Museums differ from other organisations like libraries, history societies, and record offices in so much that museums are concerned with objects; that is the artefacts or material culture made by, or related to, people and places.

Museums work with libraries, history societies and record offices in order to gain information concerning objects, to support the interpretation of these objects, and to enrich the understanding of groups or types of objects (e.g., types of Roman pottery in Somerset, dresses worn by three generations of women in one family, etc.)

WE DO NOT:

1. Research for other people with regards to their family history. (We are tightly constrained by lack of resources, especially trained staff with time to commit to answering enquiries.) Our first duty is to answer enquiries directly pertaining to our collections.

2. Hold original written records pertaining to individuals. (We do hold a small number of copied documents, most of which were originally copied from primary sources held by libraries and record offices.) Documents which come into the museum are passed onto other appropriate organisations for storage and access.

WE DO:

1. Offer access to objects, both on display and in storage, to researchers in order to enrich their understanding of particular persons or family. For example, you may know the birth, death, and anecdotes associated with your great aunt Mary, but to see her "Sunday Best" dress may give you an idea of how tall she was, her sense of style - was she prim or flamboyant?, and you may even remember an anecdote associated with this particular object.

The Museum of South Somerset collects objects associated with persons and places in South Somerset. Our collection is by no means comprehensive, but we do hold many objects with known provenance. The Museum has a list indexed on people's surnames.

2. Want to develop co-operative links with history and heritage groups. Information shared between different organisations benefits everyone involved. Family histories, journal excerpts, maps etc. help museums to fully interpret their collections. Information gathered privately by researchers and other interested people would be especially appreciated by museums for two reasons:

For more information, or to arrange a visit, please contact the Museum, telephone 01935 462855 or Fax 01935 475281, or e-mail heritage.services@southsomerset.gov.uk

...

Back to Home Page

All text © Somerset and Dorset Family History Society

E-mail address: society@sdfhs.org Postal address: Somerset & Dorset FHS, PO Box 4502, Sherborne DT9 6YL, England; Telephone/Fax: 01935 389611

Web Site maintained by Alan J Brown