National Lottery funding to help us preserve some of UHDB's most treasured historical artefacts
UHDB has received nearly £100,000 in National Lottery funding to help preserve some of the Trust’s most treasured and historical artefacts for future generations to enjoy.
The ivory hammer used by Queen Victoria to open the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary (DRI) in 1891 is just one of the many important items from our Trust’s past that will benefit from the funding boost.
In total, UHDB has a collection of more than 1,000 medical artefacts that will now be fully catalogued, conserved and safely rehoused to ensure their long-term survival, through the Trust’s ‘Medical Museum’ project.
The project, which is managed by Air Arts, UHDB’s arts charity, will officially start in September 2021, in partnership with Royal Derby Hospital’s Library Service, and will see the different objects displayed through various museum exhibitions across each of our hospitals, thanks to the £98,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Laura Waters, Head of Air Arts, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have received the National Lottery Heritage Funding. It is quite unusual for a hospital to receive this type of funding, however we are extremely grateful and excited to start our project. It will be fantastic to be able to share the hospital medical archive with patients and staff as part of the recovery process.”
The collection is comprised of a huge number of different artefacts, including a vast array of military nursing medals, Florence Nightingale memorabilia, stained glass windows from the original hospital chapel, old uniforms, surgical instruments, photographs, and much more.
As well as helping preserve these important items, following a difficult year that has seen the artefacts have to be moved to temporary storage in Royal Derby Hospital’s Library because of the pandemic, having this archive material available for all to see will also enhance the wellbeing of patients, staff and hospital visitors alike.
Laura added: “A collection of such importance has to be professionally housed to ensure its long-term survival, particularly the many fragile objects that would rapidly deteriorate if not stored correctly, so having this funding will enable us to protect this important collection at this critical point in our history. The project will engage with staff, patients and visitors, many of whom may not visit heritage settings in their daily lives, and could therefore be a first step on that road to better wellbeing, through the arts and culture.”
