A Window on Goole - JISCMail

Goole Community Museum Goole Community Museum Full Design Brief
1) Current Requirements of the National Curriculum History The emphasis at all Key Stages is not only on developing a sense and
understanding of chronology and historical knowledge, but also to develop
the means of historical enquiry - looking at a range of sources of
information, including documents, artefacts, pictures, photographs and so
on, and to select and record information relevant to a topic. At KS1 (5-7 year olds) children are being taught about the everyday life,
work, leisure and culture of people in the past, an important feature of
which is to discover changes in their own lives and those of their family
or adults living around them. At present, the six History study units at KS2 (7-11 year olds) contain
three to which the displays at Goole Museum should contain material which
would be of direct relevance. These are Victorian Britain, Britain since
1930, and Local History. Victorian Britain deals with the lives of people at different levels of
society in Britain, and the ways in which they were affected by changes in
industry and transport, notably steam power, factories, mass production,
and the growth of the railways and their impact on everyday life. The
lives of people at different levels of society in town and country should
be studied at work ( for example, factory life, domestic service,
agriculture, the merchant navy, workhouses) at home (family life, for
example, the role of religion, public health and medicine) at leisure (e.g.
music, sport, holidays) and at school (board schools, Sunday schools,
voluntary schools etc.) Britain since 1930 covers much the same general areas, but looking at the
impact of new technologies (such as motor cars, the application of
electricity, computers) and the impact of the Second World War. Social
issues, such as family life at different levels of society, housing
conditions, diet and health, changes in the roles of men and women,
employment and unemployment, and new leisure pursuits such as radio,
television and the cinema are all to be taught as well. Local History is taught either as an aspect of the local community which
illustrates developments taught in the study units, or as aspect of the
local community during a short period of time, or its involvement in a
particular event (eg the impact of the First World War on a locality) or an
aspect of the local community over a long period of time (eg eduaction,
leisure, law and order, settlement and landscape). At KS3 (11-14 years) children build on the KS2 study units, that of
particular relevance to Goole being Britain 1750 - c.1900. They are given
an overview of three key areas - Britain's worldwide expansion (the growth
of trade and the Empire and its impact on Britain and the colonies)
Industrialisation (industrial change and its impact on the way of life of
people at different levels if society) and Political developments (the
influence of personalities and events.) Studies in depth if at least one
of the main events, personalities or developments and their significance
are also made, and this can include subjects such as industrialisation in a
local area, changes in agriculture and rural life and so on. Geography At KS2, the National Curriculum requires that three localities should be
studied - one which focuses on the locality of the school, which covers a
larger area than the school's immediate vicinity; a contrasting locality of
similar size within the UK, and another in Africa, Asia or South America.
The third is clearly not relevant to the permanent exhibition at Goole, but
catering for the requirements for the first will obviously attract schools
from outside the area to use Goole as the venue for the second! The
geographical questions which schools would be interested in, and which to a
certain extent could be addressed by the display are: the main physical or human features that give the locality its character
how localities may be similar, and how they may differ
how the features of the locality influence the nature and location of human
activities within them
recent or proposed changes in the locality
how the locality is set within a broader geographical context
2) Conservation Requirements
With mixed collections, as at Goole, which include wood, textile, paper and
leather, the relative humidity within enclosed cases should be at about
55%, which is ideal for easel paintings, and satisfactory for everything
else. Enclosed cases are more stable than the gallery as a whole, but
should be well-sealed, but also easy to gain access to for monitoring
humidity levels and taking remedial action as necessary, and also for any
cleaning. It should also be easy to remove individual objects as required.
The gallery currently suffers from excessive heat (although hopefully this
will be remedied during the alterations) which affects adhesive surfaces. The displays will contain material which is sensitive to ultra-violet
light. The maximum recommended illuminance for oil paintings is 150 lux,
while for watercolours, costumes, prints, drawings and manusripts, the
level is much lower, at 50 lux. Because the gallery is unmanned, the lighting for the gallery\cases should
be designed to operate on a time switch; library staff currently turn the
museum lights off and on, and while lights are always turned off, they do
not always remember to put them all on! 3) Security While there is nothing in the collections of very high value, such as gold
or antiquities, there are various items over which care should be taken in
the display layout, because of their potential vulnerability - the silver
Freedom casket, medals or weapons, for example. Petty theft and minor
vandalism was, until recent years, a problem in the museum because it is
largely unsupervised and this should be borne in mind both when considering
what material is to be put on open display, and in the design and location
of any interactives.
Goole Community Museum is being redisplayed to tell the story of the
development and social history of the town and port of Goole. Goole's
history is unusual, being an early 19th century town "planted" on drained
marshland by the Aire and Calder Navigation Company on the other side of
the River Don (known as the Dutch River) from the existing village. The
museum's collections reflect the "village" past, the life of the port and
its shipping interests, and the social development of urban Goole.
Briefly, the new displays will tell the story of Goole and its people,
concentrating on answering three basic questions: * why is Goole there?
* how has it developed?
* what was it like to live in Goole in its heyday? Brief
To design a lively and creative permanent exhibition for the museum,
including * working drawings
* specifications for finishes throughout, lighting and electrical
services
* interactive and audio-visual exhibits
* internal case layout, including mounts and installation
* selection and monitoring of fitting out and associated services
Audience Goole Museum currently attracts between 4000 and 6000 visitors a year,
about 75% of whom live either in Goole itself or in one of the villages
located within about 5 miles of the town. About of a third of these are
children under 14, and rather more than a third are adults over 50. The
town itself has had a relatively stable population, with the result that
many families have lived in the town for at least three generations, and in
consequence, there is a strong interest in Local and Family History. We would clearly want to develop the existing audience, through the new
permanent exhibition as well as the temporary exhibition programme. In
particular, the museum would like to expand its work with Social Services
by making the exhibition accessible and interesting for the elderly, and
at the same time relevant to the needs of the National Curriculum to
encourage school groups to make more use of it. Although the museum is
primarily aimed at the local community, the town of Goole, with its
interesting Victorian and Georgian architecture, and working docks right in
the centre of town, has the potential to develop a tourist market, and the
museum exhibition should be playing a part in this. Budget The budget for this project, excluding the purchase and installation of the
Panelock panels which will form the temporary exhibition area, will be
£150,000. This will include design fees, materials, finishes, graphics, interactives,
AV, construction and installation.
Content
General The designer will work closely with the Museums Officer, who is the project
manager, and the exhibition will be scripted either by museum staff or
another consultant. The exhibition should be "object-rich", and should
also make full use of the wide range of photographic, pictorial and
documentary material available in the collections, as well as oral
testimony from local residents. While the museum attracts a significant
number of children, it is currently underused by school groups. It is
essential, therefore, that the exhibition should feature interactives
which, as well as being fun for both children and adults, should help
children to learn from the objects and address National Curriculum learning
targets. Despite only having been in existence as a town since the 1820s, Goole has
a great de