National Museums Liverpool Blog - Wednesday, November 19, 2008

It’s World Toilet Day.  There’s no polite way of introducing it – you’ve just got to say it. You have to wonder who thinks these things up, but then there is a serious and worthy message about the state of the world’s sanitation to be gleaned.

Actually, museums and art galleries have formed a healthy relationship with the toilet that goes back beyond Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ or urinal.  What self-respecting museum would be caught out without the humble (or in some cases the ridiculously ornate) chamber pot? You can see one that was designed for Napoleon, no less, in the Walker’s Craft & Design Gallery.

A quick internet search will reveal more toilet-related museums and collections than you imagine, including the Flushed With Pride gallery at Gladstone Pottery Museum  I love this female chamber pot or ‘Bourdalon’ at the Science Museum. Replica ‘pee’-pots (I’ve sanitised the phrase for blogging purposes) are still very much in demand in the historical re-enactment community. They are incredibly handy for using under inaccessible kirtles and petticoats (as well as in tents).  

In addition to the bog standard collection of chamber pots, National Museums Liverpool has got some top notch toilet exhibits. At the Seized! gallery at Maritime Museum you can see a ‘Special Isolation Unit’ or frost chamber which was used to locate internally smuggled drugs once they passed through the body. According to our web page, ‘Before its invention customs officers used rubber gloves and a colander, so this was seen as a much-needed replacement!’  Yak.

This tuneful toilet was used during an RLPO concert as an April Fool

If lavatories are your idea of a laugh then look no further than The Walker’s truly spectacular Loophonium, which was designed and played by Fritz Spiegl, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s former principal flautist. I’ve heard of toilet humour, but that is just ridiculous. 

Believe it or not we actually have a Loophonium e-card. I can’t think of many occasions when it would be appropriate to send it (although I can think of a few people who would fit the bill) so we may as well make the most of World Toilet Day.

But if you really want to celebrate World Toilet Day in style then how about downloading our podcast, and listening to it ...  on the loo?

Peter Beardsley as you've never seen him before

Curators can find themselves doing all sorts of unusual things in the name of duty. However Tony Parker, assistant curator of zoology, never expected to be signing the transfer papers for Peter Beardsley.

The Peter Beardsley in question was not the famous footballer though but a mounted specimen of a duck. Peter the duck is thought to be a cross between a Pekin and an Aylesbury duck. He was once the beloved pet of local lady, and was named after Peter the footballer's spell at Everton. Unfortunately it was never discovered whether he would live up to his namesake's skills on the football pitch, as he was tackled and killed by a dog (presumably not an Everton supporter) when he was 8 months old.

Peter's owner had him mounted in a display case after his death 16 years ago. She recently donated him to World Museum Liverpool, as she wont be able to take him with her when she moves house. Although she'll miss him, she decided that he would be in good company with the other mounted bird specimens in the museum's collections. Peter is currently on the reserve bench in the museum's stores but is available for researchers and study groups.

Over the last few weeks the handling and transport team have been helping to prepare the Ancient Egypt gallery, which will open at World Museum Liverpool on 5 December. However in complete contrast to the ancient Egyptian artefacts, today they transported one of the newest works of art in our collections, the popular Superfiveadaybanana.

After spending the summer at the Walker Art Gallery, Superfiveadaybanana has been on display in local schools. Today Paul Kelly, Richard Roberts and Andrew Mountfield took the sculpture from Kensington New Park School to Kensington Junior School. Paul says that the children were really excited to have this unusual guest displayed in the main entrance to the school. You can see more of his photos of Superfiveadaybanana on the move on our Flickr page.

Workshop leader Ildi Szabo wearing one of her amazing woolly creations, with museum demonstrator Pam Hale

I went to a great knitting workshop at Merseyside Maritime Museum at lunchtime. It was organised by the Seized learning team who normally hold events looking at how smugglers try to get firearms, drugs and other illegal substances through customs - and how customs officers stop them. Apparently wool also used to be smuggled out of the country centuries ago - I never knew that I had been knitting with such a precious material before!

As a fledgling knitter I had great fun learning some new techniques and making a few mini projects. If you want to have a go then the good news is that Ildi will be back at the Maritime Museum on Sunday afternoon with some fun things for knitters of all ages and abilities to make in the 'Where there's a wool there's a way' workshop. Have a look at the Seized! events page for further details.

I found myself, for a few fleeting seconds, feeling quite intellectual during my last trip to the cinema. This was quite an achievement considering I had gone to see a romantic comedy about a dentist called Bertram who gains the ability to communicate with ghosts after a near death experience during a colonoscopy. I know - but it was good!

