An Electric Fan

With the warmth experienced this spring, no doubt many people have been using electric fans. Here, at Market Lavington Museum, we have such a fan from the 1930s.

An electric fan - one of the Treasures of Market Lavington

The fan was made by the metallic Seamless Tube Co Ltd of Birmingham.

It was, appropriately named, The Zephyr.

You can see more pictures of this model of fan by clicking here . The home page for this electric fan site is at http://www.luapnosreip.com/ The catalogue page, below, is not at the museum but is taken from the above site.

Our fan belonged to a White Street family before it found its way to the museum. This year it came out of a storage box and is on display.

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In the New Cabinet

Market Lavington Museum is delighted to have a new display cabinet this year. As we mourn the death of Peggy Gye, our founder, we can be certain that she would have been delighted that the museum continued to move ahead. It does make for exciting times at the museum and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank the county staff at the History Centre in Swindon for providing a grant for this cabinet and also for a laminator which gives labels and photographic displays a more professional look.

Today we are going to peek into one section of the new cabinet.

One shelf in Market Lavington Museum's new cabinet

This shelf contains items which might be deemed to be feminine in nature. Market Lavington has had a fan fanatic in the past – and a collection of these cooling devices was donated to the museum many years ago. Sadly, there has been little opportunity for them to be on display, but now we have half a dozen on this shelf. They cover a hundred years of fan history ranging from a nineteenth century pierced bone fan to a mid twentieth century plastic and paper version.

We can also see a skirt lifter which ladies used to lift skirts a little to avoid stepping on the hem when climbing stairs. There’s a very elegant pair of kidskin gloves along with a lovely amber (coloured) necklace which just oozes the 1920s. There are also a couple of smaller items including an elegant brass locket which was dug up in a Market Lavington garden in the 1970s but which dates to about 1900.

Our volunteers have been busy researching and producing labels, as well as organising and displaying items. If you haven’t visited the museum for some time, then do come in 2010 for there is much new to see.