Just as Ben Stiller’s Hollywood blockbuster Night at the Museum spawned an equally successful sequel Night at the Museum II: Battle of the Smithsonian, Dorchester’s own Museum Night has also returned by popular demand for a second outing in 2011.

For those who didn’t go last year, Museum Night is an initiative to promote Dorchester museums, and gives families and individuals the opportunity to visit a variety of different venues from 5pm to 9pm for just £6. The event takes place on Saturday 14^th May, and there are no fewer than six participating museums:

• The Keep Military Museum
• Dorset County Museum
• The Teddy Bear Museum
• The Tutankhamun Exhibition
• The  Terracotta Warriors Exhibition
• The Dinosaur Museum

Not only that, but this year’s Museum Night also includes the Roman Town House!

So what is there to see?

Ever wondered what Hitler’s desk looked like? Well wonder no longer, because it’s right here in Dorchester, inside the Keep Military Museum! If you’re curious about the Fuhrer’s taste in furniture, and intrigued as to what he kept in his desk drawers, May 14th is your chance to find out for yourself. This strange artefact was recovered from the ruins of the Chancellory in Berlin in 1945 by the Dorsetshire Regiment, and now resides on the first floor of the museum.

The Tutankhamun Exhibition takes you a bit further back in time, to one of the most famous moments in the history of archaeology – the moment in 1922 when Howard Carter and Lord Canarvon chiselled the first hole into the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun, which had been untouched for thousands of years.

“Can you see anything?” Canarvon asked Carter as he peered into the hole. “Yes” he replied “Wonderful things!”

This magical scene is recreated at the exhibition in Dorchester, and so too are many of the “wonderful things” that so entranced Carter and his team of archaeologists. Everything is replicated to the greatest possible level of authenticity, right down to the smells in the exhibition’s replica tomb, which were formulated using samples from aromatic oils found in the real tomb in Egypt.

If you feel like something a bit more quirky and whimsical, there is the Teddy Bear Museum, a collection of teddy bears spanning more than one hundred years.

When you step inside the museum, you enter the home of Edward Bear and his human-sized bear family. You will find the Bear family relaxing around their home with their extensive collection of more conventionally sized teddy bears.

It’s an enchanting and nostalgic experience, and for those of you wanting to take something home with you, there is also a charming period gift shop full of hundred of bears waiting to tempt you!

Museum Night tickets are available now from the Dorchester Tourist Information Centre or any of the participating museums. Family tickets bought in advance will be £6, which covers up to two adults and four children. Tickets bought on the night itself will be £10.

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Christies Teddy Bear Auction

Our very own Dorset’s Teddy Bear Museum will be watching with bated breath the auction of a unique collection of Steiff Teddy Bears and animals being held at Christies, today 13^th October.

The collection that is expected to fetch in the region of 1.3 million pounds contains many rarities including an amazing Steiff Harlequin Bear, thought to be a prototype that was never manufactured. This wonderful coloured bear, created from red and blue mohair is expected to fetch between 50 and 80 thousand pounds.

Jackie Ridley, the Curator of The Dorset Teddy Bear Museum in Dorchester said,

“It’s very exciting for such a wonderful collection of bears to come on the market. Apart from the sheer quality of the bears being offered for sale, the chance that a new record may be set is going to attract the attention of many museums and collectors from all over the world”.

She continued,

“At the Teddy Bear Museum in Dorchester we have in our collections a group of teddy bear record breakers. These unique, meticulously accurate hand crafted replicas, were specially made for the Museum. They tell the story of teddy bear record breakers from the first record in 1985, of “King Arthur” a 1905 Steiff that was sold for £3,740.  This was followed in 1989 by “Alfonso” a 1908 Steiff that sold for £12,100 and the magnificent “Happy” a 1926 Steiff that fetched £55,000. “Happy” was sold to Paul Volp, an American collector who bought it as a 42^nd wedding anniversary present for his wife Rosemary. “

“But all these records were put to shame in 1994 when “Teddy Girl”, a 1904 cinnamon Steiff was sold at auction for a staggering £110,000 to Yoshihiro Sekiguchi who bought it for the Izu Teddy Bear Museum in Japan. Two years later he bought “Teddy Edward” another record breaking teddy for £34,5000.