I was watching Ricky Gervais' new film, 'Ghost Town', while munching on some Revels (by the way, I'm not loving the new 'mystery sweet', I won't spoil it for you by saying what it is, but I say bring back the coffee one). In the film, Gervais' love interest is an Egyptologist and they bond over a fascination with the dental hygiene of a mummy (of course!)

They were discussing the mummy's internal organs and it was at this point in the film that I threw down my Revels and sat up excitedly, prodding my friend, as I realised I knew an Egyptian fact! I had been reading about some of the collection items from our new Egypt gallery and so I was able to say; “Look, look, those are canopic jars!”

On display soon: a set of canopic jars belonging to a man named Wahhor, the son of Ptahhotep. Dynasty 26 (about 600 BC).

My bewildered companion nodded and was not as impressed as I'd hoped, but I was quite pleased with myself anyway. There on the screen were indeed some canopic jars, very similar to the ones that will be on display here. These jars were used to store a mummy's organs, before being placed inside a canopic chest and buried in the tomb with the mummy. So if you go to see the film, you too can try to impress your friends with this cool Egyptian factoid. Enjoy!

You can read more about the new Egypt gallery, opening on Friday 5 December 2008 at World Museum Liverpool, on our museum developments page.

Hedgehog. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

In the 1950s it was very easy to pick up army and navy surplus and I had a friend who was ace at recycling equipment into working gizmos. One that amazed me was a private telephone line between two of our houses. Looking back I’m convinced he used parts of a Huffduff to make these contraptions.

When the United States entered the war in December 1941, the German U-boat submarine offensive entered a new phase which led to the underwater menaces losing the initiative and then the battle.

First the Americans had to learn a hard lesson. U-boat captains were ordered to move to the US east coast and immediately created mayhem. Within weeks the huge losses of ships and supplies suffered by the Americans threatened the whole Allied war effort.

It was six months before the United States finally introduced its own coastal convoy system. This quickly ended what the U-boat crews called their “American turkey shoot” which had cost 149 ships, including many vital oil tankers, totalling well over two million tons.

From mid-1942 more British, Canadian and American naval escorts became available. Some 150 corvettes were in service along with new sloops and frigates. However, many Atlantic escorts were diverted at this time to support Arctic convoys and the Allied landings in north Africa. The escorts themselves were much better equipped than their predecessors.

Examples of equipment and weapons used to beat the U-boats are on display in the Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Battle of the Atlantic gallery. A large blue metal box with dials and knobs was known among crews as a Huffduff – a HF/DF or High Frequency Direction Finder. These were used alongside radar and the improved Asdic equipment to more efficiently detect U-boats.

A small bomb (pictured) was one of 24 which bristled in an anti-submarine mortar appropriately known as a Hedgehog. These were all fired at once and plunged into the sea over a wide area, with great effect.

At the end of May 1943 there was an uneasy underwater peace when all U-boats were withdrawn from the north Atlantic convoy routes for six months. U-boat command had decided to regroup and concentrate on developing new submarines and weapons. Although still a menace to Allied shipping, especially in British and European coastal waters until the very last days of the war, the U-boats were never to regain the upper hand in the Atlantic.

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).

A future Black achiever visits the museum. Photograph copyright Mark McNulty 2008.

Hello there

Well I have to start by saying what a momentous, historic and exciting past few weeks it has been. Not only the election of the first Black President of the United States, but the first Black (and youngest), Formula One World Champion.  

People have rightly contacted me to say that both President Elect Obama and Lewis Hamilton need to be included on the Black Achievers Wall in the museum (remember you can email the museum with your nominations). But I am also aware that these two fantastic achievements, often against all the odds, expectations and indeed wishes of many who are not too pleased to see Black people achieve, or be in positions of power, were done with the support of other, and often unrecognized, Black achievers. Namely Anthony Hamilton, his father, who has supported him since a young boy and Michelle Obama, the strong and charismatic partner of Barack Obama.  

I have also been recently reminded of the many Black achievers that have now passed away but who have played a great part in challenging both personal and institutional forms of racism in Britain. I am referring in particular to Walter Tull, who was the subject of an excellent dramatization recently on TV called Walter’s War.

It was in fact written by ISM advocate Kwame Kwei Armah about Tull’s life and the racism he regularly encountered. Even so, he became the first commissioned Black officer in the British Army and led his troops into various battles before being killed on the Western Front in 1918. Tull was also one of the first professional Black footballers and played for amongst others Northampton Town. In fact Arthur Wharton, the first Black professional football player, is already on our Black Achievers Wall.

