National Museums Liverpool Blog - Thursday, September 25, 2008

Up the corridor without a paddle - the well packaged kayak leaves the National Conservation Centre

You can't really see it in this photograph but trust me, this photograph shows a c19th century Greenland kayak that belongs to Trinity House in Tyne and Wear - inside a lot of packaging. The kayak is quite rare as boats of this type are very fragile and tend not to survive. It has a wooden framework, with baleen bindings (the filtering material from inside a whale's mouth) and sealskin covering. However, the kayak was extremely dirty and showing signs of water damage when it first arrived at the National Conservation Centre for treatment. Parts of the skin and cockpit hoop were coated with a brittle black resinous coating, which had to be removed. The skin also appeared to have been waterlogged at some point in the past, resulting in severe shrinkage, distortion and blackening on drying.

Conservation of the kayak was a real team effort, with senior organics conservator, Tracey Seddon, working on the skin, while head of engineering and maritime conservation, Jonathan Carr, treated and repaired the internal framework. Once they had finished, furniture conservators Graham Usher and Malcolm Broadbere helped to adapt a special frame to support and protect the kayak on its journey back to the North East.

Its conservation complete, the kayak left yesterday for the journey back to Trinity House. At 5.4 metres long it was not an easy thing to move so Tracey called on the help of several colleagues to carefully guide it down the corridors and out of the building. That's nothing compared to what is to come though, as a first floor window is being removed in order to get the kayak safely back into Trinity House. Once inside it wil be displayed in a newly refurbished room.

Looking pensive at the Biennial!

Hello there. Well today I am going to speak about interpretation and art (bear with me here). There were many difficult decisions taken whilst planning the International Slavery Museum, some on the design of the building, the way we displayed exhibits and indeed the content. It was challenging but at the same time exciting and satisfying to think you can shape such an important project.

I believe that on the whole we made the right decisions when planning the International Slavery Museum. I also agree with people who contact me about the content, and say that there is room for expansion in some areas as well as the need for myself, and my team, to be receptive to new information, and indeed revise information due to new research or new methods of interpretation. Interpretation is big news in the museum world. The forthcoming Museums Association Conference will be laden with it.

Interpretation in museums was something I covered when I studied Archaeological Theory at the University of Liverpool (the word theory often made some of the undergrads recoil in horror) focusing on how communities engaged with their local and national heritage and indeed how they viewed and interpreted the past. As part of my research I spent many hours in the former Transatlantic Slavery Gallery. In fact I sent the odd enquiry about certain exhibits to people who are now my colleagues.

As well as working with Black communities here in the UK I also spent time in the United States focusing on the way African American communities engaged with local archaeological projects. From New York, where I visited the African Burial Ground to Ransom Place in Indianapolis. I also went over to Nevada which meant I spent three days on the California Zephyr. A great way to see the country and meet some characters. There is no substitute from visiting somewhere so that you can experience it for yourself.

So here is the arty bit! My artistic side was awakened this weekend when I went to see some of the installations which are part of the Liverpool Biennial. I live in the city centre and whilst walking past what I thought was a derelict warehouse I saw a carousel, yes, I did say carousel. I like to think of myself as an art aficionado (no laughing please) so I went to take a look inside. I ended up signing a waiver to have a quick ride on it! It was the work of an Argentinean artist which was ‘an artistic question about the constancy of everyday life’. Just what I thought (honest) whilst sitting in an armchair, going round on a carousel in a warehouse. There were a number of other installations too. I was particularly taken by the margarine tubs. I love the idea of art being open to the masses so have a look round the city; you never know what you will stumble across.

Bye for now.

Artist Paul Cousins standing next to his award winning painting 'Night Flight'

As you probably already know, the Best of Merseyside exhibition at the National Conservation Centre features the highlights of this year's open exhibitions held at galleries throughout Merseyside. Having made it through the rigorous selection process for the exhibition, the artists then faced perhaps their toughest critics - the visitors.

Since the exhibition opened visitors have been voting for their favourite artwork. Today Paul Cousins was announced as the winner of the Visitors' choice award for his painting 'Night Flight'. He was presented with a bottle of champagne and some Rennies vouchers in the exhibition.

