The Mapping Museum research project was created to look at the increase in the number of museums in the UK. As part of this project, Anne Read was interviewed about the Museum of North Craven Life.

Explore more about the Mapping Museum project here and read Read's interview below:

Interview summary

Name of person being interviewed: Anne Read

Location of interview: Museum of North Craven Life at the Folly, Settle, Yorkshire

Date of Recording: 17 December 2018

Recording Length: 01:29:00

Name of interviewer: Dr Toby Butler

Description: The Museum of North Craven Life is concerned with the landscape, settlement farming and other aspects of life in the area around Settle in the Yorkshire Dales; it is situated in a large seventeenth-century townhouse which houses a café, shop and housing alongside the museum galleries.

Summary of main points in interview: Anne Read is honorary curator. The naming of the museum was debated, as people were unhappy about being lumped in with "Settle & District". Established in 1977, Read has been involved since the days of the Civic Society in 1974. At the time she worked as a librarian at Leeds University and would stay up working on the museum after getting back from Leeds.

She discusses her plans to retire in 2019 and explains how the committee is very excited about the new exhibitions on display for 2019. Aside from a part-time project officer the museum is totally run by volunteers, about 55 in total. The museum actively tries to match the interests and skills of each volunteer to the job they are assigned. The goal is to try and engage as many different audiences as possible.

On average, about 5,000 visitors come yearly, to visit both the museum and the coffee house that was opened in 2017. Read discusses the origins of the Settle & District Civic Society, formed in 1968. Former president Alan Bennett, the playwright, was "a great enthusiast and people were tremendously energetic", so that in the early years lots of projects took place and many buildings were saved. Read tells of the Yorkshire Dales and the important history and geology of the area.

Another thing mentioned in depth is the exhibition regarding the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Anne explains how they came to have all the collections on display. She discusses the high and low points of looking after the museum, including the struggles of not being an official museum and how much harder this makes it to increase visitor levels.

TRANSCRIPT ONLY; NO AUDIO FILE PROVIDED