Secret Lives of Objects

These shoes were made for walking...

2012-01-27T15:25:00.000Z

Shoes are a necessary part of our lives and have been for thousands of years. The earliest known shoe found in Minnesota, US is over 8,000 years old! Early shoes were made for their practicality. The wearer was not particularly concerned with how well the shoes complimented their outfit, the drier their feet were kept was of far more concern.

As time wore shoes began to take on greater importance as they indicated the level of a person’s social and economic status. They were the ultimate accessory to compliment one’s outfit and changed almost as frequently as they do today. The more elaborate and decorative the shoe, the more their practicality and ability to be worn easily diminished. From medieval men’s ‘poulaines’, shoes with such long pointy toes that laws needed passing to limit their size to the ‘platforms’ of the 1970s, shoe styles have significantly varied.

Black synthetic platforms bought in 1974 for £10.99 and worn by a 16yr old Leeds girl

During the seventeenth century the development of a proper heel and arched sole became the shoe fashion ideal. In France during the reign of Louis XVI (1638-1715) high heels became very popular for men. Having shapely legs became a dominant fashion feature for both men and women and having beautifully decorated shoes to accentuate those legs was of the up most importance.

Female silk brocade shoes with pattern, 1730-1740

By the nineteenth century shoes began to differentiate between left and right. Before that shoes had been made as ‘straights’. The fashion mood became more sober and women’s shoes had more subdued colours. The feet were expected to look small and delicate as befitting ‘gentle birth’ and women were encouraged to ‘pinch their feet into small shoes’. During this time shoes also began to be mass produced in factories rather than in small shoemakers’ shops meaning that cheaper shoes were more widely available. Outdoor sports also began to have an impact on the types of shoes produced.

Black patent leather slip on shoes with blue silk embroidery, 1865-1875

Moving into the twentieth century, the wars dictated the fashion of shoes. During WW2 the ‘peep toe’ shoe, considered frivolous and potentially dangerous was banned until the end of the war. The subcultures that appeared in the 1970s such as punk greatly influenced shoe fashions and shoes were produced that reflected this.

Leeds Museums’ collection has examples of shoes made by famous designers such as Walter Steiger and Vivenne Westwood. As well as high street names like Dolcis and Bally. These shoes were bought and worn by Leeds inhabitants.

Red satin shoes made by Dolcis, 1960

Walter Steiger evening shoes bought for dancing, 1980-1985

Nowadays shoes come in many varieties to go with the changing seasons, different outfits and all kinds of activities. How many pairs of shoes do you have?

By Georgie Cash

Make Do and Mend

2012-01-11T15:59:00.000Z

Or make do on rations

In 1938, on the eve of the Second World War, fashion critics were returning from Paris with exclaims that ‘Paris has decreed a new women’ who would be ‘veiled and gloved and corseted’. It seemed that tight-lacing was about to return to the world of fashion, replacing the tubular and more practical styles of dress that had swept it away in the 1920s. But the outbreak of World War II in 1939 cut Britain off from Parisian Haute Couture and halted such transformations in fashion.

Shortages in materials made it necessary for strict regulations to be applied to all production. ‘The Utility Clothing Scheme’ was launched by the government in 1941, with the aim to save 15% of domestic fabric production. The use of zips was no longer allowed as the metal was needed for arms production – some cosmetics manufacturers even began re-filling lipstick cases because of metal shortages! Buttons were limited and skirt hems rose as the Scheme specified fabric widths and lengths. Turn-back cuffs, patch pockets and hoods were banned completely as a part of a ‘no fabric on fabric’ rule. An Order in 1942 even deemed it unpatriotic and illegal to spend time embellishing clothes for sale!

The Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (ISLFD) - a group of designers and couturiers including House of Worth, Molyneaux, Hardy Amies and Lachasse - was established in 1942 to work with the Board of Trade. Under the war-time restrictions, the ISLFD created 32 clothing designs for mass-production. The garments had to be hard wearing and practical. The emerging tailored, slim silhouette, with square shoulders and a pronounced waist echoed the cut of military uniforms. The CC41 label was applied by manufacturers as a guarantee that the garment met the strict conditions for design and production.

