) the Station café is 5 minutes up the road.

We would like to stress that we are closed to the public on Mondays. Unfortunately, many visitors have found out the hard way - our own website and the Wiltshire Council website state clear opening times but regrettably we cannot edit all external advertising agencies – we have tried. It really does matter to us that you have a positive visit – we have compliments, complaints and comments forms available and also a Visitors Book on Reception. Please do let us know if there is anything that would make a difference to your visit.


                               We really look forward to seeing you some time.

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Here on the helpdesk at the History Centre we offer help to many of our visitors who are either unsure of using the census online or are having problems tracing their ancestors when using it.



The Helpdesk

During our many hours spent giving help and guidance we have spotted a few common problems encountered by our visitors. We thought it would be good to share our knowledge with those of you who may also be experiencing difficulties. Hopefully some of the tips will be useful and give you some fresh ideas, encourage you to keep looking and with luck, maybe even solve those tricky problems once and for all!

Why are only half my family on the census page?

The household will continue on the next page. Click on the ‘Next’ icon at the top of the screen and the next page will be shown.

 
Why can’t I find my ancestor on a particular census?

Sometimes names have been transcribed incorrectly. Try using the names of other family members or cutting down the amount of information used on the search page, for instance just putting the county down under residence or putting no residence and just using the place of birth if you know it. The description of the head of the household may be misleading; the true head may have been absent on the night the census was taken. If the wife is classed as ‘married’ rather than ‘widow’, then this is probably the case. Read on to find out more...

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Wow, what a day! Over a thousand people came along to meet the Tudors at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, on Saturday 26^th September. King Henry VIII and his courtiers were on hand to greet visitors as they joined in the fun, meeting the crew from the Mary Rose and looking at original artefacts from Henry’s great naval ship; learning how to shoot arrows with a longbow and dress as a Tudor; and viewing some of the History Centre’s rarest documents from the Tudor period including the marriage deed of Henry VIII to Jane Seymour and a signed letter from Elizabeth I about her cousin Mary Queen of Scots, just some of the thousands of historic documents about the county contained in the History Centre.

King Henry VIII looking at his marriage deed

They were also able to check out Tudor technology with the Science Museum; have a go at our giant interactive Tudor Quiz; see how the film ”The other Boleyn Girl” was made at Great Chalfield Manor; write with a quill pen and find out how conservators freeze dry waterlogged wood. Glass painting, Tudor badge making and other craft activities were also taken up with enthusiasm by our younger visitors. Another popular attraction and predating the Tudors by a few hundred thousand years was the Stone Age hand axes. Visitors were also able to gain exclusive behind the scenes access to conservation laboratories and strong rooms.

 
One of the strongrooms only accessible during the Open Day

We were really pleased that more than 400 of the visitors were children, some came dressed as Tudors. Many were learning about the Tudors at school, so hopefully we were able to bring a little bit of it to life.  Everyone was encouraged to post a comment on our magnetic wall so please take time to read them all if you are visiting the Centre in the near future. We also asked people what they did not enjoy (we are always looking to improve) and one young visitor told us that he or she “didn’t enjoy nuffing”. So there you have it! How did our staff feel about the open day and what do you think would be a good theme for next year? Please 'read more' to find out and have your say....

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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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Our Roman family event was enjoyed by nearly 100 people at the beginning of the school holidays. Running as part of the Festival of British Archaeology visitors enjoyed the opportunity to find out more about the Roman period in Wiltshire. A soldier from the Ermine Street Guard told us all about life in the Roman army and impressed visitors with his weapons and armour. A household slave told tales of life in a villa working for wealthy owners. Local archaeologists brought along a range of roman finds from recent excavations for people to see and handle. The finds officer was kept busy identifying finds brought in by visitors and those cleaned by enthusiastic children in the finds washing activity.

 Finds Washing

Read on to discover our visitors' comments:

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Hello - my name is Rachel and I am the Administrator for Heritage Services. When the History Centre was opened we were set the target of attracting 20,000 visitors in 2008/9. This challenging target was based on previous visitor numbers to the various Heritage Services, previously  in different locations around the county.

Folk Arts Launch  

We are delighted to report that not only did we reach the target, we exceeded it with 20,206 visitors recorded from April 1 2008 - March 31 2009. This is a fantastic achievement and offers an opportunity to share some details of our success. 

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