Land of Lost Content (museum)
The Land of Lost Content was a museum in Craven Arms, Shropshire, that collected everyday objects such as toys, magazines and packaging.[1][2]
The museum's name was taken from Poem XL in A. E. Housman's collection A Shropshire Lad.
The museum closed in May 2023.
History
[edit]The museum was founded by Stella Mitchell, who had begun collecting everyday objects while studying art in Birmingham in the 1970s.[3][4] She opened her first museum in 1991 with her husband Dave in West Sussex, before moving to Craven Arms in 2003.[3] Its final premises occupied the town's former market hall, constructed in 1888, which the couple bought for £165,000.[5] It contains 37 separate displays spread out over four floors.[6]
In 2018, the museum was threatened with closure because it did not meet modern safety standards. The owners retrofitted the premises with additional fire doors and extinguishers.[7]
Collections
[edit]Objects in the museum included a variety of Chad Valley toys, bluebirds taken from the gates of the Blue Bird Toffee factory,[3][8] tickets from the first National Lottery in 1994 and a Sinclair C5.[5]
The museum was run without any funding or sponsorship and relied on word of mouth to build a reputation for its collections and displays.[7] All of the museum's objects were popular and in everyday use at some point since the late Victorian era.[8] Though many items were mass-produced with no perceived value when collected by the museum, they have since acquired significance as they are attached to visitors' personal memories and a view to how people used to live.[3]
Donations
[edit]The Land of Lost Content had donated objects in its collections to various other museums and exhibitions. These include a 50th anniversary commemoration of the Festival of Britain in 2011, supplying 1930s posters to the Black Country Living Museum and furnishing a flat with contemporary objects in Balfron Tower as part of a National Trust display of Brutalist architecture in 2014.[3][9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "15 UK market towns you'll want to discover". The Guardian. 17 April 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ "Readers' tips: winter family days out". The Guardian. 21 February 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "Unique Shropshire museum celebrating 25 quirky years". Shropshire Star. 29 May 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ "Unusual museums … way out days out". The Guardian. 12 August 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ a b "Unforgettable". Birmingham Mail. 5 September 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
- ^ "Shropshire's Land of Lost Content museum opens in December for first time". Shropshire Star. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ a b "Land of lost content re-opens in Craven Arms". Shropshire Star. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ a b "See inside the museum crammed with Birmingham and Black Country memories". Birmingham Mail. 10 November 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ "National Trust opens 1960s pop-up flat in iconic tower". East London Lines. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2021.