IntroductionIntroductory talk – PRE-RECORDED11-1: Introduction to the course and group project – LIVE2-3.30: Group Project Meetings – LIVE3.30-4: Q+A on Project – LIVE This week we had an introduction to the Managing Collections and Exhibitions course. We covered the aims of the course, which includes to equip students with a range of critical, theoretical, methodological […]
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 […]
Last week (mid-October 2021) I started a volunteers programme at the Portico Library. The Portico is one of Manchester’s longest-running institutions whose historic collection spans over 450 years. It was founded in 1806 by 400 subscribers including authors, future prime-ministers, scientists and educators. As stated on the website: Built with wealth derived from the Industrial […]
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 […]
Lecture: Introduction to contemporary collecting by Jen Kavanagh I spent days in the lead up to Managing Collections reading about Mass Observation, SAMDOK, encyclopaedic collecting of everyday artefacts, stories and the links between life during the Blitz and life during Covid-19; but after reading the text for this week and hearing Jen Kavanagh’s lecture, I […]
The next tailor I have been researching is ‘John David’. I documented a men’s 2-piece nylon suit, dated to the 1950’s (pictured below). The label, found on the inside of the jacket, (again, pictured below), includes ‘Northcord’ in addition to John David as the tailor name. Northcord could be the name of the material, a […]
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 […]
Courtesy of @JadeFrench and @catalystSDC (twitter) I often like to research my family history using the Ancestry website, I have dipped in and out of it for years but put the most work into it in around 2014. I asked my Grandad and my mum to send photographs of my ancestors; I’ve got a particularly […]
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 […]
Placement Day 5: Upgrading Storage for Wedding Objects
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 […]