Collection: Burwell Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Local and Social History

  The social history collections reflect local life. They include domestic items displayed in reconstructed room settings, washing and laundry equipment, blacksmith’s and wheelwright’s tools, plumbing and carpentry equipment, education, village shop and an Edwardian revolving summerhouse. The collections include garage and motoring equipment and the reconstructed cab of a ‘Burwell and District bus. The agricultural collections include hand tools and machinery such as tractors, seed drills, ploughs and wagons, all from the local area. ;The museum collections include memorabilia from both the First and the Second World Wars. Military uniforms from the Second World War. Working automatic telephone exchange from the 1950’s/60’s.;The small archaeology collection includes a reconstruction of Roman pottery kiln from near Huntingdon and an Anglo-Saxon skeleton from Burwell. The Burwell Photographic Archive contains several hundred images of activities, people, events and buildings from 1900-1999. The museum also shows videos of archive film from East Anglia. The archive collection includes old maps of Burwell.

  Folklife

  The collection of folklore items is of national significance. Many of these items were collected by the late Enid Porter, a former Curator of the museum, author of ‘Cambridgeshire Customs and Folklore’ and editor of many memoirs of Fenland life, and a renowned folklorist. It contains many examples which are rarely found in museums and the objects are well supported by Porter’s writings. The museum has an interesting and important collection of objects associated with childhood. The objects range from items associated with the rearing of children, such as nursery furniture and clothing, as well as their toys and games. The museum possesses an extremely important selection of dolls houses and a good range of dolls.

  Local and Social History

  The main themes of the collection are: Community Life: cultural traditions, social organisation, health and welfare, education, public utilities and amenities, entertainment, sport, communications, ceremonial, currency and defence. Domestic, Family and Personal Life: housing and household management, food and drink, hobbies, crafts and pastimes, costume, personal health and welfare. Working Life: agriculture, manufacturing, the professions, commerce and aspects of University life. The collections include three-dimensional objects; documents and books (primary and secondary sources);iconographic sources (pictures, paintings and maps); and photographs, film and electronic archives and tape-recordings ;The museum has a good collection of paintings, prints, watercolours and drawings of local scenes and people. Also, four inn signs held at the museum painted by local artist Richard Hopkins Leach in the 1840s. ;The museum has an interesting collection of costume that includes working costume and university costume. There is a good collection of needlework samplers. The museum has a collection of agricultural tools, mainly those associated with the distinctive way of life in the Fens. Local and British coins and tokens. The museum has a collection of books and printed ephemera, such as posters, trade bills and receipts, notices, programmes, catalogues etc and some manuscript archives. ;Tape recordings featuring local people. The museums holds an extensive photographic archive, including both original and copy images of people, place, events and activities in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire from the 19th century onwards. Some of these images have been captured digitally. There is also a collection of film.

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC