National Museums Liverpool Blog - Thursday, July 29, 2010

X-ray of a set of Russian dolls

We’re inviting children of all ages to bring along a favourite toy, and we’ve already booked in a Transformer, a toy calculator, a pair of Ben 10 walkie-talkies, and a Pixel Chicks game, alongside the Rubik’s cube. Watch this space for a gallery of unusual X-ray images - and you can see some toys that we've already x-rayed on Flickr.

The X-ray your toy event will be taking place 12.30-3.30pm on Friday 30 July, in the Reveal gallery at the National Conservation Centre. If you miss this, there’s another chance at the same time on Wednesday 25 August. Full details of all our events and activities are on the website.

The new Hitched publication

To mark the publication of Hitched: Wedding Clothes in National Museums Liverpool, we're giving away a couple of free copies. The book features 13 wedding garments from our collections, ranging from cute 19 century pageboy's outfits to a 1970s knitted wedding dress, alongside the more familiar white floaty creations.

To be in with a chance of winning a copy you need to tell us your wedding story. It might be a wedding you attended or your own big day. It might be funny or a horror story. Did you walk up the aisle with your dress tucked in your knickers? Did you fall onto the wedding cake? Was the best man's speech a shocker? We want to know (providing they're clean).

Just post your story as a comment and we'll select the winners on 19 August.

If you'd like to buy a copy of the book anyway it's available at a very reasonable £4.95 from:

• the gift shops at the Walker Art Gallery, Lady Lever Art Gallery and Sudley House (where the Hitched exhibition is being held)
• by phoning 0151 478 4685
• or by emailing publications team 

Object number 1 arrives at the Museum of Liverpool

The Overhead Railway carriage - which many will remember from the basement display in the old Liverpool Museum before it became World Museum - has been conserved in a project funded by our membership scheme. Now fully restored, this morning it was delivered to the Museum of Liverpool ready to go out on display there. This makes it the first object in the brand new museum, which opens next year.

It was quite a sight to see the carriage arriving and travelling past the Liver Building, as it once would have done, full of passengers enjoying the view. Today there was quite a crowd at the Pier Head to greet it. If you didn't make it down you can see some photos of the carriage's last journey on our Overhead Railway Carriage goes home set on Flickr - and keep an eye out for it in the local news tonight.

I like to read about the huge variety of goods and commodities that have been imported and exported through Liverpool over the centuries.

International trade was the reason for the port’s phenomenal growth and one of my favourite accounts is Sir James Picton’s Memorials of Liverpool.

First published in 1873, it contains fascinating details about the history and topography of Liverpool including the docks. I have a second edition with liver birds embossed on the spine.

As in Picton’s time, most imports and exports still travel by sea as ships continue to follow trade routes that have often existed for hundreds and even thousands of years.

For example, in 18th century Britain many goods came from abroad but they were generally luxury items.

Visitors to Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Life at Sea gallery are given an  insight into the imports of the day, using a contemporary oil painting (pictured).

It shows prosperous John Bacon and his family in about 1742. Painted by Arthur Devis, Mr and Mrs Bacon are seen with their four children in their luxurious home.

Mrs Bacon’s dress is made from silk. Luxury silks were imported from India in ships owned by the East India Company. Some also came from France, renowned for its fine silk products. Silk goods were also manufactured in England and in the 1700s English producers often complained about foreign imports.

The furniture is made from mahogany – at this time most of this wood came from British colonies in the Caribbean. It was originally known as Jamaica wood and was felled and moved by enslaved Africans.

The carpet is from Turkey or the Middle East.  Britain traded with the Ottoman Empire ruled by the Turks.

Italian paintings were very popular among the British middle classes. Throughout the 1700s young gentlemen went on the Grand Tour of Europe, visiting Italy as part of their education and often bringing back paintings and sculptures.

By 1800 Britain’s top five imports in terms of quantity were sugar, coffee, corn, raw cotton and tea.

In the 19th century Britain developed worldwide trading links focusing on South America, Africa, the Far East and Australasia. The introduction of the steam ships from the 1840s enabled regular services to operate to ports all over the world.

