Your stories…

Follow and enjoy our stories in this online gallery, be inspired and perhaps even submit your own.

 
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…on a more personal note that little ink pot brings me out in a cold sweat. I was the generation when they taught you to write in little-school with a fountain pen. OK, I’m not so old we had ink pots (although the desks definitely had ink-wells to hold ink pots because they were that old)… read more here

— John Handscombe

 
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… I like to think it was used by a fine lady to protect her gloves when travelling, or maybe it just sat on her dressing table, protecting her favourite gloves.  It is strange to think that this box was once used for the designed purpose by someone I know nothing about… read more here

— Tina Jones

 
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World War II objects are a strange one for me. They always leave me wondering about the questions I could’ve asked Eva, my great-grandmother before she passed away…My favourite memory that I have from her past is bonkers but amazing. Eva and her friends used to walk around fields with a green blanket. The blanket would act as camouflage whenever German planes would fly overhead to hide them from being gunned down…read more here

— Ben Szuts

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Feathers like these always remind me of family trips to National Trust houses with my parents. I used to spend ages in the shop asking for a quill and ink set, I still have mine - its purple! I liked to pretend I was in a different time; trips like those were why I chose to work in Museums.

— Jessica Woolf

 
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I love this item…I'd like to think that this camera was a gift to someone adventurous and creative. They might've been about to embark on a trip abroad and a friend or loved one wanted to give them something to help capture the memories of their trip. I could imagine the excitement as the gift receiver opens up the camera and learns how it works. Now they are able to take a real snapshot of the amazing things that they see on their adventure… read more here

— Jessica Rayner

 
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…We just happened to have fallen in love with someone from a different country. Yet both my own marriage and the marriage of two very different cultures has immeasurably enriched my life. And like the blue and white couple before me, I still look forward to hugging and loving my wife… read more here

- Charles Barber

 

Your stories…

Use our ‘virtual handling box’ to be inspired. Selected for their connections to the objects on display, these objects can help spark a memory, create new connections or ignite a story!

OR

Choose an object from your home and tell us its tale! We are all collectors of our own stories from photographs on the mantle piece, shells found on the beach to clothes handed down. Tell us your object inspired story!