In this instance AI stands for Artefacts Ilfracombe, and our group meets every month at Ilfracombe Museum. The museum is renowned for its quirkiness, and the eclectic collection it houses. We have been getting up close and personal with some of the items that have been donated. Everything that is donated has to be first of all assessed for any damage, and also whether or not it fits in with the rest of the collection. Then it has to be accessed, which means giving it a unique museum number. When this has been done it has to be allocated a place in the museum. Some items might go directly onto display, and others are packed away in boxes until such times as they too might be needed in a display.
As you might imagine this can be a very time-consuming activity, especially when there are things like piles of letters to be gone through, or stacks of old newspapers and magazines, and this is where our group steps in. We at U3A are making a very positive contribution to the museum by undertaking some of this work, and thus freeing up Lindsay, the museum manager, to get on with some of her many other duties.
We’ve found some real treasures, such as exquisite baby dresses, silk cami-knickers from the 1930s (think glamorous film star!), a very intriguing postcard which showed a moonlit painting of the back of Capstone. That was interesting in itself, but on the reverse the message, sent to a local lady read “Meet me by moonlight – alone.” We all wondered what had happened. There was also a whole series of newspaper articles and letters from the likes of John Betjeman and Antony Crosland. This was in a vain attempt to prevent the demolition of the Ilfracombe Hotel which was on the site where the Landmark Theatre now stands. Amongst a large collection of railway memorabilia was a draughts set, used by the railwaymen to pass the time when things were quiet. We really never know what is going to turn up, but we can be sure that it will be fascinating.
As well as this assessing work, which is reducing the pending pile considerably, Lindsay has a list of other tasks around the museum. She hopes that we’ll be able to help her by listing all the items out on display, and also by checking items in boxes in the store. I’m sure that we’ll relish these tasks just as much as the sorting and accessing. We never know what might turn up!
Jane Dendle
Comments