Curator’s Choice – Bill’s Letters to Home

William ‘Bill’ Smith lived on Cottage Beck Road in Scunthorpe. His fiancé Evelyn Goodacre lived with her parents in Messingham. Bill wrote over 100 letters home to Evelyn whilst serving in the Navy.

Most of the letters were written after the end of the Second World War. Bill is waiting to be demobbed so he can return home and marry Evelyn. Though we only have Bill’s letters, the story told is one of longing to be home and the boredom of waiting around as wartime transitions to peace.

In this video, Collections Officer Rebecca Lucas takes a closer look at the love story portrayed in the letters.

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Curator’s Choice – A Venetian Soldino in Lincolnshire

A closer look at Venetian soldino in the Museums collection.

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Curator’s Choice – Atkinson’s Illustrations

A closer look at the drawings of Alfred Atkinson for the Brigg Court of Sewers.

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Curator’s Choice – Boy’s Dresses

A closer look at the clothes worn by Rowland Winn, 1st Baron St Oswald as a small boy.

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Curator’s Choice – Fowler’s Mosaics

A closer look at William Fowler of Winterton’s engravings of mosaics.

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Curator’s Choice – Magnificent Moths

A closer look at the Museum’s moth collection.

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Curator’s Choice – Of Mourning and Bonnets

A closer look at a selection of Victorian mourning bonnets.

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Curator’s Choice – Reverend Parkinson’s Waistcoat

A closer look at the Reverend Parkinson’s waistcoat.

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Curator’s Choice – Riley’s Crisp Factory

A closer look at Scunthorpe’s Riley’s Crisp Factory.

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Curator’s Choice – Stukeley’s Itinerarium Curiosum

A closer look at William Stukeley’s book, the Itinerarium Curiosum.

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Curator’s Choice – The Flintlock Flint

A closer look at gunflints.

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Curator’s Choice – The Thresher

A closer look at the threshing machine.

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Curator’s Choice – The Unassuming Plough Pebble

A closer look at Medieval plough pebbles.

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Curator’s Choice – The Wroot Axe

A closer look at the Neolithic Wroot Axe.

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