Rural Museums Network

Gypsies are England’s oldest minority: marginalised but never invisible. That’s a challenge for museum displays, because although non-Gypsies have been representing the Romany for centuries, this was very different from the way that people in the community portray themselves. The outside view treats Gypsies as anonymous stock figures in a landscape, through paintings and literature: Gypsy memory is close-up, personal, and relies on traditions like storytelling and song which do not translate easily into the museum environment. Gypsy archives are oral and disconnected. Non-Gypsy archives are abundant but hostile.

So what is a curator to do?

For our May 2022 Rural Voices Seminar Series, we welcomed Jeremy Harte to share the kind of material likely to appear in local collections – postcards, village reminiscences, crafts – to see how they can be pulled out of anonymity into memory with the support of the community. A Traveller presence in museums is welcomed as validation for communities more often talked about than talking. 

This session was recorded and is available to view on the Rural Museums Network YouTube Channel here>>

This session was hosted by Rachael Thomas, curator and conservator, based in Inverness.

Jeremy Harte is curator of Bourne Hall Museum at Epsom and Ewell, where he has been researching and presenting Gypsy history for twenty years. He is co-organiser of Roma Gypsy Traveller History Month in Surrey, sits on the committee of the Romany and Traveller Family History Society, and has worked with community leaders to create the Surrey Gypsy Archive. He worked on the international Roma Routes project collating Romany material culture in museums. His history Travellers Through Time is the fruit of a project to present an honest portrait of Gypsy history from the inside. He can be found on Epsom Downs each June, enthusiastically buying whatever everyone else is buying. @FolkLoreSociety

Rachael Thomas is a museum curator and conservator, based in Inverness, who has worked with collections across the Highlands of Scotland. Most recently this has included time as Assistant Curator at Auchindrain Township in Argyll, and as Project Conservator during Gairloch Museum’s award-winning reinterpretation. Her areas of interest include the material culture of Scotland’s Gypsy/Travellers, and the interior decorations, fixtures and fittings of Scotland’s vernacular buildings. She is secretary of the Rural Museums Network. @rachaelthomasconservation

For most of us, our work would not be possible without brilliant volunteers. They tend to plants and plots, muck out stables, provide hands-on opportunities with collections, welcome visitors, research and catalogue collections, and support and sustain almost every aspect of our work. From March 2020, many of us were forced to find new digital ways to share our collections and activity. But where did this leave our amazing volunteers? What part could they play in this new online world?

For our April 2022 Rural Voices Seminar Series, we were delighted to host a session to share exciting and successful collections-centred projects that have virtual volunteering at their heart.

Digging deep discussions focused on two case studies; one that began pre-pandemic and another that emerged after the first lockdown. Participants were encouraged who were keen to try something similar, or wanted to reach beyond their local volunteer base. Questions were posed as to how we might overcome the barriers that such technologies can present, what the simplest, most affordable solutions might be, and if there were ways that rural museums could help and support each other.

This session was hosted by Dr Ollie Douglas, Curator at The Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading.

Sheila Fisher manages the volunteering programmes for a pool of 200 volunteers across Reading Museum and The Museum of English Rural Life. In the past two years, she co-developed seven new digital volunteering roles for 54 volunteers who donated over 1,300 hours. The roles include research into art works and artists; detective work about buildings and supporting the creation of school resources in a conservation area; summarising memoirs; transcribing letters; and research into object collections for digital interpretation and for conversion to Wikipedia articles. @SheilaHenFisher

Lisa Harris is Collections and Interpretation Manager at the Food Museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk. She joined the museum in 2001 and has responsibility for c.40,000 objects, ranging from homewares to working steam traction engines. She is currently leading the restoration of Alton Watermill to enable the story of ’seed to sandwich’ to be demonstrated (and tasted!) at the museum. Lisa studied History of Art at Stoke on Trent, and Museum Studies at Leicester. She has also worked at Ipswich Museums Service and Gainsborough’s House. @LisaMuseum

Tim Jerrome is an archivist and researcher who has been working on a project named ‘Building Connections’. This project worked to create online content for the MERL website, particularly relating to underrepresented communities, and also focused on digital interpretation of The MERL’s galleries. This digital interpretation was undertaken with the help of a large team of remote volunteers.

