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In
1992 the United States Airforce (USAF) was planning its evacuation
from the RAF Upper Heyford air base after a presence of forty years.
The Oxfordshire Museums Service embarked on a twelve-month programme
of photography, oral history and collection on and around the base,
to document the impact on Oxfordshire both of its presence and its
departure.
Thanks
to good co-operation between the USAF and Oxfordshire Museums Service,
it was possible to mount an exhibition about the American community
at Upper Heyford, which was shown in Banbury Museum in 1994. The
exhibition illustrated the host culture's response to the immigrants
as documented in the local media; the response of the Americans
to Oxfordshire and their impressions of their surroundings; a photographic
study of the airbase in action; and the peace movement in Oxfordshire
prompted by the proximity of the American armed forces.
Museum
collections made in the 1990s included elements of uniform, clothing,
badges and flags; ephemera; American food and drinks containers
and typically American gadgets; typical souvenirs of the American
forces, and also souvenirs combining both local and American influences.
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