Museum at home

At home with Bolton Library and Museum Service

Museum at home

Museum Top 10 

Number 10 - Jango the Tuojiangosaurus


What's the Heaviest Object in Bolton's Museum?

Thutmose III tomb video from Bolton’s Egypt

Journey to the afterlife in this animated amduat from the tomb of Thutmose III. Bringing to life the 3450 year old tomb decoration. Some of you will recognise this from visits to the museum. We hope you’re all doing ok. We miss our visitors! Created for #BoltonsEgypt by Fuzzy Duck at MediaCityUK

Posted by Bolton Library and Museum Services on Friday, 24 April 2020


The Douglas and Scott Collection

We have thousands of insects in the museum collection and a lot of them are very old. With the help of one of our volunteers we've been busy transferring these specimens into better storage drawers. This will preserve them for future researchers in years to come.


The Musgrove Archive and the Hafod-Morfa Ironworks

Find out how one of our Archive collections is bringing an important industrial heritage site in Wales back to life!


Learn about our Viking Mouse!

This is the story of our Viking Mouse and his missing ear...


Museum Top 10

Number 9 - Nearing Camp by Thomas Moran


How we built Bolton's Egypt


Madame Giradelli, the Celebrated Fire-Proof Female

Find out more about this incredible lady depicted in an image from our collection of Georgian prints.


Museum Top 10

Number 8 - The African Elephant


The Conservation of La Madeleine Bone Carving Plaster Casts

See how one of our La Madeleine bone carving plaster casts has been repaired by conservator Pierrette.

The site in France where the original carvings came from was the first place this type of art was found. This cast was acquired from the British museum in 1907 so at 113 years old it's now an antique in it's own right!

Repairing a La Madeleine bone carving plaster cast

See how one of our La Madeleine bone carving plaster casts has been repaired by conservator Pierrette. The site in France where the original carvings came from was the first place this type of art was found. This cast was acquired from the British museum in 1907 so at 113 years old it's now an antique in it's own right!

Posted by Bolton Library and Museum Services on Tuesday, 14 April 2020


Do you Remember Monty the Mantis?

Monty the Mantis was a European mantis (Mantis religiosa Linnaeus, 1758) who sneaked her way into a suitcase and travelled back to Bolton from Turkey! Luckily our Natural History curator Don gave her a good home and she would make special appearances for our visitors.

A Mantis has an enormous appetite. They will eat most other live insects and catch their pray using pure force as they have no venom. They have 5 eyes ( 2 large eyes with 3 inbetween) and females can have up to 1000 babies!

Monty the Mantis

Have you ever met any of our insects when visiting the museum? Monty the Mantis was a European mantis (Mantis religiosa Linnaeus, 1758) who sneaked her way into a suitcase and travelled back to Bolton from Turkey! Luckily our Natural History curator Don gave her a good home and she would make special appearances for our visitors. A Mantis has an enormous appetite. They will eat most other live insects and catch their pray using pure force as they have no venom. They have 5 eyes ( 2 large eyes with 3 inbetween) and females can have up to 1000 babies!

Posted by Bolton Library and Museum Services on Thursday, 16 April 2020


The Tale of a Bowl Reunited

This dish is the most recent addition to the Bolton's Egypt Collection.
Carved from steatite, it dates to the New Kingdom, around 3500 years ago. Look closely and you’ll see it is broken into two pieces, right through the lion’s head.

The smaller piece was given to Bolton by Tamworth Castle Museum in 1989. The larger piece was discovered in a private collection in Germany in 2018, once belonging to Rev William MacGregor. Much of his collection was sold at Sotheby’s in 1922 at which point the two pieces must have become separated.

They were reunited after the larger fragment came up for sale at Bonhams in 2019. It was purchased by a consortium of donors and donated to Bolton in memory of V. Anthony Donohue, a good friend to the Bolton’s Egypt collection.
Find out the full story in this article by Egyptologist Tom Hardwick.


