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This is an email sent via the SHCG List. If you reply to this message, your message will be sent to all the people on the list, not just the author of this message. --------------- Dear all , Abbey House Museum, Leeds recently had a request from a man called Lee who used to live locally (along Kirkstall Road) about a display of doll dioramas that his mother Peggy had painstakingly assembled throughout her adult life, as he is keen to see them displayed somewhere before he (hopefully) finds a buyer for the collection. The family want to do this for a variety of reasons including the long term care of the collection and also wanting to do something with the building it is in, but also because it is simply tucked away where not many people can see it. Following on from a telephone call, I went out to meet the gentleman and his brother and to view this collection which is on display in a small building on private land near Knaresborough. The dioramas are lovingly created and it's a wonderful display - it really does represent a life's work of over 30 years and a family endeavour: the gentleman's father also made some of the fireplaces etc. in the background, but there is so much of it we would not be able to fit it into any of our spaces by quite some stretch - it fills two rooms. However, I promised to share information about the collection with this group. The dioramas are individual and would lend themselves to being displayed separately (each separate diorama is curtained off in the current display format) , but they do appear to require quite specific dimensions , albeit the backdrops are painted on to the walls at their current locations. Lee emphasised that the dolls themselves are not unique or particularly rare - his mother used anything she had to hand - but she painstakingly created the costumes etc. herself - there is information about Peggy's life on the website below. Of course our main interest as a Leeds museum was because it is an interesting local story , as we are very close to where Lee's family would have lived, and created these dioramas. I am hoping to be able to capture the story for posterity, but we cannot physically house or display the dolls. Anybody that may be interested in the dolls do get in touch with me - meanwhile, I have attached a link to a website which was set up about the collection, but merely to give an idea of the size of the cases they are currently in, I have also attached one or two photos I took when I was there. http://www.peggysdolls.com/home.html Best wishes, Patrick Bourne Assistant Community Curator Abbey House Museum Abbey Walk Kirkstall Leeds City Council LS5 3EH Tel: 0113 3784079 Direct: 0113 3784086 ________________________________________________________________________ The information in this email (and any attachment) may be for the intended recipient only. If you know you are not the intended recipient, please do not use or disclose the information in any way and please delete this email (and any attachment) from your system. The Council does not accept service of legal documents by e-mail. ________________________________________________________________________ The SHCG list is provided for members of Social History Curators Group to discuss subjects relevant to social history in museums. To join SHCG visit www.shcg.org.uk . Opinions expressed in this email are the responsibility of the author and are not necessarily shared by SHCG. To leave the list do not reply to this message but send an email to [log in to unmask] with a blank subject line and these words as the body of the email: SIGNOFF SHCG-LIST