Just over a year after starting as the head of collections at the Powell-Cotton Museum, I have been reflecting on the journey so far.
We are a small museum going through big changes, and being a part of this process has been enlightening, challenging and unexpected. It has also been a steep learning curve.
The museum, which is in the Kent countryside near Margate, is historically the private collection of the Powell-Cotton family. Made up of natural history, material culture, archives and library collections, the museum, historic home and beautiful gardens are a popular destination for local visitors as well as those from around the world.
When I started in the job, my colleagues told me that at the Powell-Cotton Museum, everything is happening, all at once, and all the time. Having come from setting up a museum in my previous post, I wasn’t initially daunted by this. But they weren’t exaggerating.
Like many institutions across the sector, the museum is trying to work through some of the vital but delicate work of decolonisation. It is also undergoing major renovation work to its roof, following a successful application to the DCMS Mend fund administered by Arts Council England.
With three exhibitions opening in early 2025, a large conservation project to work with mould-affected items, and all the usual day-to-day running of the museum – including a new collections management system, a busy events schedule, constant battles with pests and an ever-leaking roof – there is plenty to get stuck into.
The institution faces many of the same challenges as other small museums, and we do a lot on a modest budget. We are lucky enough to have permanent collections staff, and our work is also supported by the invaluable assistance of the operations team.
The roof project presents its own challenges. Despite working with an excellent build team, there have been scheduling issues, with gallery closures and lots of noise. The works also require all collections on open display to be removed. This would be challenging enough in any museum, but when the wall-mounted artefacts include taxidermy items, animal skulls and precious material culture, it becomes more difficult and, in the case of the latter items, absolutely vital that the work is done respectfully.
Some of these items are likely to never go on display again for their own protection, as well as being part of our decolonisation work. Through this work, we have had the privilege of working with a community group of individuals of African descent. Their direct input and curation into the reinterpretation of the East African collections has been a core part of our decolonisation work and has fed into our approach to reinterpretation.
But their input has also been wider than this. As a result of their experience of the museum space and their feedback, the artefacts taken down from the walls will not be going back up. The combination of trophy skulls and items of material culture was distasteful and upsetting, but the displays also gave no context or information about the artefacts.
Launching three exhibitions in the early part of the year is another challenge. Due to Covid, staff changes, budget challenges and other unexpected hurdles, four years of programming has been delayed, leaving
all three culminating at the same time. Everything that needs doing for an
exhibition – from research and content writing, to design meetings, conservation work, mounting and promotion – has to be done in triplicate.
My experiences in this first year have not been shaped by the challenges and successes of projects developing, but by the people. I am constantly impressed, surprised and buoyed by the skill and endurance of those I work with. Project fatigue is a real thing and it’s challenging to move continually from one project to another. So my colleagues’ resilience and their creativity in the face of negotiating small budgets and tight time frames is heartening and motivational on the days when elephant heads and deep ethical challenges weigh heavily.
I am certain that this year won’t see a change in the challenges, aspirations and busy schedules, but I continue to be proud to work within an organisation that is ambitious in its approach to real change and its dedication to the protection of collections.
But I do hope that there will be fewer roof leaks and maybe we’ll do just one reinterpretation project at a time!
