Whitby Museum
Whitby Museum & Pannett Art Gallery. Whitby, North Yorkshire
This museum has a fascinating collection of about 80,000 items. The items cover a wide variety of topics, and there are specific collections relating to the area's eminent pioneers, including Captain Cook and William Scoresby, and to the local industries, which included shipbuilding, whaling and the manufacture of jet jewellery.
There is currently a tendency to expensively 're-focus' and modernise museums, purging exhibits to create open spaces, and favouring the 'amusement arcade' approach. Whitby museum provides a welcome contrast, and is arguably an object lesson in what a museum should be like, with an eclectic range of exhibits to fascinate people of all ages.
Another welcome feature is that despite the profusion of items, indentification and labelling are excellent.
A brief summary of the museum's collections can be found on the relevant MLA Council 'Cornucopia' webpage [1]. The museum's own website includes more detailed information, with illustrations of some of the more important or curious exhibits.