Massive imports of many products and materials annually take place through Liverpool. They include 11 million tonnes of crude oil, three million tonnes of coal, nearly a million tonnes of edible oils and fats along with cocoa, metals, granite, chemicals and general cargo.

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 p&p UK).

Opening to the public today, the exhibition showcases a small selection of the 120 wedding dresses in National Museums Liverpool’s collections, alongside a small number of outfits worn by grooms and pageboys.

Our members were treated to a fascinating insight into the exhibition by curator Pauline Rushton. We were taken on a historical journey of wedding attire, all very different in style; including a brown dress made of corded silk, dresses inspired by famous designers Paul Poiret and Christian Dior and a typical blue wartime wedding dress. The most modern piece on display is a dress on loan from the travelling community worn by Winifred Delaney for her wedding in March 2010.

Members thoroughly enjoyed this exclusive insight into the exhibition and for many it brought back happy memories of their own special day. I felt very nostalgic thinking about my own wedding day last year only to talk to a couple of members who are celebrating 56 years together on Saturday!

For more information on how you can become a member and take part in our fantastic events along with many other exciting benefits call our Membership Officer on 0151 478 4157 or visit our membership web page."

Image courtesy of Berkeley White Photography.

Rebecca Watkin has sent this account of how she helped support a very good cause at the weekend:

"Hello. As a brief introduction my name is Rebecca Watkin and I am curator of transatlantic slavery at the International Slavery Museum. To mark Nelson Mandela Day on 18th July 2010, myself and Jessica Moody, research assistant from our Development Office, travelled down to the British Museum to represent the International Slavery Museum.

As Nelson Mandela is one of the museum’s Black achievers we were passionate about commemorating the 67 years that Mandela has been involved with human rights work. Visitors were invited to pledge 67 minutes of their time to charitable causes to mark this.

The British Museum forecourt was bustling with visitors on what was a vibrant, sunny day. It was a great opportunity to promote forthcoming museum events such as the Slavery Remembrance Day festival from 20th-23rd August and the FIRHM (Federation of International Human Rights Museums) Conference being held at the International Slavery Museum on 15th and 16th September 2010.

As curator it was very interesting to talk to the visitors who had been to the International Slavery Museum and hear their feedback which was very positive. It was also a great opportunity to encourage new visitors to the museum. We were informed that 30,000 visitors attended Nelson Mandela Day and we were the only museum from outside London to be represented.

The BBC World Service were filming and conducting interviews about how people are going to take individual steps to combat climate change. Jessica pledged she would give up tea (but later admitted she couldn’t). I pledged to turn more lights off when not in use. Both being keen drivers, we perhaps could pledge to use public transport more and save on petrol emissions.

The day was celebrated through South African music, dance, amazing food and storytelling. Special thanks goes to the kind man from the South African tourism stall who rescued our museum pop–up banner from the persistent breeze on the forecourt and Gabriella, the kind little girl who offered to help pack our stall away as part of her 67 minutes of her time. Thank you!"

Chase Delano, visiting us from Connecticut, close to New York, shares with us her experience of a rainy trip to the Merseyside Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum.

Appropriately, it was raining as I made the trek down to the Merseyside Maritime Museum of Liverpool. Despite the rain, friendly strangers stopped to help point me in the direction of the museum—a kind gesture one might not find in the busy streets of New York, especially on a rainy day. I followed a wet crowd through the gates leading down Albert Dock and into the doors of the museum. The place was filled with people of all ages—from grandparents to grandchildren—and amongst the four floors of different exhibitions, each generation found something of interest to them.

Naturally, I started at the dining hall on the fourth floor. Here I sat comfortably, looking down on the square-shaped sea port across from me, where people ran looking for shelter from the rain. After some tea and finger sandwiches, I was ready to begin my tour of the museum. My first stop was the International Slavery Museum on the third floor (located within the Merseyside Maritime Museum).

On entering the museum, I was prepared to experience an exhibit solely based on the history of African slavery and transatlantic trading, but it also included the issue of contemporary slavery. Set up along the walls were stories and video interviews of people, still alive today, who have experienced the cruelty of slavery in one way or another. It’s scary to realize that slavery, an issue most would assume had ended with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863—is still very much a real thing and is happening somewhere today, right now.

