COSTUME IN A LOCAL HISTORY MUSEUM (WEYBRIDGE MUSEUM, SURREY)

Abstract

A local costume collection is of particular interest to the social historian, for it can add much to the sum total of knowledge of the life' of a group of people in a particular place. is near enough to London to reflect the fashionable world, yet far enough away for there to be both a time lag in the adoption of a fashion and a distinction in fabrics and style due to the local social strata in a mixed (village and early railway commuter) society. None of the costume in the collection belonged to highly fashionable socialites, even though the fashionable London world frequented the district, particularly the River Thames, in the summer. The costumes in the collection consist of the clothes of the families of labourers and artisans, together with those of the women and children of the professional men lawyers, doctors, city merchants who travelled to town on the London/Southampton railway. In addition to the costume, the museum also has much of the personalia of these local people including dress accessories, jewellery, domestic objects, personal knick-knacks, toys, needlework, photographs, papers, reminiscences and diaries. Although the space in the museum in which costume can be shown is small, the displays of clothes are constantly changed, and the collection is available in a specially fitted store and workroom for research by students. Almost of equal interest to the costume collection itself is the way in which it has been collected and added to the museum, for this, too, is part of the local history, as is the story of the museum. Museum originated as the result of a series of exhibitions of Relics of Old Weybridge displayed annually at a local Arts and Crafts Show. After a particularly fine collection of relics was exhibited in 1906, a group of local people appointed a committee to arrange a permanent museum. With some assistance from the IJrban District Council the museum opened in 1909 and displayed local history with archaeological specimens and a natural history collection. Two honorary curators were appointed, one for local history and archaeology, the other for natural history. This division of the work and specimens continued until 1929, when the curator in natural history left the district and was not replaced. Over the next few years the museum changed its character, for the natural history collection was dispersed, and the staff (honorary curator and assistant) concentrated on research into local history. A feature ofWeybridge Museum is that it has always had an enthusiastic band of supporters among local people who were prepared to act as field officers and collect local information and references. One of these supporters was a Mrs. Gervaise du Croz, and in the course of interviewing elderly people in the 1920's and 1930's she found many of them willing to give small items of costume and personal