Clarence Daniel's collection was examined and thoroughly catalogued by a small team of volunteers when Eyam Museum Ltd. was first formed. We had no premises, and it was carefully packed and stored with the Derbyshire Museums Service. When this became defunct, it was all moved to an office in Matlock, from where it was removed to the new museum in 1994.

Alas! Three boxes, including figured flint implements, were missing. It was Ros Westwood, of Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, who recognised our code number on some items she discovered in a basement at the Records Office, and they were returned to us.

With a grant from East Midlands Museum Service, the catalogue was computerised, and all items stored in acid-free clear-plastic topped boxes or wallets. It is now kept in a temperature and humidity-controlled store. The bulk of the collection consists of local geological and archaeological material, and some of the finest flints, roman finds, and fossils and minerals were incorporated into the new 1997 displays.

We also have many documents of local interest, including hundreds of photographs and old postcards. Having everything properly documented and numbered means that any document can be found in moments. Of particular interest is the lead and fluorspar mining history of the area, which certainly goes back five hundred years and may well be traceable back to roman times. Many of the old documents and photographs concern the large number of mines in the Eyam area.

Another category that takes up a large amount of space is the collection of mining implements and other artifacts. Many old tools have been found in the local mines, many of them during recent re-working, for fluorspar, of the old lead veins. Shovels, picks, hammers and chisels, wedges, pieces of very old railway line all came off the conveyor belts during the processing of fluorspar.

The collection continues to expand slowly, and we have a strict policy of only accepting documents and artifacts of specific local interest. Otherwise we would soon need a new building!