The Overlord Embroidery – D-Day Museum Cradley Heath Women
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64 Dec 2009 Issue THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SOCIAL HISTORY CURATORS GROUP The Overlord Embroidery – D-Day Museum Cradley Heath women chainmakers project The Game of Life – Portsmouth exhibition SHCG seminars and reviews Dear SHCG Members, Join SHCG? 2010 has arrived and with it Issue 64 of the SHCG News. We have some If you’re reading this and you’re interesting features of the latest exhibitions and projects going on in not a member of SHCG but would like Museums around the country. Portsmouth Museums have a fun interactive to join please contact: Kay Jones, exhibition called The Game of Life. National Museums Liverpool, We have a seminar coming up ‘What to do with Wooden Spoons?’ in Dock Traffic Office, partnership with the Histories of the Home SSN in April, helping members Albert Dock, to reinterpret their domestic collections. Our 2010 SHCG Conference in Liverpool L3 4AX Tel: 0151 478 4068 Birmingham, ‘More for Less: Big Impacts with Small Resources’ will be a Email: Kay.Jones@ great opportunity to pick up some useful money saving tips and find good liverpoolmuseums.org.uk value for future exhibitions and projects. Our Object Lessons resources are available online and the boxes for collection by any interested parties – Write an article for please see details in our bulletin section. The theory and practice articles showcase two very different exhibitions, the SHCG News? one focussing on re-discovering a hidden history of women chainmakers in You can write an article for the News the Black Country, the other a re-interpretation and refurbishment of the on any subject that you feel would be Leamington Spa Museum Haddies gallery, named after a circus elephant! interesting to the museum’s community. Project write ups, book Our object focus pays tribute to all the D-Day commemorations of 2009, reviews, object studies, papers given through The Overlord Embroidery at the D-Day Museum Portsmouth. Also and so on. We welcome a wide variety the Tynemouth Medal celebrates the bravery of those saving lives at sea. of articles relating to social history and Our review of SHCG at 35 Conference 2009 held at Leeds last July is an Museums. enjoyable reminder for all who joined us and a useful summary for anyone DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: who missed it. The SHCG Journal will be featuring articles from many of 16TH APRIL 2010 the contributors so we look forward to that publication. The Committee has a few new faces. Victoria Rogers is our new chair and SHCG NEWS will encourage we welcome her, thanking Jill Holmen for all her hard work over the past and publish a wide range of views from two years. Ellie Swinbank has joined us as our new Web Editor and SHCG those connected with history and email list co-ordinator. Georgina Young is our new Secretary with many museums. The NEWS aims to act as a channel for the exchange of thanks going to Hannah Maddox for the many years she contributed in that information and opinions about current post. practice and theory in museums. I hope you enjoy all the articles and reviews in the latest SHCG News and The views expressed in the newsletter wish you all the best for 2010. are wide ranging and do not necessarily express the views of the SHCG committee or SHCG, unless Lydia Saul otherwise stated. Articles for the NEWS should be SHCG News Editor between 500 to 2000 words. Please submit a typed copy of your article along with a copy on disk, saved as a PC word file or richtext format, or you can send it as an Email. Illustrations for articles are always welcome. Original photographs can be returned. Alternative formats: Electronic copies and alternative formats are available on request. Send all contributions to: Lydia Saul, Keeper of Social History, Bedford Museum, Castle Lane, Bedford, MK40 3XD. Tel: 01234 353323 Email: [email protected] Front Cover: The Overlord Embroidery, D-Day Museum, Portsmouth, pg 15. 5. Name of the Game - Kevin Wilshire looking at the Dansette he donated Bulletin Board Page 3 SHCG Matters Issue64 What to do with Wooden Contents Spoons? BULLETIN BOARD 16th April 2010 Geffrye Museum, SHCG Seminar – Wooden London Spoons 3 SHCG email list, website This seminar is a joint initiative and facebook 4 between SHCG and the History of the Home SSN and will explore Object Lessons Advert 4 new ways of interpreting domestic life collections. SHCG Conference: Call Speakers include; for Papers 5 The Game of Life – Zoe Hendon, Portsmouth exhibition 5 Curator, Museum of domestic 6. Black Country Chains Design and Architecture Rhian Morris, THEORY & PRACTICE Audience and Community Development Manager, Osterley Women chainmakers Park Dr Victoria Kelley, project – Black