CITY COUNCIL MUSEUM ARCHIVE STORAGE UNIT

VISIT TO SOUTHAMPTON CITY COUNCIL MUSEUM ARCHIVE STORAGE UNIT THURSDAY, 17th APRIL 2008

Not a good morning to choose to head for Southampton Docks, as the new cruise ship, Ventura, was embarking passengers for her maiden voyage and the traffic was horrendous. However, we all arrived eventually and our own voyage of discovery began. Just like finding buried treasure - not underground but in a couple of drab units on an industrial estate!

Our guide for the morning was very enthusiastic and we soon realised what a great job the council is doing in preserving our local history. We started off with a general overview of what is on site, with photographs and post cards mainly donated by the general public. He pulled out photographs of Shirley, as my family comes from this area, and it provoked a host of memories from several of us.

Associated British Ports also used to keep a record of all ships passing through their hands, but sadly it is now up to individuals with a passion for shipping to fill the gaps and one recent donation of records of all container ships was particularly impressive.

They also have archive film of various areas, mostly amateur and these invoke the feel of their period more than any modern production could hope to do.

We started on our tour proper and entered the warehouse unit, where huge shelves were stacked high with such things as model ships, furniture from great liners like the Queen Mary and QE2, alongside parts of the huge beam engines which powered one of the old floating bridges, on to domestic memorabilia, such as prams which couldn’t possibly fit into modern homes, much less family cars, which shows how times have changed. We saw old weights and measures used by the inspectors of their time, eg, two bushel measures, one of which was from the time of Elizabeth I and a “Southampton Yard”. There were treadle sewing machines, a fridge from a prefab and a handsome dining suite made by a local company. At one end they had even found storage space for two – yes two – tramcars, one recognised by many of us, with the domed top and steep spiral stairs leading to the top deck at either end. The other was from about 1902, the open top of which had seats back to back down the centre and was low enough to go through the Bargate in the days when that was the only route to the lower part of the town. Even so, the conductor had to climb the stairs and remind everyone to duck! Sadly, these are awaiting a new home so a team of volunteers can commence conservation work.

We could have spent hours here, but had to move on to the air conditioned units. The first one housed the picture collection and other memorabilia, eg, a seaman’s record of his working life, including his time on Titanic [this had to be reproduced after his rescue, as all papers were lost]. There were rails and rails of paintings and engravings of Southampton residents and local areas.

The next unit contained costume and accessories. These were mainly housed in cardboard boxes, protected by tissue paper, so had to be accessed to see what they contained. We were shown a box of three smoking caps, one of which was richly embroidered and covered in small beads topped with a tassel. We saw dress uniforms of stewards on the great liners. We even noticed but did not investigate a box of undergarments!

One thing which came over very strongly was how much local industry and expertise there had been, with much of what we saw, from heavy machinery, the trams, furniture, ships and much, much more having been constructed here in our area.

I have probably forgotten as many things as I have mentioned and there are certainly more I do remember, but our two hours wandering these fascinating storerooms was just a “familiarisation” exercise, to show the richness of material preserved, as our guide said, for the people of Southampton, as it belongs to them. We were told that much of what we saw was being stored pending the reopening of Tudor House Museum, which is nearing completion following restoration and should be open for tours this year, but will have to close again later for the installation of such mundane things as a lift, electricity, etc!

I felt very privileged to have been able to take part in this visit and would like to thank Julie for organising it.

Sue