Catalyst (museum)
Encyclopedia
Catalyst is a science centre and museum
devoted to the chemical industry
. Its full title is Catalyst Science Discovery Centre. It is located in Widnes
, Cheshire
, in the north west
of England, and situated on the north bank of the River Mersey
.
and Kiev Museum of Chemical Industry did exist earlier. It opened in 1989 and its original title was "The Museum of the Chemical Industry".
The museum is housed in an old four-storey building with modern extensions. The building was originally known as Tower Building and was constructed around 1860 by John Hutchinson
as the administrative centre for his alkali
business. It later became the head office of the Gossage
soap company, which at one time was the largest of its kind in the world and handled 50% of the UK's soap exports. Moreover, the town of Widnes was once considered to be the centre of the chemical manufacturing industry in the North West and has strongly been influenced by it for the last 170 years.
In 1989 a glass lift and an enclosed glazed roof-top observation deck, designed by Austin-Smith:Lord
, were added to the building in order to develop it into a museum. In 1994–95, an extension was added to the north to contain further exhibits.
The centre gives information to visitors, including school parties, about science, particularly chemistry. In addition to static exhibitions and hands-on experiments, it contains the Alchemy Theatre which gives three-dimensional presentations and allows interactive voting. Family workshops are arranged during school and bank holidays. The centre organises a Science Club for 11 to 14 year-olds which meets monthly. The museum holds a collection of archives relating to the chemical industry. These include documents, photographs and the entire research archive of the ICI
General Chemical Division.
According to former director Dr. Gordon Rintoul, as quoted in an article about the opening of the new building, one of the main purposes of the museum was to forge closer links between industry and the public and industry and education.
Catalyst is a charitable trust
with a Board of Trustees. The development of the museum was initially funded by chemical industry companies, UK
and local government, and funding has also come from the European Union
, and a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund
. It is now supported by a number of partners and further helped by a group of volunteers, the Friends of Catalyst.
Currently, the museum attracts some 30,000 visitors per annum. About 60% of the annual total is accounted for by school classes for which Catalyst provides an education programme that links directly to the National Curriculum.
Catalyst holds the accreditation of ‘Quality Assured Visitor Attraction’ and to date, has won fourteen major awards, including the prestigious Gulbenkian
award.
By 1986 the space in the Old Town Hall was needed for other uses so Catalyst moved to its present location in Gossage Building in the West Bank area of Widnes. Dr. Gordon Rintoul, who became the new director in 1987, brought about a change of policy concerning the exhibition concept. He wanted to get away from exclusively local matters and focus on chemistry in everyday life. Later, in 1991, it was also he who initiated the project for a new gallery in which visitors would be able to explore aspects of the chemical industry by "See,Touch,Do" exhibits after the examples of the Exploratorium
in San Francisco and the Bristol Exploratory, a predecessor to At-Bristol
.
and Halton Borough Council. In the first instance, a collecting policy was not in place and collection of items was rather indiscriminate which resulted in a diverse early collection of items.
The collection consists of nearly 8,000 individually numbered items and groups including objects, archive material and photographs. However, in terms of physical numbers of individual items and items within groups, the number of items approaches 10,000. If the individual research files from the ICI
General Chemicals Group are also included then the collection would exceed 35,000 items. The objects range from test tubes to a 20-ton cast iron caustic soda finishing vessel and the archives include company documents of all kinds, product brochures and general ephemera. The photographic collection documents products and processes, company history, social activity and local history. Catalyst has also collected some local social history objects which have helped to give a human context to the collection as a whole. The collection has concentrated, in terms of industry, on the salt-based chemical industries of Merseyside, South Lancashire and North and Mid Cheshire, along with other chemical industries that have arisen in these areas. The social history collection has been confined to Widnes and Runcorn and its environs.
The collection is available for research purposes to members of the public.
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
devoted to the chemical industry
Chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into more than 70,000 different products.-Products:...
. Its full title is Catalyst Science Discovery Centre. It is located in Widnes
Widnes
Widnes is an industrial town within the borough of Halton, in Cheshire, England, with an urban area population of 57,663 in 2004. It is located on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, in the north west
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
of England, and situated on the north bank of the River Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
.
Overview
The museum is said to be the world's first museum dedicated to the chemical industry, although museums devoted to chemistry (rather than to the chemical industry) such as Kazan chemical museum, Farsman Mineralogy Museum, and Zelinsky Chemistry Museum, Museum "Chemical Industry of the USSR" in the former VDNKh USSRAll-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre is a permanent general-purpose trade show in Moscow, Russia....
and Kiev Museum of Chemical Industry did exist earlier. It opened in 1989 and its original title was "The Museum of the Chemical Industry".
The museum is housed in an old four-storey building with modern extensions. The building was originally known as Tower Building and was constructed around 1860 by John Hutchinson
John Hutchinson (industrialist)
John Hutchinson was a chemist and industrialist who established the first chemical factory in Widnes, Lancashire, England. He moved from working in a chemical factory in St Helens and built his own chemical factory in 1847 in the Woodend area of Widnes near to Widnes Dock by the junction of the...
as the administrative centre for his alkali
Alkali
In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base,...
business. It later became the head office of the Gossage
Gossage
Gossage is a family name of soapmakers and alkali manufacturers. Their company eventually became part of the Unilever group. During World War II, all soap brands were abolished by British government decree in 1942, in favour of a generic soap...
soap company, which at one time was the largest of its kind in the world and handled 50% of the UK's soap exports. Moreover, the town of Widnes was once considered to be the centre of the chemical manufacturing industry in the North West and has strongly been influenced by it for the last 170 years.
