To mirror the phenomenal street photography of Shirley Baker we have been able to collect together a series of images made by Stroud based photographer Barbara Manzi-fe. These will be shown on a slideshow next to the art gallery.

Barbara made her street photographs in 1967/68 in Bethnal Green and Basildon during a process of slum clearance and resettlement affecting families in London’s East End.

Her photographs were inspired by the book ‘Family and Kinship In East London’ written by Michael Young and Peter Willmott as a result research examining the adverse affect of the loss of community at that time.

They are sensitive additions to that famous research and tell a compelling social documentary story as well as adding to the history of British Street Photography.

Barbara’s photograph have been made into a digital slideshow by the Museum in the Park and can be seen during the course of the ‘Shirley Baker Street Photographs’ exhibition. Slideshow times will vary - please check at reception.

During her retirement Barbara has concentrated on exploring the intricacies and beauty of close up details of flowers. Many of these newer images were featured in the Stroud Festival of Photography in 2007 and can be seen, along with her landscape photographs, at www.barabaramanzi-fe.co.uk

Slideshow running on a loop between 11am and 4pm on 29 and 30 March.

As part of the Shirley Baker exhibition programme, a group of mums from the Rosary School in Stroud have been taking photographs. Some of their images can be seen on display next to the art gallery, or in a beautiful new book published by Yew Tree Press.

One of the things which sets Shirley Baker’s photographs, made during a period of great changes, apart is the tender, playful, way she allows us to see the daily life of women and children and the degree to which they are relaxed in their experience of their streets and communities. She also captured the strong sense of community which supported families before the ‘slum’ clearances.

Whilst we might say, in 2025, that it’s a pity our children no longer feel truly safe playing in the street or that traffic has changed the environments we live in, the experience of motherhood and childhood is still there to be seen and enjoyed.

During the course of a day, from dropping children off at Rosary Primary School in Stroud to picking them up again after the school day ended, a group of mums made photographs. They mirror Shirley Baker’s observations of childhood and, perhaps, at some date in the future, they will tell a tale of how things looked and felt in Stroud way back in 2025.

Many thanks go to all the mums who took part in this project, and to the Rosary School. Copies of the book can be purchased from Museum reception (RRP £5).

Open 11am to 4.30pm on 29 and 30 March.

A display in the meeting room next to the art gallery showing work by young people from local secondary schools. Photographs were taken in and around Stroud in response to an open call by Hundred Heroines, the museum and gallery dedicated to women in photography. Hundred Heroines invited young people to respond to Shirley Baker’s street photography and the theme of ‘Nostalgia & Anemoia’: NOSTALGIA (noun) a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past. ANEMOIA (noun) the feeling of nostalgia for a time or place that has never been experienced.

Congratulations to all the young artists who submitted such high quality work, and thanks to Hundred Heroines for organising this call out as part of the Shirley Baker exhibition. For more information about Hundred Heroines and their programmes for young people (supported by Canon) please see their website.

Open 11am - 4.30pm on 29 and 30 March.

Over the last 2 years the Museum in the Park have been working in partnership with The Women’s Art Activation System – artists Sarah Dixon and Sharon Bennett - on the Baby Makers: Making History project. We set out to establish reproductive and birth histories in the Museum collection as a little-recorded but important part of our collective heritage. 

This display brings together museum objects that inspired the project and new stories collected as a part of it. These include artworks created at The WAAS workshops, newly acquired objects relating to Stroud Maternity Unit and creative pieces exploring trauma and miscarriage.

In collaboration with Stroud Against Racism and Stroud Local History Society, funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund.

Collectors Room, FREE but donations welcome.

1st Rodborough Guides was the first Guide company in Gloucestershire. It was formed in August 1914 by sisters Mildred and Rosie Humpidge, who were keen to aid the war effort. The group is still going strong and this year celebrates its 110th anniversary.

