The museum is currently undertaking a 100% Collections Audit to check the preservation and conservation requirements of all our items both on display and in the store rooms. In common with most museums, we have far more objects than we have space to display them, and so a useful part of auditing collections is seeing which items we can use for future temporary exhibitions, education sessions, and when we change the contents of display cases. We also have a photographer who is taking high-resolution images of all the items to add into our catalogue and to make available for researchers.
In this week’s boxes we found these wonderful shoes, brought back from India in 1917/1918. They are embroidered all over, and the soles are completely rigid, made out of layers of wood and cardboard. It would be extremely difficult to walk in such shoes, and as they show no sign of wear internally or on the soles, were probably purchased as a souvenir.
Volunteer Opportunities at the Museum.We need people to join the team to assist with opening the museum at weekends and Bank Holidays. This role involves chatting to visitors, opening and closing up the museum, assisting with enquiries, and provides good visitor services/front of house experience. The museum is open from 11am to 3pm, and the commitment is usually 1 day per month so you will still have most weekends free!
The museum receives research requests every day on all manner of regimental history, but mostly individual soldier’s history from World Wars 1 and 2. We would like people to help us with this research – checking both original documents such as journals and photographs, as well as digitised records such as war diaries and enlistment books. If you are fairly computer literate, and are able to methodically check through a variety of sources to uncover the information, and make notes, then this role would be ideal for you.
The largest and most important project we are currently undertaking is to scan, identify and register every picture in all the photograph albums and loose pictures that have been donated to us. As there are well over 100 albums, each with numerous photographs this is a bit like painting the Forth Road Bridge but a vital job if we are to make our resources more accessible to those researching family history as well as historians in years to come.
We are re- cataloguing our collections of both paper documents and artefacts, and need some more volunteers to assist with this. This role will enable you to see and handle the full variety of objects held by the museum, but also provide a vital role in ensuring the condition of objects is checked and recorded, and that they are photographed and the records updated. If you are considering a career in museum work, and would like to see behind the scenes and sample the work of a collections officer/registrar, then this is an ideal chance to gain some experience.
We currently have some extremely hard-working volunteers who do a sterling job of keeping the lawns mowed and the rose beds tidy and weeded. We would love to have some more green-fingered people to help with larger-scale pruning jobs around the edges. If you like gardening but do not have your own space, then come and help us out.
If you are interested in any of these projects, we would love to hear from you.
Please contact the museum via the Contact Page or send an e-mail to museum@royalhampshireregiment.org