The Littleport Society’s Collection is held in an archive on the first floor of The Barn, off Main Street, Littleport. It contains a wide range of items ranging from ancient fossils, through to Roman and Saxon artefacts, on through Georgian and Victorian eras with maps, clothing, documents, and photography, and the collection continues right through to audio, video, and recent newspaper articles.
You can browse a growing range of items held within our archive via our searchable online Archive catalogue.
Visit the Archive
Our Archivist Andrew Martin and Assistant Archivist Maureen Scott warmly welcome you to visit The Barn – where they will be able to assist with your questions, and allow you to view the artefacts we hold.
Our Archive is open every Tuesday afternoon from 1pm and 4pm excluding public holidays, and is free to enter, and without appointment. Parking is free and is immediately adjacent to The Barn. There is step-free access to the ground floor, with a chair lift to the Society’s collection on the first floor.
The Littleport Society
First Floor
The Barn
Main Street
Littleport
Cambridgeshire
CB6 1PH
Tel: 01353 861547
If you wish to view specific items, or many items, we ask that you contact us beforehand to help us save your time waiting whilst we retrieve the items from storage.
Our Archivist Andrew Martin works with the Assistant Archivists to identify, scan, photograph, and digitise artefacts for our browsable online catalogue. This work has been greatly aided by the efforts of our volunteers; Urn Clift who scanned and documented a large number of photographs and postcards in our collection, cataloguing of items by Jean Rees-Lyons, and clothing preservation work by Christine Bartram.
In addition, our Librarian Peter Harley and Assistant Librarian Terry Brewer are available to help with queries regarding published Littleport and local history.
Donating to our archive collection
We do accept donations of Littleport-related items at our Archive, although storage is very much at a premium. Please do not be offended if we refuse items – this will likely be because cannot see a connection to Littleport, or because we’re unable to store the item, or we already have the item in our collection.
We look for items that;
- Were clearly made in Littleport
- Feature Littleport in imagery or text
- Unambiguously feature a Littleport resident, business, or organisation (past or present), eg. a diary, a letter, photographs, company records or newspaper cuttings
- Were found in Littleport eg. whilst field-walking, an archaeological dig, during construction, or gardening activities.
When you donate an item, we’ll ask you what you know about the item(s) and your name so that we can demonstrate provenance in our archival records. These records are retained by the Archivist for archival purposes only.
You are welcome to bring items you wish to donate when you visit our archive, or alternatively contact us to discuss the items you wish to donate, particularly if they are large in size or quantity.
Archive Disposals Policy
We reserve the right to refuse, discard, or sell (for Society funds) without notice, any items donated to us that we deem unsuitable and/or without archival merit. Our Disposals Policy aims to ethically dispose of items that do not fit our Archive remit. Our methods of disposal are summaried below;
1. Transfer to another Collection or Repository
Items are donated to our archive in order to safely preserve them and provide access to the general public. If the item is in good condition or with historical merit, but not relevant to our Archival remit, we will offer the item to an archive, museum, or historical organisation that better matches its context e.g. we’d offer a photograph of a village in Bedfordshire to the Bedfordshire Archives or a village history group, or we’d offer a duplicate farming implement to Denny Abbey Farmland Museum.
2. Open Sale
If the item has commercial value and/or is not suitable for use in a hands-on educational setting (see below), then the item will be placed under public sale. This may be through our own website, an auction house, or online via sites like eBay or Facebook Marketplace. Funds generated by the sale of these items will be used to continue our archival work.
We sell duplicates and unwanted books in the Secondhand Book section of our online shop.
3. Return to Original Donor
If transfer or sale is unsuccessful or unsuitable, we will review our donation records (where available) and make reasonable efforts in courtesy to contact the Donor to offer the item back.
4. Educational Use
Sturdy and resilient items that fail to transfer, sell, or where the donor does not wish to receive them back, should be incorporated into a collection of items that can be used in hands-on educational contexts, allowing the items to wear out naturally whilst meeting the core educational aim of the Society.
5. Destruction and Recycling
Destruction is a final resort. It is reserved for items that are severely degraded, hazardous, or completely lack value in all of the above categories. General items failing to meet this criteria may be donated to charity stores. For items that are for destruction – the destruction process is complete, observing confidentiality, and conducted safely. Materials will be recycled wherever possible using legally recognised local recycling facilities.
