Join us on the journey…
What is the Join us on the Journey Campaign...?
We are about to start a journey of wonder and discovery at The Etches Collection, Museum of Jurassic Marine Life, located here on the world heritage site of the Jurassic Coast in Dorset. Although we are open from 10am – 5pm each day, the life of our museum is almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for us. Whether it’s cleaning the museum before we open or after we shut. It can be our operations, outreach, and digital marketing team members having an impromptu brainstorming session in the middle of the day. To a board of trustee’s meeting via Zoom at 8pm in the middle of the week. It is our passion to continually working towards making the museum a successful place to enjoy, explore, learn, and develop a better understanding of why our collection is so unique. We really want you to play a big part of the development and growth in the future here at the museum, for the forthcoming generations of people to explore.
Whichever way we define a journey, either a life journey that took Steve from a junior fossil hunter at the age of five to the person whose dream, determination and vision built an entire museum. Or you are one of our visitors on the journey driving through the beautiful countryside down to Kimmeridge village to visit our unique collection. We believe that all roads and avenues connect at some point in time. That is why we have chosen to call this campaign, join us on the journey. Our lives and passions are all part of our journey.
Let us share our vision with you…
The Etches Collection is part of a natural story of wonder, where millions of years ago the land where the museum sits now was a tropical paradise and the seas were inhabited by the living creatures that now form in the fossils from the story of deep time here at our museum today. We strive to continue the development of that story through exhibits that help to bring to life those creatures. We need your support to help us shape our future, especially with our exhibit’s gallery. We are always complimented on our unique layout and how the story is told, it was designed that way to help children, adults, amateurs, and professionals engage with what they are seeing in a creative and interesting way. We aim to continue to capture the imaginations of all generations.
The Issues…
We are currently faced with a significant challenge for the future of our museum, most importantly the preservation of our collection. We have observed a rapid decline in the integrity of our displayed collection. The degradation of the specimens is commonly known as pyrite decay. It has already started and was observed during the first national lockdown when we were able to remove the very rigid and impractical glass fronts to the cabinets. The decay is due to a lack of control in the humidity within the current display cabinets. Sadly, our current units are not airtight. They are monitored daily, but the humidity runs continually at 56-60%. To prevent pyrite decay humidity must remain at 40%.
This major project will more than likely cost more than £350K, which is a considerable amount of money. First and foremost in our minds is the vital preservation of our specimens, so we are in the process of obtaining quotes from companies for the entire project. There is a very positive and exciting part to the massive undertaking of this project and that is the developed a planning process for the redesigned gallery display cabinets. The project will enhance the layout of the exhibition space and allow us the much-needed option to regularly change and update exhibits and display reserve collection materials which makes up nearly 60% of the total collection making the footprint of the exhibit space even more flexible.
How can you help?
There are many ways to help us on the journey of wonder and discovery. You can make a monetary donation as an individual or as a family. You can sponsor the gallery; naming rights are available for exhibits and the entire gallery. We have many programs and interesting events that are going on at the museum. Including education programs that are aimed at providing children with visits to the museum to learn about our collection and the many facets of earth sciences that are on the national curriculum. Sponsorship for these programs will give opportunities to underprivileged children from inner city areas to visit us and our partners at the Springhead Trust, which is a residential environmental place providing environmental education and personal development programs near Shaftesbury in Dorset.
We also offer many programs aimed at both beginners and professionals in fossil preparation. This course gives people the opportunity to learn and develop their skills in the art of fossil preparation. It is a day long program led and taught by Dr. Steve Etches, MBE.
All of these programs are looking for sponsors to develop and grow our
Keeping you up to date…
Our journey isn’t a one-way street, we are prepared for a two-way approach that involves continued conversations and updates on the projects we are working on. That means you will have the opportunity to get regular updates to all the projects happening at the museum and can be as involved as you wish. You can even talk with a member of our team about essential updates and important project milestones. You will get to celebrate the completion of projects and get to see and hear firsthand how your generosity has impacted our museum community.
Thank you for considering joining us on the journey of wonder and discovery. We are exceptionally lucky to have supporters like you who are willing to get onboard and help. We look forward to building lasting friendships, conversations, and fun along the journey.