Come and see precious items from 1st Rodborough’s archives, learn about its founders, and find out what it took to be a Guide back then. Could you install a windowpane, lay a carpet and retape a Venetian blind? These are just a few accomplishments expected of Guides wishing to earn their Handywoman badge in 1922!

On display are a selection of items from 1st Rodborough Guides past and present, including a 1920s uniform, a rare Guides camera, and badges from 1918 to the present.

The Space community gallery

FREE, donations welcome

The Women’s Art Activation System (The WAAS) supported by Stroud Against Racism are delighted to present an intergenerational display about the Windrush families and their descendants, a unique aspect of Stroud’s history for you to discover and enjoy. Key contributor Dee Guthrie shares original artworks and creative pieces by herself, her mother and her son.

This display is supported by Museum in the Park and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It grew out of the Baby Makers: Making History project created by The WAAS and includes birth histories as well as the wider story.

A display of landline phones of all shapes and sizes, from the collection of a local young person with autism.

Come and see their intriguing display of phones from the classic rotary dial, to the retro burger phone to the ‘of-its-time’ Amstrad.

This is the second display from the same exhibitor, who previously shared highlights from their collection of clocks.

The Space community gallery

FREE, donations welcome

How did people get about two hundred years ago? Come and find out in this free exhibition about local turnpikes, toll gates, coaching inns, ancient tracks and footpaths, the people who travelled them and how they carried their goods, also featuring old maps, turnpike riots and complaints, potholes, road accidents, and highway robbery! Presented by local historians from Amberley, Bisley, Chalford, Minchinhampton, Oakridge, Pitchcombe, Randwick, Rodborough, Stinchcombe, Stonehouse, Stroud and Woodchester. Showing in the Museum’s Meeting Room, Gallery Two, this exhibition will be stewarded by volunteers from local history groups. So if you have questions to ask, or stories to share, please come and chat to them.

Open Saturdays & Sundays 11am - 4.30pm

Open Tuesday to Friday 11am to 4.30pm

Admission free, donations welcome, books for sale.

A display of clocks of all sizes and ages, from the collection of a local young person with autism.

Come and see their beautiful display of clocks and the personal story of why they started collecting clocks, learning about them and how to look after them.

This display will run until Sunday 18 August. It will then be followed by a second display from the same exhibitor, of objects from their collection of landlines.

The Space community gallery

FREE, donations welcome

Visit the Museum’s community display area The Space to find out more about Stroud Morris Dancers - the original ladies Morris Dance group formed in Stroud in 1979.

With costume, photos and even details of how to join, we hope this display will be enjoyed by all those with an interest in the world of folk dance and music.

Each year, the pupils of Stroud Valley Community Primary School make self-portraits and each year they are inspired by a new artist in the making of these artworks. This exhibition is a collection of how our wonderful pupils see themselves through the lens of some of history’s most famous artists. From the dotty world of Kusama Yayoi to the assemblage sculptures of Joseph Cornell, the young artists use inks, wire and paper bags to tell the stories of who they are and what matters to them most. This exhibition shows in Gallery Two from 23 May to 4 June, open daily. Admission free, donations welcome.

This display by the Stroudwater Textile Trust takes in connections between the Stroud District and the Royal Family from George III to Elizabeth II.

Featuring photographs and cloth samples from the Textile Trust collections, and a selection of souvenir wares from the collections of the Museum in the Park.

Image shows: Prinknash Tankard celebrating the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 (2011.56/262).

Local community group Stroud Maternity Matters have taken over our temporary display case in the Collectors Room to celebrate our local maternity unit. Many different parents who have benefitted from the services and support of Stroud Maternity unit have loaned objects for the display. Local midwives too have loaned us their knitted creations and medical instruments. The display also features banners and articles relating to protests against the closure of the unit between 1998 and today.

Visit The Space to see a fantastic collection of memorabilia from Stroud Rotary as well as an extensive display about their work.