Museum Object of the Year 2023: Vote for your favourite Dacorum item

What do a stuffed glis glis, Kodak Kolorkin toy and 760-year-old religious decree have in common?

They are all museum items from Dacorum that could be named as Hertfordshire Association of Museums’ Museum Object of the Year 2023. The association has opened voting for this year’s awards and features three items from the borough.

From Tring’s Natural History Museum is the glis glis, also known as European edible dormouse. The stuffed rodent raises awareness of the impact the introduced species can have on local biodiversity. The population in the UK was established after 1902, when the animals escaped from Rothschild’s collection at Tring.

Kodak’s promotional toy, Click the Kodak Kolorkin, is Dacorum Heritage Trust’s entry. Hemel Hempstead’s connection to the film brand once defined the area and frequently referred to as ‘Kodak Town’. In 1956 Kodak chose a site on Maylands Avenue for its photo processing factory. In 1990 the first series of Kolorkins came to the UK.

A decree from the 13th century Flamstead is Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies’s item of the year. A papal bull with bulla was issued by Pope Urban IV on September 22 1263 to the prioress and nuns of the priory of St Giles in the Wood in Flamstead. This object has been in the archives since 1936.

Other items from around the county include a giant toe, a dolls house chamber pot, Watford FC mobile phone, a knife and fork set with deer legs for handles and a Boycott the Circus poster.