ITEM EX10 - ANNEX AEXECUTIVE – 30 SEPTEMBER 2003SOLDIERS OF OXFORDSHIREStorage of Military Collections : Options Appraisal Introduction: This report follows a meeting at the Slade Barracks on Thursday 13 February attended by members of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire with the County Council’s Director of Cultural Services and County Museums and Heritage Officer. The report takes the form of a position statement followed by an initial and very limited option appraisal. It suggests in outline the next steps to develop the scheme further. Current position: The Soldiers of Oxfordshire (registered charity number 1083387) is an association of all the military units linked to Oxford and Oxfordshire Collections of national significance are held by a number of individual Regimental trusts and other bodies (eg the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Trust, the Oxfordshire Yeomanry Trust, the Oxford University Training Corps); some are displayed in the museum in the Slade Barracks at Headington, others are stored in the barracks. In either case they are almost inaccessible to the general public. An archive and library is also housed in the barracks. Further significant collections are held at the Royal Green Jackets Museum in Winchester. It is possible that these collections will be transferred to Oxfordshire in due course. The Soldiers of Oxfordshire have developed a compelling vision for a proposed museum. The museum would not glorify war; rather it would aim to illustrate the links between the military units and almost every Oxfordshire family; the role of the military in maintaining law and order (particularly the Oxfordshire Yeomanry). It would explain the harsh reality of war. The museum’s mission would be educational – to inform, entertain and provoke thought. The Soldiers of Oxfordshire seek a long term sustainable future for the collections – essentially with public access. A museum of approximately 300 square metres is envisaged; with some off-site storage. The Soldiers of Oxfordshire have estimated that the fitting out costs for a museum of this scale would be of the order of £600,000. All parties recognise that a stand-alone military museum is very unlikely to be financially viable; it is preferable to link the proposed museum to an existing heritage site – ideally one with an established infrastructure and visitor facilities. Five options can be considered:
Options appraisal:
Oxfordshire County Council has approved in principle plans to replace an existing temporary building within the museum site with a new building – the aim being to add to the existing attractions on the site, maximising the use of the premises and benefiting from the economies of scale and sharing of facilities and support services. The site already attracts some 120,000 visitors per year; it is well situated in the heart of historic Woodstock and close to the gates of Blenheim Palace (Churchill’s birthplace and with many other military connections). The museum site is enclosed within a high garden wall providing a secure and very attractive environment for associated cultural activities. The northern end of the garden is hidden from view behind a high privet hedge. It is here that it would be quite feasible to build a 300square metre building to house the museum displays. Clearly the cost of a new building would be a major expense – however it would have the advantage of being designed for the purpose. The site and buildings are maintained by Oxfordshire County Council within the Cultural Services (Learning and Culture from 1 April 2004) department. The site is the headquarters of the County Council’s museum and heritage services, so support staff for administration and other services are available. The Oxfordshire Museum lacks dedicated car parking and parking is a major issue in the town.
Oxford City Council is considering a major redevelopment of the museum within a larger scheme to extend public access within the historic Town Hall in central Oxford. A working party has been formed, led by the Chief Executive, to consider the future use of space within the building. The Museum of Oxford itself is seeking to expand and aims to include new themes particularly relating to children’s literature (Carroll, Lewis, Tolkien, Pullman etc). At this point it is not known whether there will be other space available within the Town Hall for museum use. A draft copy of this report has been submitted to the Chief Executive for comment. The Museum of Oxford benefits from its central location in a prime site within the Town Hall, a building of considerable architectural merit. If space could be allocated to the Soldiers of Oxfordshire adjacent to the museum, then the sharing of support services and visitor services would be possible. The museum collections in the Museum of Oxford are under the care of the curator, employed by Oxford City Council; most of the collections are owned by Oxfordshire County Council or loaned from other institutions; collection care and technical support services are provided by Oxfordshire County Museums Service staff based at Standlake under a service level agreement. These support services could be extended to cover the Soldiers of Oxfordshire material.
Since the closure of the USAF base at Upper Heyford in the 1990s there has been some interest in creating a museum on the site in one of the existing USAF buildings to illustrate the history of the Cold War. Although there has been little progress to date, the draft Structure Plan for Oxfordshire identifies Upper Heyford as one of the possible locations for future housing in the county. If this development goes ahead then some recreational/cultural facilities could/should be provided for the new residents. Some interpretation of the locality would seem desirable as the location has played an important role in international relations over the last 30/40 years. Alongside a museum of the Cold War it would seem very appropriate to show an important collection of material associated with the military of Oxfordshire – contrasting the reality of actual warfare with the omnipresent threat of war. Cherwell District Council has supported the concept of a Cold War Museum through the adopted Comprehensive Planning Brief; however it relies on a willingness by NOC/MoD to allow the incorporation of such an initiative. Upper Heyford has no visitor infrastructure; so this option would be very ambitious and a high risk. However a project of this nature could attract national and international interest and support. Increasingly national institutions (such as the Imperial War Museum) are looking for locations out of the capital and are seeking partnerships to develop new attractions. Upper Heyford offers an exceptional opportunity and deserves further investigation.
