The Southam Heritage Collection contains artefacts,

document A document is a writing, written, drawing, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of nonfiction, non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes ...

s, and

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...

s relating to the history of the town of

Southam Southam () is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England, located about east-southeast of Leamington Spa. In the 2021 census, the population of Southam was 8,114. History Southam was a Royal ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, including its people, and the surrounding villages. Since its inception in 2006, the Collection was managed by a team of volunteers under the name of The Friends of the Cardall Collection. Members of the Friends are interested in the history of Southam and its surrounding villages. More recently the Collection has become a Registered Charity (No 1173033) in England and Wales and is now governed by a small committee of Trustees and a larger Management Committee under the new name of the Southam Heritage Collection. The Collection is based in two of the Community Rooms located in Tithe Place, High Street,

. Access to the Exhibition Room is through the main entrance to Tithe Place, opposite the Southam Library in the Atrium. The second Community Room is used for storage of Collection items and for project related work. Access to the Exhibition Room is viable for people with disabilities since it is located on the ground floor with no steps and wide doors. In addition to the Southam Library, there is also a café open during normal daytime hours plus public toilets including one with baby changing facilities and disabled access.

Background

The collection was started by the late Jack Cardall, and his widow, Rene, continued this work until her death in 2007. It contains in excess of 7,500 items. In addition, there is a photographic

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

, largely donated by a local historian, that contains over 1,500 unique negatives and slides, and 450 unique glass negatives taken by an amateur photographer in the early days of the 20th century. Southam is a historic

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

, and has many unique and ancient buildings. Located on major north–south and east–west routes, it was for many years a bustling transport and trading hub, particularly in the era before railways.

Current projects

The volunteers help by identifying, recording and describing all items, creating a computer database of items, scanning all documents, photographing all objects and digitising all photographic material. They are working with local

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

s and

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

retirement home A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home, old folks' home, or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – or rest home, is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Ty ...

s and similar

organisations An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is an entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution (formal organization), or an association—comprising one or more people and having a part ...

, organise "Walk & Talk" events and host presentations for local groups, exhibitions and displays. They are in partnership with local artists, Southam Fire Service and Southam

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s. The oral history includes digitally recording information and memories of local people and they sell oral history CDs. They introduce

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or higher education study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, bu ...

s visiting Southam to the town. They are now creating a television

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about one of Southam's historic buildings. and historians Currently they are expanding, engaging awareness and widening the access of the Collection to the

general public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

, they are hoping to encourage

young people Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

to get more involved in the Collection via the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

and

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

and also assisting local schools with local history studies. The Collection is aiming to increase

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

and trade in the town.

Funding and support

The Friends of Southam's Cardall Collection receives support from the Warwickshire Community Museum's Officer, including advice, training and information about

funding Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm use ...

opportunities. The work of the Friends is funded by

donation A donation is a gift for Charity (practice), charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, Service (economics), services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donati ...

s, membership subscriptions, sales of small items, and small grants from awarding bodies. The Group has had some success with applications for small grants for specific projects. Computer equipment, scanners, lighting equipment,

projector A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer type ...

s, etc. have been acquired to support community work and to carry out the

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manage ...

work that underpins the group's activities. However, to pay for running costs (rent, rates, electricity, water,) volunteers also have to concentrate on revenue earning projects.

References

External links

Official site
{{coord, 52.25328, -1.38807, region:GB, display=title 2006 establishments in England Archives in Warwickshire History of Warwickshire Photography in England