The Penrith Museum is located in the Visitor's Centre in the historic district of this British town at the entrance of the Lake District. Tourists go there to get brochures, directions and to orient themselves for their visit be it via bicycle, car, train or on foot. There is no fee to peruse the museum in the back and upstairs but, for those who do, it is an example of a very well done museum, indeed. Small but concise, this museum displays the community's past and present in a way that introduces itself to its visitors while also honoring its own who, what, where, when and why's. The collections are eclectic including art created by people from Penrith, important historical artifacts, stories about local celebrities past and present, archaeological findings, photographs, rocks, gems, fossils and even butterflies. It manages to answer what makes Penrith a unique place on earth. It connects local people and places to much broader historic figures and events. It celebrates how, by means of a participatory public archaeology project, Penrith might serve as a model for other communities which are positioned as places through time to contribute to what can be learned about their and, by extension, our combined past.
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| Butterflies collected in the area long ago. While a bit of whimsy, this alerts the visitor to pay attention to the local fauna. |
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| Each item in this display is labeled with what it is, what and where it was originally used for and how it came to be in the museum's collection. |
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| Fossils and gemstones, found in the Penrith region, are upstairs in a kind of loft or balcony. The photographs show where they were discovered. |
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| This booklet is a report from the public archaeology project being conducted over several years in the Valley of Eden in which Penrith is located. Eden is a river. In addition to this report, a very compelling audio-visual presentation is playing on a loop in a small room that is dedicated to the archaeology of the valley. Text panels help to explain what is being explored. Not only does this exhibit communicate much information about the prehistoric human past here, it celebrates the investment of the local community in learning more about it. Some, like myself, may be motivated to find ways to participate in doing archaeology, even as uninitiated amateurs. This project, as described in this exhibit, offers a welcome embrace to such new volunteers. |
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| Roman earrings found here connects this community's history to ancient Rome two hundred years before it fell. "It's a small world, after all!" |
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| Text panels provide even more information about the area's prehistorical human practices. I did not realize that there are more stone henges than Stonehenge, for example. |
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| Looking down on the first floor of the museum from the geological exhibits. A visitor is reading about a local celebrity downstairs. At the desk, in the next room, the visitor centre is staffed by a most congenial man who was more than willing to answer my questions about where to eat as well as about the items on display in the museum. |
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