Country Research Co-ordinator, Rochester Living Museum 6 History and Theory Tutor Leamington Spa new Rachel Mercer, gallery – Vicki Slade 9 School Services Manager, Weald & Downland Open Air Museum REVIEWS Eleanor John, Head of Collections and SHCG Conference 11 Exhibitions, Geffrye Museum) Louisa Knight, 11. SHCG Conference Documentation and Research OBJECT FOCUS Assistant, Geffrye Museum The Overlord Embroidery – There will also be a guided tour of D-Day Museum 15 the Geffrye Museum. Trust Medal from http://www.geffrye-museum.org. Newcastle Collections 16 uk/ £30 for members of SHCG and the TEA BREAK History of the Home SSN and £35 for non members. Lantern Slides – Charles 18 Dickens Christmas Carol Kylea Little Word Search – To book a place please contact Dickens theme 18 Kylea Little at kylea.little@ twmuseums.org.uk or download a booking form from our website. 17. Tynemouth Trust Medal Dec 2009 SHCG news Page 4 Bulletin Board SHCG online The British Library’s Object Lessons Practical resources for Website UK Web Archive developing curatorial skills Having just taken over as Web Since 2004 The British Library Can’t tell your cellulose nitrate from Editor from Victoria Rogers, I’d like has archived thousands of United your cellulose acetate? Confusing to thank her for the marvellous job Kingdom websites. These are your brass with your bronze? Can’t she has done with the website. I am available from the UK Web Archive see the wood for the trees? SHCG sure that everyone will agree that it provided by the Library at http:// has the solution! has come on in leaps and bounds in www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa/. the last year or so, becoming a truly Most sites are collected again and What is Object Lessons? useful resource for curators of social again so it is possible to observe Object Lessons is a new series of history, and a portal for SHCG how they have changed over time. resources designed to help you members to keep up to date with the The subject range is vast but develop your skills and confidence Group’s news and activities. one of the collection's particular in identifying and caring for core strengths is the social history of materials found in social history And the website continues to the UK. For these reasons, when collections. Each resource is made develop. A new section has the BL requested to archive the up of a loans box of museum objects just been added to allow users SHCG website, we gladly accepted with an accompanying resource pack to download handouts from our are delighted to know that the site which guides you through the basic training and events. Notes from will be available to researchers in principles of materials’ identification. past events should be appearing the future. Should any contributor The box also contains a selection of there soon. Have a look at the to the website or author of SHCG key books currently available on the Resources page of the website for resources (eg. previous Journal topic. more details. articles, etc.) prefer that their work 4 loan boxes are currently available: Also newly added to Resources is not included in this programme, is last year’s Journal, number 32. please contact the SHCG Web Object Lessons 1: Metals The Journal contains ten articles Editor. Object Lessons 2: Wood looking at the ways museums can Object Lessons 3: Plastics address topics which can be seen Object Lessons 4: Conservation as sensitive or controversial...are SHCG-List they 'too hot to handle'? The SHCG-list has continued to Remember, we use the SHCG flourish, and has a record 191 website to keep members up to date members as this goes to press. It with what the committee has been is clear from the consistant activity up to and with initiatives or news on the list and the wide range that we feel is particularly relevant, of people who use it and topics so it's definitely worth logging in discussed that it remains a key frequently to see what's new! Find aspect of SHCG membership. out more at http://www.shcg.org.uk/. As well as being an extremely useful resource it is a great way How can I use Object Lessons? of "meeting" colleagues across The resources are designed to be Facebook social history museums in the borrowed by an individual or an UK, identifying good sources of institution for a fixed period from one The SHCG now has 96 fans on expertise and expanding your to two months. You can use them in Facebook! It is proving to be a network of contacts. It is also any way you see fit to suit your own useful tool for spreading the word frequently a good source of needs. For example, you can work about what we do, and keeping both office conversation and intrigue through the resources as part of a members and non-members up to whenever a mystery object is CPD programme of self-directed date with our activities.