The National Tramway Museum, in Crich, has announced that it has been awarded a grant of £74,500 from AIM Biffa Award.

The grant is for a new permanent exhibition ‘Holroyd Smith – Electrifying the Future’.

The History Makers scheme funds museums to make new exhibitions that will inspire the public through the lives of historical figures.

The scheme is managed by the Association of Independent Museums (AIM) and Biffa Award – a multi million pound fund that helps to build communities through grants to projects throughout the UK.

The new exhibition will explore the life, inspiration and inventions of Michael Holroyd Smith, a pioneer in electric traction. He is little known except for his invention of the first electric street tramway in 1885.

The Holroyd Smith Collection, which is held in the Museum Archives, contains over 1000 items that are currently only available to researchers. The project will allow the museum to make these items more accessible to the public.

The exhibition will be in The Great Exhibition Hall, alongside ‘Century of Trams’.

What did the officials say?

Curator, Laura Waters said:

‘The grant is a fantastic opportunity for us to share another area of our Archive collection with our visitors. The collection we have gives a fascinating look into the mind of Michael Holroyd Smith, his inventions and engineering skills to solve problems. As our pioneer of electric tramways in this country, we know his story well, and now we’re looking forward to sharing that with many more people.’

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