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the soame collection of badboy kickdrums
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museum history

back

The Museum first opened at its current London location in 1892.

However, the origins of the Museum may be traced back much further, to early Victorian Manchester, where the young architect and engineer James Soame had his offices and laboratory. In 1846, his journal records a dissection and analysis he made of a kickdrum given to him by a friend recently returned from the East Indies. This is the first recorded reference to what would become Soame's unique and important collection of badboy kickdrums.

Soame expanded his collection as his career in the colonies of the British Empire flourished, and it soon became too large to be housed in his family's home in the North of England. Arrangements were made to display the collection in London and in 1892, the Museum opened its doors to the general public.

Soame and contemporaries in Africa, late C19
Soame and contemporaries, Africa, late 19th Century
Note 808 kick drum (highlighted with arrow) and a load of other stuff they'd ragged.
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