School Loans Collection History
A School Loans Collection box on the Ancient Greeks from the 1950s
Reading Museum's loan box scheme is one of the oldest and best known in the country. It started in 1911 when local schools borrowed items including Egyptian pottery, fossils, the head of a double-horned ram and a badger.
The collection is regularly reviewed to ensure that it remains relevant, and in 2004 the museum obtained a £1 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to update all the boxes. Over the next four years they were modernised with improved packing material for the long-term preservation and safer transport of the objects, including new metal cases for some collections and refurbishment of the purpose-built wooden boxes of others. Some collections already had booklets of interpretation for use in the classroom, but many were updated and redesigned with the introduction of colourful information sheets to explain most of the collections. This successful project culminated in Reading Museum being longlisted for the 2009 Art Fund Prize.
We now have about 15,000 objects for schools to borrow, in more than 1000 themed boxes. The boxes cover all disciplines, from art and design to science and technology, of local to global significance. The collection's range makes it a valuable tool for teachers, offering the opportunity for children to experience hands-on learning with real objects from the museum's collections: for example Ancient Greek pots, Victorian household items or twentieth century history, as well as those fossils! There are also still badgers, though sadly the ram's head has gone. Some replicas and models, such as child-sized costume, most hand-made specially, are also available to help bring the past to life.
Follow the links below to see a small selection of early photographs and star objects that are, or were, included in our loans boxes, or to explore the modern school loans services and view the loans boxes that are now available.