Museum Celebrates Launch of New Era

25 June 2009

WORLD famous botanist, environmental campaigner and broadcaster David Bellamy was the special guest at a celebration of a newly rejuvenated South Lakeland museum today . Professor Bellamy has a special affection for Kendal Museum which he has visited for 60 years.

Professor David Bellamy pictured with Kendal College Principal, Graham Wilkinson

The museum is to develop and pilot a new degree-level qualification in curatorship that will be rolled out across the country - just one of many exciting developments to emerge from the new partnership between Kendal College and South Lakeland District Council to rejuvenate Kendal Museum, which was being celebrated today (Thursday, June 25).
Around 120 guests, including friends, supporters and volunteers, were being met by staff and a string quartet in Victorian dress before being speeches by Professor Bellamy and Kendal College Principal, Graham Wilkinson.
They were then being taken on a tour and seeing presentations on plans for the museum. A lunch was being provided by the college's award winning catering department.

In addition the museum was celebrating the launch of a prestigious book about one of its collections of world-wide importance.
A rare 10-year agreement handing over the running of Kendal Museum, one of Britain's oldest, to the college took effect on April 1 this year.
Under its terms the college looks after the collections and manages the staff and buildings.

The collections, some of world-wide value, remain the property of SLDC, with Kendal town council acting as Trustees for the building.
A Kendal Museum advisory board has been set up ensure the museum benefits all learners and visitors in creative and cultural heritage, arts and natural history.

The new qualification, which will start in September 2010, is being developed with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, Staffordshire University and Foundation Degree Forward.

It is designed for the new era in museum development, particularly looking at digital curatorship and interpretation, which are becoming increasingly important in the sector.

It will also make best use of the specific expertise of Kendal Museum's curators.

"The curatorship degree that we develop will be rolled out to museums and higher education partners throughout the country," said Matt Burke, Kendal College's head of the school of the arts, media and heritage.
Other developments include a re-branding and a new series of Thursday nights at the Museum, which will start in October.

These two hour sessions of various arts and courses connected to the museum service will include art history, botanical drawing, conservation and archeology, and how to exhibit collections.

There will be a charge for the courses, and one of the aims of the museum is to raise funds to enable it to open longer hours and develop its educational services.

Professor Bellamy, aged 76, the Professor Adult and Continuing Education at the University of Durham, near which he lives, said: "I first discovered Kendal museum when I made my first visit to the Lake District in my youth. Arthur Ransome's children's book Swallows and Amazons brought me there, as the museum holds some of his archives."

He went on to be president or vice-president of dozens of scientific, conservation and associated trusts; and travelled the world to present countless television and radio shows and write 44 books on the environment.

He said: "I made many trips to the Lakes since and the museum became one of my favourites thanks to its multi-talented curator Mary Birkett. "It was a place of hands-on, family-based learning, based on the fact that if we can touch history, be it natural or people made, then we can understand the past and plan for a commonsense future.

"It is a great honour for me to be part of the vision of this new partnership between Kendal College and South Lakeland District Council, continuing the heritage of learning that started in this place in 1796."

Today's event also marks the publication of a book on Kendal Museum's collection of fine art taxidermy by the British Historical Taxidermy Society.
The society's authors, Martin Dunne, Andrew Sage and Deanna Taylor said: "The Kendal Museum is one of Britain's oldest surviving museums and home to probably the finest collection of taxidermy by the celebrated taxidermist Henry Murray & Son of Carnforth.

"We were delighted to be asked to produce this book in conjunction with the museum, as a pictorial record of the museum's fine taxidermy collection."
The book features photographs of many exquisite and exceptional pieces of taxidermy, including a number of rare and extinct specimens.

It also provides a brief insight into the history of the museum and how its irreplaceable collections have evolved over the years.     

Background on Kendal Museum
One of the oldest museums in the country Kendal's first museum was formed in 1796 by William Todhunter who exhibited a collection of fossils, plants, minerals, animals and antiques. In 1835 the Kendal Literary and Scientific Society took over the museum. The society included among its members Dr Thomas Gough, Professor Adam Sedgwick, John Ruthven and Dr John Dalton. As the collection grew, the Museum had to be re-housed several times.
In the early 1900s money problems forced the sale of some exhibits; the rest were offered to the town. In 1913 the current building - formerly a wool warehouse - was offered to the Town Council for the purposes of housing the museum. After World War One the collections were moved to the site and the museum was run by a series of honorary curators on behalf of the Town Council. One of these curators included Alfred Wainwright, the famous guide book author and fell-walker, who gave up his spare time for 30 years to look after the collections.

The Lake District Natural History Gallery provides a glimpse of Lakeland habitats and displays ranges from geology, mountain formation, climate and habitat of the surrounding area.  The Hamer Mineral Collection was painstakingly assembled over 90 years by John Hamer and includes over 2000 mineral specimens.

The World Wildlife Gallery houses the Harrison Collection of animal trophies as well as other mounted animals, birds and insects donated from other sources.

The Wainwright Gallery charts the influence of man in Cumbria from prehistoric to modern times.  It houses Roman, Greek and Egyptian artefacts, a multi-media display of Kendal Castle as well as the recreated office of Alfred Wainwright.

The Museum also has a number of stores, which include bird, insect and plant collections.