Connecting Collections: free in Hitchin from 18 August
‘Connecting Collections’ opens at 10.30am on Tuesday, 18 August at North Hertfordshire Museum, Brand Street, Hitchin SG5 1JE. The free exhibition runs until 1 November and is open to the general public during the museum’s usual hours.
A tiny football pin is among the objects selected by North Herts residents. Its place in the exhibition comes from a participant’s connection between the pin and her journey to the UK following the expulsion of British Asian people from Uganda in 1972.
A football pin carries a personal history
The pin introduces the exhibition’s central idea: allowing residents to examine museum objects through their own knowledge, experiences and family histories. North Herts Council says the displays present research and insights developed during collaborative workshops rather than relying solely on the museum’s established interpretation of its collection.
Participants came from global majority backgrounds. The project uses that term for people identifying as Black, African, Arab, Asian, Brown or mixed-heritage, including people indigenous to the global south and those from communities often described as ethnic minorities.
Visitors can expect individual stories alongside a wider examination of objects originating in different parts of the world. The exhibition does not simply identify what was collected; it also raises questions about the circumstances in which some objects entered museum collections.
Residents investigated how objects were acquired
The Connecting Collections project ran from November 2025 to March 2026. During that period, participants explored historic collections from around the world, investigated whether objects may have been obtained through unfair or unethical means and searched for histories connected to underrepresented communities.
The exhibition is the project’s first public outcome. That makes it both a display of selected objects and a record of how community members approached the collection during the workshops.
A comparable approach can be seen in another community-curated museum exhibition, where local residents also helped determine which objects reached the gallery.
Five months of workshops shaped the exhibition
The work was supported by a grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, which is run by the Museums Association. According to the council’s announcement, the fund has awarded 178 grants worth more than £12.9 million since launching in 2011, supporting collection projects intended to produce lasting social impact.
Tamsin Thomas, North Herts Council’s executive member for enterprise, said residents had worked with the museum to explore the collection, confront how objects were acquired and uncover stories connecting different communities.
Opening hours and visitor information
North Hertfordshire Museum is open from 10.30am to 4.30pm Tuesday to Saturday and from 11am to 3pm on Sundays. Admission to both the museum and ‘Connecting Collections’ is free throughout the exhibition’s run from 18 August to 1 November.
The museum café serves drinks, savoury and sweet snacks, and light meals. The source provides no specific booking, transport or accessibility information; visitors needing those details can contact North Hertfordshire Museum before travelling on 01462 474554.
Source: North Herts Council News
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Event dates, admission, venue details and opening hours were checked against the North Herts Council announcement.
- Confirmed that the exhibition runs from 18 August to 1 November 2026.
- Confirmed the venue as North Hertfordshire Museum on Brand Street in Hitchin.
- Confirmed that admission to the museum and exhibition is free.
- Checked the listed Tuesday-to-Sunday museum opening hours.
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- North Herts Council News
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- Hitchin
- Updated
- 2026-08-17 16:26
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