PRISM Fund: Celebrating 45 Years
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PRISM Fund: Celebrating 45 Years 1 2 3 4 Cover Images: 1. The ex-NER Class J27 steam locomotive in steam. Photo: North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Society. 2. Conserved, rehoused pathology specimens of the Whittington Hospital Teaching Collection. Photo: University College London. 3. Photograph of Brunel standing in front of the funnel of the ss Great Eastern. Photo: ss Great Britain. 4. BSA Telegram Messenger's Motorcycle B33/I T14. Photo: The British Postal Museum and Archive. Contents Introduction 4 History of PRISM 5 PRISM Grants Awarded by Arts Council England: North East 6 Yorkshire 7 North West 7 West Midlands 8 East Midlands 9 London 9 East of England 10 South East 11 South West 12 Wales 13 Summary 14 Introduction At the point that we are closing the PRISM fund and introducing new Arts Council funding opportunities to support the conservation of scientific and industrial collection items, we wanted to look back on the past 45 years of funding and reflect on the purpose and impact of the fund. The PRISM fund was established in 1973 as an initiative to support the preservation of industrial heritage. Since the fund was established it has made a significant contribution to the sector by supporting over 580 organisations to acquire or conserve almost 2,200 objects. In April 2018 Arts Council England will merge the conservation work supported by PRISM into the newly developed Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants programme. This document has been produced to celebrate the work of all those involved in the PRISM fund over the past 45 years. It is also a formal recognition of the work done by all the applicants from small enthusiast- led organisations to Accredited museums. As we move forward with the new Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants it feels an ideal time to select some highlights from the past 10 years of PRISM at Arts Council England. And although there isn’t space to include all the incredible projects the fund has been fortunate to support we hope the examples given provide a snapshot of the outstanding work achieved. In the pages that follow we have provided a few of the many highlights, from each region of England, and Wales from the last 10 years of PRISM. 4 History of PRISM The Preservation of Industrial and Scientific Material (PRISM) fund awards grants towards the costs of acquisition and conservation of individual objects and collections which are recognised for their importance in the history and development of science, technology, industry, and related fields. It was established in response to widely held concerns about the preservation of the material culture relating to Britain’s Victorian industrial history alongside a burgeoning interest in museums to collect industrial archaeology. The PRISM fund was initially run solely by the Science Museum on behalf of the Office of Arts and Libraries, then later on behalf of the Museums & Galleries Commission, and Re:source. Management of the fund transferred to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in 2003 and subsequently to Arts Council England as of October 2011. The Arts Council is one of a number of bodies, supporting Accredited museums, as well as specialist libraries and archives to collect and care for important scientific collections. The Arts Council has continued to take expert advice from the Science Museum Group; the Natural History Museum; The British Library; The National Archives; National Historic Ships; and other institutions when deciding on grant awards. We are grateful to the many expert assessors who have enabled us to make awards that align with the Arts Council’s goal to support Great Art and Culture for Everyone. In 1973 the stewardship of industrial, technological and scientific history was largely the responsibility of national and public sector museums. Since then there have been substantial changes in the structure of the sector and as a result many more collections and sites are being cared for by a greater variety of charitable organisations and specialist interest groups. All the objects conserved and acquired with support from PRISM have a unique or important place within Britain’s rich past, and help to connect the public with the country’s scientific, industrial or technological heritage. 