In 1989 a glass lift and an enclosed glazed roof-top observation deck, designed by Austin-Smith:Lord
Austin-Smith:Lord
Austin-Smith:Lord is a British architectural firm, established in 1949.Currently in voluntary administration following staff redundancies in November 2011.-Selected designs:*Riverfront Arts Centre*Avril Robarts LRC*Catalyst...
, were added to the building in order to develop it into a museum. In 1994–95, an extension was added to the north to contain further exhibits.
The centre gives information to visitors, including school parties, about science, particularly chemistry. In addition to static exhibitions and hands-on experiments, it contains the Alchemy Theatre which gives three-dimensional presentations and allows interactive voting. Family workshops are arranged during school and bank holidays. The centre organises a Science Club for 11 to 14 year-olds which meets monthly. The museum holds a collection of archives relating to the chemical industry. These include documents, photographs and the entire research archive of the ICI
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
General Chemical Division.
According to former director Dr. Gordon Rintoul, as quoted in an article about the opening of the new building, one of the main purposes of the museum was to forge closer links between industry and the public and industry and education.
Catalyst is a charitable trust
Charitable trust
A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is a more specific term than "charitable organization".-United States:...
with a Board of Trustees. The development of the museum was initially funded by chemical industry companies, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and local government, and funding has also come from the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, and a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
. It is now supported by a number of partners and further helped by a group of volunteers, the Friends of Catalyst.
Currently, the museum attracts some 30,000 visitors per annum. About 60% of the annual total is accounted for by school classes for which Catalyst provides an education programme that links directly to the National Curriculum.
Catalyst holds the accreditation of ‘Quality Assured Visitor Attraction’ and to date, has won fourteen major awards, including the prestigious Gulbenkian
Calouste Gulbenkian
Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was an Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development...
award.
Galleries
- Scientrific: Hands-on exhibits
- Birth of an Industry: Museum element of the centre that gives an overview of the historical development of the chemical industry — objects, documents, pictures, films, computer quiz
- World of Opportunities: Gives an insight into jobs and career prospects in the chemical industry - DVD clips and interactive displays
- Observatory: Exhibits dealing with recycling and the landscape that can be seen from here
History
Although the museum is relatively young, it has already seen some major changes of location and of the exhibition concept, especially during the first years after its establishment. The development of Catalyst was originally initiated by a number of companies in the chemical industry in partnership with Halton Borough Council. It began as a research project in 1982 to commemorate the centenary of the Society of Chemical Industry. A study was conducted to find out whether sufficient material and an appropriate location were available to set up a museum devoted to chemical industry and a temporary display area was set up in the Old Town Hall in Widnes. It was a very traditional exhibit based display that dealt in equal parts with the local chemical industry and other local history.By 1986 the space in the Old Town Hall was needed for other uses so Catalyst moved to its present location in Gossage Building in the West Bank area of Widnes. Dr. Gordon Rintoul, who became the new director in 1987, brought about a change of policy concerning the exhibition concept. He wanted to get away from exclusively local matters and focus on chemistry in everyday life. Later, in 1991, it was also he who initiated the project for a new gallery in which visitors would be able to explore aspects of the chemical industry by "See,Touch,Do" exhibits after the examples of the Exploratorium
Exploratorium
The Exploratorium is a museum in San Francisco with over 475 participatory exhibits, all of them made onsite, that mix science and art. It also aims to promote museums as informal education centers....
in San Francisco and the Bristol Exploratory, a predecessor to At-Bristol
At-Bristol
At-Bristol is a public science and technology "exploration" and education centre and charity in Bristol, England.As a visitor attraction, At-Bristol has hundreds of hands-on exhibits, and a Planetarium with seasonal shows for the over fives, and a 'Little Stars' show for children aged five and under...
.
Collection
The collection was started in 1982 with the setting up of the Halton Chemical Industry Museum Project as a project funded by the Manpower Services CommissionManpower Services Commission
The Manpower Services Commission was a non-departmental public body of the Department of Employment Group in the United Kingdom created by Edward Heath's Conservative Government in 1973. The MSC had a remit to co-ordinate employment and training services in the UK through a ten-member commission...
and Halton Borough Council. In the first instance, a collecting policy was not in place and collection of items was rather indiscriminate which resulted in a diverse early collection of items.
The collection consists of nearly 8,000 individually numbered items and groups including objects, archive material and photographs. However, in terms of physical numbers of individual items and items within groups, the number of items approaches 10,000. If the individual research files from the ICI
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
General Chemicals Group are also included then the collection would exceed 35,000 items. The objects range from test tubes to a 20-ton cast iron caustic soda finishing vessel and the archives include company documents of all kinds, product brochures and general ephemera. The photographic collection documents products and processes, company history, social activity and local history. Catalyst has also collected some local social history objects which have helped to give a human context to the collection as a whole. The collection has concentrated, in terms of industry, on the salt-based chemical industries of Merseyside, South Lancashire and North and Mid Cheshire, along with other chemical industries that have arisen in these areas. The social history collection has been confined to Widnes and Runcorn and its environs.
The collection is available for research purposes to members of the public.