MEG Secretary – Committee Vacancy!

Museum Ethnographers Group are a UK-based, but international collective, whose members include:

Museum professionals, academics, researchers & students
artists, activists & enthusiasts

Originally established in 1975, MEG has a long history of bringing individuals, institutions and museum collections together to build knowledge and understanding.

MEG believes that our museums have an important role to play in building understanding, foregrounding respect, and caring for each other. However, this is predicated on institutional and practical changes that we all have a responsibility to work towards. We cannot do this work alone and so we use our platform to support each other, share best practice, and collectively work towards a better future.

MEG is an active interface between museum professionals and university-based researchers and is recognised in the UK museums sector as a key subject-specialist network.

MEG is a volunteer run organisation and we are currently looking for a Secretary to join our Committee from April 2022. The Committee currently consists of:

-          Chair

-          Secretary

-          Treasurer

-          Individual Membership Officer

-          Journal Membership Officer

-          Digital/Web co-ordinator

-          Events Officer

As Secretary, you will take a leadership role in the administration of MEG’s committee. This includes being the main contact with the Charity Commission, and managing the organisation of committee meetings.

Main responsibilities include:

-          Ensuring that annual reports and accounts are submitted to the Charity Commission, and communicating any changes relating to the constitution, organisational structure and committee membership.

-          Being up-to-date on MEG’s constitution and legal responsibilities.

-          Preparing and circulating Annual General Meeting and committee meeting agendas.

-          Taking and circulating AGM and Committee meeting minutes.

-          Submitting to the MEG archive.

-          Attending committee meetings and helping shape the vision and work plan for MEG committee members.

The role would suit someone who:

-          Has some experience of charity law/trusteeship, or has some experience working with the Charity Commission.

-          Has existing, or would like to develop, experience in organisational administration and management.

-          Is passionate about organisational transparency, and would like to help develop centralised document storage and access solutions.

-          Is organised and values attention to detail.

-          Enjoys thinking through and holding conversations about the questions facing the sector, and would like to help drive action and change.

 

We welcome expressions of interest from across the membership, including early career and graduate students, who can commit for a minimum of 3 years. The role will include some initial shadowing, skills sharing and paid for training.

To apply, or ask any questions, please contact Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp at chair@museumethnographersgroup.org.uk

MEG Events Officer – Committee Vacancy!

 Museum Ethnographers Group are a UK-based, but international collective, whose members include:

Museum professionals, academics, researchers & students
artists, activists & enthusiasts

Originally established in 1975, MEG has a long history of bringing individuals, institutions and museum collections together to build knowledge and understanding.

MEG believes that our museums have an important role to play in building understanding, foregrounding respect, and caring for each other. However, this is predicated on institutional and practical changes that we all have a responsibility to work towards. We cannot do this work alone and so we use our platform to support each other, share best practice, and collectively imagine a different future.

MEG is an active interface between museum professionals and university-based researchers and is recognised in the UK museums sector as a key subject-specialist network.

MEG is a volunteer run organisation and we are currently looking for an Events Officer to join our Committee from April 2022. The Committee currently consists of:

-          Chair

-          Secretary

-          Treasurer

-          Individual Membership Officer

-          Journal Membership Officer

-          Digital/Web co-ordinator

As Events officer, you will lead on MEG’s program of events and gatherings aimed principally at our membership. This includes our bi-annual Keeping Connected events held online, as well as co-ordinating around 1-2 UK-based visits a year. Primary responsibilities include:

-          Being informed about key projects and exhibitions that are leading best practice within the sector, or can provide inspiration from outside it, and reaching out to organisations/individuals to host MEG events.

-          Consulting with the membership about the kinds of events or best practice that they feel would most develop and support their work.

-          Leading on the co-ordination of events/workshops/study days, online and in person, including developing content, scheduling and sharing information with the MEG committee for distribution.

-          Corresponding with members who are attending to share details about the day.

The role would suit someone who:

-          Is excited about following the most recent developments in conversations, projects and professional practice concerning global collections.

-          Would like the opportunity to network and build relationships with people and organisations in the sector.

-          Has existing, or would like to develop, experience co-ordinating events.

-          Enjoys thinking through and holding conversations about the questions facing the sector, in particular around ethics, justice and future change.

We welcome expressions of interest from across the membership, including early career and graduate students, who can commit for a minimum of 2 years.

This can be a job share/joint role.

To apply, or ask any questions, please contact Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp at chair@museumethnographersgroup.org.uk

 

 

Opportunity to acquire a unique collection of textiles and artefacts.

Collector Virginia Bond Korda would like to offer her collection of textiles and some artefacts to a museum in the UK. Virginia is a retired anthropologist, overseas development consultant and textile collector who has amassed a collection over 35 years whilst travelling and working in many areas around the world.

The collection consists of textiles, garments and accessories, as well as some artifacts, representing key techniques, processes, and styles from countries and communities in North, East and West Africa, South and Central Asia, South America and Polynesia. Some items have already been donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum. Virginia is seeking a home for the rest of her collection ideally, but she would also be open to offers from museums wishing to acquire a small number of pieces that fill gaps in collections and fulfil collections development aims.

