Adopt an Artefact

Adopt an iconic artefact today and support vital conservation work

 

From an original Victorian ship’s biscuit to a UNESCO designated engineering report; the objects in our collection require complex and specialised conservation to preserve them for future generations.

We need your help to support this vital conservation!

Whether for yourself, or as a gift, by choosing adoption you are playing a crucial role in protecting the heritage items in our collection and supporting our other vital charitable work. When you choose to adopt an artefact, you are supporting both the conservation of your chosen artefact and wider work bringing heritage to life for everyone.

 

Why Adopt an Artefact?

 

By adopting an artefact, you will:

– Support the conservation of 67,000+ items in the nationally designated collection

– Show public support for our collection with your name displayed on our website

– Support one of the few academic archives in the world to offer “access on demand”, free of charge

– Fund our other essential charitable work including, education, community outreach and research

 

How does it work?

 

Simply choose from the carefully selected list of objects below and click the link to donate. Adoption ranges from £25 to £300, and once completed, we will send you an adoption pack by post (details below).

If your adoption is a gift, please contact the Development Team on 0117 462 3125 or development@ssgreatbritain.org with the name and contact details of the recipient when purchasing the adoption and the pack can be sent to them directly.

Please note: This is a virtual adoption, and so you will not receive the physical artefact.

£25 – £50

 

  • Certificate of adoption
  • Thank you letter
  • Fact sheet with information about the artefact
  • A photograph of the artefact
  • Your name displayed on our website

£150

 

  • Certificate of adoption
  • Thank you letter
  • Fact sheet with information about the artefact
  • A photograph of the artefact
  • Your name displayed on our website
  • 1 x annual ticket to visit Brunel’s SS Great Britain

£300

 

  • Certificate of adoption
  • Thank you letter
  • Fact sheet with information about the object
  • A photograph of the artefact
  • Your name displayed on our website
  • 2 x annual ticket to visit Brunel’s SS Great Britain
  • A private guided tour for 2
  • Exclusive adoption of the artefact

Terms and Conditions

  • Adoptions last 12 months from the purchase date and can be renewed.
  • By adopting an item, it allows no transferal of ownership or rights to the keeping of the item.
  • The Museum may remove items from display temporarily or permanently for essential operational or conservation reasons.
    Please check on our website or contact us for the current location if you are travelling to see your object.
  • If your adoption is a gift, please contact the Development Team on 0117 462 3125, development@ssgreatbritain.org with the name and contact details of the recipient when purchasing the adoption and the pack can be sent to them directly.
  • We would like to publicly thank you for your adoption on our website, if you would prefer us not to put your name on our website, or if you have a preferred name, please contact the Development Team on 0117 462 3125, development@ssgreatbritain.org.

Thank you for supporting the Trust and its on-going charitable activities.

Adopt for £25

Ship’s Biscuit

This particular ship’s biscuit was kept by Joseph and Arthur Ernest Rowland who were passengers on the SS Great Britain travelling from Melbourne to Liverpool in 1874. They were father and son and were both musicians who had travelled to Australia to explore a potential musical tour there with their family band.
Adopt for £25

The Last Ticket, 1970

This is one of the last tickets ever issued for a journey on the SS Great Britain. It allowed Ian Bell to travel on the ship across Bristol Harbour from the Y Shed to the Great Western Dockyard on Sunday 19 July 1970. This short journey was the last the ship would ever make. It allowed the SS Great Britain to return to the same dock that it was launched from on 19 July 1843, returning exactly 127 years after it had left.
Adopt for £25

Adopt for £50

Thames Tunnel Peep Show, 1830

This six-panel peep show shows Marc Brunel’s Thames Tunnel. The front cover shows an illustration of the Thames above the water, with buildings along the left riverbank, and several vessels on the river. Once unfolded, a view through the central cut out in the cover reveals a 3D view of people strolling through the tunnel. This peepshow was probably published in the early 1830s whilst the tunnel was under construction. It is a French edition with details of the tunnel under construction in French text at the bottom of the front cover.
Adopt for £50

Commemorative Cricket Ball Awarded to E.M Grace, 1864

This cricket ball was presented to Edward Mills (E.M.) Grace following the 1864 cricket tour to Australia. After his return to England, Grace played cricket for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and became known as an excellent all-round cricketer. During his career he made over 10,000 runs and took 305 wickets.
Adopt for £50

Adopt for £150

A Drawing of a Horse by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 1812

This charming little horse drawing of a horse by a very young Brunel is most likely the earliest surviving drawing in his hand. A proud Marc Brunel wrote the name of his son in the top right corner.
Adopt for £150

Brunel’s Locked Diary, 1827-1829

The book contains the private diary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel between October 1827 – April 1829. The diary was kept by I. K. Brunel in his early twenties, and in it he expresses his innermost thoughts, emotions and aspirations. It includes descriptions of his work on the Thames Tunnel and an account of his accident which nearly cost him his life.
Adopt for £150

Adopt for £300

Brunel’s Screw Propellor Report, 1840

In 2020, the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme recognised Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Screw Propeller Report, presented in 1840, as part of the world’s documentary heritage. The report details Brunel’s argument, put to Bristol’s Great Western Steamship Company, that an underwater propeller (or ‘screw’) should drive its newest ship.  The propeller was a known technology, but no ocean-going vessel had previously been driven by underwater propulsion. The argument, and the document that recorded it, would shape the timelines of global history.
Adopt for £300

Brunel’s Cigar Case and Last Cigar

This portable cigar case belonged to Isambard Kingdom Brunel and still contains a cigar which is believed to have belonged him – his “last cigar”. It is made of black leather and is stamped with ‘I.K.B Athenaeum Club Pall Mall’. The case can hold up to 48 cigars (24 in each end), and is thought to have held just one day’s supply of cigars for Brunel in his later years.
Adopt for £300

Thank you to everyone who has adopted an artefact!

 

 

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Visit our Collections and Research pages to discover more treasures in our collections and plan your visit the Brunel Institute
Collections and Research