Staying on the theme of Black achievers, the museum held a reception recently at the House of Lords, hosted by the indefatigable Baroness Howells of St Davids who was recently voted as one of the greatest 100 Black Britons. Baroness Howells is a well respected advocate of the museum and she brought together a range of high profile achievers from all walks of life (politics, sport and business to name a few) to highlight the current and indeed future work of the museum. Some of the attendees were from Liverpool such as Levi Tafari, one of the country’s greatest poets and the fantastic singer/songwriter Jennifer John. David Lammy MP, who was interviewed for our Freedom and Enslavement Wall, Baroness Amos (the first Black woman cabinet minister); ex footballer and TV pundit Garth Crooks and Doreen Lawrence were also present.

On an aside I think I slightly surprised Baroness Amos when I told her I had once sped past her home village of Wakenaam, a village on an island in the middle of the Essequibo River in Guyana, on a speedboat whilst travelling to Fort Zeelandia as part of the Commonwealth Association of Museums conference I attend earlier this year. Let’s just say it was the type of journey where you felt every bump!

It was great to see such support form prominent members of the Black community. For me it showed just how far reaching the museum actually is, yes, transatlantic slavery is central to the museum, but the recognition, and indeed celebration, of Black achievement, often against all the odds and a plethora of obstacles, is also key to the museum, and something we aim to promote in some small way by having displays like the Black Achievers Wall. Hopefully in the future we will be visited by those who have recently achieved so much. So Michelle and Lewis, if you read my blog, please have a word with your husband or take a nice drive up to Liverpool for the day respectively!

Bye for now.

Community development officer Alex Shears, Christine with her v50 Award certificate and volunteer co-ordinator Claire Holden

Here's some great news from the v-involved youth volunteering project at National Museums Liverpool. Our first participant has been awarded the v50 Award certificate, after contributing 50 hours of her time as a volunteer. I'll let her tell you all about it:

"Hello. My name is Christine, I’m 24 and I’ve been volunteering here at World Museum Liverpool since 5th June. I have recently achieved my 50 hour target for which I received a v50 Award certificate for my contribution to the museum.

I’ve been helping out on the information desk and making sure leaflets are available for everyone. I occasionally work in the learning office doing bits of admin.

I really enjoy working at the museum, particularly on the information desk as I like giving tickets out to the public.

I am proud that I am the first vinvolved youth volunteer to reach over 50 hours and I feel that it has been time well spent as I have gained more confidence and feel it’s a worthwhile experience to be a volunteer."

The Railway Heritage Committee have kindly donated a fragment of the original Edge Hill Station in a commemorative box to the Museum of Liverpool's collections. Believed to be oldest station in world still in normal service, Edge Hill was built as a stop on the Liverpool to Manchester railway. The fragment will be used in the Port City gallery in the new Museum of Liverpool, to illustrate the impact of that historic railway.

On the subject of transport, those of you who prefer trains small enough to fit in your pocket may be interested to know that the Frank Hornby Experience is back at Maghull Town Hall this weekend, 10am-5pm on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 November. The experience celebrates the achievements of local legend Frank Hornby, with lots of examples of the popular toys that he invented.

Presentation of the Edge Hill box. Front row: Neil Butters, secretary, Railway Heritage Committee; Sharon Brown, curator of land transport, National Museums Liverpool; Sir Howard Newby, chairman, artefacts sub-committee, RHC and vice chancellor, University of Liverpool; Richard Faulkner, Lord Faulkner of Worcester. Back: artefacts sub-committee members Mike Lamport, Peter Ovenstone, Richard Gibbon, David Bladen, and Jerry Swift. Photograph courtesy of the University of Liverpool

November's name that artwork competition begins on Monday morning. If you're a regular you probably know that you'll need to be quick - they often go in the first few hours. If you're new to the game the gist is that you are shown a detail from a painting in our collection and you've got to name the artwork and the artist. There's a new clue every day for the week, with the winner receiving a copy of the John Moores exhibition catalogue.

The Liverpool Echo website is featuring the latest in a series of video updates on the progress of the build. You can watch the video here. 

Our Building the Museum of Liverpool Flickr group is still getting a fair few submissions. Special thanks should go to Cassini2008 who has taken some great shots right the way through the build.

Mr and Mrs Ogden with Captain Rostron. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

If anyone deserved a medal it was Captain Arthur Henry Rostron – a man I have always admired because he kept cool and saved hundreds of lives in the Titanic disaster. Recently I went to have a look at his house in Crosby, Liverpool, not far from where the Titanic captain Edward Smith lived. It’s strange to think that these two major players in one of the greatest sea dramas were near-neighbours.

The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 continues to fascinate people and Captain Rostron of the Cunard liner Carpathia is remembered as the shining hero of the rescue operation. The Titanic hit an iceberg on her maiden voyage to America and sent out frantic distress signals as she began to sink. More than 1,500 people were to die in the icy waters.

