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Museum of Oxford

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Coordinates: 51°45′6″N 1°15′26″W / 51.75167°N 1.25722°W / 51.75167; -1.25722
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Museum of Oxford
Museum of Oxford is located in Oxford
Museum of Oxford
Location within Oxford
Established1975
LocationSt Aldate's. Oxford, England, OX1 1DZ
TypeLocal history museum, archaeology, & social history
Collection size750 exhibits
ArchitectMuseum housed inside building designed by Henry Hare in the Jacobethan style
OwnerMuseum of Oxford Development Trust Registered Charity No. 1173867
Websitemuseumofoxford.org

The Museum of Oxford (MOX) is a history museum in Oxford, England, covering the history of Oxford and its people.[1] The museum includes both permanent and temporary displays featuring artefacts relating to Oxford's history from prehistoric times to the present day. The museum also acts as a public meeting space which people and organisations rent for both public and private events. Other activities facilitated by the museum include frequent public talks by historians and local cultural organisations,[2] organised school tours, family activities, adult learning workshops, and an older people's program.[3]

The museum contains a gift shop stocked with items related to Oxford's history and cultural heritage, including books, toys, food, clothing, postcards.

The museum is situated in Oxford city centre, located inside Oxford Town Hall on St Aldate's Street.

History of the museum

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The Museum of Oxford was first opened in 1975 inside Oxford Town Hall, occupying the former premises of the Oxford Public Library.[1] The museum is situated inside Oxford Town Hall, which was first opened in 1897 and was built by the architect Henry Hare in the Jacobethan style.[citation needed]

In 2005 the museum was awarded a financial grant by the Big Lottery funding scheme, Home Front Recall. This project aimed to collect and preserve memories of the Second World War from residents in Oxfordshire to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the war's end.[4]

In 2009 Oxford City Council considered closing the Museum of Oxford to save money, as the upkeep of the museum was costing £200,000 annually. However the closure of the museum was opposed by the Oxford Civic Society, who campaigned for its continuation and helped the museum organise a rota of volunteers to keep the museum running on a reduced cost.[5]

In 2018 the museum acted as a temporary home to archaeological artifacts uncovered during the construction of Oxford's Westgate Shopping Centre.[6][7]

The museum gift shop

Refurbishment – 2018–2021

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From July 2018 to October 2021 the museum closed for a refurbishment which tripled the size of the museum space.[8] The estimated cost of the refurbishment was 3.2 million,[9] but was completed with a budget of 2.8 million by the architectural firm Purcell,[10][11] and was funded by Arts Council England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and Oxford City Council.[12] The refurbishment raised the number of exhibits from 286 to around 750.[13][14] In 2020 Oxford City Council leader Susan Brown suggested that Oriel College's infamous statue of Cecil Rhodes could be relocated to the Museum of Oxford.[15] [16] During this time which encompassed the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum begun focusing more heavily on online material and temporary displays were erected in other rooms also located inside Oxford Town Hall.[citation needed]

Expansion – 2021–present

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Since the 2021 October reopening the museum has relied upon a large network of over 100 volunteers.[17] The museum also begun hosting a series of workshops for school children to teach them about local history.[18] Also in 2021 the museum won a National Lottery grant of £240,000 for its Hidden Histories project.[19]

A MOX volunteer examines historic maps of Oxford

In 2022 the museum hosted a Digital Artist in Residence to create digital artworks featuring Oxfordshire's folklore and legends.[20] The end result was an interactive videogame exploring pre-Christian British mythology.[21]

In 2023, the Museum of Oxford became the first venue in Oxford city center to host a performance of Little Edens, a theatrical production based on Oxford's Florence Park Rent Strikes in 1934.[22][23]

Themes

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The Museum of Oxford focuses solely on the history and culture of the City of Oxford, with a focus on the people of the city who are residents rather than the University of Oxford. Such themes included within the displays include football, women's rights, policing, entertainment, engineering, social history, Jewish and Christian history, archaeology, and British military history.[citation needed]

In recent years there has been a shift towards creating more displays featuring Black British history and LGBTIQA+ history.[24][25] In 2021 following the refurbishments the Museum of Oxford had unveiled a temporary Windrush display celebrating the history of Caribbean people in Oxford since the 1950s.[26]

Key exhibits

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Oliver Cromwell's "death mask" displayed in the Museum of Oxford

Some of the museum's most notable items and exhibits include:

Temporary and online exhibits

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Alongside permanent displays, the Museum of Oxford has hosted a number of temporary exhibits. Past examples have included Of Ordinary Things featuring art by Iraqi women living in Oxford,[32] and Queering Spires which won the National Lottery's 'Sustainable Project of the Year Award'.[24][33] [34]

One of the most common activities facilitated by the museum are memory collecting events where local people are encouraged to visit the museum to share items, photographs, and memories of their lives in Oxford. One such event was the Sporting Oxford Collecting Day in 2019 which encouraged residents to share memories of sports in Oxford.[35] The museum also hosts occasional online displays, one of which was a project called City Stories in 2022 which sought to collect and preserve oral histories and photographs from the city's residents.[36]

The museum also hosts temporary events parallel to wider Oxford celebrations, such as facilitating an arts and crafts workshop called Queenly Crafts as a part of Oxford's annual Alice Day celebrations.[37]

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  • MOX entrance (inside town hall)
    MOX entrance (inside town hall)
  • View of MOX main gallery from gift shop
    View of MOX main gallery from gift shop
  • View of MOX main hall from seating area
    View of MOX main hall from seating area
  • An interactive exhibit for trying on historic clothes
    An interactive exhibit for trying on historic clothes
  • Map of Oxford Town Hall
    Map of Oxford Town Hall
  • A performance of the historical drama Little Edens is performed in the Museum Makers Space
    A performance of the historical drama Little Edens is performed in the Museum Makers Space
  • A Historical reenactment in the Museum of Oxford depicting activist Abraham Lazarus during the 1934 Florence Park rent strike
    A Historical reenactment in the Museum of Oxford depicting activist Abraham Lazarus during the 1934 Florence Park rent strike

