Surgical Spirit A newsletter for and by Volunteers at the Royal College of Surgeons Issue 18, Summer 2013 1 Front Cover : A photograph of David Tompsett at work (RCSSC/ph 00180). In the 1960s conservator David Tompsett made a large series of corrosion casts of mammalian organs. These casts are made when resin is injected into the soft tissues of an organ and left to set. The body part is then bathed in acid to disintegrate the surrounding tissues. The result is an intricate resin cast. The cast on the front cover shows a pair of lungs. 2 Welcome to this summer edition of Surgical Spirit , which mainly revolves around a series of successes for our Museums and Archives department, such as designation status for our collections; the staging of an event with a difference; funding for our ‘War, Art and Surgery’ programme in 2014. Many snippets also include the news about the Hunterian Museum featuring in The Times and the FT Weekend Magazine ; The Hunterian Bicentenary Fellowship award; and catering discounts available for our helpers. Our own volunteers’ contributions in this issue make us re-live our recent day out and the experience of visiting the College and the Hunterian Museum from an artist’s point of view; while the curatorial focus is on a recently re-displayed museum case and the completion of the latest Wellcome Museum of Anatomy and Pathology project. Once again in this edition there are plenty of team changes relating to both staff and volunteers. Last but not least an exciting series of events lies ahead throughout the summer and autumn (please note that events which already happened in July and August are not listed). If any of our readers have any suggestions for future issues of Surgical Spirit or are interested in volunteering with us please do not hesitate to contact me on [email protected] . Have a good summer and I hope you continue to enjoy the current sunny and warm weather. Stefania Riccini Newsletter Editor 3 In this issue Dust and sun – our volunteers’ outing Peter Jordan Art attack: medical artist in the making? Kimi Tayler Collection in Focus In search of Ming the giant panda: a redisplayed case in ‘The Museum after Hunter’ Kristin Hussey Digitised Diseases Carina Phillips Having a gander at ‘We Are Goose’ Hayley Kruger Nothing but the Tooth – A Dental Odyssey Team News Snippets • Designation success: Library, Museum and Archive collections awarded Designated Status • War, Art and Surgery • We are officially among the world’s 50 best museums • Shop vouchers • William Clift blogs • Hunterian Bicentenary Fellowship awarded • Discount for our volunteers across the park! • Open House London 2013 • New Research film now available • New Director at the Sir John Soane Museum Forthcoming Exhibitions and Events – July-December 2013 4 Dust and sun – our volunteers’ outing A dusty archive in the morning and a sunny walk in the afternoon – if you missed our volunteers’ outing in June please read all about this interesting day that Peter Jordan kindly reported on for us. Pusey’s Model Army was on the march again on 3 June 2013 as he led his regiment of intrepid museum volunteer warriors around the streets and sights of East London. The first skirmish of the day was at the Museum of London’s LAARC (London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre). This establishment, at the appropriately-named Mortimer Wheeler House, put up little resistance to the onslaught. Its lengthy title very accurately describes its contents and function. We were given an extensive tour of this hugely interesting place by the very knowledgeable and communicative guide, Adam Corsini. He explained to us the basic principles of Adam Corsini leading our group at the LAARC archaeological digs, of which there are very many in London, especially now with Cross-Rail being excavated; how artefacts are carefully removed from the ground and how their relative layering is recorded so that dating can be accurately determined. He described the washing, cleaning – sometimes with toothbrushes – drying and storage of the finds. Some of these items can hang about for many years while experts in the appropriate field research them before they are transferred for display in a Museum or put into storage. Many artefacts can only be classified as rubbish and these are discarded. The building in which this collection is housed was converted some years ago from a disused warehouse and internally cannot be described as elegant. There are passageways with breeze-block walls and much piping suspended from the ceiling, containing very valuable large artefacts apparently just lying about and the cabinetry in the store-rooms is not designed, or meant to be, for the smart display of the specimens. This is a research and archiving establishment, not a public museum. Adam quoted us some interesting numbers. Some 900 volunteers Volunteers at work in the LAARC have been involved at the archive over the past eleven years, many of them totally untrained in archaeology, but just interested in the work. There are 10.6 km of shelving, 120,000 storage boxes and two large libraries with books which cover just about everything related to archaeology. We were told that the rate at which artefacts are excavated is closely related to the current state of the economy. The more building that is being done, the more artefacts turn up as the ground is excavated. The huge store-rooms we were shown contain vast quantities of glass and ceramic items, some dating from the bronze age and much also only two or three decades old. There were a good many 1950s and 1960s toys and children’s games. There is an interesting 5 Lewis Spitz looking at the ceramic specimens collection of old toilet bowls, some being heavily decorated and quite elegant; and specimens like Buckingham Palace telephone exchange from years gone by (pictured left). In one of the offices there is a bust of Sir Mortimer Wheeler watching closely the work being done. Then it was lunch-time and we repaired to various pubs and then reassembled at Old Street Station for the afternoon session. We visited many places of great interest. Wesley’s Chapel (pictured below right) on the City Road is really the cathedral of Methodism, dating from 1778. There is a small garden/burial place at the back which contains John Wesley’s tomb. We visited the Bunhill Fields Burial Ground which had been in use for over 1000 years until it was closed for new burials in 1854. About 123,000 people are known to have been interred there including such famous names as John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe and William Blake. Our extensive walk took us to Worship Street and the site of St Luke’s mental hospital from 1750 until 1786. This was the forerunner of the Bethlehem Hospital (Bedlam) which later moved to the current site of the Imperial War Museum. We then walked to the old Bishopsgate goods station, a place of particular interest to Richard Pusey, a historical railway enthusiast. This station was originally built on four levels to service the Great Eastern Railway which brought vast amounts of food produce from East Anglia into London. Still there is the huge stables building where the food-distributing draymen lived and kept their cart-horses. On our way back to Liverpool Street Station we saw the row of houses in Fleur de Lis Street where the Huguenot silk weavers lived and worked; a 19 th century soup kitchen (pictured left) erected to help feed several thousand destitute Jewish immigrants; a very old synagogue that is still in use; and finally we saw the Kindertransport memorial on the forecourt of Liverpool Street Station which commemorates the thousands of small Jewish children sent to London by their parents just before the outbreak of WW2 in order to escape persecution and probable death at the hands of the Nazis. Not for the first time did the museum staff organise a splendid day out for the volunteers. We were lucky to have a warm sunny day and we walked what seemed like several miles. Many thanks are due to Hayley, Richard and Stefi for a hugely interesting, if somewhat tiring, day. A good time was, I think, had by all. Peter Jordan Visitor Services Volunteer 6 Art attack: medical artist in the making? We all know that as well as medical visitors the Hunterian Museum attracts artists and art visitors who come to draw, copy, illustrate or just get inspiration for their artistic vein. We hear from one of them, however the difference is that Kimi Tayler is not just an artist but also one of our front-of-house volunteers. On 2 July 2013 I entered the Royal College of Surgeons with a sense of excitement and some trepidation! I have been volunteering at the Hunterian Museum since May but, that day, I entered the building wearing a slightly different hat. In my life outside of the museum I am an artist, primarily I paint and draw and have recently been considering options for further study. Having been given a leaflet about the Medical Artists’ Education Trust, or MAET, and their post- graduate programme, I had decided to take part in a taster day to find out more about the organisation, the course and ultimately to try and decide if this was a potential path for me. Despite all the incredible illustrations in the museum, it had never occurred to me that I could be a medical artist! I was greeted by Joanna Cameron, the director of education for the MAET and met the other people interested in the course.