The Museum’s collections, assembled over some forty years, provide a unique picture of life and work in the city and the surrounding region in a period of dramatic and unprecedented change. They open a window on the past, giving fascinating insights into how people lived and plied their trades in years gone by. The collections are representative of typical local occupations and domestic scenes at various points during the second half of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries.
- Principal collections include:
- Pawnbroker’s Shop
- World War II Air Raid Wardens’ Post
- “Front Room”
- Corner Shop
- High Class Grocery and Coffee/Tea Merchant’s Shop
- Basketmaker’s
- Shoe- and Clog-Making
- Chemist’s
- Optician’s Horn Scalepressing Workshop
- Filemaking
- Buffing
- Knifegrinding
- Children’s Toys and Games
- Early 20th Century Kitchen
- 1930s Front Room,
- Drawing Room, or Parlour
- Tool Merchant’s Retail Shop
- Cutlery Works Office of G. Wostenholm
- Electrical Contractor’s Shop
- Silversmith’s and Engraver’s Retail Shop
- Victorian/Early 20th Century Wash-house
- Early 20th Century Children’s Nursery
- Muir Smith Puppet Collection
For details see the Brief Guide.
The Museum also presents a continually changing sequence of smaller displays from its various other collections.
Index