All clothing – Utility Clothing included – fell under the coupon rationing system which was introduced in June 1941. People were given 66 coupons per year, but by 1945, this was reduced to as few as 36. To purchase a suit you needed 18 coupons, and a dress would need 12. With coupons limited and stockings in short supply, many women began to go bare legged, some even painting or drawing lines on the back of their legs to imitate a stocking seam!

Money was still needed to pay for goods alongside the coupons, and some people were simply too poor. This encouraged a ‘make do and mend’ attitude. Women were encouraged to follow the example of “Mrs Sew and Sew”, a character featured in advertisements and propaganda to promote the recycling of textiles. There were also other ways to express fashion; through brightly coloured headscarves, bold hairstyles and elaborate hats (which remained un-rationed).

Shortages continued even after the war ended in 1945, but fashion was already breaking away from war-time styles. In 1947, Christian Dior’s revolutionary first collection was hailed as the ‘New Look’, its signature silhouette characterized by a long, full skirt and a tiny waist. Dior purposefully broke away from war time restrictions, his creations famously using up to twenty yards of fabric. Rationing finally came to an end in 1949, paving the way for a very fashionable fifties! Utility Clothes, are now recognised for their high quality, and you can see examples of those that have stood the test of time at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre.

By Shauni Sanderson

“Did I tell you I was a train driver in Africa…?”

2012-01-05T15:13:00.000Z

Noticing that the subtitle title of the blog is “Exploring the secret histories of the collections” I thought you might be interested in some of the on-going stories an object collects through its life whilst in the collection but outreaching into the community.

Last year I began running series' of reminiscence sessions at Wheatfields and St. Gemma’s Hospices in North Leeds. I am always taken off guard by the seemingly never-ending ability of objects to get people talking, not just about museums-approved stories but offering the most amazing personal details and memories of past adventures.

Once we get past the initial assumption that the “lady from the museum” (always makes me look round for the lady!) is here to deliver an in-depth lecture on 13th Century Bell Ringing or the complex mating rituals of the common fig wasp, we can get down to the business of “here’s something you might find interesting…did you ever…?” – insert open-ended / humorous question here. People to date have generally contributed willingly - apart from the man who told me it was none of my business after I phrased a question poorly (serves me right for prying).

Unlikely objects which have precipitated good stories have included a 1970s skateboard, alongside which I asked a question about dangerous things people used to do when they were younger. I was bombarded with tales of tree climbing (and falling), rope swinging, “bogey” making (apparently nothing to do with nasal nastiness but making a steerable go-kart out of old pram wheels) and the seemingly ancient Yorkshire pastime of “chumping”.

One gentleman told me with great relish about his group of mates who were paid by a local farmer to gather firewood for the November bonfire. Every year they deliberately piled the wood just a little too close for comfort to the gentleman farmer’s barn wall thereby necessitating another payment to get the pile moved to a safer distance! When asked if the farmer ever got annoyed at this quite transparent money-making venture, the man replied, “Well, he kept paying us!”

During a session on the topic of food and drink, I pulled out a “can opener” from the mystery box of outreach dreams and unwrapped it explaining that it was from our “customs collection” and was made from the tooth of a hippopotamus. I was pontificating about how a whole hippo had died to make what really amounted to quite a pathetic kitchen implement only to be interrupted by a strident voice telling me that I’d got it wrong.

I assured the gentleman that I probably, most certainly was wrong and, offering it as a glaring example of my ignorance, I told the group that my real reason for visiting was in order to fix my highly inadequate “southern” education by soaking up any pearls of wisdom offered by the generous souls I meet. What I actually said was “Well, that’s what it says on the box but I’m not from round these parts so what’s the real answer?” - only to be roundly informed that it was, of course, a can piercer the kind of which one might use to puncture air holes in a can of evaporated milk in order to drink it (apparently a nice thing rather than a punishment) or pour it on your pie.

Imagine then a discussion about people’s cream / custard / condensed milk preferences, tales of hiding food from stern and eagle-eyed dinner ladies, “scrumping” in orchards, making home-made toffee apples out of the caramelised dregs of sugar cane in the corner of a farmer’s field and serving a pint of ale in one powerful pull of the pump (the tiny lady who contributed this little gem spoke so proudly) and then a voice cutting through it all with:

“Did I ever tell you about the time I ran over a hippopotamus with my train?”

