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Nurturing Worcestershire’s Treasures Issue 4: September 2012
MODERN HISTORY
Worcester’s Future Rests on Firm Foundations as New Heritage Showcases Open in the City Sarah Baker Looks Inside THE HIVE Laura Butland Reports on the Opening of THE INFIRMARY
Also in this Issue: New Jubilee Family Garden at the Elgar Birthplace Museum Conservation Research at the George Marshall Medical Museum The trainees’ Swap Shop at the University Research Collections and Hurd Library Royal Worcester Porcelain at the Antiques for Everyone Fair Work Experience Students Join the Cathedral Library
This issue was edited and produced by Tamsin Rowe, Worcester Cathedral Library
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The Hive
B ack in June the five trainees were lucky
enough to be invited to the Hive’s ‘pre-
opening’ party.
We were excited to get a sneak preview of such an
outstanding building – the first joint Public and
University Library in Europe. Having sampled the wine
and cupcakes at the party, which paid tribute to the
people who ‘had made it all happen’, we spent a
pleasant hour browsing the new library.
We were specifically on the look-out for the display
cases situated at the ends of the bookshelves on Level 3.
Earlier in the year heritage organisations across
Worcestershire were contacted by Deborah Fox from
Worcester City Museum and asked whether they would
like to contribute an image, object and quote to the
Hive. Naturally we all jumped at the opportunity to be
represented in such a forward thinking and innovative
public building.
If you have visited the Hive you may have noticed these
attractive and informative displays. All the trainees’
organisations are represented, with items including: a
collection of postcards found in the Infirmary, a Royal
Worcester plate, books by G.A. Henty from the
University Research Collection, a manuscript of the
prelude to Elgar’s ‘Dream of Gerontius’ from the
Birthplace Museum and a copy of a fourteenth-century
lease from Worcester Cathedral Library.
If you haven’t yet been to the Hive we would thoroughly
recommend a visit. Don’t forget to look out for the
heritage displays!
By Sarah Baker
Elgar Birthplace Museum
Above: The University of Worcester Research
Collections Case. Photograph by Laura Butland.
Below: The Elgar Birthplace Museum Case.
Photograph by Sarah Baker.
3
T he past few months at The Infirmary have
been very busy, but also very exciting, as the
new Museum is now open to the public! We
had our first preview event on the 19th July,
with an opportunity for former staff and patients to
come and have a look at the exhibition before a full
opening to the public on the 21st August. The space
looks fantastic, with all the objects that the trainees
helped us to pack and move back in April proudly
mounted and displayed for everyone to enjoy. The
Science and Technology area which I worked on is
almost finished, with just a few finishing touches to the
multimedia interactives still to be finalised. Visitors now
have the chance to play with a 3D model of the human
body, investigate the microbes that cause infectious
diseases, and learn more about the genetics that
determine what we look like and how we behave.
We’re now open Monday to Friday, from 9am-5pm,
please come and have a look for yourselves!
By Laura Butland
The Infirmary
Opening of The Infirmary
Above: Staff and visitors enjoying the displays at the new Infirmary exhibition.
Image © The University of Worcester.
4
A Reinvention of Space at the Elgar Birthplace Museum
O nly a matter of weeks ago, visitors to the
Elgar Birthplace Museum would have
passed by an ordinary grassy space when
moving between the Elgar Centre and the
Birthplace Cottage. Now, thanks to the generous
support of the Kay Trust in memory of Margaret Kay,
this unused space has been transformed into a
delightful family musical garden.
Named the Jubilee Family Garden in honour of this
celebratory year, the space is now home to a 25m
curving pergola following the line of the existing
boundary hedge. Inside, the pergola is planted with
mixed shrubs, climbers and varieties of scented flowers
intended to give year-round colour and interest.
There are three instruments for visitors to play and
enjoy including vertical and horizontal wooden
xylophones and a metal spiral scraper. Alongside the
pergola a substantial grassy area remains that has
seating where people can relax and maybe even enjoy
a picnic.
True to its name, the garden has already been a big hit
with families, but personally, I take particular pleasure
in seeing the way the space engages all ages and really
brings a smile to people’s faces. I can most definitely
say it is a wonderful addition to the Museum and
something that makes a visit even more worthwhile.
By Sarah Baker
Elgar Birthplace Museum
Below: Visitors enjoying the xylophones in the Jubilee
Family Garden. Image © Elgar Birthplace Museum.
5
The Trouble with Rubber… M eanwhile at the George
Marshall Medical
Museum I’ve been
spending time getting to
know the collection better whilst researching
for my dissertation. I’ve been looking at
objects with rubber components, to try and
get a better understanding of their condition
and whether we need to re-assess our policy
on how we store and display them. Rubber is
notoriously difficult to store, due to its
instability. Deterioration of rubber materials
can also damage other objects close by, such
as the material lining of boxes and paper
documents. It’s been a great chance to do
some work on the collections, and will
hopefully prove to be a useful resource to
the Museum after I’ve left!
By Laura Butland
George Marshall Medical Museum
Above: Set of false teeth made from vulcanised rubber which
were used to fit crowns for patients. Image © Charles Hastings
Education Centre.
Below Right: The New Cathedral Library Guidebook .
Image © The Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral.
Cathedral Library Gets New Guidebook
F or the first time in its 1300-year existence the
Cathedral Library has a guidebook. Written by
Librarian David Morrison, with some new images of
medieval manuscripts and early printed books, the
pocket-sized publication aims to give visitors to the Library a
lasting souvenir of their tour. It is part of a new initiative
between the Cathedral gift shop and the various Cathedral
departments to raise the profile of some of our hidden
treasures.
