Lancaster University Brings Area’s Rich History To Limelight On Museum Centenary

Podcasts and exhibitions will bring local history and nationally significant artefacts to life to mark 100 years of Lancaster City Museums.

And Lancaster University experts and students from across the campus will help unravel the mysteries behind some of the artefacts.

To mark the centenary milestone, 100 objects housed across the city’s museums will be featured in weekly podcasts.

The rest of the collection of 70,000 locally important treasures from the prehistoric age to the space age will be focussed on through exhibitions and events throughout the year.

The podcasts featuring local people, experts and museum staff, will delve into the significance of finds and artefacts to stories of local people, including the Lancastrian who invented the word dinosaur and the inventor of the train ticket.

Infamous murderer Buck Ruxton’s diary and a unique UK significant 2,000-year-old inscribed Insus tomb are among the ‘100 favourite’ items to come under the spotlight.

The celebration year will culminate in November enabling people in the district to vote for their favourite objects, which will result in a ‘100 favourite objects’ exhibition.

Councillor Sandra Thornberry, the council’s cabinet member with responsibility for arts, culture, leisure and wellbeing, said: “Our museums play such an important part in charting the heritage of Lancaster, Morecambe and the surrounding area, and also house UK culturally important collections.

“This special celebration of 100 years will shine a spotlight on the rich – and sometimes dark – history of our district while bringing together members of community groups, university students and experts, who will bring objects and stories alive through the podcasts.

“We hope that all of the special events will increase a sense of ownership of our collections in the local community.”

The podcasts started on January 3 and the series of 100 will include:

· The story behind the Iguanodon Model and its connection with eminent anatomist and palaeontologist Richard Owen, who came from Lancaster, who invented the word dinosaur.

· Margaret Bird Indenture, a document from 1848, which bound 12-year-old Margaret Bird to a seven-year apprenticeship in a mill in Caton owned by the Gregg family. Along with local researcher Naomi Parsons, we explore what these indentures meant for children like Margaret and what their lives might have been like.

· The Gold Cap Badge, a beautiful piece from the 1500s, is explored with an Archaeologist to unearth how the badge actually depicts a biblical story and was one of a range of religious souvenirs available to the fashionable gentleman in Lancashire in the 16th Century.

Many of the contributors will be from Lancaster University and some of the first will include:

· Professor Julia Gillen speaking about an Edwardian postcard (see image above) from 1907.

· Dr Liz Brewster from Lancaster Medical School, whose object, a holiday guide to Morecambe from the 1920s, leads into a discussion about health provision in Morecambe.

The podcasts so far can be found at Lancaster.gov.uk/100-years. They can also be found on Amazon Music and Spotify by searching for ‘Lancaster City Museums’.

The museum service started in 1923 in the former town hall, a few years after it was decided that the town should have a dedicated museum and a publicly-owned historical collection. The Cottage Museum and the Maritime Museum were opened in the 1980s.