National Museums Liverpool Blog - Kay D

Head of objects conservation,Vivien Chapman, (left) inspecting the flag in the textile conservation studio

This special Rainbow Flag was recently donated to the Museum of Liverpool's permanent collections and will be displayed pride of place in the People's City gallery in the new Museum of Liverpool when it opens in 2011.

This flag represents a very important first in Liverpool. It was flown above Liverpool Town Hall for the first time for the International Day Against Homophobia on 17 May 2009. It is just one of the many objects with amazing stories which curators seek out to ensure contemporary issues and events in the city are represented for the future. International Day Against Homophobia marks the day in 1990 when the World Health Organisation took homosexuality off its list of mental illnesses. It is hard to believe that until relatively recently this was still the case but with recent homophobic attacks in Liverpool it is all too apparent that there is a long way to go in challenging prejudice and intolerance.

The flag was kindly donated by Liverpool City Council. It is a fitting time to add it to the collection at the start of Liverpool's annual Homotopia festival. National Museums Liverpool has always supported the festival and will be holding a free talk about the secret language of Polari at 2pm this Saturday at Merseyside Maritime Museum as part of the programme of events. Further details are on the Sailing Proud page on the Merseyside Maritime Museum's website.

You can see more photos in the Rainbow Flag set on Flickr.

Jeannie documenting the colection

Volunteers do extremely valuable work across National Museums Liverpool. Jeannie has been volunteering for the Museum of Liverpool since September, and is getting hands-on collections experience documenting a diverse range of items kindly bequeathed by the late John Hamilton.

Jeannie became a volunteer to gain experience and an understanding of the museum environment after completing her University degree.

She says 'The wide ranging items keep the work interesting as you never know what you may uncover next; from evacuation labels and blow torches to French comics! Every week there is something different that develops my knowledge and understanding, not only of John Hamilton's personal history but also that of Liverpool'.

Preparation work for Magical History Tour Exhibition, which opens 28 July at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, is well underway.

Illustrator and artist Olivia Du Monceau can be seen here hard at work on a recreated Medieval market scene. The weekly market was held in Castle Street, Liverpool.

She has even managed to feature a few familiar faces in the scenes - see if you can spot them when the exhibition opens!

Image courtesy of Elizabeth Hawkins

In December 2005 you may remember that Blackie, the much loved rocking horse from Blackler's Department Store and Alder Hey Children's Hospital, went on display at the Museum of Liverpool Life for the first time after being kindly donated by the hospital.

This image of Blackie been ridden in the children's clothing department shows how much pleasure he brought to generations of Liverpool children.

The following is just one of the happy memories in the comments book from the display. "Blackie was a childhood friend to us kids - to us he was real!" L.F., Old Swan.

MMM.1997.16.7

Whilst searching the Museum of Liverpool social history collections for images of Liverpool in the 1960s for the forthcoming exhibition – The Beat Goes On, which explores Liverpool’s popular music from 1945 to the present day (opening at World Museum Liverpool summer 2008), I came across these images taken by Harold Morton, who as a keen amateur photographer took many photographs of the city.

The image of the policeman directing traffic on Lime Street near St Georges Hall shows just how much the city has changed, and what could be more 1960s than the mini? – this image of one being loaded onto the Aer Lingus aeroplane at Speke Airport is great!

MMM.1997.16.88