Original home of the Collection
The Ken Hawley Collection Trust became a legal entity in August 1995 with an initial aim of raising the funds to acquire the collection and thus ensure that this unique part of Sheffield’s heritage was able to stay in the city. The Trust’s initial work soon led to a major award from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in December 1998 when the acquisition was made possible through that award plus other donations. The Trust had already agreed with Ken Hawley that the Collection should be moved from his home, where in the main the Collection was stored, to larger and more secure premises where the Collection could be sorted and a start made on a more comprehensive cataloguing and recording of the Collection’s contents.
Mappin Street Building
- Substantial re-boxing and improved storage to protect the Collection and improve access to the Collection
- The Collection has been listed at accession level with a view to creating full catalogue records in the medium term
- Development of research activity based on the resources of the Collection to disseminate knowledge and understanding
- Local craftsmen in trades which were about to disappear were interviewed and films made of the processes in the Sheffield edge-tool and cutlery industries
- The development of a small core of volunteers to support the Collection in the absence of significant on-going revenue income
- A number of small scale publications and article contributions to journals
- Provision of consultancy support for artefacts found during archaeological survey work particularly within Sheffield
- Contributions via talks and open days to National Science Week and the ‘Galvanise’ Festival
- The successful conclusion of an HLF ‘Our Heritage’ project which used a variety of recording techniques and oral history approaches to enable knowledge transfer of valuable but as yet unrecorded information on the history and background to key objects and elements of the Collection
- In the absence of public access to the Mappin Street building a range of exhibitions in other locations have provided opportunities both large and small for the wider public to become aware of the Collection’s existence. These have ranged from a major exhibition in the Millennium Galleries in 2003 titles ‘A Cut Above the Rest’ which was a major exhibition to celebrate the heritage of Sheffield blade manufacture to smaller travelling exhibitions in locations such as library which brought attention to the oral history project in 2008
- The achievement of Registered Museum status in 2002
Although clearly successful in a key number of ways, public access to the Collection remained limited until the evolution of the partnership with the Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust (SIMT) which sought to re-site the Collection to Kelham Island Museum, providing both a public dimension supported by improved storage and research facilities. The building used at Kelham was the last derelict building on the site but with sympathetic restoration it provided the opportunity for a unique home for the Collection.
The derelict site for the new home!
The ambitions of the partnership were realised with the award of a major lottery grant from HLF in 2008. The HLF award of £595,000 to the SIMT was made to enable the development of the new gallery to house the Collection. This was further supported by £50,000 each from the University of Sheffield and the SIMT to provide the matching funds element of the bid. The construction work was completed on time by August 2009 and was within budget. Work on the fit-out and displays commenced in November 2009 and the new facility opened on 17 March 2010 completing not only the transition to public display for the Collection but also the final phase of the Kelham Museum post flood recovery plan.
The new Hawley Gallery awaiting content
Although the move to Kelham enables the operation of the Hawley Gallery within the envelope of services provided by the SIMT, it is intended that the Hawley Collection will retain a separate identity and separate Accreditation will be sought. The relationship and service provision by the SIMT will be conditioned by the Collections Agreement that is in place between the two parties. Ownership of the Collection is retained by the Trust as will be the responsibility of developing research and other activities. The two trusts will also retain separate and distinct Acquisition & Disposals Policies, but with a clear complementary relationship. The SIMT will resource and provide public , curatorial and building support in return for making access to the Hawley Collection part of the Kelham experience.
The Hawley Gallery opens March 2010
Accountability to the Hawley Trust will be through the provision of regular reports on the SIMT stewardship to the Hawley Council of Management. The relationship requires nothing other than a peppercorn consideration from the SIMT for using the SIMT services and the SIMT require no financial contribution from the Hawley Trust. What the arrangement has achieved is the bringing to Kelham the major collection of a key element in Sheffield’s heritage which enhances the recent renaissance of the museum after the disastrous flood of 2007. For the Collector, Ken Hawley, he has seen his ambition of making the Collection available to the wider public in a journey which started over 15 years ago from his home in Hillsborough to Kelham Museum. Along the way we even managed to incorporate in the works an important works entrance (the Kangaroo Works arch) from the Robert Sorby works, an important tool manufacturer.
Ken Hawley & Sir Neil Cossons open the new gallery
[Hawley Tool Collection - see www.sheffield.ac.uk/hawley/]
Keith Crawshaw
Chairman
Ken Hawley Collection Trust
