Elland Museum 1931/ The History Room 2011

 

There does seem to be symmetry between 1931 and 2011...austere times, local services changing but also new beginnings. After many successful years at Dobson’s in Northgate we’ve relocated our History Room to Elland Library. The room that we now occupy, which used to be the Cloakroom at the Constitutional Club, is much larger and therefore all albums, maps, deeds, indentures, photographs, scrapbooks, yearbooks, clippings, booklets & pamphlets are on display. I’ll concede that not all photographs are ordered but part of the thrill of glancing through an album is finding the unexpected and seeing our past from a new angle. Please do pay us a visit. We’re open every Tuesday & Thursday from 2pm to 4pm.

 
Now turning to 1931...Elland Library was housed at Ellen Royd (what is now The Clinic). There had been quite a ballyhoo when the library was moved in 1926 from The Town Rooms (now demolished, sited at the roundabout at the bottom of Catherine Street) to Ellen Royd, which was given to the town by George Wainwright. There was concern that readers would be lost by moving the library from the centre of the town however these fears proved groundless because the number of readers quadrupled. The Chief Librarian was Miss Ruby Jackson, who was a stickler for silence. Miss Jackson had requested that Elland Council extend the library’s opening hours (then 2pm to 8pm) but this was refused on grounds of cost! It’s interesting to note that the library didn’t open before lunch...folk working or housework? There was though the reading room at the Old Men’s Parliament.

Elland Museum opened on 24th October 1931. According to the local press reports the first gifts were officially accepted by Mr Joe Ainley, the chairman of the Library Committee. The principal donor was Mr Herbert Spencer of Park Road, who gave his treasured collection of stuffed wild birds. These exhibits were displayed in a building separate from the main premises, in what was formerly the billiard room when Ellen Royd was a private dwelling. Mr Spencer had spent many hours in ‘staging’ the birds and making their surroundings as realistic as possible. Mr James A. Brearley & Mr Ernest Dearing also donated cases of birds. Mr Ainley said that it gave him great pleasure to accept these gifts on behalf of the townspeople of Elland. The late Miss Dodgson, whose father Mr Joshua Dodgson was the first chairman of the Elland Local Board (the precursor to Elland Council); also bequeathed a gift to the new museum but unfortunately the newspaper article does not state what it was.

Modern tastes may find the gifts of stuffed wild birds a tad gruesome but the donations were generous and all had the best interests of the townsfolk and our library at heart. Fast forward 80 years and the same spirit and commitment exist today.

David J. Glanfield
Greater Elland Historical Society