A brighter future for Saltaire’s historical collection thanks to £93k lottery grant
The Saltaire World Heritage Education Association has been awarded a grant of £93,172 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to improve the charity’s long term resilience and prepare for the relocation of the Saltaire Collection to a publicly accessible space.
The Saltaire Collection is currently located in the Exhibition Building Library at Shipley College, and visitors wishing to see the important objects, including original architect’s drawings and plans for the village, can only visit in small numbers by appointment.
The funding, made possible by National Lottery players, will secure professional support to improve business planning for the charity and crucially open up the collection for Bradford’s diverse communities. This will include engagement work across the district to identify how to reduce and remove the barriers experienced when accessing Saltaire’s heritage.
The project, named ‘Bright Future,’ will hire a museum development project manager to identify a new accessible home for the collection, and who will work with museum design experts to complete the preparatory work that will lead to national museum accreditation for the collection.
UNESCO states that Saltaire is a complete and well preserved example of an industrial community, founded in 1853. Whilst the history of its founder, Sir Titus Salt, is relatively well known, the dramatic context for the rise and fall of the district’s textile history, the social histories of Saltaire’s workers and residents over time and the stories of those involved in its continued development are rarely surfaced.
Commenting on the award, Stephanie Webb (Chair of the Saltaire World Heritage Education Association) said: “We’re delighted that we’ve received this support thanks to National Lottery players. The Saltaire Collection reveals much that is unknown about Saltaire’s world heritage and it’s great to know that we are a step closer to making this widely accessible and preserving it for centuries to come.”