If our past exhibitions at Ashburton Museum can highlight how a magnificent story can come from just one object, this is particularly true with the Radiant Hall exhibition. While Meet You At the Radiant Hall ran way back in 2017, we were once again reminded of it with our exhibition, Ashburton: Feels Like Home from... Continue Reading →
While the team at Ashburton Museum were working on Ashburton: Feels Like Home, our 2019 Spring exhibition, we became even more interested than usual in all the things that make this district feel special and familiar. Home is a big theme, and it was especially interesting trying to tease out the myriad sights, ideas, experiences... Continue Reading →
One exhibition we put on in 2019 at Ashburton Museum proved to be close to the heart of many locals. It was titled ‘Ashburton: Feels Like Home’ and included all kinds of quirky and iconic items and images that are a reminder of why this place is special to so many people. Among the exhibition... Continue Reading →
Last year, the Ashburton Guardian celebrated 140 years of reporting. Among that coverage are many stories of mayhem and mischief, showing how nineteenth-century life in Ashburton and in Canterbury as a whole was not as mundane as one might think. Old Guardians are peppered with reports of stand-out incidents and occurrences, ranging from macabre to... Continue Reading →
When I was a very young child living in Ireland, I had an ungodly obsession with trains. I loved everything about them – there was just some elusive appeal that drew me to anything that slid on rails and went “choo-choo”. I loved my Thomas the Tank Engine toys so much that I used to... Continue Reading →
Among the staff at Ashburton Museum are many volunteers who undertake various roles. Some act as receptionists, welcoming and assisting visitors with our popular programs, activities and research enquiries. Others help care for collections. A few transcribe records to provide access to fragile or interesting items that it would otherwise become damaged by use. Transcribing... Continue Reading →
One never knows what will be donated to Ashburton Museum and last year a rather large and old piece of canvas was brought in, which contained a number of seaman’s discharge papers and letters dating from the 1860s that once belonged to Robert William Shearman. The canvas and papers turned out to be an important... Continue Reading →
The team at Ashburton Museum are always on the lookout for new ways to tell heritage stories, or quirky ways to share the identity of this district. One way we really like to do this is to crowd source our exhibition content. We get to discover the clever things that local people do or make,... Continue Reading →
One of our popular exhibitions from last year was Make, Do and Mend. It promoted the idea of recycling and reusing items in clever ways. Today these principles are part of a philosophy of reducing waste to save the planet. In the past, however, people made, mended or reused items because it made economic... Continue Reading →
Last year we featured the exhibition Make, Do and Mend, which included all sorts of creative ways that people have recycled and re-used unexpected materials. While planning and installing the exhibition, at the same time we were looking ahead to new activities and programmes for the school holidays. One such activity began on Tuesday,... Continue Reading →
