Museum’s flexible displays tell stories that have shaped city
AN EVOLVING series of displays will celebrate Sheffield’s social history, from the iconic shops of its past to the changing sporting scene.
Visitors to Weston Park Museum can see the original 1960s Cole Brothers sign that adorned the store, posters from protests against everything from apartheid to nuclear weapons, and even a striking Victorian blue dress owned by Una Ellen Brookes, who worked as a silver burnisher in the city in the late 1800s.
The items make up a series of displays in the Sheffield Life and Times Gallery, which reopens this weekend – the first phase in a major redevelopment of the museum taking place throughout the year.
The city’s sporting past is also chronicled, from cricket in the 1800s right through to the Sheffield Steel Roller Girls team competing in the city today.
Other displays show the gangs of the 1920s and a 3D map will feature some of the city’s key historical sites.
Curator of Social History, Clara Morgan, said: “Sheffield’s Social History collection, which is cared for by Museums Sheffield, is a unique chronicle of the life of city and the people that have lived here. By introducing new flexible displays at Weston Park we can now share much more of the collection, and tell even more of the remarkable stories that have shaped the city we know today.”
The £1m transformation of Weston Park Museum had been made possible due to a major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, with support from a range of trusts and foundations, visitors.