Kate Knowlden is Curator at the Food Museum. She joined the museum in 2019 taking on the Search for the Stars digitisation project, managing 500+ volunteers to create an online catalogue of the museum’s 40,000 objects. She helps with the programme of temporary exhibitions as well as working in partnership with the University of Leeds and their Dialect and Heritage project to take the collection on the road to rural East Anglia in 2022. Kate studied Photography at the University of Brighton and then a Masters in Curation at Norwich University of the Arts. @KateFKnowlden

Nicola Minney has spent the last 18 months working with The MERL collections, as part of the ‘Building Connections’ Project. Throughout the project she has produced new interpretation on themes of migration, decolonisation, and LGBTQ+ stories, including ‘Queer Constellations’ and a popular blog series called ‘Changing Perspectives’.

This project was supported by a large team of volunteers who participated in the MERL’s first ever digital volunteering programme, to great effect. @NM269

Dr Ollie Douglas has worked at The Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading, for over a decade where his role focusses on curation, interpretation, management, research access, and public engagement. During this time, he has both led and participated in numerous projects that have sought to reimagine rural heritage and museums in a range of creative ways. He sits on the Committee of the RMN and the Folklore Society. He is a previous President of the ICOM-affiliated International Association of Agricultural Museums. @OllieDouglas

In March 2022, we were delighted to welcome Norena Shopland back to the Rural Museums Network to build upon some of the discussions begun during our Telling the Stories of Rural LGBTQ+ Lives seminar.

Norena explored in depth how rural museums can utilise her research to showcase a new reading of the local landscape. Working-class, and rural people have rarely been written about in history. When they are, it is often for sensational reasons, an arrest, an accident or death, or doing something that defied social conventions. Consequently, these stories are often seen in a negative light and avoided. Museums rarely include them, but it does not have to be this way. With limited knowledge and resources, small museums can take small stories and make an exhibition, a blog, an ebooklet, that will fascinate everyone.

Norena’s presentation used real accounts from historical sources and showed that, by applying intersectionality, we can gain new skills in not only locating stories in historic material but getting maximum value from them. No story is too small.

Norena’s book, A Practical Guide to Searching LGBTQIA Historical Records is published by Routledge, 2020.

The Queering Glamorgan research guide to sources for the study of LGBT History, mentioned by Norena during the seminar, is available as a downloadable PDF from the Glamorgan Archives.

This session was hosted by David Rounce, Project Director with Glencoe Folk Museum.

Norena Shopland is an author/historian specialising in the history of sexual orientation and gender identity. Her book Forbidden Lives: LGBT stories from Wales (Seren Books, 2017) is the first completely historical work on Welsh LGBTQ+ history. Queering Glamorgan and A Practical Guide to Searching LGBTQIA Historical Records (Routledge, 2020) have become very popular as toolkits to aid people in doing research. Shopland also researches and writes on Welsh history including her book The Curious Case of the Eisteddfod Baton and an exhibition and forthcoming book on the Tip Girls of Wales, women working in the coal industry. In 2021 Shopland was commissioned by the Welsh Government to deliver LGBTQ+ training to local libraries, museums, and archives in Wales. Her latest book is A History of Women in Men’s Clothes: from cross-dressing to empowerment (Pen and Sword Books, 2021). @NorenaShopland

David Rounce is Project Director with Glencoe Folk Museum and still pinches himself that he’s paid to build museums. A graduate of the University of York with BA (hons) History/Archaeology and MA Transport History, he has worked in curatorial roles for twelve years in a number of independent museums, most recently managing the award-winning rebuilding of Ravenglass Railway Museum in Cumbria. Away from work David’s hobbies include playwriting, photography, and talking about himself in the third person. @RounceDavid and orphaned-objects.blogspot.com

We’re delighted to share news from our friends at AIMA, the International Association of Agricultural Museums.

In 2021, AIMA President Claus Kropp co-ordinated an international, digital conference which saw participants from all over the world discussing the history, preservation, training and future of draught animals. The proceedings of the conference are a comprehensive result of these efforts.

For thousands of years, draught animals played a key role in the survival of many cultures. Even today, they secure the livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. Whether in transport, agriculture or forestry, draught animals can provide sustainable, environmentally friendly and economically valuable forms of land use. Nevertheless, there are many challenges, be it the pressure of profit-oriented markets or politics, in the field of animal welfare, breeding and livestock farming. In addition, the total number of draught animals is declining.

You can download Draft Animals in the Past, Present and Future here>>

Our speakers for the final Rural Voices panel session in 2021 were specialists in developing and undertaking new research to uncover and make accessible queer rural stories.

Norena Shopland discussed how rural heritage organisations can utilise her research to showcase a queer reading of the local landscape, while Joe Jukes touched upon understanding of the word ‘queer’ and how it could provide a different approach to telling marginalised stories, whilst pushing for change. Tim Allsop collects life stories of rural queer people and mediates them through technology, theatre, and film. Together with Sally Dix from the Museum of East Anglian Life, Tim shared his experiences of using performance art to explore these life stories with wider audiences.