The low murmur of conversation around the room disappeared. We searched the room for the speaker who turned out to be the gentleman who had spent the majority of the previous hour drifting in and out of sleep (quite normal for all my sessions).

Tea cups were rattling - a sure sign that I was soon to pack up and leave - but I just got time to hear about the long, heavy cargo trains he had driven across vast areas of sparsely populated, post-war East Africa. He’d seen the beast straddling the tracks too late to stop and the resulting “knock” hadn’t derailed the engine but had left the creature looking “not very clever”. Dead of course - mercifully by the sounds of it!

I feel truly privileged to have heard such an excellent tale! And how bizarre that it was inspired by an object which had been brought to start conversations about people’s food and drink memories.
Seeing the gentleman holding the hippo tooth, telling his tale to an astounded audience and the gentle smile of a good memory remembered was priceless. Call it stolen, call it borrowed but his story has become part of my set of stories I can use to engage people’s interest in the objects I use for outreach. And all good stories should be retold!...

Scraping away the Past

2011-12-23T08:53:00.011Z

As a recent graduate of Archaeology, I was very grateful for the opportunity to work with the prehistoric collections at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre. During my time here I have catalogued hundreds of flint and stone tools attributed to the the Middle Palaeolithic right through to the Bronze Age. That's over 25,000 years of human history from all over the world. I find it fascinating that over 95% of our lives as modern humans has been lived in the prehistoric period and yet there is still so much we don't know about this major part of our history.

After spending a few weeks looking at Palaeolithic flint hand axes, knives, arrowheads and scrapers (25,000-10,000 BC), I looked at some later artefacts from the Neolithic period (4,000-2,500 BC), and what did I find? More flint knives, arrowheads and scrapers! What struck me most was that, although technology had clearly improved, the types of tools being produced were more or less the same, and fulfilled the same purpose.

The artefact I am choosing to present here grabbed my attention for two reasons. Firstly, it has a unique shape, and secondly, it gives us an insight into life in Neolithic Britain and helps to dispel some common assumptions. The object is a Neolithic scraper from the Yorkshire seaside town of Bridlington (accession number LEEDM.D.1964.0011.005). It was donated to Leeds Museum in 1917 by James Edward Bedford and is a part of a collection of over 300 flint scrapers, arrowheads and knives from Bridlington.

This type of scraper is called a spokeshave, and would have been used mainly for woodworking to fashion tools such as arrows and spears. Scrapers have been used since the Middle Palaeolithic and were made by making a thick row of scars across a flake or blade in order to create a thick, wide angled edge. When the object became blunt they were re-sharpened until they were too small to use, and then discarded.

Spokeshaves would be used to hollow out wood or bone, and remove bark from wood. They could also have been used for hide working, where hides were scraped to remove meat and tendons from the bones of animals.

The Neolithic period is known for the 'Neolithic Revolution', when people first started to move from a hunter-gatherer way of life to a sedentary lifestyle , occupying year-round settlements and domesticating animals to become the first farmers. But this transition was not instantaneous, illustrated by objects like this. Tools like scrapers were multi-purpose, very portable and easily re-used, suiting a mobile hunter-gatherer society. This object is part of a huge collection of portable Neolithic tools collected from Bridlington, hinting at a permanent settlement here. But research presented by Professor Julian Thomas suggests that Bridlington may have been a place where people continued to return to cyclically or sporadically, perhaps to exploit local resources of stone and flint.

Ultimately what this small piece of flint has taught me is that spokeshaves (scrapers) were a very useful bit of kit for hunter-gatherers. We can infer that people in the Neolithic weren't ready to give up their mobile way of life just yet, and in fact farming probably took around two thousand years to spread across Britain, making the Neolithic the last major flint tool-making period.

Author: Amy Davies, Leeds Museums and Galleries Intern 2011

Life before a txt msg.

