The Museum of Croydon has reopened after over two years closure with completely redesigned permanent galleries. The Museum was first opened in the 90s and, unlike many other local London museums, did not inherit collections from previous museums. So whilst a few objects on display stretch back to the 1800s, the story mostly concentrates on the 19th and 20th century story of the borough.
 |  | The Petherick family lived in Croydon - this is their music album. Two of the pages are handwritten by the musician Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who also lived in Croydon at the time. |
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Many famous people have been associated with Croydon from Havelock Ellis, the groundbreaking sexologist, to the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Croydon was also the home of Sislin Fay Allen, who wrote herself into the history books by becoming the first black policewoman. Like many of the people represented, you can hear her voice in the displays. She recalls:
"The first day on the beat in Croydon was daunting, but it wasn't too bad because I went out with an officer. People were curious to see a black woman there in uniform walking up and down, but I had no problem at all, not even from the public. On the day I joined I nearly broke a leg trying to run away from reporters. I realised then that I was a history maker. I didn't set out to make history, I just wanted a change of direction."
The discharge papers of Faye Sislin Allen when she left the police force. | |  |
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Each object on display is complemented by a touchscreen computer that allows you to dig deeper into the meanings behind the objects and photographs. The touchscreens are also available as a website so you can also explore the museum online.
For less techhie users, this approach may take a little practise - watch out for the audio buttons that allow you to hear the voices of many of the contributors, and the discreet arrows and page headings that help you find deeper layers of content. But once you've got the hang of it, this is a great way to read history. Browsing you can see the links and overlaps between people's stories. A charm bracelet belonging to Sarah, leads onto a story about how her parents moved out of Croydon to avoid living with Black neighbours. A story about the grave markers of mentally ill patients from the huge Cane Hill mental asylum, leads on to Joyce Daniels experience as a nurse, and her fashion choices and social life when she came from Guyana in the 50s. Lying behind an apparently happy holiday souvenir is the story of marital infidelity.
 | | Joyce Daniels' fashionable 50s dress. She came to Croydon from Guyana in the 1950s and worked as a psychiatric nurse at the vast Cane Hill mental asylum. She talks about her work and also the parties and social life she enjoyed in Croydon. |
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The museum has been lucky in the honesty and courage of many of its contributors. Local history can easily become dry and oversanitised - the objects in these displays both give a formal account of changes in Croydon society, and the very private effects on single individuals. In your mind's eye you begin to see the narrators of these histories passing each other in the street - never meeting each other, but each affecting and being affected by each other's attitudes. Growing multiculturalism, gay activism and liberation, technological advance and changing fashions all intertwine in the history of the Borough.
The website that accompanies the museum is still a work in progress - much background information is being added to give a wider social context to the stories here. But already it offers a chance to choose your own adventure in Croydon's past.
The Museum also has a gallery for temporary exhibitions - with displays changing every four months. You can read an account of the first exhibition on 24hourmuseum here