If Paul looks familiar that may be because he was the man responsible for 'Cloudorama', the Superlambanana that was displayed at the Lady Lever Art Gallery over the summer.

Paul is not the only artist whose fate lies in the hands of our visitors, as you can now vote for your favourite painting in the John Moores 25 exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, which opened at the weekend.

Liverpool 1350. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

The Middle Ages may not be one of my favourite periods of history but aspects of life in those far-off times hold a certain fascination. There were battles among warring barons on English soil and if a battle axe or arrow didn’t get you then plague or disease might. Then, as now, there was always fishing.

Liverpool had a fleet of only around 20 ships in the Middle Ages after King John signed the letters patent (charter) establishing the borough in 1207. Voyages were made to Spain and France but most trade was with local ports on the Lancashire coast, Wales and Ireland.

A replica of King John’s charter is on display in the Magical History Tour exhibition at Merseyside Maritime Museum marking Liverpool’s 800th anniversary last year.  It is only a small document but it has huge significance. John wanted Liverpool as an embarkation port for English troops and supplies needed to invade Ireland.

A new town of seven streets was laid out near the Pool, a creek which gave Liverpool its name. Many settlers came from nearby areas such as West Derby to live in the new borough. For some people it was a chance to start a new life free from the control of local lords. Only about 1,000 people lived in Liverpool in 1300 and the population remained that size until the1600s.

On display, and shown here, is a 19th century artist’s impression of Liverpool about 1350 showing the Tower and coastline in its original state before the town developed.

As a port, Liverpool was very much at risk from the spread of disease. An outbreak of the Black Death plague in 1361 wiped out whole families. Their bodies were buried in a mass grave at St Nicholas’s Parish Church which still stands in Chapel Street. The plague struck again in 1558 which wiped out a third of Liverpool’s population.

Fishing was one of early Liverpool’s main industries. Herring, the mainstay of the industry, were caught from small boats between September and November. Exhibits on display include medieval copper alloy barbed fishing hooks, whose design had changed little since the Roman period. Many of these have been found at Meols, on the Wirral, suggesting the importance of fishing to the local economy.There is a lead net sinker used to weight down fishing nets. Lead was readily available from north Wales.

Merseyside Maritime Museum is open seven days a week, admission free. A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1.50 p&p UK).

The Fab Four plus friend

Another month, another competition and another prize in our 'name that object' competition. Actually, it's the same prize as last month - a set of Beatles figures - but as so many people entered last time we figured they were popular and are offering another set this month. First clue appears on Monday morning (22nd). If you're keen to get your mitts on the figures you might want to visit the John Moores exhibition that starts this weekend and have a wander around the rest of the gallery while you are there...

I came across this fascinating article on Victorian art dealer Ernst Gambart in the Guardian the other day. Apparently he bought ‘the most expensive painting by a living artist in history’ – 'The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple' by William Holman Hunt. It cost him £5,500 in 1866 which according to the article equates to over £2 million in today’s market.

Lucky for Ernst, his prize purchase was still on-route to him when his house exploded during a fabulous party for which he had hired theatrical gas lights. (Shame the same can’t be said for the poor guest who was killed in the catastrophe). 

‘The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple’ now hangs in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, but it will soon be on show in Manchester as part of ‘Holman Hunt & the Pre-Raphaelite Vision’ exhibition. 

The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple, William Holman Hunt

You can see a smaller version of the painting at Sudley House – the former home of another collector, George Holt. He paid 1200 guineas  (£1260) for the study in 1888. It’s an exquisite painting with incredible detail which you can examine using our zoom facility online. There is also an extended piece on the painting as part of our picture of the month series. 

If you are interested in collectors then Sudley House really is a gem and houses some real treasures. And it is the only place you can see the art collection of a Victorian merchant in its original setting. You can also find more paintings by Homan Hunt in the Walker Art Gallery and the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

About 18 months ago John Edmondson used this blog to appeal for living descendents of William Roscoe to get in touch. Plenty of people did contact him and some met up (see John's follow up below). If you'd like to contact John about this project use this contact form.