Harold Cottam, the wireless operator on the Carpathia, left his headset on while dressing for bed - in those days there wasn’t 24-hour radio cover. He heard the distress signal and alerted the captain who immediately ordered Carpathia to race towards Titanic. Capt Rostron showed great skill and courage in moving his ship so quickly through vast ice fields to rescue all 712 survivors.  It took more than three hours to reach Titanic but Rostron made good use of the time. A list of 23 orders was successfully implemented by the crew to prepare Carpathia for taking on survivors. These included getting accommodation, food, drink and blankets ready and ordering his medical crew to stand by. Rostron, a devout Christian, was seen praying quietly.

Six of Capt Rostron’s awards are on display at Merseyside Maritime Museum, loaned by members of his family. There is a huge inscribed silver loving cup presented personally to him by a heroine of the disaster, ‘The Unsinkable’ Molly Brown, on behalf of Titanic survivors.  A stunning gold medal of the US Congress was presented by President William Howard Taft in the name of the American people. There are also gold medals from the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society and the Life Saving and Benevolent Society of New York, a US Cross of Honor and a bronze medal presented to the captain, officers and crew of Carpathia by the survivors.

Capt Rostron is pictured here relaxed and smiling after the task of picking up survivors was complete. He is seen standing between Mr and Mrs Ogden who took photos of Titanic’s lifeboats approaching Carpathia.

There's more on the Titanic and related objects in our collection on our main site.  

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'm good at making spaghetti bolognese, I'm not bad on bass guitar, but I am no good at drawing! I'm envious of anyone who's good with a pencil and we've been lucky enough to have some budding artists at the Walker Art Gallery recently, from Kensington Youth Inclusion Group. Here's Learning Officer Lauren Gould to explain what the group have been up to...

Making great art together: budding artists from the Kensington Youth Inclusion Group.

You may remember that some fantastic young artists took part in completing the 'Superfiveadaybanana' that was in the Walker Art Gallery as part of 'Go Superlambananas' over the summer.  Once again, these young people are participating in a project that will bring their work into the gallery for a unique display. 

Eleven young people from Kensington Youth Inclusion Group visited the John Moores 25 exhibition during the October half term.  They explored the exhibition looking at texture, colour, pattern and light as well as discerning the difference between abstract and figurative art.  The group focused on 'Fontana' by Peter McDonald, 'Sometimes We Sense the Doubt Together' by Roland Hicks and 'Special Relativity' by Julian Brain and explored the themes of; artists at work, everyday objects and home. Each young person did a drawing that they are going to develop into their own painting with local artist Keiron Finnetty.

Watch this space for images of their work progressing on the blog and for their paintings, which will be up in the resource area in the John Moores 25 exhibition at the end of November.

All hands on deck - the handling and transport team carefully manoeuvre the enormous painting of Jerusalem down the stairs

As you are probably aware, the popular Ben Johnson exhibition at the Walker closed earlier this month. Most of the paintings in the exhibition were on loan from other collections, so they have been packed up ready to be returned. One of them, the 'Jerusalem' painting, was too big for the lift, so it was carefully carried down the stairs this morning. This was quite an operation - for every person supporting the painting on one side in the photo above, there's another person hidden on the other side.

The good news is that one of the paintings hasn't left the Walker. The Liverpool Cityscape belongs to National Museums Liverpool, so it will go back on display on 21 November once the gallery it is in has been rehung.

Have you ever wondered what exactly goes on behind closed doors after an exhibition has closed though? Here's your chance to find out, as there are some photos of the handling and transport team taking down the Ben Johnson exhibition on our Flickr pages. I'll let handling technician, senior driver and ace photographer Paul Kelly explain what's going on in them:

"When works of art are to be moved from one location to another one of the principles we utilise is the creation of micro climatic conditions for the protection of the artwork. We achieve this by essentially wrapping the painting in large sheets of polythene which is then sealed. It sounds easier said than done simply because some of our works are extremely large and the Ben Johnson works fall into this category. The process is quite involved requiring assessment of the job in hand and almost telepathic communication between each member of the team if the goal is to be achieved safely. This work is seldom if ever seen by the general public because after the works are wrapped in Polythene they are put into large wooden crates then onto the vehicle that will transport them to their new location. Other work involved in dismantling an exhibition is the wrapping of the safety barriers and miscellaneous information boards - all part of just another day's activity for the handling team.

The crates used to transport large paintings need to be handled with extreme caution as they tend to be rather unstable when on the move and can be very heavy. We do have a wide range of skills and equipment to draw on and this enables members of the team to move these big objects effectively and safely."

The cladding going up

The latest photos are now available on Flickr. The main development has been the cladding which is going up at a rate of knots. I like this side-on snap of the surface - you don't realise how 3D it is until you get right up close.

Some nice new additions to the Building the Museum of Liverpool group as well. Interesting to see the building in different weather conditions, at different times of the day and from various angles. You put my own feeble photographic skills to shame.