Amidst this past weekend’s Pirate festivities down at the Albert Dock, the volunteers team were also celebrating with a group of their young volunteers.

Having passed their Bronze Arts Award back in May, the group mustered together for the presentation of their certificates.

Congratulations and well done to our 12 Arts Award volunteers.

If you are interested in finding out more about youth volunteering at National Museums Liverpool please contact the volunteers team.

You can also find out more about the Arts Award, which aspires to support any young person to enjoy the arts and develop creative leadership skills and is run by Arts Council England and Trinity Guildhall.

8 of the 12 successful Youth Volunteers, receiving their Bronze Arts Award certificates (pictured with members of the volunteers team)

We've already featured a rather famous whisky bottle on the blog, which is one of the new objects that came into the collection of the UK Border Agency National Museum following the closure of Greenock Customs House. If you come to one of the summer events at the Seized! gallery - which displays the UK Border Agency National Museum's collections - then you could see another new acquisition from Greenock Customs House up close. Joyce Parr, education manager at Seized, explains:

The elephant foot was a hunting trophy that was seized off a commercial hunter. It had been made into a stool, topped with a padded leather seat. The toes and hair can still be seen on the skin. It has also been crudely painted. The hunter was based in the south of England and worked with tourists in Africa. Protected as an endangered species the elephant foot was held under the international convention called CITES, as part of a larger seizure. The police assisted by Customs secured the seizure.

It's such a bizarre object that people often find it hard to believe it's real. This is where the excitement of being able to handle a museum artefact really kicks in, when visitors touch the foot they can feel the hairs on the skin and many people are quite shocked and fascinated by the experience. On closer inspection there are marks visible on the base of the foot which also indicate its authenticity.

The foot is available for observation during many of the Seized public events, including 'Model magic', 'SOS - save our species', 'Mobile madness' and 'Beads and baggage'. These craft sessions all highlight the plight of endangered species and the role of the Customs Officers (UK Border Agency) in contributing to their protection. Full details of upcoming events are in the Seized events programme on the website."

Model of the Pinar del Rio. Image courtesy of the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo.

Ships and the sea are sources of countless stories – to me they are totally absorbing and reveal so much about seafarers and all who step aboard vessels.

I know the buildings and things linked to this particular ship – however tenuously – and we remember those who were involved.

She had fallen behind as the convoy neared its destination when the U-boat submarine struck sending her to the bottom with no survivors.

Montreal City was part of convoy ONS-152 en route from Bristol to New York when she was torpedoed by the U-591 shortly after 4 am on 21 December 1942.

Captain Edward Chanter, 31 crew members and seven gunners were lost when the 3,066-ton steamer sank off Cape Race, Canada.

Montreal City was originally called Pinar del Rio and had the distinction of being the last ship operated by the well-known Liverpool shipping line, Thomas B Royden & Co.

When she was sold and renamed in 1930, a long-established business came to an end. Thomas Royden started trading in the early 1800s when he went into partnership with a timber merchant called Bland.

Both families eventually became very wealthy and lived in fine mansions. The Roydens resided at Frankby Hall, Wirral, and the Blands at Quarry Bank, Liverpool. This later became Quarry Bank School where pupils included John Lennon and many other famous people.

The two families intermarried but the Blands were not actively involved in the company. The first iron ships were built in 1864 and in 1888 Royden’s constructed its first two steamers, the Indra and Indrani which – as their names suggest – were on the India run.

Sir Thomas Bland Royden (1831 – 1917) was the son of the shipping line founder and a Conservative politician – he served as MP for Liverpool West Toxteth.

His son, another Thomas (1871 – 1950) became the 1st Baron Royden and was later chairman of the Cunard Line. He also served as MP for Bootle.

Lord Royden’s sister was the well-known preacher and campaigner Maude Royden (1876 – 1956) who fought for women’s suffrage and campaigned for women to play a greater part in the Church of England.  Maude began the official campaign for the ordination of women in 1929.

At Merseyside Maritime Museum there is a detailed model of the 331-ft long Pinar del Rio (pictured with me). It includes finely-detailed rigging and wood and brass fittings.

Registered in Liverpool, she was built by the North of Ireland Shipbuilding Company.

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 p&p UK).