William Heath's March of Intellect, 1829

William Heath's visions of the future, taken from our recent exhibition of Georgian prints.


Museum Top 10

Number 7 - Bolton's Egypt and the Unknown Man

For this week's entry we tell you about Ancient Egyptian mummies and the 'Unknown man'!

Museum Top 10 - Number 7 - The Unknown Man

We're up to number 7 of our Museum Top 10. This week we tell you about Ancient Egyptian mummies and the 'Unknown man' Have you visited Bolton's Egypt? What's your favourite part of the gallery?

Posted by Bolton Library and Museum Services on Tuesday, 21 April 2020


The Tomb of Tuthmoses III

Journey to the afterlife in this animated amduat from the tomb of Thutmose III, bringing to life the 3450 year old tomb decoration.

Placeholder

A Child Convict 1

Our Archives hold many records that tell the stories of Bolton people. This example is a Court Indictment File from January 1840. James Costello pleaded guilty to picking the pocket of a Rachael Duckworth and as it wasn't his first offence he was sent to Tasmania for 10 years.

We've managed to trace his journey through Ancestry and help from Port Arthur Historical Site Tasmania who sent us lots of information to build a full picture of James.

You can also read the full story.


A Tale of Two Armours

The fascinating story of two amazing suits of armour from hugely different cultures!


Senet - An Egyptian boardgame

Ever wondered what the Egyptians did for fun? One of the things they enjoyed was playing board games – just like we still do today!

Senet was a popular Egyptian board game and our Egyptology curator, Ian, has put together a simple version of the game for you to play at home – simply copy or print the board, check the rules and enjoy!

Simple senet 1

Simple senet 2


Suffragists and Winston Churchill's Visit to Bolton - a story from Bolton Archives

Bolton Women's Suffrage Association was formed at a meeting at White Bank on March 17th 1908. They did not seek universal suffrage but for women to be able to vote with the same qualifications as men, which was to be the owner of property or a tenant paying over a certain amount.

Minute Book FW 2 11

The pictured minute book was donated to the Archives in 1951. It is one of three minute books which document the activities of the Bolton Women's Suffrage Association. The volumes give a fascinating insight into their campaign, including documenting their attendance at demonstrations in Manchester and London. One particularly interesting entry was made on 9th December 1909. The association had written a letter to Winston Churchill, then President of the Board of Trade, ahead of his visit to Bolton, where he was to speak at the Grand Theatre and the Theatre Royal in Churchgate.

They asked if he would meet with a deputation of the Bolton Women's Suffrage Association. Churchill declined, citing two reasons: lack of time and 'the fact that his views on the subject were so well known'. Churchill had reservations about women having the vote and often being the target of militant action meant he had little sympathy with the cause. The women had also written a letter to Mr Tillotson, owner of the Bolton Evening News, asking him to make it clear to the Liberal Association that if there were any disturbances on the occasion of Churchill's visit, the Bolton Women's Suffrage Association would not be responsible.

Minute Book Page 1

Churchill's visit was a huge success and the theatres were packed with a male only audience. However, his arrival into the town was not so welcoming. As he got into his motor car at Trinity Street station a suffragist, Nellie Godfry, threw a missile at the vehicle. It was two pieces of iron wrapped in a note which on one side read "Thrown by a woman of England as a test against the Government's treatment of political prisoners" and on the other side "A hint to Mr Churchill that it is time to begin to play the game".

Minute Book Page 2

 

Nellie Godfry pleaded guilty to the offence of 'discharging a missile to the danger of a passenger at Trinity Street' at the Borough Police Court. She received a fine of 40 shillings which she refused to pay,  so she was conveyed to Strangeways prison for 7 days. The Bolton newspapers reported on several other minor suffragist disturbances including a woman who was ejected from the Theatre Royal disguised as a man in her brother's clothing and a woman who made a failed attempt to board Churchill's car as it passed by. While the press were critical of the behaviour of some suffragists, the Bolton Women's Suffrage Association was hailed as an emphatically non-militant organisation, which had no involvement in such disturbances.