Donations to the campaign will given to the Oriental Museum of Durham University. Potential donors are always made aware of this.
Why? The Campaign organisers recognise that objects of historical significance not only need specialist care but also should be made as widely available as possible. This is a fine balancing act. We have no expertise in this field, and so have sought a partner organisation with whom we have full confidence that artefacts will be utilised as fully as possible.
We are delighted to be working with Durham University’s Oriental Museum. Not only do they have the technical expertise but are so enthusiastically committed to ensuring we remember the men of the Chinese Labour Corps. As part of the one of the country’s top Universities, with an exceptional reputation in teaching Chinese, the Oriental Museum’s holds one of the most important collections of material relating to Chinese art and culture in Europe and they are actively collecting material relating to the ChineseLabour Corps.
The Oriental Museum today houses over 10,000 objects in its Chinese collections, providing a rich and diverse overview of the long history of Chinese material culture and is one of only about 140 collections in Britain to hold a Designated Collection award and be formally recognised by the Arts Council (England) as being of national & international importance.
The Museum is an integral part of the Durham University (supporting over 20 individual courses), but also open 7 days per week and attracts some 30,000 visitors per annum. The museum enjoys over 7,000 school visits each year and is the home for Durham Chinese School, which meets weekly, putting the Museum at the very core of the regional Chinese community.
We look forward to working closely with the Oriental Museum. For an example of one donation see, The incredible story of Colonel AA Kennedy.