National Museums Liverpool Blog - Monday, January 26, 2009

Mr Heggarty, headmaster of St Michael's School in Kensington, takes delivery of Superfiveadaybanana from Richard Roberts

Here's the latest picture from Superfiveadaybanana's travels to local schools. Today the handling and transport team shepherded the sculpture from Brae Street School to St Michael's School in Kensington.

This is the latest move in a busy month for the team, which has involved taking plant models from World Museum Liverpool to Wrexham Museum for an exhibition and returning the huge Peter Doig painting 'Blotter' to the Walker after it had been out on loan. Closer to home, the team have also transported some delicate pieces of sculpture from our stores to the National Conservation Centre for assessment and treatment, as well as helping to install the next big exhibition at the Walker, Fashion V Sport. You can see some of what they've been up to in the Moving Stories photographs on Flickr.

I have always enjoyed looking out for famous people going about their everyday lives. Among my coups were screen goddess Bette Davis sightseeing in Liverpool’s Castle Street and Brief Encounter star Trevor Howard wolfing down beans on toast in a Southport café.

Liverpool has always been a great place to people spot – particularly in the days of the great liners.

Sea travel has undergone enormous changes in the past 50 years with the rise of cheap air travel across the globe. Liverpool was, until the 1960s, a major port for transatlantic liners. At that time I was starting work as a junior reporter, but veterans would regale me with stories of meeting film stars as they came down the gangplank.

National newspaper journalists were based in Liverpool so they could meet and interview leading showbiz personalities, politicians, business chiefs and other people in the news as they disembarked at the Princes Stage.

Model of the cargo liner, Media. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

With the growth of air travel, the passenger liner was replaced by the jet airliner and the sea cruise liner. During this period traditional ferries were replaced by multi-deck car ferries, high-speed vessels and hovercraft. For most people travel by sea became much more a matter of choice than necessity. While luxury and style were still available on many ships, the trend was towards cheaper and more accessible transport for all.

One of the ships which fell victim of the growth of air travel was the 13,345-ton cargo liner Media, the first ship to be built for Cunard after the Second World War. She was built by John Brown & Co of Clydebank and began her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York in August 1947. Both Media and her near-sister Parthia struggled to compete with the growing competition of aircraft in the Atlantic passenger trade in the late 1950s. They were sold in 1961.

A fine 1:64 model of Media by Bassett Lowke Ltd (shown here) is on display in the Art and The Sea gallery at Merseyside Maritime Museum. It was given by the Liverpool, North Wales and Irish region of the GMB union in 2005.

Exhibits in the Life at Sea gallery include cocktail “swizzle sticks” from Canadian Pacific passenger liners in the 1950s. A small red plastic holdall was bought on the Southern Cross sailing from Southampton to Cape Town in 1961. Less glamorous but no less evocative is a sea sickness bag from a modern passenger ferry.

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 customs display in the Magical History Tour exhibition. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

When I was growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s and 60s it was quite a common sight to see exotic animals including a large ferocious monkey that was kept chained up in a garage. Brightly-coloured parrots squawked and screeched in many homes and even businesses – one used to throw bits of fruit at customers in our local plumber’s.

Animals were brought in through Liverpool by traders and sailors to sell or keep as pets. There were less legal restrictions in those days.

Liverpool’s success was built on trade and the huge variety of goods passing through its docks illustrates the origins of its wealth.

In the Magical History Tour exhibition at Merseyside Maritime Museum there is a display (pictured) dominated by an image of the domed Custom House destroyed by enemy action in 1941. There is a cast-iron road sign for Custom House Lane dating from about 1920.

A small handcart of the standard Mersey Docks and Harbour Board pattern dates from around 1965. The letters PLS indicate that it was once used to trundle baggage around the Princes Landing Stage where the big transatlantic liners docked.

Luxury goods usually bring big profits and from 1600 there was a growing demand for tobacco, sugar and cotton in particular. The first tobacco arrived in Liverpool in 1648 and by the 1660s its ships were regularly sailing to Virginia, then a North American British colony, for cargoes. Imports rose from 200,000 lbs in 1670 to an estimated six million pounds weight in 1750, the trade growing rapidly as part of the triangular slave trade between Liverpool, West Africa and the New World.

Beginning with imports from Barbados in the West Indies in the 1660s, the trade in raw cane sugar was another of Liverpool’s most important trading relationships. Sixteen thousand tons was imported in 1785 as plantation sugar became another key component in Liverpool’s slave trading role. Until 1805 all sugar imports came from the West Indies but later in the 19th century other supplies came from Asia, USA and South America.

Raw cotton was shipped to Liverpool from America, Egypt, Brazil, Asia and the West Indies. By 1900 the city handled about 75% of British imports. Finished cotton goods from Lancashire and Manchester mills were shipped through Liverpool as exports to markets across the British Empire and the rest of the world.

Today about 60% of the world’s cotton is still traded under Liverpool rules.