2011-12-20T13:08:00.000Z

The 21st century is most certainly a digital age. Almost all written communications are based around those transmitted electronically, through emails, broadcasts, printed letters, advertisements, and text messages. This is now the most common and accepted way in which to communicate with someone, taking over from the once preferred method of hand-writing documents that previously made up the basis of written communication in society.

It is due to this new age that I struggled when presented with boxes of handwritten letters, accounts and bills. Trying to understand and decipher the text on these was surprisingly a difficult task, as you can see from the image.

(E.1968.0100.0001.32)

Thankfully I discovered that this one was actually written in Latin, nevertheless those written in English were almost as incomprehensible. I now understand why Kitty Ross, curator of Leeds Social History, mentioned that to work in this field a course in being able to read cursive hand writing should be given. However despite this, and the many fascinating objects within the ephemera collection at Abbey House museum, such as the newspaper that announced the death of Hitler to England in 1945, and references written from masters for slaves, it was these handwritten letters that fascinated me the most.

Communication is essential to civilisation, and just one of these documents whether small notes or large letters, personal or business related, give us a glimpse into the past.

(E.1968.100.1.3 )

This image is of a letter written from William Bailey to the recipient to ask her to pass the title of his house over to him, as further delay could bring damage in the future. Not only is the format and style different to today, including the use of parchment and writing with a quill, but the language is strikingly different - especially when compared to that of the common email or text message today! William Bailey not only apologies for having to bother her, “ I most humbly ask pardon for being troublesome to you at this time”, but he also reminds her that by doing this for him, it will “be ever acknowledged with the greatest gratitude”. Even the way the letter ends is extremely courteous “your most obedient and greatly obliged servant”. It appears today that the only letters that seem to reflect this language are those that are written in the context of a formal correspondence. However of the letters I have read in the ephemera collection, the majority seem to uphold this air of formality, respect and meaning in every genre of letter.

After researching written communication, it is interesting to see that the reason for such language was due to the great importance that was placed on being able to read and write. It was a status symbol, your reputation being judged through the way in which you presented yourself, this included letter writing. Guidelines to letter writing were even given, advising about how much content and how much of ones character should be given away, after all anyone could read them and make inaccurate assumptions. This is perhaps why the typewriter wasn’t as popular as the postcard and using lined paper, it was also seen as looking cheap! However letter writing was the most popular form of communication not only due to its implications on ones reputation, but also due to it being the cheapest form.

Reading such elegant letters and seeing how much effort and time was invested into writing to one another was moving, and it is sad to think that this importance has know been to some extent diminished. However being able to communicate quicker, and to almost anyone across the world is both more practical and less time consuming, elements required to accommodate the fast paced society that we live in today.

My time spent at Abbey House Museum has been both educational and enjoyable. Working behind the scenes in the museum and at the Discovery centre, working with the collections, and most importantly getting to know the team of people there, have really made this experience for me. An internship with Abbey House Museum has been an invaluable opportunity and I have enjoyed every part of it. Thank you.

Posted by Nicola, but written by Emily Gough, Abbey House Intern 2011.

Christmas cheer from 1873

2011-12-19T09:40:00.000Z

To put everyone in the mood for the coming season of over-indulgence and indigestion here is a seasonal poem printed in Leeds in 1873. It was published in a private magazine, Ye Quaynt, An Omnium Gatherum, distributed among the friends of Samuel Leathley Nussey of Potternewton Hall, Leeds.

X-mas-tide.

A Dyspeptic's Morning Soliloquy

Oh! I was ill last night,

And Still it preys my mind on,

As Memory brings to light

The horrid things I dined on;

The roast, the boiled, that both were spoiled,

The fish so soft and flabby,

The poultry tough, the claret rough,

The whole affair so shabby.

Oh! I was ill etc.

The Champagne-cup was spiced, how wrong!

To taste it scarce I dare did,

The Punch Romaine did not seem strong,

But then, alas, the hare did!

The wines were hot, the soups were not,

The sauces quite distressing,

The peas were old, the gravy cold,

And oh! that salad dressing!

Oh! I was ill etc.

An oyster stale, though in a stew,

It very hard to bolt is;

The partridges were not done through,

The bread sauce like a poultice! -

The cheese was not the cheese, and what

Could make them call it Stilton?

