Tom Brown's School Museum: Collections

Collections

The Museum has a varied collection of artefacts, documents, photographs, books, maps, records and press cuttings that relate to Uffington.

We also have some local census records, records of churchyard surveys at St Mary's Church, and a collection of attendance registers from Uffington primary school.

Please note: If you are looking for specific information, or wish to consult items not on display, please contact the Curator before arranging a visit to the Museum.

Artefacts and books

These are recorded in our collection index system, MODES, which can be searched for specific names, places or dates.

Many artefacts are on display on the walls of the Museum or in cabinets, but others are in storage.

A section of the Museum is dedicated to books relating to the local area, and we have a collection of 136 different editions of Thomas Hughes book 'Tom Brown's Schooldays', donated to the Museum in 1986 by Joan Little, widow of John Little, the Museum's founder and first Curator.

Documents and records

These are stored in box files and indexed. A copy of the index is available here.

The Museum has copies of the census records for Uffington for the years 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901.

Some of the records from Uffington Church are available:
Baptisms for the years 1607 to 1637 and 1654 to 1946
Banns for the years 1763 to 1823
Marriages for the years 1607 to 1637 and 1663 to 1990
Burials for the years 1607 to 1637 and 1654 to 1946

Photographs

The Museum has a large collection of photographs of local people and places, covering the last 120 years.
All are indexed, and the indexes can be searched for specific names, places or dates. The photographs have been scanned and can be viewed on the computer screen.

Where copyright permits, visitors can buy copies printed on photo quality paper.

Recordings

We have a collection of oral history recordings. These were made by the Museum during the 1990's when a number of local people were interviewed so that their recollections of life in and around Uffington could be preserved. Copies of all of those recordings have been placed on the Museum's computer, and visitors can listen to them when they visit.

We also have video recordings of local events, and films with a connection to the village. Again these can be viewed on the Visitor Computer.