The Museum of Everyday Life explores the Museum Collection of the Lewisham Local History Society. This extraordinary collection comprises thousands of objects, images, and ephemera dating back at least two-hundred years.
The collection is stored in a location that is not accessible to the public and it is not possible for the public to view items in person. The intention of the project is to make the collection accessible in the only way that is currently possible; digitally and online.
Origins of the collection
The origins of the collection can be traced back to a Local History Workshop that was formed in Lewisham in 1967/8 with the objective of promoting local history in practical ways. Meetings were held in a corner shop in Brightside Road, Hither Green. In 1969, the Workshop became the Lewisham Local History Society Study Group.
In 1971, the group was invited by the Lewisham Natural History Society to share a flat above the then New Cross Library at 116 New Cross Road. Items were taken into the collection, either through donations, accidental finds, or saving material from demolition sites.
In 1975, the collections of the Study Group and the Natural History Society were merged into one collection, and in 1988 the Lewisham Local History Society took responsibility for the whole collection.
A Museum for Lewisham
For many years, the Group campaigned for a physical Local History Museum in Lewisham and, to some extent, the collection was accumulated and stored with that intention. An initial approach to the Council in 1974 was turned down due to a lack of funding.
In 1987, as part of the Lewisham History Festival, the Group staged a major exhibition of items and actively campaigned for a ‘Museum for Lewisham’ including presenting a petition to the then Mayor, Norman Smith. The campaign was not, however, successful and a physical museum has never been realised.
With current limitations on public space, funding, and resources, a physical Local History Museum for Lewisham seems highly unlikely in the foreseeable future.
We hope that our digital Museum of Everyday Life will continue the pioneering and dedicated work undertaken by the Study Group, and will eventually build into a resource that continues to do justice to this extraordinary collection.