While museums remain closed to the public, the Garden City Collection team is set to bring displays to Letchworth's parks and open spaces during lockdown.
Letchworth's 'Outdoor Museum' will liven up lockdown and give some purpose and diversion to daily walks through the town’s beautiful parks.
The Letchworth Outdoor Museum will showcase displays with information and images from the Collection’s archives about the surrounding location, as well as old photographs on a different theme each week.
Josh Tidy, heritage manager for Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, said: “Our museum service’s physical venues must remain closed for now, so we wanted to find a way to continue to promote the wellbeing of our local community while sharing Letchworth’s history.
"We hope these simple displays will provide an easy and safe way for people to engage with some of the amazing images we have in the collection – as well as learn a bit about the history of their town.
"We can’t bring people to our museum at the moment, but we can bring the collection to a green space where you are – parks and curation if you will!”
The Outdoor Museum will visit locations around Letchworth as winter turns to spring, with the dates to be confirmed.
Look out for the pink flags when walking around Letchworth and follow the Garden City Collection on Facebook and Twitter to see where the Outdoor Museum will be each week.
You can also find out about more digital and outdoor events that the museum service has planned on its social media pages while the venues remain closed.
When you visit the open-air displays, make sure you wrap up warm and keep your distance at all times, just as masked museum staff will be doing.
The displays will be safely spaced out, and if you bring your smartphone you can access further content online. Dogs are welcome and hand sanitiser will be provided.
The Outdoor Museum, along with other activities across the museum and Broadway Gallery teams, has been made possible by a Culture Recovery Fund grant from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) via Arts Council England.
Letchworth Museums comprises The Garden City Collection, an ACE-accredited museum and collection store, which looks after over 250,000 objects relating to the history of Letchworth and the Garden City Movement; The Museum at One Garden City, a social history-based micro museum, which opened in June 2019; and The International Garden Cities Exhibition, a museum and visitor centre based in an original 1907 Arts & Crafts building, designed by Letchworth master-planner and architect, Barry Parker.
All are currently closed to the public amid the current restrictions.
For more information about Letchworth Museums, visit www.letchworth.com/what-we-do/heritage
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