Revival of a community tradition

We’re delighted that Shoemakers Museum has inspired a Kings Trust Project to revive a tradition of community journaling with a pilot project which created a 2025 version of the Street Village Album.

The Shoemakers Museum collections house 99 volumes of the Street Village Album spanning the years 1857-1998. These journals built on earlier community publications The Avalon Budget, The Street Budget and the Street Chronicle between 1816 and 1849. Members of the community in Street contributed pieces ranging from articles and letters, to music, recipes and drawings which were brought together and published annually creating a beautiful, now historic, snapshot of life in the village of Street.

This year a Kings Trust project team hosted by Strode College visited Shoemakers Museum archives in January to see what they enjoyed about the collection and identify ways the museum and the students could work together when the new museum opens. The Village Albums caught their imagination and inspired the students to think about what their version of a Street Village Album would look like today and to create a 2025 version.

They sought contributions from local schools, retirement homes and the local college, and hosted a drop in session at the Street Quaker Meeting. Stories, images, poems were brought together in a beautiful handmade and hand bound book.

The Shoemakers Museum opens later this year and we are looking forward reviving traditions of community journaling and creativity in our community. There will be lots of ways to get involved – watch this space!