Image of barbed wire THE MUSEUM OF TECHNOLOGY
The Great War and WWII
[1850-1980]
Registered Charity No 1140352

NEWS ARCHIVE

Heritage Open Days 2010

The museum will be open during the Heritage Open Day week on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th September between 10am and 4pm. Entrance is free.

The BBC films at the Museum

In June 2010 programme makers from the BBC led by Kirsty Young visited the museum to film some of our period office equipment, along with an oral history supplied by Elaine, a lady who remembered using it. We were informed that the programme's working title is to be "The British at Work" and will be broadcast early next year.

Find our collection at BBC History of the World

An Evening of Memories at The Museum of Technology

The Museum of Technology The Great War & WWII will be opening their doors on Friday 14th May 2010 for an evening of nostalgia, come along between 7.00pm and 10.00pm, have a tipple and a nibble and enjoy the sounds of the past.

We will be playing our old 78 records and showing off our eclectic collection from days gone by.

'Old and New - Comparing Technology' Loan box for Schools

We have now added a further loan box to our schools resources, called “Old & New - Comparing Technology". The contents of the box will give children the chance to compare the considerable differences that occurred during the development of technology, from the Victorian Glass Slide to one of the first Mobile Phones c.1980.

Supported by a grant from Museums Luton, funded by Renaissance East of England, the box contains 3 Cameras, 4 Telephones and an example of a 1950’s Gramophone, together with 78 rpm records to demonstrate the sound and workings of the gramophone.

The object of this Box is to demonstrate how lots of changes and improvements had to happen to get to what we have today, rather than just one sudden, drastic change!. The box contains several examples of each product showing different stages in their development. Comparing the items will enable children to understand how technology has developed. Then, when they experience modern technology they will have a good understanding of how these pieces of equipment have progressed.

The contents of this box and photos of each item can be seen by clicking here. If you would like to borrow this Loan Box please get in touch with the curator: Rosie Hourihane. A deposit of £20 will be charged for the hire of this box.

MLA Accreditation

The museum has just been awarded Accreditation status from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. This award demonstrates that the museum has achieved clearly defined national standards relating to governance and management, user services, visitor facilities and collections management.

Nortel Technology Archive

The museum has recently received a donation of objects from the “Nortel Technology Archive”. Included in the collection are a selection of Trans Atlantic Telegraph Cables and some very interesting valves. Eventually the collection will be shown on the museum's web site.

Reminiscence Loan Boxes Announced

The museum is now able to offer another outreach service in the form of "Reminiscence Boxes". The theme of these boxes is "The Way We Were in the 40's and 50's". Boxes include "At Home" and "Going Out"; each box contains many items which will trigger memories for the older generation and people with dementia. More

E2BN Award for the Museum

At the 2009 E2BN Conference the museum was presented with a Certificate of Commendation for Excellent Resources Provided to Schools.This was in recognition of our contributions to the E2BN gallery

We intend to carry on adding to our presence on E2BN with Audio Profiles of War Veterans and Video Clips of demonstrations of Scientific Objects in the museum.

Loan Boxes for Schools Announced

Supported by a grant from the Hertfordshire Museums Small Grants scheme, funded by the Renaissance East of England Museums Hub, the museum has been able to put together two Second World War Loan Boxes.

Commenting on the announcement Rosie Hourihane the museum's Education Officer said "In our experience, allowing children to touch, feel, and in some cases smell the artefacts encourages debate and a greater understanding of how people managed during the Second World War".

If you would like to borrow one or both Loan Boxes please get in touch with Rosie Hourihane.
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E2BN Gallery for Schools Created

The museum has created a gallery on the E2BN website. The gallery contains a number of technology based images relating to aspects of the National Curriculum.

The galleries are a safe place where teachers and children can search or browse and can download high quality images for use in their projects. The images are a quality which allows them to be projected or used on Interactive Whiteboards.

The galleries include:

Museum acquires the Bruce Hammond Collection

The Museum has recently acquired an extensive collection of 19th and early 20th technology. Over 150 items have been donated to the museum by Janet Hammond. Her husband Bruce collected early electrical artefacts for many years, with a passion for unusual and quirky items.

The collection complements the items already on display at the museum. In particular he collected a number of bits of "Quackery" - medical items that were sold as cure all's but in fact have little or no effect. One such item has many switches and dials and purports to apply different electrical stimuli to the body to cure a myriad of different diseases; when the curator opened the box there was nothing inside!

Janet knew how important the collection was to her late husband Bruce and wanted the collection kept together. We were very happy to do so, and a new display area has been created to accommodate the collection.