This blog post will describe the ‘epiphany’ that inspired this research – what Lorraine Daston describes as the life-changing moment that causes one to question other aspects of life. As stated in previous posts, for me this occurred when interacting with physical (non-digital) objects and having a visceral reaction as a result. Daston articulated this […]
For the 9th day of the placement with the decorative arts department at Walker art Gallery we begun a documentation project. The Walker use collections management software called Mimsy XG, a database in which every object in the collection is recorded. According to axiell.com Mimsy is used to: Manage all your collections data quickly, reliably and safely. Whether cataloguing, […]
I have begun to research the brand names recorded from the collection so far. The first I’ve looked into is ‘Jackson the Tailor’ – I have recorded two items with this brand name so far, both are 3-piece suits (see images). 1988.186 Man’s 3-piece wool suit by Jackson the Tailor c.1958 1988.186 Man’s 3-piece wool […]
On day 5 of the placement with the Decorative Arts department of Walker Art Gallery, we begun a task of upgrading the storage of a small collection of items in the store. I was allocated 3 large drawers of wedding related accessories and garments. Pauline (Costume Curator and my placement supervisor) advised us to photograph […]
5 boxes of wedding accessories after storage upgrade After completing the upgrade or storage for the wedding accessories, I am able to reflect on the process, and address any issues that arose Difficulties included not having enough physical space to organise items from 3 full drawers into piles. I did not want to put too […]
Close up of Educational Specimen Box made in 1850 ©Victoria and Albert Museum, London Yesterday I read Object Lessons: How Nineteenth-Century Americans Learned to Make Sense of the Material World (2018) by Sarah Anne Carter. I planned to read this mainly in preparation for Geismar’s Object Lessons; I thought learning the basics of the technique […]
During the past few days I’ve continued reading around Jewish immigration to Liverpool, paying particular attention to tailoring. Reading included ‘A Yankee’s View of Liverpool Jewry’ by Gabriel A Sivan (1988) – the text establishes two ‘primary’ communities with the Jewish diaspora in Liverpool, those of Spanish and Portugese descent, and the German Jews. Sivan […]
For the second day of collections care or conservation cleaning with Jim, myself and another volunteer cleaned 2 shelves of oversized books including the shelf itself (shown in the photograph at the beginning of this post). Very simply we were instructed to do the following: Remove the books from the shelf and carefully carry them […]
This marks my first autoethnographic blog entry as part of my masters dissertation. I have read the book pictured above to get a better understanding of the origins of the method, the ethical issues surrounding it, the different styles and purposes for using autoethnography and how to get started. Before I read the book I […]
Using Facebook Pages for Research in the Social Sciences
I am preparing to set up a Facebook page for my dissertation research. Below I’ll briefly summarise 2 key pieces of literature that will help me to design the page, consider the challenges, ethical considerations and different uses of the platform. The first text is an article titled: Facebook as a Research Tool for the […]