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Case study

Shapland and Petter of Barnstaple: 150 Years

Applicant: North Devon District Council
Location: Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
Grant awarded: £50,000
Grant programme: Your Heritage
Heritage area: Museums, Libraries and Archives

Background to the project
The museum was awarded a grant of £50,000 in 2003 towards the digitisation of the extensive design archive of the Barnstaple furniture makers, Shapland and Petter. The project involved the whole of the local community in investigating and celebrating the history of Barnstaple’s largest employer for the last 150 years. The project aimed to encourage a greater understanding, both locally and nationally, of the Company’s importance in the history of design in the UK and the Arts and Craft movement.

What did the project involve?

The digitisation of the Shapland and Petter archive.

Making the archive accessible through the Museum database and online

Training volunteers to continue the digitisation process

The production of a booklet and exhibition catalogue

A temporary exhibition of Shapland and Petter furniture

Working with the local secondary schools to engage schoolchildren in an understanding of Arts and Crafts design and furniture manufacturing techniques

How did the project meet our criteria?

Conservation
The project enabled the long term preservation of the Shapland and Petter archive of around 10,000 photographic images through the digitisation of 2000 images and improved storage for the whole collection. The archive, prior to the project, was appropriately stored, however, the volumes were very well thumbed, with cracked and broken bindings. Some photographs were also missing. There was also no way of identifying an individual piece without browsing through the entire volume. The project also recorded the layout and use of the current buildings of Leaderflush Shapland, purpose built in the 1890s, which is currently facing redevelopment. The oral history element of the project collected and recorded the memories and experiences of past and present workers of the company. The project was supervised by qualified museum staff, who sought advice from the Devon Record Office on questions of archival care. The project was carried out to recognised archival standards with advice, training and support from the Technical Advisory Service for Images and Scran, an online learning resource service.

Participation
The project collected individual histories by involving local people in researching and recording their own work and lives. The volunteers comprised of around 30 school children and 30 older people. Volunteers were trained in oral history collection, research, care of photographs, digitisation and database management.

Education
The project, as well as providing training for the volunteers, offered further ways to educate the public. The project created an online database to support learning about the Arts and Craft movement. 2000 digitised images are also available online. Participation by staff and former workers will lead to an increased understanding of IT and increased adult literacy skills. The educational resources that were created supported a number of areas of the National Curriculum. The project met with the newly introduced Design and Technology module – ‘designing products for manufacture’. This unit requires students to show an awareness of design movements in the 20th century and to develop an understanding of the influence of technological developments upon design. The project was an ideal resource for Key Stage 3 / 4.

Access
The creation of digital copies and the online archive of images has enabled access to the collection regardless of location. The temporary exhibition enabled local people and visitors to experience the primary source material at first hand. The museum hopes that in the future the temporary exhibition will be available for touring. The applicant worked hard to engage new audiences and socially excluded groups; specifically school children, older people and the unemployed.

Useful tips
“My main piece of advice? Don’t underestimate the demands of a major digitisation project. We had 10,000 images to digitise. It’s a complex process and ambitious to attempt with volunteers. We thought we could simply establish a system, train the volunteers, and away we’d go. In fact, our volunteers all had such different needs and levels of ability that each needed their own individual work programme and support – tricky if you have only a few hours of staff time for the project! We’re getting there bit by bit though, and we couldn’t do it without our wonderful volunteers”. – Alison Mills, Museums Officer, Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon

Commentary
I think this is a good project because it has trained volunteers and given an important part of Barnstaple’s local heritage back to the local population. When I visited the exhibition there were lots of people who had worked at the factory taking their relatives round and retelling their story. The furniture itself is beautiful. The tiered approach to interpreting the story, through workshops, on site interpretation, oral history and more detailed catalogues and publications has meant that the story is available to all. – Helen Wheatley, Grants Officer

The Shapland and Petter project was short listed for the Gulbenkian Prize for Museum of the Year, 2005.

FEEDBACK

“It’s been very exciting to work on a project exploring local memory and experience alongside our town’s contribution to a nationally significant design movement. The £50,000 ‘Your Heritage’ grant enabled local people to really get involved – digitising Shapland & Petter’s design archive and recording their own stories in sound and moving image. The response has been incredible”.
Alison Mills, Museums Officer, Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon

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