Virginia is happy to provide a list of objects and a biography, please do contact her directly if you would like to pursue this opportunity.  Virgina Bond Korda virginia@woodhillbarn.co.uk.

Early Career Subcommittee

MEG is establishing an early career subcommittee. We envisage this as a space for early career researchers and practitioners to share ideas and practices with one another and to help shape the work of MEG. Committee members will have the opportunity to: 

• Organise events 
• Produce content for MEG's social media platforms (including subcommittee 'takeovers')
• Liaise with MEG's main committee (including shadowing roles and attending committee meetings)

If you are interested in joining the subcommittee or would like more information, please contact Andrea Potts (a.potts@brighton.ac.uk). 

Introducing digitalpasifik.org

The following project will be of great interest to MEG members. See below for more information about the project and an invitation to get involved. Digital Pasifik write: 

 Invitation to help us make the digitized cultural content of the Pacific easier to find, share, and use by people in and of the Pacific. Through this site, digitalpasifik.org, we intend to bring together the metadata of hundreds of organisations worldwide. By “metadata” we mean the descriptive information about the content, such as the title, URL, description, creator/author. We present your metadata on the site, alongside the metadata of other content partners. You always retain full control over your metadata. We’re looking forward to working with you to help more people discover your Pacific digital content via new and useful tools and services. Please get in touch if you would like to learn more. www.digitalpasifik.org

digitalpasifik.org is supported by the Australian Government and implemented by the National Library of New Zealand | Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa in collaboration with the National Library of Australia.

Please contact Tim Kong Programme Manager – Pacific Virtual Museum Pilot, Tim.Kong@dia.govt.nz or digitalpasifik@dia.govt.nz

Russell Cotes Art Gallery and Museum

 Some of the treasures in the world cultures collection have been on display for a few months in Bournemouth’s Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum. The fine collection here is not as well-known as it should be – here are some gems:

Annie and Merton Russell-Cotes

 Annie and Merton Russell-Cotes were the founders of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. Built in the grounds of their business the Royal Bath Hotel, this extravagant villa was created to house their eclectic collection, gathered during their far-ranging travels.

The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum

The couple visited New Zealand in 1885 as part of a wider tour including Japan, China, and India. Their visit was at a time when Māori people were becoming aware of the European tourist market and were beginning to cater for it. As a result, Annie and Merton collected various items from the country, including a model canoe, currently on display in the museum.

A page from Annie's photograph album

Annie’s interest in Māori people and culture combined with her enthusiasm for natural history resulted in her creation of a scrapbook-style photograph album, a common pastime for Victorian women. Here she combined photographs with pressed leaves and plants gathered during the trip. The photographs were purchased, rather than taken by Annie, and include portraits of Māori people, buildings, and landscapes. Due to its fragility, it is not possible to display the artefact itself. As the pages have been digitized, however, it is possible to view the album in its entirety via a screen on display in the museum.

 

 

 

 

The newly displayed Yellow Room

Signs of affection are seldom found in African art; one exception appears to be represented by this figure of a couple, from the Dogon nation of Mali in west Africa – not only are they sitting together, their bottoms are sharing a single stool, and the man has his arm around the woman’s shoulder. However, too much should not be read into this; the figure represents an ancestral couple which was honoured each year, to emphasise the importance of continuity in the family. Each of them has equal responsibility in this, indicated by the similar significance and detail in the carving of each figure. Such figures were used in events celebrating the health of the community, also in funerals. There is a similar figure of a Dogon couple in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.  

This large gourd is decorated all over the exterior surface in designs which are likely to be fern-fronds. A paper label is stuck inside: “Te-Oko used for human heads. From Orokora 1825” We have not found a place in New Zealand conforming to exactly this spelling; the most likely possibility is Omokoroa, a district in the Bay of Plenty, northern North Island. Also, there is no evidence for the usage mentioned. The only other example of the large decorated gourd we are aware of is in the British Museum, formerly in the Hooper collection, about which Steven Hooper says “decorated gourd bowls (‘oko’ .. ) were used to serve preserved food to chiefly guests” – emphasising the high status of such an object. The BM piece was probably collected by William Colenso, from Penzance, sometime soon after 1834; there are no details of where he acquired it – Hooper in the publication Pacific Encounters links the carving to tattoos on the face of man drawn at the Bay of Islands in 1769, in the northern tip of North Island; that is some 300k further north from Omokoroa.

Decorated gourd bowl, possibly from Omokoroa, Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand c.1825

 All images © Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth

Jolif Guest & Len Pole; September 2021

Jolif led the re-display of three of the historic rooms at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. As part of this project she worked with museum consultant Len Pole to develop knowledge of the Museum’s collections. 

You can read more about the re-interpretation project here

Reinterpretation Project - Russell-Cotes | Russell-Cotes (russellcotes.com)

Event - Settler Colonialism, Slavery and the Problem of Decolonizing Museums