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The Client
Wardown Park Museum in Luton is part of the Luton Museums family which is governed by Luton Cultural Services Trust. In addition to the permanent galleries, the museum holds around four temporary exhibitions a year, and events and activities for visitors of all ages and interests. Luton is well known for its hat industry and the museum has about 700 hats in its collection at Wardown Park Museum.
The collection includes men’s, women’s, children’s and doll’s hats. Many are made from straw plait, and there is also a fine selection of fabric and felt hats. The oldest hat dates from the 1600s and the collection covers hat fashion to the present day. There is even a policeman’s helmet made from straw plait.
The Challenge
Storage at Wardown Park Museum has been problematic for some time, with the cramped conditions in the costume store room potentially detrimental to the objects. Most of the 700 hats were stored in boxes, but in many cases the boxes contained several hats packed close to each other. The curator and staff had the task of preserving the hats in a less than ideal location which created challenges to the longevity of the collection.
The Solution
Although the storage area available was small, it became clear to Metalrax Storage that the solution was one of maximising the space available. By employing several styles of racking, including a light weight mobile, the team were able to fill the small room to its safe capacity. Veronica Main, Costume and Textile Curator takes up the story; “I had dismissed mobiles as I thought they would be too heavy but the “push pull” system is perfect for our needs. The overall costs were far less than we expected, and for once we were pleasantly surprised by the quotation that we received. This new system will revolutionize the way we store our hats!”
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