Dig it: Museums and archaeology

6 March 2015
British Museum, London

The day will include:

- a panel discussion on the challenges of growing archaeology archives
- an update on the Treasure Act and a look at how museums can acquire treasure
- a funding Q&A with organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund
- practical tips on how to develop successful community archaeology projects
- how crowdsourcing is being used in archaeology projects
- new approaches to displaying archaeology.

An essential conference for anyone working with archaeology collections or on archaeology projects.

To see the day's full timetable, details of speakers and to book click here


This event is in association with the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the Council for British Archaeology.

The Herrenhausen Symposium "Museum of Cultures, Wereldmuseum, Världskulturmuseet,... What Else? Positioning Ethnological Museums in the 21st Century"

The Herrenhausen Symposium "Museum of Cultures, Wereldmuseum, Världskulturmuseet,... What Else? Positioning Ethnological Museums in the 21st Century" by the Volkswagen Foundation in cooperation with Deutscher Museumsbund discusses the need for a critical appraisal of the past, present, and future of ethnological museums.

The symposium which will take place from June 21-23, 2015 in Hanover, Germany is looking early career researchers to participate. 

Rooted in the curiosity cabinets of the Enlightenment, ethnological museums experienced an enormous boom during the colonial period. The collections assembled in those past times continue to characterize the exhibits of ethnological museums today, causing the need for a critical appraisal of the past, present, and future of this particular genre of museum. The symposium will address topics like the history of museum collections, provenance research, the special case of "restitution", different forms of cooperation as well as how these aspects can become part of ethnographic exhibitions.

Travel Grants

The Volkswagen Foundation offers 15 Travel Grants for young researchers who wish to attend the symposium. The deadline for application is March 15, 2015. For more information on the application process, please visit the website. 

Installing Loans at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum, Whitby

Thursday 12 February 2015

Leeds Museum and Galleries are regular lenders to the annual exhibitions on Cook related themes at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby. This years theme is 'Fashion and Fibres: Island Dress in Polynesia' and on Thursday morning Emma Bowron, the conservator at Leeds Museum DiscoveryCentre, and I drove to Whitby in the museum van with a European style Samoan barkcloth dress probably dating from the late 1800s. The drive takes around two hours. Arriving in the attic exhibition space we met long-standing friends, MEG members, and ex-colleagues, Barbara Woroncow and Adrian Norris, who were there helping Sophie Forgan and other Whitby staff with the install. Barbara and Adrian are active trustees of the Captain Cook museum. In the large case where the Samoan dress was to be laid gently on a calico covered plastazote 
slope, a 1970s Fijian barkcloth hung at the back, which was one of the last gifts Barbara’s father hunted down for her in a bargain sale, a while ago now. 

The other item in the case is a beautiful modern reconstruction of the tapa waistcoat that Mrs Cook made for her husband, but never finished.  The partial garment, Cook died before it was finished, survives in Australia. This new waistcoat is by Alison Larkin. It has a linen back which laces up the centre, and fine silk floral embroidery enhanced with tiny silver coloured sequins or spangels. There are real pockets under the flaps.

We stayed to help with the install of a stunning tapa poncho cloth from Kew, and to watch the others installing two Maori flax cloaks on loan from the Great North Museum.  The Leeds Samoan girl’s dress is made from tapa coloured with traditional designs, and tailored with a yoke, collar and sleeves and buttons down the front. It may have been made for an indigenous girl, or perhaps for the child of a European missionary or official. It is rare for such dresses to survive. A good photograph of it can be found on the exhibition page of the Cook museum. The dress was transferred to Leeds Museums in 1964 from Leeds Corporation Works Department. The notes say: Formerly in the house of Mrs Bell, cleared by Corporation Housing Department. Items brought to the museum by Mr Fitzgerald of Housing Dept. The material seems to have been brought home by E.R.G. Bell (husband or father in law?) and includes a sketch map of Samoa and its islands.  I’ve tried to trace ERG Bell, but no success so far.

The exhibition opens this Saturday, 14 February and will run until the Captain Cook Memorial Museum closes for the winter at the end of November.

Antonia Lovelace  

Curator of World Cultures

Leeds Museums and Galleries

Call for Papers: The creation, collection and care of textiles and dress in museums and historic houses: amateurs and professionals

11 June 2015, University of Wolverhampton, UK

CHORD invites submissions for a workshop that explores the role of individuals and organisations, both amateurs and professionals, in making, collecting and caring for dress and textiles in museums and historic houses. Papers focusing on any historical period or geographical area are welcome. Museum professionals, conservators, students, academics or anybody with an interest in the topic are warmly invited to submit a proposal. We welcome both experienced and new speakers, including speakers without an institutional affiliation. Potential speakers are welcome to discuss their ideas with the organisers before submission (please see details below). Some of the themes that  might be considered include (but are not limited to)

Collecting and the collector

Class, gender and/or ethnicity and the care of historic dress or textiles

The roles of professionals and amateurs in museums and historic houses

The history of museum curatorship and conservation in dress and textiles

Professional organisations, charities and philanthropy

Amateur production, conservation, repairs and care of historic textiles or dress

The workshop will be held at the University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton city Campus.

To submit a proposal, please send title and abstract of c.300 to 400 words to Laura Ugolini, at l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk by 6 March 2015. Individual papers are usually 20 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes for questions and discussion. We also welcome shorter, 10 minute presentations, which might focus on a specific collection, new project or work in progress. If you are unsure whether to submit a proposal, please e-mail Laura Ugolini at l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk to discuss your ideas.

Small bursaries will be available for speakers to subsidise the cost of travel (within the UK) and the workshop fee.

For further information, please e-mail: Laura Ugolini at l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk or Margaret Ponsonby at m.ponsonby@wlv.ac.uk

Or see the workshop web-page at: http://home.wlv.ac.uk/~in6086/textiles2015.htm

News about CHORD events can also be found here: http://retailhistory.wordpress.com/about/

If you would like to join the CHORD mailing list, please e-mail Laura Ugolini at l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk

Prof. Laura Ugolini
Professor of History
Joint editor, Textile History
Dept. of History, Politics, War Studies
Faculty of Social Sciences
Room MC334
University of Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
WV1 1LY

Exhibition: A Disappearing Culture: The Amis Earthenware Tradition in Taiwan

17 January – 31 May 2015

The Amis are the largest indigenous tribe in Taiwan with a population close to 182,000, mainly live along the east coast of the island. The Amis are the only remaining matriarchal aboriginal tribe in Taiwan who create earthenware using traditional methods. 

The exhibition looks into the Amis lifestyle, women’s role in earthenware production, the ceremonial aspect of this ceramic tradition and the production process. 

There will be photos and examples of Amis earthenware along the staircase, and a 10-minute documentary film on the second floor.

The Museum of East Asian Art

12 Bennett Street

Bath

BA1 2QJ

UK