This session was hosted by Rachael Thomas, curator and conservator, based in Inverness.

Tim Allsop is an actor, writer, and director. After studying History at Balliol College, Oxford, Timothy trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Tim holds an MA in Creative Fiction from Royal Holloway.

His plays include Open (co-written with Chris Adams) and fiction work includes The Smog, along with various short story publications. He is co-leading the Queer Rural Connections Project, writing the original play based on real life interviews, and directing the live theatre production and film. The film is currently being screened in film festivals. @TimothyCAllsop1

Sally Dix is an Audience Development Officer at the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket, Suffolk. She has worked on various projects that have helped to engage audiences with LGBTQ+ history. In the summer, Sally curated ‘Dining with Pride’, a temporary exhibition exploring the lives, loves and achievements of a number of people from the LGBTQ+ community in Suffolk; past and present. The museum also worked alongside Timothy Allsop to host multiple performances of ‘The Stars Are Brighter Here’, a play exploring LGBTQ+ rural lives in the countryside.

Joe Jukes (they/them) is a PhD researcher at the Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender, University of Brighton. Joe’s research concerns rural queer experiences, relations and emotions, asking how we might think about the countryside’s LGBTQ+ communities differently.

Joe has presented their research for the Arts and Humanities Research Council, at the Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association, and has written for CPRE – The countryside charity. They also curated the exhibition Queer Constellations at the Museum of English Rural Life, which showcased 8 artists from across UK and Ireland. @jsdjukes

Norena Shopland is an author/historian specialising in the history of sexual orientation and gender identity, particularly in reference to Wales. Her book Forbidden Lives: LGBT stories from Wales (Seren Books, 2017) is the first completely historical work on Welsh sexual orientation and gender identity.

Queering Glamorgan and A Practical Guide to Searching LGBTQIA Historical Records (Routledge, 2020) have become very popular as toolkits to aid people doing original research. Shopland’s latest book A History of Women in Men’s Clothes: from cross-dressing to empowerment (Pen and Sword Books, 2021) looks at thousands of individuals who cross-dressed, cross-worked, and cross-lived as men. @NorenaShopland

Rachael Thomas is a museum curator and conservator, based in Inverness, who has worked with collections across the Highlands of Scotland. Most recently this has included time as Assistant Curator at Auchindrain Township in Argyll, and as Project Conservator during Gairloch Museum’s award-winning reinterpretation. Her areas of interest include the material culture of Scotland’s Gypsy/Travellers, and the interior decorations, fixtures and fittings of Scotland’s vernacular buildings. She is secretary of the Rural Museums Network. @rachaelthomasconservation

In the second of our Rural Voices Seminar sessions from 2021, we introduced participants to what decolonisation might mean for their organisations and working practices.

Until recently, colonial legacies had not been central to rural history, heritage, or museology but there are clear issues to address concerning land rights, extractive colonialism, and contemporary social justice.

Work by Tehmina Goskar had begun to explore how museums in rural locations can help meet these challenges and The MERL had begun to think about what this all means for collections of rural life. As well as advocating for greater transparency about the impact of empire and globalisation, our panel argued for fundamental changes to our roles, teams, and ​how we interpret collections. Participants were encouraged to join us in exploring how ​reforming rural museology was critical to decolonisation.

This session was co-hosted by Dr Ollie Douglas, Curator at The Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading and Dr Tehmina Goskar, Director and Curator, Curatorial Research Centre.

Nicola Minney is a Collections Researcher at The MERL and has spent the last year working with the collections as part of the ‘Building Connections’ Project.

Throughout the project she has produced new interpretation on themes of migration, decolonisation and LGBTQ+ stories, including school sessions focused on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month; ‘Queer Constellations’; and an upcoming exhibition called ‘Changing Perspectives’.

Anooshka Rawden is the Cultural Heritage Lead for the South Downs National Park Authority, supporting a range of projects to increase awareness of the culture and heritage of the South Downs. Previously, Anooshka was Programme Manager with both South East Museum Development and Science Museum Group. Anooshka’s background is in collections management, and she has managed the collections of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and The Novium Museum, focusing on support for collections research and opportunities to make collections more accessible through public programming. A career highlight has been mentoring for Museum Futures, a programme which provides opportunities for diverse museum professionals to gain on the job training. @anooshka_rawden

Dr Winane Thebele is Chief Curator and Head of the Ethnology Division, Botswana National Museums, which she joined after graduating from the University of Botswana in 1993. Her professional and scholarly research interests have been geared towards the country’s migrated collections and participating in international debates and projects around the same colonial holdings as well as contemporary cases on the illicit trafficking of cultural property. This includes facilitation and presenting at conferences and workshops on heritage and she therefore boasts a vast experience on issues of museum collections, restitution, human remains, genocide etc. She has contributed to publications on heritage and several local and international projects on heritage and exchanges between museums and universities.