Although it is understood that current plans for the development of Oxford Castle by the Osborne Group and the Oxford Preservation Trust do not allow the inclusion of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire, in many ways the Castle remains an excellent and relevant location. The Castle represents the physical embodiment of law and order and protection for both city and county; and the Soldiers are the relict defenders of the Castle and outreach officers of the law. Before a final decision is made to locate the Soldiers of Oxfordshire elsewhere the developers/Oxford Preservation Trust should be given a final chance to consider housing the museum again.
Oxfordshire County Council’s reserve and reference museum collections are held in store in a purpose built ‘state of the art’ building at Standlake. The collections include archaeology, history, agricultural and industrial items – all relating to the history of Oxford and Oxfordshire. Curators and collection care staff (conservation officers and documentation staff) are based at the Store. Although some of the collections are for research and reference purposes only, the great majority are available for use in the local authority supported museums throughout Oxfordshire (Abingdon, Banbury, Cogges, Oxford, Wantage and Woodstock); they are also used for temporary and touring exhibitions and for outreach to libraries, community groups, schools and other venues. Public open days are held at the store regularly, and individuals and groups are welcome to visit the store by appointment at other times. The store is virtually full and an application is being prepared to the Heritage Lottery Fund to seek support for building an extension. This development will allow improved access to all the collections held in store. It is envisaged that visitors to the store will be able to see much more of the collection; although objects will not be displayed, they will be stored in such a way that they can be seen (eg in secure glass fronted store cupboards, in glass topped drawers, behind barriers). Information technology systems will be used to provide access to supporting information (documentation, illustrations, photographs etc) and interpretation (virtual exhibition, cf The Oxfordshire Yeomanry exhibition currently on the Oxfordshire County Council web site) on site and on the world wide web. The Soldiers of Oxfordshire collection could be housed in the store extension with visual access as described above, and access to supporting information over the www. This option has the benefits of minimising the costs, ensuring the long term care of the collection, integrating the collection with that of the County collection, retaining the collection for temporary exhibitions and events – for example to mark anniversaries or commemorate particular campaigns. Information technology: Information technology has revolutionised the way in which the public can access information. The www can make information once hidden in obscure archives available world wide, 24 hours a day. Museums are coming to terms with this new world and of course it takes time and resources to convert paper information into a digital resource. The Soldiers of Oxfordshire collection is well suited to digital access. Much of the value of the collection is held in two dimensional forms (photographs, images, maps, plans, archives etc) and this material can be digitised relatively easily. The huge benefit, of course, is that then the collection can be accessed by researchers, family historians, relatives etc from anywhere in the world. Much of the history of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, the Royal Green Jackets and the Oxfordshire Yeomanry relates to their roles in international theatres of war – military historians based in North America or Australia or elsewhere may be working on accounts of these campaigns and need access to the unique collections. Presenting collections in a traditional (and often quite static) museum exhibit is an expensive way of providing public access. It can really only be justified if there is sufficient interest and demand from the general public and educational institutions – otherwise it can become an indulgent hobby. Storage: All museums require storage areas for those collections that are not on public display; workshop areas where collections can be looked after and where new exhibits can be prepared. All the above sites (with the possible exception of Upper Heyford) are prime locations where it would be inappropriate to house reserve and reference collections in storage. It is therefore suggested that the reserve collections should be stored in the County Council’s Museum Store at Standlake. The collections could, of course, remain the property of the individual regiments or other institutions. The present storage facility is virtually full. An application is being prepared to the Heritage Lottery Fund to enable an extension to the store to be built. With the approval of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire, their collection could be added to the list of material to be stored in the extension. To date it has been the policy of the County Museums Service to charge other institutions for storage; in this case, given the importance of the collections to the history of the county, and the trust status of the owning institutions, the County Council could be asked to consider waiving the usual fee. Collection care and documentation: The long term care of collections whether on display or in storage requires technical work from conservation and documentation staff. Under current arrangements volunteers undertake this work for the Soldiers of Oxfordshire collection. Such volunteer involvement is welcomed and wherever the collection is housed it is hoped that volunteers will continue to support this work. To safeguard the collection in the long term it would seem sensible for the County Museums Service to advise on conservation and documentation, and as far as possible to integrate standards and systems so that if necessary at some time in the future the collection could be cared for by the County Museums Service with minimal transfer costs. The County Museums Service would have to charge for such conservation work. Archives Although closely related to museum work the management and care of archives is a separate discipline. In Oxfordshire the County Council has integrated management within the ‘museum and heritage services’. Archives are cared for in the Oxfordshire Record Office at Cowley; here archive collections are stored and catalogued and public access to records is carefully managed and supervised in a public search room. Archives remain the property of the depositor. It is recommended that, whatever decision is made about the future of the museum collections, serious consideration is given to transferring the Soldiers of Oxfordshire archives to the record office. Proposed future action:
MARTYN
BROWN
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