Archaeological Resource Project

Invitation to tender

Luton Culture is a registered charity which looks after arts, libraries and museums in Luton. We were set up in March 2008 and we employ nearly 300 people working across 13 sites. These include Stockwood Discovery Centre, Museum and . Our work also involves partnership working to deliver events such as the Luton International Carnival.

The Museum was founded in 1927. It was originally based in the Carnegie Library, but in 1931 it moved to one of its present homes, . "One of the main ideas behind the founding of the Museum was that it should be a storehouse . . . of the objects and information of direct local interest dealing with the history, antiquities, manners and customs of the neighbourhood." (G.H. Latchmore, Chairman of the Museum Sub-Committee, 1931). This is still the focus today with the galleries at Wardown Park Museum telling the story of Luton since the 17 th century.

Stockwood Discovery Centre (originally Stockwood Craft Museum) was opened in 1986 in the stable blocks of Stockwood House, which was originally built in the 1740’s.Initially intended as just a rural craft Museum, this was extended by the addition of a sculpture garden in 1987and the Mossman Carriage Collection in 1990. In 2008 a £6.5 million redevelopment of the galleries, and garden occurred and created a new visitor centre and café.

Effective Collections “After a successful pilot project, a number of museums are now funded under Effective collections. Effective Collections builds directly on the MA’s seminal Collections for the Future report, which argued that it is not enough for a museum to simply acquire and preserve a collection: the job of a museum is to make sure that the collection gets used. Thanks to generous funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the MA will offer funding and support to museums to make better use of their stored collections, primarily through long loans, transfer and other forms of disposal.

“…The primary purpose of the review is to form recommendations for the increased use of the collection … However it is also a collaborative and developmental process where staff at the home museum will gain knowledge, ability and confidence, both with a new subject specialism and with the principles of reviewing a collection”. (Extracts from Effective Collections Programme Prospectus 2009-11 )

Archaeology Luton Culture is inviting applications from individuals to undertake a review of its Archaeology Collections to enable increased future use of the material through improving educational use. This is the first part of a bigger project in which educational resources, based on the Archaeology Collection, will be created and evaluated.

Background to our collection The bulk of the archaeology collection was either donated or purchased and has been added to since the museum moved to Wardown Park. The majority of material given today comes from commercial excavations. The material comes in a set format and has little in the way of guidelines for assessing potential for Museum use.

The material can be categorised in the following ways:

Bulk Collection: This comprises pottery, animal bone, stone work, flint-work from the Palaeolithic to Post-medieval in date. The majority has been accessioned into the collection, but few records have been placed onto our computerised CALM database. An Archaeological Audit has recently been undertaken of the material and this resulted in a database of material type and locations. Work has also been done on a site location and period database.

Sensitive Material: The Museum has a small sensitive store for iron work and other metals needing low humidity. About 50% of the material comes from Grove Priory, Leighton Buzzard with the remainder coming from sites around Luton. The majority has been accessioned and is accessible on CALM or on an Access database, in the case of Grove Priory.

Coin Safe: The Museum has a safe with about 4,000 coins from Iron Age to 20 th century, with one large hoard from Tingrith of about 2,000 coins. This store also contains Treasure Act objects. Apart from coinage on display, this part of the collection is used very infrequently.

Human Remains: The Museum has over 500 individuals from the Neolithic to Medieval period in storage. Some come from cemeteries at and Luton. This is primarily a research collection and is not anticipated as having educational use at this stage of the project. Recent work has improved the documentation and storage of this collection.

Archive Material : The Museum has a small archive store at Stockwood Discovery Centre with all the known archive material on the collection, as well as photographs and conservation information. Archive material for each site can also be found in the object files and MDA record cards, both of which are held at Wardown Park Museum. The Museum also has many local and national archaeological publications in its library at Wardown Park.

Documentation of the collection: The majority of objects have basic documentation in the accession register or object history file. MDA cards have also been used to record all object details for pre-1990 accessioning.

Outcomes from the Project

• To give Museum Staff a comprehensive understanding of the Archaeology Collection and how it can be used to support teaching and other educational activities.

• Improved knowledge of the collection by museum collections and education staff.

• Ability to apply this model to other non-archaeological collections, initially within the museum, but with an aim to further this to the wider museum community.

• Identification of material suitable for use with schools as part of this project, in particular for literacy, art and geography subject areas.

• To offer advice on objects that the Museum could actively collect in order to further advance educational use of the archaeology collection.

• Identification of material not suitable for retention in the core collection or suitable for educational use, which would impact on rationalisation of the collection and may lead to disposal as part of the project.

• An idea of what types of material should be suggested to archaeological units in future as suitable for educational use.

Stored Collection Reviewer activities • Create a model to assess the educational value of archaeology collections against curriculum areas and in broader community learning terms.

• Use the model to identify material suitable for educational use for this project. The primary focus would be on Literacy, Art and Geography at KS1-4 and beyond. This would mainly involve looking at bulk archaeology, sensitive material and coin collections. The report to be detailed enough to allow volunteers to be able to identify and collate these objects.

• Produce a report on the Museum’s Archaeology Collection, based on the above model, showing how objects can be used as part of local primary, secondary and university educational resources.

• The report also to identify the resources, based on and to accompany these objects, that could be created for museum education sessions based on site or off site.

• To work with the Museum Archaeologist to find and locate the strengths of Museums archaeological collections.

• To work with the Museum Archaeologist to improve collections development, in relation to improving education use.

Stored Collection Reviewer person specification • Recent experience of working in a school, with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and preferably degree in Archaeology and knowledge of current educational landscape. • Proven experience as an archaeologist, either through working commercially, university degree or active member of local archaeology society. • Knowledge of local educational needs. • Enthusiasm for improving access to collections

Timescale and fees

We anticipate 10 days work, split between initial research (4 days), work on the collections (4 days) report writing (2 days). A daily rate of £200 will be paid.

We expect the work to be undertaken by end of April 2011 at a time agreed by the Museum Archaeologist and the appointed reviewer.

Reporting The Reviewer is expected to compile a report that will contain the following: • A detailed description of how different archaeological objects can be used within the current education landscape • A section on each subject taught locally and the types of objects which could be used to support the teaching of each subject. A detailed explanation and justification would be needed for the choice of objects against each planned educational use • A list of objects to be used for educational use • A list of recommendations for possible resources • Strengths of the collection • Details of archaeological material of limited educational value

Applications Applications to undertake the stored collection review at Luton Culture should be received by 28 February 2011 . Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by Tim Vickers.

Please send a covering letter addressing the person specification above and a CV to Timothy Vickers, [email protected] , Stockwood Discovery Centre, London Road, Luton, LU1 4LX. For an informal conversation about the reviewer role contact Tim on 01582 547969.