The eight descendents of the Roscoe family

To mark the publication of Jyll Bradley's book "Mr Roscoe's Garden" on the history of Liverpool's botanic gardens, and the launch of her photographic exhibition "The Botanic Garden" at the Walker Art Gallery, a reunion of William Roscoe's relatives took place on 17 September 2008. Eight descendents of the Roscoe family (the youngest only twelve days old) met at World Museum Liverpool for a chance to inspect Roscoe's cultivated plant collections from the original Liverpool Botanic Garden, after which they visited the City Library where Janet Graham, special collections librarian, showed them some of his botanical drawings in the Oak Room. The visit concluded with lunch at the Athenaeum, founded by William Roscoe in 1797.
 
Plans were discussed for a more extensive reunion of Roscoe family members in 2010, by which time we hope that the contacts established today will have led to a 'joining up' of the various family trees. One family has traced its ancestors back to William Roscoe's grandparents and beyond, to the delight of others who had been unable to progress beyond his father. We look forward to hearing from other Roscoe relatives so that we can update them with these plans.

The Zoology department at World Museum Liverpool is currently taking part in an important international collaboration with the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia that will enhance the collections of both institutions.

The Academy of Natural Sciences has a huge ornithology collection of more than 200,000 specimens, which they add to every year. This usually involves a field trip to a pristine location such as remote parts of Australia or Africa, where they collect specimens as an important record to benchmark environmental conditions before the impact of human disturbance.

Nate Rice with some of the bird specimens that he has worked on so far in Liverpool

This year however Nate Rice, the Collections Manager of Ornithology at the Academy in Philadelphia and Robert Driver, a student and acting curatorial assistant, have travelled to the exotic location of Liverpool. They are here to improve their collection of European birds, which are currently under-represented in the Philadelphia collections. World Museum Liverpool on the other hand has a lot of salvage birds in frozen storage. These are local birds that were killed by pets or found dead after flying into windows or other accidents, which members of the public have donated to the museum. The birds have been stored in freezers until they were needed. However, over time a surplus of birds has built up and staff in Liverpool have not had time to treat and preserve the specimens.

Nate and Robert are spending 3 weeks at World Museum skinning and preserving our bird specimens. This involves taking tissue samples, then removing the internal organs and bones and replacing them with cotton, then drying the skins. They will take most back to Philadelphia but in return for these specimens 10% of the skins they prepare will stay here for World Museum Liverpool's collections, including any significant local items.

Researchers around the world use specimens such as these for the study of evolutionary biology and local ecologies. Important information about environmental conditions can be gained from the feathers and tissue samples of the birds. Nate was keen to point out that the Philadelphia collections, like those at World Museum Liverpool, are seen as belonging to the world of science and are readily available for research purposes internationally.

Nate and Robert have been joined at World Museum for a couple of days by Henry McGhie, the Head of Natural History at Manchester Museum, who is taking the opportunity to hone his skinning skills by working alongside them. Curators in American museums routinely take part in field skinning so have a lot of expertise in this area, whereas UK curators usually rely on taxidermists to preserve specimens. Nate has been happy to work with UK curators in this way, as he has often used our expertise in other areas. For example, Clem Fisher, Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum Liverpool, is a Research Associate at the Academy in Philadelphia and has visited several times since 1993 to work on their historical collections, which complement our own.

The oil tanker El Oso. Image courtesy of the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo.

Some years ago a common sight at seaside resorts and elsewhere was old deactivated German sea mines that had been converted into charity collecting boxes. These round menacing floating mines had one or more slots cut in them and your penny clattered around inside after you shoved it in. German mines exacted a terrible toll in the early months of the Second World War when almost 400 British, allied and neutral ships were sunk and many more damaged.

Thousands of mines were laid around British coasts by U-boat submarines, destroyers, mine layers and aircraft. By early 1940, German mines and aircraft had also effectively closed the Port of London to ocean-going ships. This led to the diversion of most of the capital’s usual traffic to the comparatively safer west coast ports of Liverpool, Glasgow and the Bristol Channel.

Liverpool, the largest and most central of these ports, was Britain’s most important port throughout the rest of the war.At this period German aircraft and U-boats were also laying mines around many of Britain’s west coast ports, including Liverpool. Many ships were sunk or damaged in Liverpool Bay, causing large disruption to the port’s activities.

