Bad times for Warwickshire Museum
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The Warwickshire Natural History and Archaeological Society had benefited from the enthusiastic support and membership of the local gentry. It particularly flourished under the influence of the eminent geologist Rev. Peter Brodie. However, in the late 1880s its supporters were dwindling and this brought financial problems.
The museum appealed to the public for support, but the 1882 Committee reported ‘Although a recent appeal to the rich and influential residents of the County has been made the Council regrets to say that as a result of 200 applications, only £1 and 1 shilling has been received’.
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With the lack of financial and public support the museum declined. At the same time the Society lost one of its most influential Honorary Curators, Brodie, who died in 1897. From the late 19th Century, the museum was saved by the efforts of William Gibbins, a local landowner and a Quaker. He paid for repairs of the Market Hall and the redisplay of the collections. In 1932 the Society offered the collections to Warwickshire County Council. By accepting this offer Warwickshire became the first council in Britain to take responsibility for a museum service.
The county’s museum had its first permanent curator, whose task was to remove the collection from the Market Hall for refurbishment. When the Second World War began in 1939 the building was taken over by the army. The collection was then stored for the next ten years and left without proper care. Disillusioned, the curator resigned.
A new curator was appointed in 1948, and the museum began to revive. Local support for the museum was poor. Newspaper articles were negative: one councillor commented on the museum collection as a ’tremendous lot of junk’. However, the museum did have some people fighting its corner and it was refurbished and opened again after 10 years.
From the museum's days as Warwickshire Natural History and Archaeological Society it has developed, with its ups and downs, into the extensive county wide service it is today.
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