Dynamic Collections

Preston Park Museum & Grounds has been awarded £237,000 of National Heritage Lottery Funding as part of the Dynamic Collections campaign.  Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage.

Thanks to National Lottery players, we are able reshape and improve the management of Preston Park Museum’s collection, whilst also evolving to meet the changing needs of the communities around us, and to reflect more people’s history and experiences.

What does this mean for Preston Park Museum?

Preston Park Museum shares the extraordinary stories of the people and history of Stockton through an eclectic collection consisting of 100,000 objects. However, only about ten percent is currently on display.

The two-year Dynamic Collections project will help reinterpret and bring new life to objects significant to the local area, whilst also removing items from our collection which no longer fit with our Collections Development Policy.

The project aims to:

1. Create a rationalisation process which is achievable, ethical, transparent, and sustainable beyond the life of the project.
2. Review our current Collections Development Policy so it reflects new industry guidance surrounding disposal, and remains relevant to the aims of the museum, reflective of the community, and ambitiously targets gaps within the collection.
3. Identify relevant objects to go on display in an interactive and visible collection store. This will increase accessibility to the collection and improve the collections care of those objects. The new store will be built as part of a bold transformation of Preston Park Museum & Grounds, which is set to open to the public in summer 2025. This is being funded after Council secured £20million for improvements to Yarm and Eaglescliffe from the Levelling Up Fund as part of the Stockton South Constituency.

What is collections rationalisation?

Find our more about collections rationalisation and why it is important for a museum 

How will Preston Park Museum assess the collection?

Our rigorous rationalisation procedures will include assessing the significance of objects, such as questioning the extent of an object’s historical and cultural relevance to Stockton, and how unique the object is within the collection.

We will also complete a condition assessment, including how acceptable the current storage and care is for the object.

This case-by-case evaluation is important to increase collections knowledge, to rediscover unique artefacts and highlight new narratives.

What will Preston Park Museum do with objects that no longer fit their Collections Development policy?

• Our aim is to see as many objects as possible, that no longer fit with our Collections Development policy, rehomed or reused within the community. We will do this by the following means:
• Transfer to another museum or other public institution, such as education institutions, community groups, local history groups
• Return to the original donor
• Recycling, donations to charity shops, or as a last option destruction

The benefits of collections rationalisation

• Develop a renewed strategic approach to effective and sustainable management and development of the museum’s collections
• Enable us to better care for the collection
• Identify gaps in the museum’s collections and ensure that we continue to represent Stockton and Tees Valley
• Make space for new, relevant, contemporary collecting
• Opportunity for reuse and rehoming of objects that no longer fit with the aims of the museum, so that they can benefit the community
• Increase research, learning and engagement potential with other museums

About the Heritage Fund

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK’s heritage. Using money raised by National Lottery players we support projects that connect people and communities to heritage. Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.

Find out more

If you have any questions relating to the Dynamic Collections Project or you would like to be involved, please contact Emily Coulthard, Dynamic Collections Officer emily.coulthard@stockton.gov.uk