Behind the Scenes at the Museum:

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Hey there! I’m Rebecca, and I’m on a ‘Kickstart’ placement with Portland Basin Museum, working behind the scenes as a Museum Collections Assistant. ‘Kickstart’ is a scheme set up by the government to help young people on Universal Credit aged 18-24 into work.

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My role involves cataloguing and organising the many different items that the museum has in its stores. While on this placement, I have encountered many interesting items, from old grenades (deactivated I may add!) from the Second World War, to many, many sashes and medallions from secret societies. It’s been a very interesting job, where every day I’ve been able to find something new.

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One find, however, managed to stand out and to be honest I can’t stop thinking about it.

Say hi to this little guy!

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When we first found this item, we weren’t sure what it was exactly. It wasn’t until we noticed that there was a little face on this guy that we realised that it could have been a toy of some kind. Due to the wooden figure being attached to the wire frame, we think it was meant to swing around it in some way.

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While we’re still not entirely sure what type of toy this was, or if it was even a toy in the first place, this has been one of my favourite items so far. There’s just something about the simple little face that makes me wonder: who made this? What was it used for?

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I’d like to find out properly one day.

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