Dr Ollie Douglas has worked at The Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading, for over a decade where his role focusses on curation, interpretation, management, research access, and public engagement. During this time, he has both led and participated in numerous projects that have sought to reimagine rural heritage and museums in a range of creative ways. He sits on the Committee of the RMN and the Folklore Society. He is currently President of the ICOM-affiliated International Association of Agricultural Museums. @OllieDouglas

Tehmina Goskar is the Director and Curator of the Curatorial Research Centre, an independent organisation dedicated to modern, ethical curatorial practice. She is a Fellow of the Museums Association, and from 2016-21 was a member of its Ethics Committee and Decolonisation Guidance Working Group. She is an accredited facilitator and Research Associate at Swansea University. From 2016-18 she was an Arts Council England-supported Change Maker when she founded the Rural Diversity Network, and from 2018-21 she developed and led the cultural democracy and alternative pathways programme, Citizen Curators in collaboration with Cornwall Museums Partnership. Tehmina is currently preparing a new book on curating which will also explore how she decolonised her own curatorial practice. @tehm

In the autumn of 2021, the Rural Museums Network went online once more with a new Seminar Series – tailoring contemporary thinking and practice to those who work with rural life collections, providing practical suggestions and support.

Monthly tea break seminars were held, with the opportunity to hear expert panels discuss how rural collections and rural sites could better include a wider range of voices in the stories they tell by looking at Gypsy, Roma and Travelling communities; decolonisation; and LBTQ+ lives.

For the opening session, the Rural Museums Network brought together a panel of experts who were passionate about the representation of Gypsy, Roma and Travelling communities in our rural histories. Jeremy Harte, John Henry Phillips, and Georgina Stevens discussed how and why GRT histories have a place in our museums, as well as who we should be working with to make these stories accessible to all.

This session was hosted by Guy Baxter, Associate Director (Archive Services) at the Museum of English Rural Life.

Jeremy Harte is curator of Bourne Hall Museum at Epsom and Ewell, where he has been researching and presenting Gypsy history for twenty years. He is co-organiser of Roma Gypsy Traveller History Month in Surrey, sits on the committee of the Romany and Traveller Family History Society, and has worked with community leaders to create the Surrey Gypsy Archive. He worked on the international Roma Routes project collating Romany material culture in museums. His history Travellers Through Time is the fruit of a project to present an honest portrait of Gypsy history from the inside. He can be found on Epsom Downs each June, enthusiastically buying whatever everyone else is buying. @FolkLoreSociety

John Henry Phillips is an award-winning archaeologist, author and filmmaker of Romani descent. He is the co-director of Romani Community Archaeology, a new non-profit looking to elevate Romani communities through archaeology. By excavating, engaging and educating, the project aims to uncover sites and artefacts highlighting the material culture of Romani Gypsies in order to combat modern misconceptions and showcase Romani as a unique ethnic minority with a deep and rich history. By working with Romani communities, the project aims to elevate Romani voices, improve mental and physical well-being and open the heritage sector up to those who may otherwise not have access. @johnphillips185

Georgina Stevens is from a Romani background and previously worked in education. She is Vardo Project Curatorial Officer for Hartlebury Castle Museum in Worcestershire, home to the most complete collection of Vardos in the UK. Georgina has been appointed as part of a 3-year project funded by the John Ellerman Foundation that aims to illuminate the context of the museum’s extremely unique collection, by engaging directly with the travelling community, sharing information about its culture and identity. It aims to empower the collection to challenge negative stereotypes and preserve a neglected history in the public domain before it is lost. @WorcesterMuseum

Kathy Townsley McGuigan grew up in the 1960s in a traditional Scottish Traveller family based in Argyll and all-around Scotland. She spent most of her working life in traditional farming or equivalent roles. Out of work, her family hung on to the traditional ways longer than many others. She was always aware and proud of her community’s traditions, and became an articulate advocate for these, and for Traveller rights, within her own community and to the outside world. She has worked at Auchindrain Historic Township since 2014, where her knowledge saw her become a subject-specialist on the intangible and tangible elements of Traveller culture, taking part in research, recording, collecting and interpretation.

