We have loved being part of this project with Home Valley Sharing Memories group! The project celebrates the origins of the Holmfirth Technical Instititute, which became Holmfirth Adult Education centre and is now known as the Tech . In 1984 a newspaper article in the Huddersfield Chronicle https://huddersfield.exposed/wiki/Huddersfield_Chronicle_(12/May/1894)_-_A_New_Technical_Institute_for_Holmfirth reported the opening of the building and mentions that ‘ the valuable museum of geological and other specimens bequeathed by the late Dr. Morehouse, of Stoney Bank‘ was to be housed in the room now known as the cafe.
Our groups were really excited about the idea of a museum of curiostities, which might show natural history specimens but also potentially artifacts which have yet to be named or might even be outrageous forgeries such as the Fiji Mermaid.
Our Intermediates (7-11yr olds) created dragon eggs and our Seniors (11-17yrs) explored taking exsiting objects, changing and adding to them to create something new and suprising. They explored the aesthetics of the Victorian museums using specimen jars to add a pseudo-scientific effect to their creations.
In addition the museum housed a more contemporary twist on the museum of curiosity with strange almost cyborg figures sitting amongst the specimens, fossils, skulls and shells. Made by our 11-17yr olds these figures were developed in response to the question of what makes us human.
At the Museum of Curiosities open day visitors to the museum were able to create their own fictional specimens using found objects and clay and were encouraged to photograph ther specimen and add it to the museum’s gallery of curiosities.