The Mayonnaise seemed to my gaze

Like greens, with soft soap split on!

Oh! I was ill etc.

When I remember all

The flavours mixed together,

In the entrees great and small,

And cutlets hard as leather,

Had I forborne - 'tis thus I mourn -

Or sooner had deserted

That fatal feast, I'd then at least

Dyspepsia's pangs averted!

But I was ill etc.

Posted by Kitty Ross, Curator of Leeds History

Window on the past

2011-12-13T15:45:00.022Z

Temple Newsam House is a Grade One Listed building, and therefore has a very high heritage value. Its care, conservation and interpretation are driven by curatorial, conservation and education priorities, as important as the priorities applied to items in the collections. Indeed, Temple Newsam is the largest object in the collection, and the building, perhaps seen as a backdrop for the collections, the portable stuff, is in fact crucial for all aspects of service delivery. The Red Corridor top floor, west wing, has been the focus of attention for remedial works after plasterwork started coming loose. Excavations to see what the problem was also revealed an earlier window, possibly from the Tudor house, that had been filled in. Also revealed was some very early painted plasterwork applied directly to the brick, from the Tudor period, beneath a later layer of plaster laid on to laths. From visual records of the house it would appear that the window was filled in some time in the first half of the 18th century, before 1740, when there were a lot of alterations taking place elsewhere around the house.

The basic principles of repair and restoration to Listed buildings are straightforward, a primary one being repairs ought to be done on a "like for like" basis, materials and techniques, unless there are very good reasons not to exactly replicate the damaged parts. To maintain heritage value, therefore, in historic building repair and maintenance, quality control over the works is essential. The idea was suggested of leaving part of this wall exposed, for interpretation purposes, showing the various layers that have built up over time. Conservation and planning officers were consulted. Their enthusiatic support and guidance were the green light for the site team to develop, with corporate property management, a precise specification for both repair and for a "window on the past".

Unstable bricks were taken out, cleaned, and labelled so that they could go back in the same location they came from. The oak lintel had deteriorated so badly from Death watch beetle that it had to be replaced.

This is a picture of the plastered and painted window reveal, from Tudor times, one of the features that was going to be left revealed. The next picture shows the wall re-instated to within approximately 30 cm of the window, but leaving the various layers exposed, all behind plate glass. There is interpretation still to be done, but the installation is finished.

The next feature of display development in this area of the house is to create a small display using some of the artefacts from the Jacobean Chapel, a room that was turned in to kitchens in the late 18th century. These artefacts are the remnants of the pulpit, in oak, and very similar to the pulpit at St. John's Church, Leeds (right behind the St. John's shopping centre) and the painted softwood panels depicting the Old Testament prophets. These will form the core of this display; sadly there is not room for all the prophets, so it will be a selection of perhaps half a dozen. Along with these artefacts it is planned to display also the stone heads of the two larger-than-life Templar Knight sculptures, by Thomas Ventris of York, carved in the 17th century. They once adorned the pediment over the courtyard entrance to the Great Hall.

These sculptures were taken down in the 1880s. Perhaps their condition was poor, or they were unsafe. The torsoes of the sculptures are being searched for, and a lead is being followed up.

The Great Padtoeski

2011-12-13T12:38:00.010Z

The new "Performance" exhibition opening at Abbey House in January 2012 looks at aspects of sport, dance, music and theatre. The Great Padtoeski was a variety performer who embodied musical, theatrical and gymnastic talents within one eccentric act. Also known as "The Marvellous Toe Piano Player" he would sit on a high stool so that his bare toes could reach the piano keyboard, his hands being free to perform on a violin and sometimes sang a ballad at the same time. A variation on this act was to play the piano, concertina and cornet simultaneously. Padtoeski appeared frequently on the bill at the Stoll Moss Empire theatres, including the Leeds Empire, throughout the 1920s.

