Collection: St Neots Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The first public museum in St Neots opened as the Victoria Museum in June 1887 as part of the celebrations for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Over the next forty years the museum experienced a chequered career and a number of different homes. It finally closed in 1930 with much of the collection being offered to the Norris Museum at St Ives, although a few items survived at the offices of the Urban District Council until the 1950s.

  By the early 1960s the town of St Neots was expanding and new housing developments led to new archaeological discoveries and a renewed interest in the history of the area. In 1970 a museum was established at Longsands Secondary School by two teachers, Granville Rudd and Peter Brice.

  In the 1980s a small group of townspeople came together to promote the idea of a town centre museum for St Neots. After much hard work by a dedicated group of volunteers the Museum opened in its present premises, the town Police Station and Magistrates Court, in November 1995.

  The core of the Museum’s collection has been formed by a collection of local history material transferred to the Museum from the Longsands School Museum. This collection was built up from the 1970s by this local secondary school, and included local archaeological and social history material, as well as items from further afield. At the time St. Neots Museum was being established, the school had decided to retain only those items needed for teaching purposes, and many items falling within the St. Neots Museum’s collecting policy were transferred to the Museum in 1995/6. Subsequently the Longsands Museum Trustees decided that it was no longer practicable to continue operating the Museum, and it was wound up in January 2001. All the Longsands Museum’s accessions and records, were passed to the St. Neots Museum (and many other items to other museums). Many of these items have been added to the St. Neots Museum’s permanent collection, and others do or will form the basis of a handling collection.

  As far as possible, St. Neots Museum has tried to ascertain if items transferred in this way have been of local origin and acquired with a valid title, but because of Longsands incomplete records, this has not always been possible. Museum Trustees agreed to accept items from the Longsands collection on this basis, where they were otherwise relevant to the St. Neots Museum collection. The Museum continues to try to secure a valid title for the small number of undocumented items whenever possible.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The Permanent Collection

  St Neots Museum permanent collection consists of a wide range of material including, archaeology, social history, ephemera, photography, costume, and a small number of geological and natural history items. The core of the museum’s collection is formed by local history material transferred to the museum from the former Longsands School Museum. There is an emphasis on items from the period 1800 – 1930 but many other areas and periods of activity have only limited representation. The strength of the collection, and of the associated information, is its ability to tell the story of the history of the town and of the local area and as such it is highly valued by the local community.

  The Don Wills Collection

  The Don Wills collection is a large and significant collection of Huntingdonshire postcards, postal history, maps, and other 2D material, assembled by a former St. Neots postmaster and donated to the museum by his widow in 1996. The collections contain over 2,000 items including more than 1000 postcards and several hundred historic maps covering the period 1626 to 1968.

  Size of the Collection

  In 2023 the museums permanent collection consisted of approximately 13,000 items.

  Geographical Area and Significance

  The museums collections are primarily of local items made or used in the St Neots area, this area is as defined in St Neots Museum Ltd Memorandum and Articles of Association and includes St Neots itself and the villages near the town within approximately five to seven miles of St Neots.

  The Museum will collect objects relating to St. Neots town and the surrounding area, including the following civil parishes, provided that the collection does not conflict with the collecting policy of any other registered Museum.

  Huntingdonshire District Council:

  Abbotsley, Buckden, Diddington, Eynesbury, Great Paxton, Great Gransden, Gt. Staughton, Grafham, Hail Weston, Kimbolton, Little. Paxton, Offord Cluny, Offord D’Arcy, Perry, Southoe & Midloe, St. Neots, Tetworth, Tilbrook, Toseland, Waresley and Yelling.

  South Cambs District Council: Eltisley, Gamlingay, Graveley, Little Gransden, Papworth St. Agnes.

  North Beds. District Council: Colmworth, Little Barford, Roxton and Staploe.

  The significance of the collection is its relevance to the local history of the area and to the people who lived here and also to those who live here today.

  The Collection and the Museum’s Statement of Purpose

  The scope of the permanent collection enables the museum to fulfil the purpose for which it was established and to accomplish its Mission Statement and Vision.

  The Objects of St Neots Museum Ltd

  To advance the education of the public in conservation and the history of St Neots, Cambridgeshire and its immediate environs by the provision and maintenance of a museum.

  St Neots Museum Mission Statement

  Our mission is to collect and preserve the heritage of St Neots and the surrounding area for the education and enjoyment of present and future generations.

  St Neots Museum Vision

  To inspire people, and in particular our local community, to learn about, enjoy and participate in their heritage through the collections, exhibitions and knowledge of St Neots Museum.

  The museums Key Aims are intended to ensure the preservation of the museums collections and to increase access to them, to enable the museum to promote learning and enjoyment, extend participation and develop new partnerships.

  Continued relevance of the Core Collections

  The museums core collection is of items closely linked to the history of the town and due to the relatively recent establishment of the current collections and the history outlined above, it contains very few items which are no longer relevant. However, regular reviews of the collections ensures that any items that are no longer relevant can be identified and reassessed, this is possible because of the limited size of the collection.

  Types of Items and Digital Formats

  The collection is primarily of two and three-dimensional objects and only a very limited part of the photographic collection is held in a digital format, and currently all this material is also held as hard two-dimensional copies of digital material. This ensures that as digital technology advances a copy of the original item will still be available as a hard copy.

  Unaccessioned Items and the Handling Collection

  The museum has used a number of existing unprovenanced items to establish a museum handling collection and a loan box resource. Unprovenanced or duplicate items are still being collected specifically for the handling collection. This collecting is designed to enable us to fulfil our Mission Statement and Vision without compromising our permanent collection items and is currently passive and small scale. These items are documented separately from our permanent collection.

  Purchases

  Having limited funds, we rarely acquire items by purchase. A few exceptions have, however, been made for items which have appeared on the market and which we would be unlikely to acquire by donation. For example, in 2003 an 18th Century ‘Brown Bess’ musket, issued to members of the Huntingdonshire Militia by local landowner Mr. O. Rowley, was acquired at auction with the assistance of the V&A purchase fund. More recently a hoard of Iron Age gold staters found close to the village of Kimbolton have been purchased with the help of a variety of funding bodies.

  Loans

  The Museum generally only accepts items on loan for short periods for temporary exhibitions. However, exceptions have been made for important material which we would not otherwise have access to. In particular archaeological material loaned by the Norris Museum, St. Ives, and recently excavated material from the Old Fire Station owned by the Cambridgeshire Archaeological Unit. The museum also has the medieval wooden St. Neots Parish Chest on loan and a formal agreement exists with the PCC which reviews and renews this agreement every five years. A small number of other unique local items are on loan from a local family and a formal agreement exists in relation to these items.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2024

  Licence: CC BY-NC