British boffins hit back at the mine threat by fitting the hulls of most large British ships with degaussing cable to neutralise the ship’s magnetism. This greatly reduced the threat from magnetic mines. On display at Merseyside Maritime Museum is a huge, seven-foot long German sea mine which almost breathes menace. It was designed as a magnetic mine for use against ships. These were dropped by aircraft using a parachute or by ships – it was one of Germany’s most secret weapons at the start of the war. The mines carried 1,536 lbs of high explosives. They were also dropped as bombs on Liverpool, London and other British cities, causing devastation.

An illustration from a wartime book shows how a magnetic mine works. The mine lies on the seabed waiting for a ship to pass. Impulses from the metal hull of the ship detonate the mine, causing a huge explosion. The oil tanker El Oso is seen sinking after passing over such a mine, laid by the U-30, in January 1940. She was the first to be sunk by German mines in Liverpool Bay during the war.

Merseyside Maritime Museum is open seven days a week, admission free. A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1.50 p&p UK).

I had an email from fellow Wiganer and author of ‘Pies and Prejudice’ Stuart Maconie today. (You won’t hear me utter the ‘W’ word very often being a Saints fan, and incase you were wondering Saints and Wigan drew last week. But I digress).

Actually, it was really from England’s Northwest announcing a new set of short stories penned by the Radio 2 presenter. Each tale highlights some of the fantastic things you can do in the North West. Now I am a bit of a fan of Mr Maconie on account of his excellent musical knowledge and the fact that he always turns up at local events and supports grass roots events. I like that. So I have signed up online for a free copy (yes – FREE copy) of his short stories which will go to print early next year.

One of the stories is entitled ‘Liverpool Museums’ and we don’t feature as much as you'd expect – but he does give the Lady Lever Art Gallery and the Walker Art Gallery a mention, so I’ll let him off. Infact, what he actually says is, “Liverpool has galleries the way some cities have roadworks and the Walker is the Bill Shankly and daddy of them all”. High praise (but I hope it doesn’t put the Evertonians off).

Bill Shankly - the daddy

Slightly less satisfying is the fact that The Beat Goes On exhibition is overlooked in the 'Liverpool Music' story. He does talk about Eric’s and The Beatles  though – and given Liverpool’s musical pedigree I expect it is quite difficult to squeeze it all in.

Stuart, if you are out there then come and see the exhibition because you would absolutely love it, from Billy Fury’s guitar to The Zutons’ video props, but especially all the Eric’s stuff. I’ll stand you a pie and a pint if you make it.

While I’m here I’d also like to extend that offer to Mr Charley Boorman who metaphorically sprinted through Liverpool on his latest adventure, 'By Any Means'. I have been following Charley for many a year, in the motorbike series 'Long Way Round' and 'Long Way Down' with Ewan McGregor, as well as the brilliant 'Race to Dakar'. So I was absolutely gutted when he jumped off the ferry in Liverpool, hailed a black cab and legged it onto the train at Lime Street without seeing anything at all. To add insult to injury he went on to sleep overnight at the Transport Museum in Coventry where one of his Long Way bikes resides. And he didn't even say hello!

Note to Charley - all is forgiven - but you definately should’ve used the Wacker Quacker if you were looking for different types of transport.

Want to help with a project about how drawing helps us relate to the world around us? Then come along to the Lady Lever Art Gallery this month and you can assist PhD student Pippa Sherriff from the University of Leicester, who is researching this very subject for her thesis. Pippa is inviting visitors to get involved in drawing activities at the gallery and to talk to her about their experiences to help with her research. Read on for more details from Pippa herself...

My name is Pippa Sherriff and I am a Research Student in the Museum Studies Department at the University of Leicester. My doctorial project explores the experience that adult visitors have when they are encouraged to draw in Museums and Art Galleries of Art and Design. I am interested in how the process of drawing encourages a closer engagement with the world around us and may enhance the understanding and appreciation of the object(s) encountered. 

Get drawing at the Lady Lever

I am inviting adults to come and participate in a drawing activity at Lady Lever Art Gallery, Monday to Friday from now until the end of September 2008. I have in situ a good supply of drawing materials or people may prefer to bring their own. Following the activity I am seeking people to talk to me (approx 10 minutes) about the experience and so contribute to my research findings.