The Teddy Bear Record Breakers are on Show at The Teddy Bear Museum in Dorchester that is open seven days a week all the year round.

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Dorchester Teddy Bear Museum

From a very young age we have been fascinated with Teddy Bear and there cannot be many of us who did not receive one as a child, or have given one as a present. We name them, use them as comforters, and create characters that become great bedtime stories for young children. Iconic Teddy Bear characters include Paddington, the first to appear on TV, Winnie-the-Pooh made by J.K. Farnell and bought for Christopher Robin in 1921, Rupert Bear, and Pudsey Bear the ‘Children in Need’ mascot. You can now re-live an enchanting time from your own childhood, and give a real thrill to today’s children, by visiting the Dorchester Teddy Bear Museum.

The Teddy Bear Museum is easy to find and is located in Eastgate Centre, on the corner of High East Street and Salisbury Street, Dorchester, a short walk from the Dinosaur Museum. The Museum is set in the ‘house’ of Edward Bear a human sized teddy bear who, along with his family, is an avid bear collector.  The unique teddy bear Edwardian style house with life-sized bears is a must for both family and collector alike. The wonderful and varied display offers sheer enjoyment for the young, and a fascinating and nostalgic look at this much loved toy, for the not so young. It houses a large display of teddy bears from throughout the last century starting from the earliest examples right up to today’s TV favourites. The Dorset Teddy Bear Museum’s oldest bear is Michael dating from 1906 who is based on the original teddy bear design and pattern.

History of the Teddy Bear

Edward Bear waiting to meet you

The history of the teddy bear, you may be surprised to learn, dates back to only 1902, with 2002 marking the 100th birthday of the teddy bear.  It was invented almost simultaneously in the United States and Germany but it was the US that gave it its name.

It all began with President Theodore Roosevelt on a hunting trip in Mississippi, he refused to shoot a bear captured and tethered by his hunting party. The incident was immortalized in the Washington Post with a ‘Spare The Bear’ cartoon by Clifford Berryman. This cartoon is believed to have triggered the teddy bear craze in the U.S.

In Brooklyn, New York, shopkeepers Morris & Rose Michtom on seeing the cartoon made a plush toy bear which was placed in the window of their stationary shop calling it “Teddy’s Bear”. The Michtom’s formed the Ideal Novelty and Toy Corporation and became the first company to produce teddy bears.

At about the same time in Germany, Richard Steiff, the nephew of Margarete Steiff, designed a teddy bear based on the bears he had seen at the local zoo. The Steiff Company of Giengen produced its first jointed stuffed bears and the Steiff teddy bears were put on show at the 1903 Leipzig Fair – an American buyer saw them and ordered 3,000 for shipment to the US. Between 1903 and the First World War the Steiff Company sold literally millions of bears, with their trademark button in the left ear, to the United States, Germany and Britain, as the teddy bear became the latest toy craze.

Bear Collection

The Dorset Teddy Bear Museum houses examples from the earliest antique teddy bears right up to today’s TV favourites and they are all waiting to greet you in this enchanting Teddy Bear Museum. School children will enjoy the experience – my son visited for the second time at the beginning of February and loved exploring the rooms and managed to find Edward Bear, Sleepy Granddad and mummy bear picking flowers. He still cherishes ‘Milo the Milkman’ teddy bear bought in the gift shop on his first outing to the museum.

Visiting the Teddy Bear Museum

The Teddy Bear Museum is open all year round, Monday to Sunday, April to October 10.00am to 5.00pm and in November to March 10.00am to 4:30pm. Closed 25th and 26th December. Admission is £5.75 per adult, Children £4.00 (under 4 years free), Seniors/Students £5.00 and a family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) is £18.00. Please contact the museum for special rates for groups and schools.

On the Teddy Bear Museum website you can print a voucher entitling you to a 50p discount on entry tickets and also sign up for their regular newsletter giving details on special events.

The museum’s charming period teddy bear shop is probably the best in the south! The museum’s shop stocks top brands: Steiff Teddy Bear, Merrythought, Dean’s, Gund and many more, to tempt you and is ideal for Teddy bear collectors and all those who love teddy bears. You can also purchase these teddy bears via the museums’ online shop.

The Teddy Bear Museum is a great place for both young and old and should be on your list of things to do when you visit Dorchester.

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