This season the collaboration between Exeter City, the Supporter’s Trust, and the University of Exeter has continued into a fifth year with the launch of the Exeter City Football Club Museum project, which is aiming to see City’s collection seek museum accreditation and become part of the prestigious Europena digital portal - a huge online archive for historic items all across Europe.
Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, this year’s activities have so far included further engagement with a range of communities, the curation of several displays to go around the stadium, as well as a Hall of Fame exhibit that will be unveiled along with the new grandstand, and three short films, the first of which Women in Football will be shown on Tuesday evening at 7pm in the Heritage Lounge, where all are welcome to attend.
TIME CAPSULE
As part of the project, a time capsule of ECFC related items will be placed under the new development at the end of the season, and we welcome all fans to donate items that might be suitable for this, such as:
- Photographs
- Newspapers/clippings
- Books
- Small items of memorabilia e.g. scarves, badges, rattles etc.
- Posters/prints
Donations can be delivered for consideration to the trust stall before the Carlisle United, Yeovil Town and Swindon matches on March 10, 13, and 24, or by making arrangements with the history group via the email address: HistoryGroup@ecfc.co.uk. Please note that once the items are buried you will in all likelihood not be able to retrieve them.
In case we receive too many items for capsule, we will create a digital version of the capsule for all items and only place in the actual capsule the items that we think best represent the history of the club and that also actually fit the capsule.
MANY THANKS
One of our greatest successes has been the volunteers we have worked with and the collectors who have loaned and/or donated invaluable materials to us.
Just last week we received two new shirts for our growing collection of City kits from Pete Williams and Neil Le Milliere of the Exiles Fan Group, and from Braunton via the North Devon Grecians, both of which will be on display in the near future.
Moreover, Devon Live has also donated over 250 original photographs from the Express & Echo archives that cover more than 40 years of the club’s history, both on and off the pitch, from the 1960s onwards, which we will use to make three amazing new displays.
All these items have found a home in the Grecian Archive, and the current project will help to preserve them for future generations, thanks to the training and support provided by the South West Heritage Trust and the Devon Museums Group.
If you have any items that you would like to donate to the archive or the museum for consideration, please contact the ECFC Supporters Trust History Group at our email address HistoryGroup@ecfc.co.uk