In essence this is an opportunity for people to express their feelings about the drawing process itself and engagement with the object(s) encountered. The conversation will be conducted in a quiet space, audio recorded and then transcribed at a later date. There are no written questionnaires to complete and any confidential or sensitive information is neither expected nor required. Participants may also withdraw at any time if they so wish. 

My final thesis will include descriptions and quotations of the experiences related by drawing participants. However, importantly, each will decide how their individual contribution is attributed. A research consent form will detail this information. If anyone is also interested in being kept informed about the progress of my research I am willing to establish email contact.

Contact the Lady Lever Art Gallery for more details on: 0151 478 4136

The Audacity model. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

My first flight in a helicopter was on a Royal Navy facility trip to the Ark Royal aircraft carrier in Liverpool Bay. It was an amazing experience with the deck opening up underneath as a huge lift transported us below. Most of all I remember the delicious meal they served.

In contrast, HMS Audacity was the Royal Navy’s first merchant aircraft carrier. Her role was to protect convoys crossing the Atlantic with vital supplies for Britain during the Second World War. Surprisingly, Audacity started life as a German passenger ship captured early in the war. In 1941 she was converted into a flat-top escort carrier, also known as a MAC ship. She could operate just four light Grumman Martlet aircraft from her short flight deck with no hanger.

There is a 1:300 scale model of the camouflaged Audacity in Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Battle of the Atlantic gallery. She did not have a long life as she was sunk by a German U-boat submarine in December 1941 after just four escort passages.

The need to close the 400-mile ‘air gap’ in the mid-Atlantic led to the development of the MAC ships. Most were grain carriers or oil tankers fitted with a basic flight deck for three or four Swordfish bi-planes. The MAC ships not only provided air cover for convoys but also carried much-needed supplies of grain or oil for Britain. From mid-1943 at least one MAC ship sailed with every north Atlantic convoy.

They were joined by new purpose-built British and US naval aircraft carriers. US Liberator bombers closed the ‘air gap’ by late April 1943. At the same time, long-range British and American aircraft attacked U-boats in the Bay of Biscay near their French bases. Equipped with powerful searchlights for night operations, air-to-surface radar and increasingly effective weapons, these aircraft enjoyed many successes.

The fitting of highly-accurate centimetric radar on long-range aircraft was another major turning point in the anti-U-boat campaign. More U-boats were sunk by aircraft than by ships during the last two years of the war. The RAF Coastal Command played a decisive role in the Battle of the Atlantic. In all, it sank at least 155 U-boats in Atlantic waters.

Other exhibits include a green-coloured 100 lb air-dropped anti-submarine bomb from about 1941 – the earliest of its type used by the British.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from www.merseyshop.com (£1.50 p&p UK).

Dea Birkett argues her case

It was artefacts at dawn last night as The Great Museum Debate kicked off at the Maritime Museum.

Our distinguished panel made a case for the museum of their dreams and had some pretty unusual ideas.

Being a huge football fan I was pretty taken with teen author Bali Rai’s fantasy of a museum where you can create your own interactive sporting moment. He wanted to set Steven Gerrard’s famous goal against Olympiakos to Jimmy Cliff’s ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ and bask in the glory of Liverpool’s victorious 2005 Champions League campaign. This was part of Bali’s wish for a museum that was a living, breathing thing.

Janet Dugdale our Director of Urban History argued for a crystal-like museum made entirely from glass with no barriers to interaction and enjoyment. By touching objects, that were perfectly preserved to last for ever, visitors to her museum would be ‘transported through history to meet the person connected to the object’.   

Nick Poole from the Collections Trust wanted his museum to be a shop ‘which transacts in experiences and knowledge’, doing away with the need for public funding for museums while historian Andrew Wheatcroft wanted an interactive museum featuring 3D virtual guides to show visitors around that left people hungry for more.

Dea Birkett from Kids in Museums suggested doing away with the word museum altogether to make them more attractive and wanted to create a space that stimulated all five senses.

Ideas from the audience included a huge museum dedicated to musicals, a philosophers museum of morals, values and magic and a virtual reality travel museum allowing visitors to step into different countries and experience different cultures – definitely a good one for those scared of flying.   

Personally, I think I’d opt for a museum of taste. Visitors would be treated to a whistlestop tour of different countries and ages by eating the delicacies associated with them. I might skip the East End gallery though - jellied eels really aren’t for me.