Accessibility

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Every room within the Museum of Oxford is wheelchair accessible. This includes a lift to access both galleries and areas which are not ordinarily open to the public.[38] However the steps in front of the main entrance to Oxford city hall are not wheelchair accessible, and disabled visitors will need to enter via an alternative entrance. Most display cases are designed so that they can be viewed from wheelchair height.[38]

Admission to the museum is free and the galleries are open every day except Sundays and holidays.[39]

Rented spaces

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The basement areas of the Museum of Oxford hold two meeting halls which the museum rents for both public and private events. The largest room is called the Museum Makers Space, the smallest is called the Learning Studio.[30] Also available is a kitchenette, museum props, Wi-Fi, furniture, baby changing areas, gender neutral toilets, and on-site catering.[39]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1988). "Museum of Oxford". The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. Macmillan. p. 265. ISBN 0-333-39917-X.
  2. ^ "Museum of Oxford to host Bailey Bridge talk". Oxford City Council. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  3. ^ "older people's program". Museum of Oxford. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  4. ^ "Museum of Oxford's People's War Page". BBC. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Museum of Oxford: Oxford Museum's future has been secured". Oxford Civic Society. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  6. ^ Keys, David (5 March 2018). "Alchemy, flushing toilets and blood-letting: The secrets of medieval Oxford revealed". The Independent. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  7. ^ Ffrench, Andrew (9 February 2018). "Historic friary tiles now on show in artwork at Westgate Centre". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Museum of Oxford reopens after £2.8m revamp". BBC News. 11 October 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  9. ^ Council, Oxford City. "Work begins on Museum of Oxford redevelopment". www.oxford.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  10. ^ Perry, Sophie (11 October 2021). "Museum of Oxford reopens after £2.8 million refurbishment". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Museum of Oxford". Purcell. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  12. ^ Della Sala, Sofia (18 October 2021). "An inside peek at the Museum of Oxford - open again after three years". Oxfordshire Live. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Museum of Oxford reveals opening date after £2.8m refurb". Museums+Heritage. 14 September 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  14. ^ Dixon, Rachel (4 June 2021). "Top 10 museum renovations and reopenings in England for 2021". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  15. ^ Race, Michael; Briant, Nathan (9 June 2020). "Cecil Rhodes: Protesters demand Oxford statue removal". BBC News. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  16. ^ Shaw, Anny (6 January 2021). "Oxford University's All Souls College drops Christopher Codrington's name from its library—but refuses to remove slave owner's statue". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  17. ^ "First look at the newly reopened, refurbished Museum of Oxford". Museums+Heritage. 11 October 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  18. ^ "Museum of Oxford reopens for school visits following extensive refurbishment". School Travel Organiser. 5 November 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  19. ^ Department for, Digital, Culture, Media & Sport; Dowden, Oliver (19 February 2021). "More than £18 million awarded in final grants from first round of Culture Recovery Fund". Gov.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ Hall, Benjamin (2022). "Hidden Histories". Digital Artist Residency. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  21. ^ "Benjamin Hall: Digital Artist in Residence". Museum of Oxford. 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  22. ^ "Little Edens". Museum of Oxford. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  23. ^ "Museum of Oxford – Little Edens". Experience Oxfordshire. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  24. ^ a b "Museum of Oxford wins Sustainable Project of the Year". National Lottery Heritage Fund. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  25. ^ "Oxford City Council celebrates Black History Month". Oxford City Council. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  26. ^ Norris, Miranda (7 October 2021). "Oxford focuses on contributions of the black community to city in Black History Month". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  27. ^ Herring, Naomi (6 September 2018). "CUTTESLOWE WALLS: How two estates were divided by class". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  28. ^ a b c "Museum of Oxford reopening: Century-old marmalade tin among exhibits". BBC News. 11 October 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  29. ^ "TOWN NOT GOWN: SNEAK PEEK AT THE NEW MUSEUM OF OXFORD AND WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN IT REOPENS ON MONDAY AFTER A £2.8 MILLION REFURBISHMENT!". Ox in a Box. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  30. ^ a b "Today's the day! The Museum of Oxford reopens after £2.8m redevelopment". Ox Magazine. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  31. ^ Lovett, Charlie (13 November 2015). "Footsteps: Finding Alice's 'Wonderland' in Oxford". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  32. ^ "Women's experience of war captured in new exhibition at the Museum of Oxford". Oxford City Council. 13 April 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  33. ^ Styles, David (18 March 2021). "No change too small: how an LGBT+ exhibition at Museum of Oxford blazed a sustainability trail". Museums+Heritage. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  34. ^ "Winners announced at the first ever virtual Museums + Heritage Awards 2020". Museums+Heritage. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  35. ^ "Museum of Oxford wants to celebrate your sporting memories". Oxford City Council. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  36. ^ "Oxford City Council celebrates South Asian Heritage Month". Oxford City Council. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  37. ^ Perry, Sophie (30 June 2022). "Alice's Day 2022: Events, road closures and everything to you need to know". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  38. ^ a b Steadman, Jessica (19 October 2021). "The Museum of Oxford's Grand Reopening !!!". The Oxford Blue. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  39. ^ a b "Museum of Oxford". The Oxford Magazine. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
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51°45′6″N 1°15′26″W / 51.75167°N 1.25722°W / 51.75167; -1.25722

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