March and District Museum
Loan Boxes
March Museum has some community loan boxes produced by The 'Museums on the Move' project and 'Cambridgeshire Learning Links' project. The objects, with a few exceptions, are all for handling as well as looking at.
They are a wonderful resource which use original, and a few reproduction, artefacts as a stimulus for learning in schools, care homes and almost any social club or discussion group.
Teachers who use the loan boxes say they help bring the subject to life. The objects are also wonderful for unlocking the past for the elderly or people with long-term memory problems or dementia. It amazes users when they see how much or, in some cases, how little things have changed.
Museums on the Move
The 'Museums on the Move' project was supported by
The boxes/topics available are
Toys in the past
March during World War II
Fenland farming
Victorian schools
The history of March Railway
Domestic bliss through the ages
Each box consists of a medium size fibreboard suitcase, varying in weight according to the subject. In the case of the farming and railway boxes there are additional large items that accompany the box. The World War II box contains a lot of documents so needs longer use to be fully appreciated.
Loan boxes are free to borrow, if Museum representative(s) bring the box or undertake a session with the box a donation for the Museum will be expected.
Cambridgeshire Learning Links
This project was initiated by the Museums & Libraries Association (MLA) 'Open the Box' and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
These loan boxes are very different being a set of large plastic boxes and they cover history from prehistory to the 20th century with emphasis on March. They contain original artefacts from Roman, Tudor and Victorian eras. These boxes are predominantly intended for use in schools.
The boxes can be borrowed separately.
Box A Prehistoric and Roman
Box B Tudor with some Victorian items
Box BB Tudor
Box C Victorian doll (not for handling)
Box D 20th Century
Box C has a dykeing spade to accompany it
To borrow any of these boxes contact the Museum as indicated below.