Beamish Museum
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| Established | 1970 |
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| Location | Beamish, Stanley, County Durham, England |
| Type | Open-air living museum |
| Collection size | 304,000+ objects |
| Visitors | 350,000 annually |
| Director | Richard Evans |
| Website | Beamish official website |
Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum is an open-air museum located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, County Durham, England. The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century.
Much of the restoration and interpretation is specific to the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, together with portions of countryside under the influence of industrial revolution in 1825. On its 350 acres (140 ha) estate it utilises a mixture of translocated, original and replica buildings; a huge collection of artifacts, working vehicles and equipment; as well as and costumed interpreters.
The museum has received a number of awards since it opened its present site to visitors in 1972 and has been influential on other "living museums". It is a significant educational resource, and helps to preserve some traditional north-country and rare livestock breeds.
The idea for an open air regional museum came from the then director of the Bowes Museum, Frank Atkinson (b. 1924, d. 2014). Inspired by Scandinavian folk museums, and realising the North East's traditional industries and communities were disappearing, in 1958, days after taking up his post at Bowes, Atkinson presented a report to Durham County Council urging that collection of items of everyday history begin as soon as possible and on a large a scale as possible, so that eventually an open air museum could be established. As well as objects, Atkinson was also aiming to preserve the region's customs and dialect. He stated the new museum should "attempt to make the history of the region live" and vividly illustrate the way of life of ordinary people. He hoped the museum would be run by, be about and exist for the local populace, desiring them to see the museum as theirs, featuring items collected from them.
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