On the 28th June this year the Abbey Museum will celebrate 40 years since opening in 1986. While no celebratory event will be held on that special day, due to the proximity to this year’s Medieval Festival, the Museum is looking to mark this significant milestone with a History Festival in September. This new event will feature reenactment displays, arts, crafts, workshops, and music from many of the cultures represented in the Abbey Museum from prehistory to World War II.
The value of understanding of history and the fascinating human story has long been an important part of our philosophy. Our founder, Rev John SM Ward, had a great love of history and archaeology and started his own collection at the age of seven. His diary records a memory of visiting the British Museum as a young boy and how a kindly curator took the time to look at and explain the artefacts that Ward had collected from digging in his family’s garden – Roman coins and prehistoric flints. This ignited a passion for history in that young person who went on to found Britain’s first social history museum – the Abbey Folk Park – the forerunner of the Abbey Museum. Without that thoughtful curatorial influence the Abbey Museum would not be here today. Inspired by this story of the ‘kindly Curator’ from the British Museum, our Senior Curator, Michael Strong, continues this tradition and often walks out into the gallery to talk with visitors. He tells the story of a young girl, maybe 10 years of age, who visited the Museum when we had a conservator working to restore an Egyptian burial mask that had been damaged in a robbery. She spent a long time intently watching the conservator’s skilful and meticulous reconstruction. Her intelligent questions demonstrated she already possessed a rich knowledge and understanding of ancient Egyptian history. And when asked what she wanted to do when grown up – ‘become a conservator of ancient Egyptian artefacts’ – was her immediate answer. Of such wonderful connections is the joy of education and inspiration.
The Museum’s vision is “to enrich peoples’ lives through the stories that come from our collection.’ This continues the legacy that John Ward achieved through the creation of the Abbey Folk Park (1934-40) in England and his daily interaction with visitors to that unique attraction. We find it deeply gratifying that a tradition started by our Community’s founder over 100 years continues in our Museum today with all its incredible education programs, activities and cultural events. It is rewarding to talk with teachers who bring school groups and to hear that they had visited the Museum as a student and participated in the archaeological dig program, which had such a positive impact that years later they wanted to bring their students to have a similar experience. This is true education in action. When we stand at the gates as thousands of people stream out at the end of our Medieval Festival, we hear powerful and heartfelt appreciation for the joy and pleasure the festival brings.
The last forty years have had their fair share of challenges and high points, new faces and new friends, the weaving of a new story for the Museum with the opening of an Art Gallery to house beautiful works of art. Education and inspiration through an understanding of history is such an essential part of our Abbey Community story and legacy. We are so appreciative of the work and commitment of the Museum staff and hundreds of volunteers who continue this tradition and work to make a positive difference in our world.