Copies of the book can be purchased in the Library or in the gift
shop for £2.99.
By Tamsin Rowe
Worcester Cathedral Library
6
Welcome to the Swap Shop!
T his month it was my turn to host the third of
a series of trainee Swap Days, where the
other trainees were given the opportunity to
get hands on with two examples of the
different project work I do.
Book Conservation with the Research Collections
As a taster of my work at the Research Collections, the
trainees were given a quick lesson in the practice of
leather dressing for book conservation. Last year the
Research Collections received, on loan, part of the City
Library’s collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-
century material. Since then, the Research Collections
team has been working to stabilise the collection, which
was in need of conservation treatment. During our
session, the trainees worked on the 40 leather bound
books using specialist conservation leather dressing,
smoke rubbers and badger brushes.
Collection Interpretation
One of my core projects at The Hurd Library has been
creating an online presence through a blog, Facebook
and Twitter page. Through this outreach I’ve actively
tried to demonstrate the diversity of content contained
within the library. In this session, I was keen to tap into
the trainees’ fresh ideas and perspectives. They were
asked to look at the newly compiled subject index and
try and pull out any unusual or interesting themes that
we could share on the blog. The girls didn’t disappoint
and put together brilliant posts on eighteenth-century
London and the use of humorous tailend pictures in
Bewick’s Birds.
7
Previous Page: Shabeena, Laura and Tamsin cleaning
the books, supervised by Rachel Johnson.
Right: Sarah and Laura working together on collec-
tion interpretation. They decided to research eight-
eenth-century London.
Below: Shabeena and Tamsin discuss their research.
Images © The University of Worcester
The girls’ blog posts can be viewed at :
http://thehurdlibrary.tumblr.com/
By Sarah Stretton
University of Worcester Research Collections
and the Hurd Library
8
‘Antiques for Everyone’
J uly was an exciting month for the Museum, with
rarely seen items from our splendid collection
featuring in the ‘Antiques for Everyone’ Fair at
the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
The Museum exhibited historic film and a range of
artefacts, emphasising the profound role the factory
and its workforce played in the expansion of British
ceramics through the centuries.
Some of the objects on display included a 223-year-old
diary of one of the founders of Royal Worcester
porcelain, John Flight and the ‘Misdemeanour Ledger’.
Both items received huge media attention, featuring on
BBC Regional News and the national Daily Mail.
The ‘Misdemeanour Ledger’ is a personal favourite; it is
an 1850s ledger that records the misdemeanours of
young apprentices at the factory. Misbehaviours
include talking, whistling, singing, mouse hunting and
breaking a milk jug.
One notorious apprentice, aged eight and identified
only as Barker, was frequently levied and in 1858 he
was fined threepence for ‘letting off fireworks in shop’.
A film entitled The Doctor Ordered Clay was also eagerly
received by visitors fascinated by the production
process behind a number of iconic Royal Worcester
pieces.
The exhibition gave a unique insight into life at the
porcelain works during a range of periods in its long
history. Following on from our success, The Doctor
Ordered Clay will be shown at The Museum in the
upcoming months.
To arrange a viewing please contact Shabeena Anait on
01905 21247 or by email:
By Shabeena Anait
The Museum of Royal Worcester
Dates For the Diary
Elgar Birthplace Museum 4th - 24th September Elgar's Worcestershire: An exhibition of paintings by two well-known local artists, Peter Wale and Ruth Boothby. Normal museum admission and opening applies. 9th October The Gallic Muse: One of Dr Donald Hunt's illustrated talks on significant French music of the 20th Century. Are we still suspicious of the artistic outpourings of our neighbours and if so, why? Includes refreshments. Tickets £6. Museum of Royal Worcester The Big Draw—Printing Workshop with Jose Santos 16th October 2012 10am-12pm & 1pm-3pm 19th October 2012 10am-12pm & 1pm-3pm Create your very own monotype print under the guidance of Jose Santos, a Mexican fine artist specialising in printmaking. Participants can take inspiration from a selection of magnificent Royal Worcester copper plates dating back to the nineteenth century which draw on the English landscapes beloved of the finest engravers of Worcester Porcelain.
Below: 223 Year-old Diary of John Flight, one of the founders of
Royal Worcester. © The Museum of Royal Worcester.
9
Back, L-R: Shabeena Anait (Museum of
Royal Worcester), Sarah Baker (Elgar
Birthplace Museum).
Front, L-R: Sarah Stretton (University of
Worcester Research Collections and the
Hurd Library), Laura Butland (The
Infirmary and George Marshall Medical
Museum), Tamsin Rowe (Worcester
Cathedral Library).
Each trainee has taken it in turns to
produce an issue of the newsletter.
Photograph by Alex Kinnersley.
The Trainees
Cathedral Library Welcomes Work Experience Students
W e have been joined by two work experience
students in the Cathedral Library this summer.
Matthias Hans studies History and English at
the University of Bonn. He is producing a
series of blog posts on English Reformation monarchs, as well as
learning some of the duties of a historic librarian and archivist.
Grace Bradley has just completed her AS Levels at The King’s
School Worcester. Grace is very keen on history and was
delighted to get ‘hands on’ with the rare books. She has been
producing a display for us on the Book of Common Prayer,
which is now up in the south nave aisle. She is also gaining
experience of accessioning new books and answering public
enquiries.
By Tamsin Rowe, Worcester Cathedral Library Above: Matthias Hans in the Library
Nurturing Worcestershire’s Treasures is a Heritage Lottery Funded scheme in partnership with Worcestershire County Council and the University of Worcester.
Visit the project webpage at www.worcestershiretreasures.wordpress.com