Monday, June 17, 2013

New medieval manuscript on display at Wakefield Museum

The Food For All Seasons Exhibition at Wakefield Museum opened in March and runs until September. The exhibition demonstrates what was on the menu season by season in medieval Wakefield.

As part of the display we have had the amazing opportunity of exhibiting some very rare and beautiful objects, on loan from the University of Leeds Brotherton Library: 3 intricately decorated books of hours.

The second book of hours being put on display

Due to the delicate and sensitive nature of these loans the manuscripts have to be protected from light and have the pages turned every 7 – 14 days to prevent any light damage. The books can only be on display for a short amount of time. The first book of hours has now been returned to the Brotherton library and replaced with an equally stunning manuscript.

The book of hours has had a special mount made to safely hold it open for display

Don’t miss this rare and special opportunity to view these incredibly beautiful books.

This exhibition is part of the You Are What You Ate project, funded by the Wellcome Trust and in partnership with Wakefield Council, the University of Leeds and the University of Bradford.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Creating a Better Museum

An article about Wakefield Museum was published by Museums and Heritage Advisor:

CREATING A BETTER MUSEUM IN FINANCIALLY CHALLENGING TIMES

Ensuring that our museums continue to prosper in these difficult economic times is the major challenge facing the museum sector. One possible way forward for protecting museum’s in the future is through co-location and integration with other services to reduce overall operating costs and improved efficiencies whilst benefiting from new and exciting synergies that can lead to improved customer experience.

As a consequence of the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review in October 2010, Wakefield Council had to look closely at all its services to address a significant budgetary deficit and the Museum Service was no exception and it had to find a way to reduced its overall running costs whilst ensuring that core services continued to be delivered to the public remain.

To meet this challenge the Museum Service had to do something radical and to face up to a major operation issue – the future of Wakefield Museum.

To read the full article - click here.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Artists in the Atrium

Wakefield One Atrium Case Commission

We have recently been successful in securing funding from Arts Council England for a project to commission an artist or cultural organisation to create an installation using Wakefield Council’s museum objects in an innovative and exciting way - a special showcase in the Lower Atrium of Wakefield One.

We are looking for an artist to use our collections as inspiration to create a beautifully engaging display. Combining artistic practice, be it sculpture, multimedia or painting, with museum objects to wow, thrill and surprise our visitors. Take this opportunity to amaze us with ideas that allow people to engage with museum collections in a different way. As long as the objects are safeguarded we will consider anything…

The prominent atrium case (currently contains a printing press)

We have pre-selected two areas of our collections to choose from to act as the centre point and inspiration for the installation. They are either:

· Architectural stonework - The museum collections include numerous examples of feature stonework from now demolished buildings across the district.

· Painted bath - A late Victorian painted and stencilled metal bath

Project budget: up to £4000

An example of the architectural stonework available

Painted bath - the inside is painted to look like marble!

Project timetable: Closing date for proposals 1 July 2013. Display to open in October 2013.

For full details of the commission and how to apply please e-mail

Monday, June 10, 2013

All in a flap!

Vote for your favourite 1920s dress

The 1920s are coming to Wakefield Museum but we are all in a flap!

Historic costume enthusiast Nicola Townend has been back with us to start preparing a 1920s display in our Dress to Impress case. Beaded flapper dresses are the order of the day, but Nicola can’t decide which one to use.

We have a short-list of three dresses, all from the 1920s, when jazz and the Charleston came to Wakefield.

Our current Dress to Impress display explores a night out in Wakefield in the 1820s

Nicola examines one of the dresses - we are spoilt for choice!

Pick your favourite by ticking the 'funny', 'interesting' or 'cool' reaction boxes under the dress picture you like the best. The dress with the most reactions by Sunday 30 June will go on display at the end of July.