Supplementary Memorandum submitted by
the Natural History Museum
SUMMARY OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM'S REGIONAL
ACTIVITIES
Our approach to working with regional institutions
can be considered at various levels, and a sample of some of our
activities are provided below.
Touring exhibitions—we tour both
our temporary exhibitions and the Wildlife Photographer of the
Year Competition in the UK and internationally.
During the last year our temporary exhibitions
were displayed at museums and galleries in Newcastle, York, Bolton,
Edinburgh, Hull, Cardiff and at Bristol. The Bluewater Shopping
Mall, Dartford hired three exhibitions (Giant Insects, Dinosaurs
and Myths & Monsters).
Details of the venues that the 2001 "Wildlife
Photographer of the Year" competition toured to are provided—venues
across England, Wales and Scotland are on the list. Minimal charges
are applied to cover the cost of transporting and producing the
exhibition.
The venues change from year to year, so for
example in 1996 and 1997 and in 1999 and 2000 the exhibition visited
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
Loan of specimens for exhibitions—during
2001-02 the Museum has loaned specimens for exhibitions in museums
and science centres in Shropshire, Chichester, Glasgow, Newcastle,
Carlisle, Exeter, Kingston, Hampshire, Dorset and Leicester. Such
loans have taken place for many years, and in 2001 the Museum
launched its "Treasures Scheme" to remind our collections
in other institutions that we are keen to loan our collections
to other institutions.
Loan of specimens for research and curation—during
2001-02 our five science departments and library issued 2,264
loans of specimens to scientists in UK and overseas.
Activities of scientists—our curators
are involved in various national activities to encourage sharing
of best practice in collections management and curation. Our scientists
also supervise PhD students in collaboration with universities
across the country, teach on undergraduate and post graduate courses
and collaborate with colleagues from across the world on research
projects. Through the National Biodiversity Network, Museums colleagues
are working with local national history societies to build capacity
in this important area, and to share knowledge and encourage participation.
Eight Department of Palaeontology staff took
part in the second Earth Alert Festival of Geology at Scarborough
over the August Bank Holiday Weekend. This was a major, offsite
outreach activity and the first time that the department had been
asked to attend the UK's only national geology event. It enabled
us to provide the first outreach service to members of the public
from the north of England. Paul Davis co-ordinated the team whose
contribution primarily centred on providing a "Fossil Roadshow"
with an open invitation to anyone to bring in fossils for identification.
The response was superb with over 500 specimens identified over
the three days. Posters detailing the work of the Department and
specimens from the collections were also displayed.
Sharing our skills—we run various
training courses for museum professionals in areas from exhibition
design to pest management. During 2001-02 110 staff attended from
66 institutions across the UK.
These are a few of our activities with regional
institutions and groups—each of which are growing will continue
to develop into the future.
Future plans—in response to the
Renaissance in the Regions Report from Resource, we are
currently in the process of scoping and developing a network of
natural history collections, with a view to strengthening and
raising the profile of the care and maintenance of natural history
collections, and training of the people who work with them.
22 November 2002
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