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 rush to enter the competition started back in the 1960s... 'Street sign, Liverpool 1966' Philip Jones Griffiths/Magnum Photos. Courtesy of the Philip Jones Griffiths Foundation

Another month, another 'Name that object' competition graces the National Museums Liverpool web pages. This month you could win the rather fantastic 'Recollections' book of photographs by Philip Jones Griffiths, a selection of which are currently on show in the Recollections exhibition at the National Conservation Centre. The book has page after page of stunning shots - but you don't have to take my word about how good it is, just read the review 'The early vision of Philip Jones Griffiths' in today's Independent if you don't believe me.

A copy of the book will be winging its way to the first person to correctly identify the mystery artwork in this month's competition. If you are not a winner then get down to the National Conservation Centre shop, where a limited number of copies are available at a special discounted price during the exhibition.

Geek chic: my new glasses and scarf.

As David Bowie would say; "fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion" - it's a funny old thing. For spring/summer 2009 newspapers and magazines are saying 'there are no trends this season, anything goes.' Isn't that just called individuality?! Anyway, while Yves Saint Laurent goes about trying to convince us that his new 'cage boot' is somehow beautiful (it's not) and wearable (I doubt it) I had a couple of thoughts of my own about new items which I reckon are pretty cool right now.

Firstly, and perhaps most controversially, are 'geek specs'. I've gone for a fetching pair of tortoiseshell Ray-Ban style ones from ebay. Admittedly, I am waiting to wear them on a night out where I won't meet anyone I know, in case they exclaim; "I didn't know you wore glasses!" and I have to sheepishly admit that I don't and it's just a so-called fashion thing. Maybe I'll try them at a club-night in Bolton?

Secondly, following on from the end of 2008, I like knotted scarves. Avoiding looking like Dot Cotton is of course a consideration, but I think rolling a small one up and tying it with a knot sitting on top of your head kind of works. You feel a bit like a 1940s land girl. Sort of.

Lastly, my most recent addition is a slouchy longer-length blazer with an embroidered emblem on the pocket. Elle magazine seem to be mentioning this kind of thing as a good item to get your hands on - though I bet the version they featured is much more expensive than mine, which I got for a fiver from an ace vintage shop.

Also on the subject of fashion, check back here soon for regular blogs about the upcoming 'Fashion V Sport' exhibition that will open on Friday 13 February at the Walker Art Gallery. Expect a sequinned Chanel 'wetsuit', Stella McCartney sportswear and lots of trainers!

Now, if I could just fit some 'party feet' gel pads into those YSL cage boots, I'm sure they'd be really comfy?

In the lead up to Christmas and the New Year, as Marketing Officer for the Museum of Liverpool I was beavering away to install a huge sign, seen here in the background facing the canal, in time for the staging of Transition: The People's Celebration to flag up the new Museum of Liverpool to the imminent thousands at the Pier Head. More images can be seen in the Museum of Liverpool flickr group.

This task presented a few challenges, not least due to the cold snap, braved in sub zero temperatures by the painters and sign company who rapidly transformed the white hoarding line to a colourful dark blue and vivid cyan.

We produced a sign in the largest vinyl letters the space would accommodate, visible from both land and sea to visitors to the Pier Head but also passengers aboard the Mersey Ferry and cruise liners. If you look closely you can discover facts inside each alternate letter about the new Museum of Liverpool.

Arthur 'Jo' Dashwood-Howard and cat

I've always believed that practice makes perfect and I'm sure time spent making things at sea for pleasure made countless crew members very happy. I particularly enjoy looking at scrimshaw work evoking the sailing ship era with depictions of graceful ships set on strange seascapes or anchored off exotic shores. I love those spouting whales.

The crews of sailing ships turned their seafaring skills to making many different kinds of gifts and ornaments. Work on board sailing ships was physically hard and often very dangerous. Team work was vital for keeping the ship on course and afloat in all weather conditions.

Any crew member who did not "know the ropes" or could not work aloft was of little use. The able (or experienced) seaman had the pick of berths and food. They expected the lower grades to sweep decks and tar rigging.

"Idlers" were the cook, steward and carpenter who, except on small ships, worked daylight hours. The seaman on watch was always occupied, except at night or on Sundays, setting or furling (rolling up) sails, at the wheel, washing and holystoning (scrubbing) decks, replacing or repairing sails and rigging.

Seafarers on sailing ships often used their working tools and skills during their brief periods of leisure. They used knives and other tools to make gifts and ornaments out of wood, bone, rope, canvas, twine and similar materials. The skills and materials used in producing these items were distinctively those of the sailing ship seaman. The products concerned are among the most appealing relics of life under sail.

In the Life at Sea gallery at Merseyside Maritime Museum there are examples of what were produced, including remarkable scrimshaw work on horns. They are pieces of art that originated on sailing vessels but became a popular pastime among many sailors. Traditionally, teeth and bones from whales were engraved with decorative images. The outline of the engraving was emphasised using black ink, tar, soot and lampblack.

Another exhibit is a painted toolbox lid from about 1898. It shows a three-masted sailing ship called the Hugh and Mary in full sail passing a lighthouse and two steam ships. The image is flanked by pictures of two saucy young women.

