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The Story of Pen and Pocket Knives

Continuing Display

Kelham Island Museum

Shining the Spotlight on Little Mesters

This display within the Hawley Tool Collection celebrates the ‘Little Mesters’ who were, and still are, makers of quality pen and pocket knives in Sheffield. It highlights how the skills to make the knives have been passed down through the generations with a fascinating mixture of original scrapbooks, workbooks, articles, images and film.

These items are part of an enormous amount of paper and other ephemera in the Hawley Collection which add to the social story behind Sheffield’s cutlery and tool manufacturing history including catalogues, firms’ histories, photographs along with video and audio recordings.

The exhibition is the last in the series mounted as part of the National Lottery Heritage Funded project, “Sheffield Treasures: Celebrating 200 Years of Excellence in Cutlery Making”.

Free Entry | Please Donate

Opening Times

Tue-Sat 10am-4pm | Sun 11am-4pm

***The museum will be closed for the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival Thu 17 - Sun 20 Oct***

The Upper Transport Gallery and Simplex Car display will be closed for events on Thu 3 - Sun 6 Oct & Sat 12 Oct

Due to a fault with the lift at Kelham Island Museum there is currently no step-free access to the Transport Gallery

Kelham Island Museum

Alma Street

Sheffield

S3 8RY

The Story of Pen and Pocket Knives

Hawley Tool Collection

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