How to Search the BBM&L Collection Online

The British Balloon Museum & Library (BBM&L) has no physical museum building, but a growing part of its collection is available online, and you can search it in two ways: type a term into the Search the Collection box, or browse the category links on the Explore the Collection page. Both routes lead to images of items together with their descriptions. The search box is the faster option when you already have a name in mind; browsing suits you better when you want to see what exists in a particular area.

What the BBM&L is

The BBM&L is the official museum of the British Balloon and Airship Club. It was formed in 1979 by a small group of balloonists and is a registered charity. Its stated objective is preserving the many different items associated with, and used in, hot air and gas ballooning, and other forms of lighter-than-air flight.

Two practical points follow from that:

• There is no physical museum to visit, so the website is the main point of access to the collection.
• Items are added gradually, as they are catalogued and photographed, so the online collection is a work in progress rather than a complete catalogue.

Search the Collection

The site provides a search box under the heading Search the Collection, described as the place to "find a particular item, person or event."

To use it:

1. Go to the Search the Collection section of the site.
2. Enter your term in the Search for: field — an object type, a person's name, or an event.
3. Submit the search.
4. Expect results as collection records: an image of the item plus its description.

The three searchable angles named on the site are item, person and event. If a search returns nothing, that most likely means the relevant item has not yet been catalogued and photographed, not that it is absent from the collection.

Browse by category

If you would rather scan than search, the Explore the Collection page lists categories you can click through. Each category shows images of the items with their descriptions.

Browsing is the better approach when your interest is a format rather than a specific object — for example, if you want to see what photographs or logbooks the collection holds, rather than look up one known balloon.

A worked example

Suppose you want to see an early hot air balloon basket. Browsing Hardware would be the natural route, since baskets sit in that category. One item you would find there is a featured object: an open weave wicker basket made by Thunder Balloons, an early design from around 1973, with no burner supports and cow hide around the top. Its description notes that the open weave design is a throw-back to the gas balloon, which dominated balloon activity from the late 18th century until the modern hot air balloon was invented in the 1960s.

That record shows what a collection entry gives you: the object itself, its maker, an approximate date, and the context that explains why it looks the way it does.

Common snags

• Nothing found for a known item. The collection is being added to gradually, so coverage is incomplete. Try a broader term, or browse the likely category instead.
• Searching for a person vs. an object. The search box is intended for items, people and events alike, so a personal name is a valid search — useful for oral history interviews and for material connected to a particular balloonist.
• Expecting a visit. There is no physical museum, so plan around the online collection rather than a site visit.

If you want to go further

The site also offers a JOIN NOW option and a MAKE A DONATION route, under the line "Help save the past for the future." The BBM&L credits the National Lottery Heritage Fund with enabling many items in the collection to be explored online for the first time. Beyond the collection itself, the site carries a Latest News and Events section for news about people, balloons and airships, plus event details as they become available.