For many seafarers handicrafts became a lifelong hobby. There are examples of the work of Arthur "Jo" Dashwood-Howard (he's shown here and you can see his work on our main site) who perfected the craft of ships in bottles. He left seafaring in 1936 but continued his interest in the sea right up to his death in 1998.

You may remember that my post from last week concerned the Athenia, a passenger ship that was controversially sunk by a German U-boat in the first hours of World War II. Antiques Roadshow on Sunday featured an SOS Marconigram (basically a telegram) sent from the sinking ship at 22.10 on 3 September 1939. There was also a shore to ship message notifying ships of the outbreak of war. If you missed the programme you can catch it on the BBC iplayer - the Marconigram feature begins at 41 mins 19 secs.

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 1911 census records for England and Wales have been made public, two years earlier than the 100 year embargo. The returns contain more information than previous years including length of marriage, the number of children in the household, any guests on the night in question and more occupational information. For the first time you can see the actual form your ancestor filled in, complete with crossings out, mistakes and any additional notes not transfered to the official enumerator's summary. You can search them on the 1911 census website.

It's thought that several thousand women boycotted the census in protest at women being denied the vote. Some of these refused to fill in the form but submitted a protest statement, so their presence will be registered although without details. The women who stayed away from home for the night and so evaded the count will not feature at all.

'Each drop is important for us...' - one of the stunning photographs from the Shoot Nations exhibition. Copyright Shoot Nations.

Hello there

Well I hope you all had a happy holiday period and managed to relax. I certainly did. I spent several days back home in dear old Yorkshire. Always nice to catch up with the family.

The International Slavery Museum has an exciting series of events and programmes throughout the year, from a US Black History Month event in February to Slavery Remembrance Day in August. We also have Shoot Nations, an exciting new photographic exhibition focusing on global environmental issues through the eyes of young people, starting on 17 January. This is one of a series of exhibitions which highlight issues in the museum galleries – from global inequalities to racism, discrimination and identity. So watch this space for news about upcoming exhibitions.

Ii is now full steam ahead with our planning for phase two of the museum. We are working closely with the architects who will shortly be coming back to me and the team with their initial plans and thoughts. This is an incredibly exciting time to be working at this museum as it offers me and my colleagues the opportunity to have some input into what really could be the world’s leading educational and research centre on the subject of slavery. We are not doing this alone though. I am regularly in contact with international partners who also to some degree focus on slavery. One such institution is the Nantes History Museum.

In December we were visited by Bertrand Guillet, chief heritage curator for the museum. Bertrand was very impressed with the International Slavery Museum and we are looking at how our two institutions can work together, particularly in the field of educational resources. Staying on a French theme I also got to see the magazine article written about Lilian Thuram’s visit to the museum. Hopefully we can take things forward with him and his new organisation.

I have also been in contact with several Polish colleagues whose institutions focus on the many atrocities which took place in Poland during WWII such as the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum and the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, both of which I have visited. One way we are looking to strengthen links with institutions such as these is to develop a forum for museum professionals who work in this area and other forms of genocide and human rights abuses and issues. I will keep you updated on this challenging and progressive venture.

I visited both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau with a colleague when we stayed in Krakow last year and we were not only moved by the exhibitions and displays in the museum but by the sheer size of Auschwitz II-Birkenau. It was hard to comprehend on a bright sunny day just what happened and it only really hit me on my return. I took many photos, some quite distressing, of the trip which I feel need to be shown. I might include these in a future blog. What it did do was make me even more determined that our museum will not be a neutral one but take a stance on contemporary issues and challenge attitudes and injustices that still exist today.  

Bye for now.

You may have seen on the news that the Prime Minister, the Rt Honourable Gordon Brown MP was in town yesterday for the first ever Cabinet meeting in Liverpool, which took place at the BT Convention Centre. The Prime Minister had a busy day but found time to come and look around the site of the new Museum of Liverpool which is currently under construction on the waterfront.  

Accompanied by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham MP, the Prime Minister took time out to talk to museum curators about the sort of objects going in the museum, as well as meeting some members of the construction team who are creating the iconic building. I’m told he really enjoyed his visit and was very interested to see our future plans.

What you may not have seen on the news is that Mr Brown also spent some time with young people who have been involved with the museum. On first arriving at the docks by boat (which coincidentally had the youthful name ‘Groove Armada’), he was greeted by young people who have worked on the 'Portrait of a Nation' project and Museum of Liverpool's youth champions. At Museum of Liverpool he met two Creative Apprentices who are currently working on the project – they will be telling you more about their involvement at a later date. 

All smiles: Children from Pleasant Street Primary meet the Prime Minister and museums' chairman Phil Redmond. Image copyright Mark McNulty.

Outside the Merseyside Maritime Museum the ministerial party paused to admire the ‘The Orrery’ – a colourful community sculpture commissioned by Liverpool Culture Company. He also took time out to speak to pupils from Pleasant Street Primary School about their involvement in Liverpool 08, before moving on to his next engagements. A journalist recently commented that the Prime Minister is looking very well and incredibly youthful these days - perhaps it’s down to the company he is keeping.