The fight is on to save Wisbech and Fenland Museum - one of the first purpose built museums in the world - after Fenland District Council withdrew funding.
The council has dropped its £46,250 a year grant although it will make a final payment of £70,000 in April which they say is a reduced amount to cover the next three years.
After that the grant is slashed to zero.
Museum chairman Richard Barnwell said: “I am determined it will not close.
“It was built especially in 1847 and is one of the first purpose built museums in the world.
“It is a rare gem of the Victorian tradition of cabinets of curios.
“We have the gallery, the original mahogany cabinets; people who come here love it.
“We have fascinating collections on every subject you can imagine with something to interest everybody, no we may not be in the digital age but this is part of the charm.
“We must keep this open for future generations. We want to make people feel it’s their museum, feel a part of its future.
“I love this town, I love its rich history, and we cannot allow this museum to close.”
Since the decision to axe funding was touted, Heritage Lottery has agreed to fund a specialist member of staff to join the Wisbech team on a part time basis to look at ways of securing alternative funding to secure its future.
The museum houses an eclectic collection of the bizarre and the intriguing including:
•50,000 objects gathered over the a century and a half
•The original manuscript of Dickens’ Great Expectations bequeathed to the trustees in 1869 by the Rev Chauncy Hare Townshend.
•A dismembered mummified hand presented on a red velvet cushion.
•A full length size picture of Napoleon
•The earliest known photographs of Madagascar taken in the 1850s by William Ellis, a missionary from Wisbech
•Historic items once owned by slave trade abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846)
•Anglo Saxon swords
•6,000 Greek, Roman, Celtic and British coins including a Roman coin hoard from Emneth.
•The headpiece of a gibbet used to hang a murderer in Guyhirn.
•A mummified cat.
The museum was founded in 1835 by 31 members of the local community who formed the Museum Society.
They originally collected the local flora and fauna of the area and historical items but it grew as more members added their own personal collections.
In a letter to councillors ahead of their decision to withdraw funding Mr Barnwell warned: “Unless other adequate funding can be secured the museum directors will be forced to close the museum.
“This will mean the contents will be distributed outside Fenland with the loss forever of an outstanding and vital cultural asset.
“It houses collections of national and international importance.
“It is one of the most significant independent museums in the county and is the jewel in the crown of Wisbech culture.”
The museum team say they are fighting for its future which includes looking at ways to encouraging more generous visitor donations - in 2014/5 visitors donated just £1,973 which is £37.95 a week.
Visit the museum’s website for opening hours.
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