Guy Baxter is Associate Director (Archive Services) at the Museum of English Rural Life. He has worked at the Museum since 2008 and is a strong advocate for museums, libraries, archives and researchers working closely together for a common purpose. Having contributed to the inclusion of Gypsy Roma and Traveller stories in the Museum’s new galleries in 2016, Guy supported the strand of The MERL’s Building Connections project looking more broadly at interpretation about migration. This led to the Museum’s successful first engagement with GRT History Month in 2021, as the springboard for longer-term engagement – online, in schools and in the Museum. @archivesgb

Our final speaker, Louisa Adjoa Parker, closed our 2020 Conference by encouraging delegates to understand what they can do to support Black Lives Matter in a rural context.

A writer and researcher from South West England, she focused on the experiences of people of colour in white rural landscapes, including the Black History in Dorset project (2007) which explored the presence of African and Caribbean people in Dorset over 400 years. She brought that work up to date for us by exploring the differences between rural and urban racism, the challenges in challenging others, Black Lives Matter protests in rural areas, as well as what museum workers can do professionally and personally to enact change.

This session was hosted by Melanie Williamson, Collections Assistant, Staffordshire Archives and Heritage

Louisa Adjoa Parker is a published writer and poet of Ghanaian and English heritage from South West England. She began writing to talk about the racism and domestic violence she experienced as a child, and is passionate about telling the stories of marginalised voices. Louisa has written books and exhibitions exploring black, Asian and ethnically diverse history in the South West. She set up the Where are you really from? project which tells stories of black and brown rural lives. As co-founder of The Inclusion Agency (TIA) she provides consultancy around Equality, Diversity and Inclusion to a range of organisations as well as delivering diverse Arts and Heritage projects. @LouisaAdjoa

Melanie Williamson is Collections Assistant at Staffordshire County Museum. She studied Art Museum and Gallery Studies at the University of Leicester, but moved into social history. She has gained experience in front of house, consultancy, collections, outreach and events, following part-time and temporary roles all over the country. She’s been in her current role for seven years, and collections are where her heart lies. She is a committee member of the RMN.

As we continue our series of posts, looking back on our October 2020 Conference sessions, this event explored three case studies that supported and inspired delegates to manage the changes wrought by Covid-19 on our day to day practice.

Chris Copp of Staffordshire Archives and Heritage presented ‘Lockdown Memories’: creating a lasting record of the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdown measures and how they affected the lives of Staffordshire people. Megan Dennis of Norfolk Museums Service shared ‘Keeping Volunteers Engaged’: supporting volunteers at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse during the pandemic. And Fay Bailey of Shropshire Museums Service contributed ‘Opening up at Acton Scott Historic Working Farm’: the practicalities of re-opening an open-air museum post-lockdown.

This session was hosted by Dr Ollie Douglas, Curator at The Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading.

Chris Copp is Senior Museums Officer at Staffordshire Archives and Heritage. He has over 25 years’ experience of working in museums, initially in Leicestershire, but mostly in Staffordshire. Until 2017 he was based at Shugborough and managed the collections and displays at Staffordshire County Museum and Shugborough Park Farm. Having since relocated to Stafford he is currently working on the development of the new Staffordshire History Centre and is Secretary for the Rural Museums Network. @CoppCJ

Megan Dennis is Curator at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, Norfolk’s rural life museum, part of Norfolk Museums Service. Following a degree in Archaeological Sciences, and a research Ph.D. Megan developed knowledge of archaeological collections and practical excavation within public-facing organisations. She later created and managed museum learning programmes in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk. Since 2008 she has been Curator at Gressenhall. Her responsibilities include development and management of collections and management of a team of staff, trainees and volunteers. Recent projects include a Skills for the Future trainee programme and Voices from the Workhouse £2 million re-development project. @CuratorMeg

Fay Bailey is Service Manager of Shropshire Museums. Her twenty-four years in the heritage industry have taken her to Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust, English Heritage and latterly Shropshire Museums Service where she managed the learning, marketing and audience development teams before taking on the role of Service Manager.

Dr Ollie Douglas has worked at The Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading, for over a decade where his role focusses on curation, interpretation, management, research access, and public engagement. During this time, he has both led and participated in numerous projects that have sought to reimagine rural heritage and museums in a range of creative ways. He sits on the Committee of the RMN and the Folklore Society. He is currently President of the ICOM-affiliated International Association of Agricultural Museums. @OllieDouglas