The museum school loans service is made up of an impressive range of objects and archives. Subjects covered in the collection including the Victorians, Egyptians, natural history, The Second World War, Romans, geology and toys.
Loans are currently part of the subscription service. If schools wish to borrow without subscribing, the cost per item is £10 per item per term. Minimum order cost is £50.
Both subscribers and non subscribers can have a maximum of 10 objects.
Schools choose loan items from the loans catalogue and can email their order to the Museum Learning Officer. Phone orders cannot be accepted under any circumstances.
Loans are currently delivered and collected from schools in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire each term. Schools outside this area are welcome to use the service but will need to make arrangements to collect their loans from Hitchin. We will be reviewing the loans service over the coming months, and this will include a review of delivery of loan boxes.
Loans Catalogue
The Loans Catalogue offers objects, datapacks, photographs, videos, posters, cassette recordings, films and slides which are available for use across the curriculum.
Each item is identified by a unique six-character code. The first character identifies the form of the loan – a case, datapack or video for example. The second and third characters reflect the category the loans fall into, e.g. Ancient Egypt – AE, Toys – TO or Victorians – VI. The t garment for handling dating from Victorian times.
Please order by using the catalogue number of each item you require.
The Key
First letter
C – An object, specimen or model
G – Garments of category codes
D – Datapack of information
L – Local history
P – Poster
R – Cassette recording
V – Video
X – An item that is infrequently requested
Second and third letters
| Category | Category Code |
| Plants | PL |
| Mammals | MA |
| Insects | IN |
| Reptiles and Amphibians | RA |
| Salt and Fresh-Water Life | SA |
| Birds | BI |
| Anatomy | AN |
| Archaeology | AY |
| Geology | GE |
| Space | SP |
| Stone Age Cultures | ST |
| Bronze Age | BR |
| Iron Age | IR |
| The Romans | RO |
| The Anglo-Saxons | AS |
| The Normans | NO |
| The Medieval Period | ME |
| Ancient Egypt | AE |
| Classical Greece | CG |
| The Tudors | TU |
| Stuart and Georgian Britain | SG |
| Transport | TR |
| The Victorians | VI |
| World War One | WO |
| World War Two | WT |
| Seaside Holidays | SE |
| Life in Twentieth Century Britain | LB |
| Toys | TO |
| Geography | GY |
| Other Cultures – Canada and North America | CC |
| Other Cultures – South Africa | CS |
| Other Cultures – Asia | CA |
| North Hertfordshire in the 19th and 20th Centuries | NH |
| The Arts | AR |
Loans can be ordered by their catalogue number from the Museum Learning Officer at the Museum Resource Centre and borrowed for a term. Subscribing schools may choose up to 10 loans for each term from the loans catalogue. Orders are delivered in areas around Hertfordshire and parts of Bedfordshire; schools outside the area are welcome to make arrangements to collect their loans.
Find out more about our subscription service here.
Ordering, delivery and collection dates can be supplied by calling 01462 474585.
Please Note: There are times when several schools request the same items. In these circumstances we endeavour to be as fair as possible to our subscribers, apportioning loans evenly to each school. This may mean, for example, a school ordering four items on the Victorians will receive two specified items and two substitutions on the same topic. When a subject area is heavily over-subscribed we reserve the right to supply only part of each school’s order so that each may receive something.
It is a condition of use of the service that all schools take special care of their loans, especially handleable items, and ensure that everything is carefully repacked in entirety for collection at the end of term. It is the school’s responsibility to return any items which are not made ready for the time of collection.
Loss or damage must be reported immediately to the Museum Learning Officer and the school may be charged for replacement or repair.
A Care of Museum Loans information booklet has been produced to help you care for the loan items.
To order loans, please contact:
Museum Education
North Hertfordshire Museum/ Hitchin Town Hall
Brand Street
Hitchin
Hertfordshire
SG5 1JE
Tel: 01462 474554 or 01462 474585