The Museum formerly known as the Cambridgeshire Folk Museum

 

The collection of traditional Fen objects

Oxford and Cambridge have a similar problem. The university tends to dominate much of the activity and tourism in the city, with the result that the local museum has always suffered. By “local” I mean a museum dedicated to the town rather than to the university. You can appreciate their problems, since visitors to Oxford and Cambridge usually come for the university, however intangible that institution might be (I remember visitors to Oxford asking me where the university was, because you could be in the middle of Oxford and not notice it). 

The Museum of Cambridge has more problems than that of Oxford. First, it has changed its title, if not its remit. It was founded as the Cambridge and County Folk Museum in 1936. At some point in the last few years it changed its name to the present Museum of Cambridge. This is a misnomer, because it covers Cambridgeshire as well as Cambridge. 

The Museum is situated in an historic inn, which partly dates back to the 16th century. However, nobody would claim the building is highly significant. The collection, of around 30,000 objects, isn’t highly significant either. When I visited the Museum last weekend, I didn’t see one object that would I would describe as unmissable. 

The Museum has a series of small rooms, covering a smattering of subjects from Cambridge and the county. One room is devoted to brewing. One room contains objects relating to the Fens. One room has old domestic utensils. In other words, it is similar to several other museums within a 75-mile radius. 

The "I used to have one of those in my house" type of collection

The problem with a museum that has nothing distinctive is that there is no real reason for visiting it. A few years ago, the Museum was in the headlines because it was threatened with closure, something that seems to have been averted by appointing new trustees. Yet for me the fundamental questions remain. Both times I’ve visited the Museum I would be hard pressed to say there was anything in it worth saving. What is the scope of the Museum? it doesn’t really attempt to cover the history of anything. There are some scraps from Cambridge history, but no attempt at explanation or interpretation. There are even some old oars, from Cambridge college rowing teams; oars on the walls represent a low point for the individual colleges, and what they are doing in a museum which covers everything outside the university is beyond my imagination. Of all the things to collect and display, university memorabilia should be low on the agenda.

I was fortunate to be shown round the Museum by the chair of the trustees, Roger Lilley. His enthusiasm and knowledge was infectious, and he mentioned the impressive online project Connecting Cambridge, which aims to collect oral histories at a very local level.

But despite Roger’s enthusiasm, my doubts about the museum remain. In a city full of attractions like Cambridge, a collection needs to have a distinct identity. I can find out about the Fens from Wisbech, Ely, and King’s Lynn museums. I can find old domestic appliances in any number of old houses and collections. There is no compelling reason to visit this museum: it lacks a big idea. Even Mildenhall Museum, which has none of the Mildenhall Treasure on show (all the originals are in the British Museum), still makes an attempt to explain why Mildenhall is famous by the use of replicas and information boards. There are very few information boards here.

The Museum could, like the Pitt Rivers in Oxford, emphasise its folk connections. There are a (very) few objects linked to witchcraft and folklore. The Museum could try to show the history of Cambridge in a meaningful way, with references to prominent local employers such as Pye, ARM, Sinclair, and Chivers (of Histon). The Museum could attempt the difficult feat of a collection relating to Cambridgeshire, which covers both rolling chalk scenery (in the south) and the Fens (in the north): two very different habitats and histories. The University-managed Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology currently has an excellent exhibition relating to the archaeology of Cambridgeshire.

Saddest of all, there is no longer a café. The first time I visited, there was a very sweet café with old cups and saucers, run by lovely old dears. This time, the café was firmly closed. 

Thousands of people must walk past the Museum every day on their way around Cambridge, yet I can’t in all honesty recommend that they stop for a visit to the institution still known to most locals as the Folk Museum. Better to go to a collection with a single theme, such as the David Parr House. My (admittedly personal) dream would be a museum dedicated to the history and growth of the town of Cambridge. Not from the point of view of one college, but explaining how the Roman settlement was located here, why the town missed out on the industrial growth that Oxford experienced in the 20th century, but how Cambridge has now become a powerhouse of biomedical research and IT start-ups. That is a remarkable story: from Sinclair Research, to the BBC Micro, to the mighty ARM. That, for me, would be a distinctive theme for a museum.