5 PRISM Grants Awarded by Arts Council England North East 2017/18 £20,000 to North of England Civic Trust for conservation of Warwick Bridge Mill: "Turning the Wheels for the Future". North of England Civic Trust has an impressive track record of rescuing nationally significant heritage in the north of England, providing multi-level hands-on training and participatory public activities. This project involves restoration of the historic milling machinery and water power system at this Grade II* early 19th century corn mill near to Carlisle in Cumbria. The water gate and high breast water wheel (dating to 1845) are the most prominent and easily recognisable part of the water power arrangement Warwick Bridge Mill water wheel of Warwick Bridge Mill. Restoration will Photo: North of England Civic Trust safeguard a significant industrial heritage asset - a major component of a Grade II* mill which is remarkable for its completeness and for being little altered. North East 2013/14 £20,000 to Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums for moving and stabilising the Bigges Main Wooden Waggonway. These very substantial remains of a section of wooden waggonway were discovered in July 2013 during archaeological investigation and recording at the former Neptune Shipyard, Newcastle upon Tyne. The remains are on the well-recorded alignment of the Bigges Main Waggonway, constructed in 1785. In the early 1800s this waggonway was delivering 60,000 chaldron waggons The waggonway during excavation of coal each year to ships on the River Photo: Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Tyne. These remains represent one of the earliest sections of railway to have been discovered which was constructed to a gauge which ultimately became the ‘standard gauge’. 6 Yorkshire 2010/11 £275 to Leeds Museum and Galleries for conservation of the paper components of precision pendulum Harrison Clock No. 2. The smallest PRISM grant was awarded to Leeds Museum and Galleries to support conservation of the Harrison Clock No. 2. This clock is highly significant in the story of the development of longitude measurement and the evolution of accurate timekeeping. It is a fundamental part of John Harrison’s quest to develop a practical method of determining longitude at sea using the time difference principle. The clock was View of the clock's movement, showing the calendar made in response to the Longitude Act ring and seconds bowl of 1714 and with it Harrison achieved Photo: Jeff Darken - Leeds Museum and Galleries extraordinarily accurate timekeeping on land. North West 2014/15 £14,634 to Manchester Museum to improve collections care for the insect collection. The Museum’s collection of British butterflies and moths is of great national significance. The collection, and associated data, can be used to conduct assessments of distribution trends, habitat preferences and conservation priorities. Two parts of the collections are of particular historical and cultural value: The J. Sidebotham collection of British Lepidoptera is an example of Victorian private entomological collections. The collection of micro-Lepidoptera by the late Lord Walsingham, represents almost every species of British micro-Lepidoptera recorded by 1927. The Walsingham New storage for the entomology collection Photo: Manchester Museum collection includes the celebrated Manchester Moth, Euclemensia woodiella, of which only three specimens survived and exist today. 7 North West 2011/12 £9,500 to Lakeland Arts Trust for the acquisition of Rolls Royce ‘Hawk’ Aero Engine. The significance of the engine lies in the fact that this is one of only three such engines surviving in the UK, and one surviving in the United States. The 'Hawk' was built by Brazil Straker in Bristol in 1917 and installed in an airship in May 1918. It is the earliest working example of a Hawk engine, and therefore of immense significance in the history of aviation. As the power for Canfly, The Rolls Royce ‘Hawk’ engine in situ inside Canfly. the Hawk is a rare surviving example of the Photo: Lakeland Arts Trust experimentation after the First World War when powerful surplus military engines were married with specially-designed hulls for high- speed racing on water. She is of significance as a rare national example and sole survivor of such a vessel on Lake Windermere where between 1923 and 1937 she competed in over 200 events. West Midlands 2012/13 £20,000 to the Black Country Living Museum for the conservation of Birchills wooden joey boat. Birchills is of particular significance to the UK’s industrial heritage as it was one of the last wooden joey boats to be built and the last still in existence, complete with a day cabin. Canals are key to the Black Country’s significance as a manufacturing district, and short-haul cargoes characterised the traffic on these canals. Day boats served the area, designed to carry loads of coal, iron, limestone and clay relatively short distances. Birchills is one of the last examples of a very particular type of day boat, the ‘joey’, which can be steered from either end, removing the need to turn the boat around. Birchills is significant because this boat is a rare, unconverted survivor of that period of The restored front end of Birchills’ hull, showing repairs the Black Country’s industrial history. Other to the seam day boats survive, but as a Photo: Black Country Living Museum complete wooden example with unusual day cabin, this boat is unique. 8 East Midlands 2016/17 £18,000 to Leicester City Museum Service towards acquisition of the Clyde motor car.