Documenting Northern Lincolnshire’s History project
Connecting communities with the Museum’s local history collection, the project is made possible by National Lottery Heritage Fund and is a partnership project between North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Museums.
At North Lincolnshire Museum, our project team work with curatorial staff to spotlight and preserve stories of North Lincolnshire’s past, contained across the collections. The project team are working hard to make our collections more discoverable. We want to connect communities to their shared histories.
The project focuses on the Museum’s photography and ephemera collections. A team of curatorial staff and volunteers will work on researching and digitising these collections. Collections records can be viewed in our CollectionsOnline portal. Audiences will share in the team’s discoveries as they curate displays and create digital content.
Our Team
Our project team brings together over thirty community members who volunteer their time and local knowledge to help us better tell the story of North Lincolnshire’s fascinating past. We act on the principle that all our stories matter. We want to include a variety of perspectives and voices in our storytelling.
Photos of volunteers at work. The team document, digitise, and research objects from the collections. They have also been busy with preparations for their recently launched exhibition, Stories from the Stores.
Quotes From Our Volunteer Team:
Volunteers have enjoyed the opportunity to delve into research, particularly around stories that remain untold:
Working with local studies librarian Tim Davies to learn more about our Lady Folk queen, Mabel Peacock, has opened my eyes to the breadth of her work and character. Searching for evidence to uncover the identity of Lucian Wetherell has been both fascinating and challenging. While we still don’t know Lucian’s identity for certain, playing detective has been one of my favourite parts of volunteering!
I had known that the local area was significant to the RAF, with various airfields and bases scattered throughout the nearby countryside. I realised that a topic many might not know about is the role European allied forces played in the air, with North Lincolnshire serving as their temporary home
Project members work in groups and enjoy the social aspect of the sessions:
I have truly enjoyed working with everyone involved in the different projects. It has been great to help put the exhibition together and learn about all the different aspects of curation
I loved going through the ephemera boxes and discovering items that brought back memories from my past, like those of Scunthorpe High Street, the market, bus station, and other familiar places.
We’ve enjoyed the camaraderie within our group and found it fascinating to see the research others are working on. We enjoy our lunchtime tea and biscuits with the team
Project members have highlighted the role our collections can play in bringing communities together. Our key takeaway: all our stories matter.
I like that the museum’s local history collections call attention to the many cultures and customs that exist within our local communities
Meet Our Project Team
Some members of our volunteer team shared a little about their work in our short feature film on the Documenting Northern Lincolnshire’s History project.
Sharing Our Work
Members of our Museum Makers volunteer team have been busy sharing their documentation and interpretive work with the wider community.
In March, members of the team presented at a conference focused on collaborative documentation at Leeds City Museum. They also participated in a panel discussion, sharing their thoughts on accessibility and inclusion in heritage context, based on their own lived experiences.
Some of our Museum Makers volunteers delivered a talk to members of North Lincolnshire Heritage Network at their quarterly meeting on 23 June 2025. The team discussed the documentation work they have carried out with the agriculture-related materials from the local history collection. They also shared details of their interpretation work, which includes designing a gallery trail in collaboration with a local illustrator, connecting with a local farmer, sharing their own farming stories, and curating an exhibit featuring objects from the collections as part of the ‘Stories from the Stores’ exhibition. The group participated in a Q&A, sharing lots about the work they have been doing to make the displays more accessible, and even treating attendees to tours of the exhibition.
Exhibition Highlights
Our recently launched exhibition, Stories from the Stores, spotlights several stories that volunteers discovered during their documentation work. The stories revolve around three key topics selected by the volunteer team: community voices, community spirit and creative storytelling.
Upcoming
The project team will travel to Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre on 23 July to meet their Dynamic Collections project team and see their exhibition, Our Past on Paper.
More to Explore
Scunthorpe’s Palace Theatre
The history of Scunthorpe’s Palace Theatre by placement student Abygayle Janik.
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The Deyne School of Music
Documenting Northern Lincolnshire’s Local History volunteer, Andrew Holmes, looks at the history of music in Scunthorpe and the Deyne School of Music.
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Emotional Connections as Documentation: Working with the North Lincolnshire Sanctuary Group and Poet, Sharena Lee Satti
Community Curator, Kathryn Spence, on a recent project creating poems inspired by objects in the collection with the North Lincolnshire Sanctuary Group.
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Spotlight on the Collections: Pye 1220 Stereogram
Museum Maker, Tyler Jumps, shares her research into the Pye 1220 Sterogram on display in the Local History Gallery.
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Private Archibald Brown
Documenting Northern Lincolnshire’s History Project Volunteer, Ed Tooker, shares his research into a telegram naming a local lad from Winterton.
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Helmets of the Great War: The Pickelhaube, the Coal Scuttle and the Brodie “Battle Bowler”
Documenting Northern Lincolnshire’s History Project Volunteer, Ed Tooker, takes a closer look at the Great War helmets on display in the Local History Gallery.
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