Padtoeski's real name was Mark Vincent Dearlove, a member of the large musical Dearlove dynasty of Leeds. He was the 3rd son of Richard Dearlove (born 1831) and thus a grandson of Mark William Dearlove (1802-1880) who's music shop on Briggate was lovingly reconstructed at Abbey House Museum for many years. The Dearlove collection forms a major part of the museum's musical instrument collection and archive. The descendents of Mark William Dearlove all seem to have inherited musical talent and learnt a wide variety of instruments, so that they were able to form orchestras and bands almost entirely from within the family. On the family tree Mark Vincent is listed as "conductor, piano and violin", with no reference to his unique speciality!

One of the joys of researching for an exhibition is stumbling across unexpected treasures and stories. The promotional advertisements for Padtoeski made no mention of his real name and it was only because of a paragraph in a 1950s newspaper cutting in the Dearlove archive that I was able to make the connection with Mark Vincent Dearlove. Without this chance find, the colourful Padtoeski would have remained hidden in store.

I would love to have been around to see Padtoeski in action (although I'm not sure that it can have been a very subtle musical experience).

The exhibition opens at Abbey House Museum on Saturday 21st January at 12.00 and runs until the end of December.

Kitty Ross, Curator of Leeds History

A Triumph

2011-12-11T11:18:00.013Z

"A triumph"

These are the words used by curatorial and conservation staff from Historic Royal Palaces, who visited Temple Newsam House on 7 December 2011, in reference to the conservation and re-construction works to the Queen Anne State Bed, and the associated exhibition, Bedtime Stories, now open to visitors. Many people have contributed to the success here, but I would like to particularly congratulate and thank my colleague Polly Putnam for superb leadership on this project.

But what is happening in this next picture? Who has been sitting on MY bed!

Is it that pesky Goldilocks, again? No, definitely not. Is it Sleeping Beauty? No, this beauty is wide awake, fully compos mentis, and much more than just a pretty face. In fact it is Temple Newsam's talented, energetic, dedicated and hard-working learning and access officer, Shelley Dring. Speaking of children's stories, writing and telling, a feature of Bedtime Stories, Parts One and Two, will be literacy initiatives for education groups, which could perhaps involve developing story writing skills as well as reading skills. So perhaps there will be some new fairy stories resulting from these initiatives. I am thinking about it already.......... maybe new takes on old stories, "The Princess and the Mushy Peas"......?

Anne Moen Bullitt

2011-12-07T12:08:00.001Z

A tragically touching tale told through tasteful tailoring

On August 18, 2007 an old woman died in Kylemore Clinic in County Dublin largely unnoticed - with little indication that she was once an heiress with a taste for designer clothes (and hundreds of couture dresses to her name). However, this was in fact, Anne Moen Bullitt and she had a tantalizing tale to tell.

(1950-55) Printed silk dress, with full skirt - designed by Balenciaga but bought from the Madrid boutique, called Eisa.

The renowned American journalist and radical, Louise Bryant and the American diplomat and novelist - appointed by Roosevelt as the first US Ambassador to Moscow - William Bullitt, jr. married in 1924 and had a daughter, Anne. However, due to an alleged lesbian affair with an English sculptor (Gwen Le Gallienne) and problems with alcoholism, Anne’s father divorced her mother and won full custody of the child. Louise sadly died of brain haemorrhage in Paris in 1936 after spending her last years desperately trying to hear news of Anne. Due to the lack of her mother’s presence Anne therefore grew up close to her father, as they travelled around Europe together for his job. They were so close that according to Freud (a good friend of her father’s) she proved his greatest theory - when asked if she loved her father, she replied ‘my father is God’.

(1962-67) Wool tailored couture suit, designed by Christian Dior, London.

Anne’s adult life was to prove as eventful as her childhood! She very sadly experienced four unsuccessful marriages. However, she also proudly became the first woman breeder and trainer of thoroughbred horses in Ireland, managing the largest horse farm in Ireland and became chatelaine of a famous Irish estate where she lived for most of her life – and at Leeds Discovery Centre Anne’s memory lives on as they will always be thankful for her intense interest in fashion and what is described as Anne’s ‘‘amazing collection‘ of vintage clothes from all the famous Parisian designers from the golden era of haute couture’ (Jane McDonald). Especially a grey Carnegie suit in the ‘New Look’ style…

