Claire, Your Stories participant At the beginning of May I saw a casting call on Facebook from my local museum, Colchester Castle. They were opening a new exhibit called Adorn: Jewellery,The Human Story and they were asking local people to submit pictures of and the...

Tom Harffey, Adorn Volunteer The Adorn exhibition is an eye-opening, incredible collection of ancient jewellery, mostly found in the local area. We as humans have always been intelligent and skillful, and it truly is both a showcase and a timeline of the talent and...

IPSMG:R.1996.41; The Boss Hall Brooch On loan from Ipswich Borough Council   Cymbeline Storey, Conservation Officer (Colchester) We’re going to take a closer look at one of the many stunning objects currently on display in Colchester Castle in the exhibition Adorn:...

Eleanor Root, Colchester and Learning Curaor (Ipswich) When the amazing kids from Suffolk Family Carers arrived at Ipswich Museum for their Hallowe’en party the Museum was pitch black. We hadn’t forgotten that we’d invited nearly 30 young people and some of the braver...

Guest blog by Carolyn Wingfield, Curator at Saffron Walden Museum This ring was found by a metal-detectorist near Thaxted, Essex in 2013. After it was reported under the Treasure Act (1996), it was purchased for Saffron Walden Museum’s archaeology collections by...

Rory McDaid, Collections Information Officer (Colchester) Generally speaking, the vast majority of collections held by museums are in storage – far more densely packed away than what you see in the museums themselves. Various figures get thrown around, but it’s said...

Ben Paites, Collections and Learning Curator What fascinates me most about jewellery is the hidden meaning behind the designs and styles people choose to wear. This can sometimes be simply down to personal preference, but while researching the objects that have ended...

By Karen Banton, Assistant Collections and Learning Curator My second John Ellerman Foundation-funded project has been getting the Colchester mollusc collection in order. Five months. Four cupboards. Lots of molluscs. And a surprising number of corals. Both things I...

By Sophie Stevens, Collections and Learning Curator: Adorn As a Natural Science specialist, when I heard that the whole team would be involved in curating Adorn, I made it my aim to get some specimens from the NS collections on display! As a team we think broadly...

For two very different organisations, Ipswich Museums and the Jobcentre Plus have discovered that we have a surprising amount in common. Most of all, we want to find ways to be useful to our local communities and support Ipswich’s wonderful and diverse people....