(1947-49) Tailored couture suit, designed by Hattie Carnegie. The jacket has a fitted waist with padding on the hips, to make it flare out over the full skirt, giving the suit a typical ‘New Look’ style.
The ‘New Look’ style was a name given to Christian Dior’s first collection at the fashion house he founded in 1946. His designs were much more voluptuous than the fabric-conserving shapes of the recent World War II styles and revolutionised woman’s dress. Dior is quoted as saying ‘I have designed flower women’ as his look used bustier-style bodices, hip padding , wasp-waisted corsets and petticoats to give his models a curvaceous form. Hattie Carnegie was a fashion entrepreneur based in New York from the 1920s to 1960, who also used this style. She was known for her elegant couture collection and secondary ready-to-wear lines – this was ground-breaking as she was one of the first to introduce ready-to-wear to the high end market.
At first Anne bought clothes in New York, mainly from Hattie Carnegie, while living the American socialite lifestyle. However, her second husband was vice consul in the American Embassy in Madrid which gave her access to Balenciaga’s couture clothes under the Spanish name ‘Eisa’. She then later lived in Ireland and moving in racing circles, increased her collection, buying clothes by Sybil Connelly, Lanvin, YSL and others. However, Anne was famously tiny with a remarkable 18-20 inch waist which made her clothes virtually un-wearable for anyone else! Hence the wonderful collection that now exists today of Anne’s fabulous clothes, partly stored in Leeds Discovery Centre!

By Rebecca Jenkins

Then and Now: Invasion By a Foreigner and Near Native Extinction.

2011-12-05T13:39:00.001Z

Thomas Cockerline (9.6.1891 - 8.2.1979), was an only child who at an early age developed an interest in botany and started his own extensive herbarium collection, left to Leeds Museum when he died. He was a long standing member of the Leeds Naturalists' Club and during the late 1960s/early 1970s he was elected President of the Leeds Naturalists' Club, and held the position of Hon. Council Member until his death.

During my internship here at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre I have been helping to complete a photographic record of Thomas Cockerline’s herbarium collection. Throughout this I came across two specimens that particularly interested me, a Vicia bithynica specimen and an Epilobium pedunculare specimen.
Vicia bithynica (Bithynian Vetch) is and has been for some time a rare and declining species of legume. It is a scrambling annual found in rough grassland on coastal under-cliffs and inland in open hedges, scrubby grassland and on railway banks. The flowers are a beautiful purple with white wings and keel and this plant has distinctive toothed stipules (leaf-like structures at the bottom of the leaf stalk or petiole).

This particular specimen interested me because of the photograph and newspaper cutting attached. The photo of the footbridge, at Upgang Ravine near Whitby, is mentioned in the newspaper clipping, which states concern from local botanists about the development of a new footpath to the bridge that will destroy the habitat of this rare species, found in only a few places in the north of Britain.

Being a plant enthusiast I found this intriguing, particularly because this species is rare. After some further research I found that Vetch species have some very useful attributes, being excellent nutrient managers of the soil, which can benefit the growth of crops grown collectively. This is because they are legumes and can fix nitrogen, producing enough to support almost all of the needs of the subsequent crop, as well as making potassium more available.

I did find some excellent news online from the UK wild Flowers website, where someone has recorded (2005) a relatively large population of Vicia bithynica on a hillside by the sea at Upgang Ravine.

The other herbarium specimen that interested me was of the species Epilobium pedunculare, native to New Zealand but thriving in the British Isles, to the extent it is often referred to as a ‘garden thug’. This ‘little foreigner’ is considered a weed, but we have only ourselves to blame for its invasion into our countryside via dispersal of seeds from our gardens.

This species is excellently adapted to the British climate and as stated in the issue ‘The Naturalist’ from Oct-Dec 1947, it has a preference for wilder places amongst the hills and moor-lands and is also commonly found growing amongst Sedges.

Posted by Clare but researched and written by Hannah Yeadon who worked diligently on the wonderful plant collections at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre in 2011.

Conservation: furniture and related material

2011-12-04T23:47:00.023Z

Conservation of heritage assets in museums is about the careful management of change. The default position ought to be, and largely is, to minimise rates of change in order to preserve the intrinsic value of the asset. This is in order to support the development of intellectual capital and narratives by curatorial and education staff, all part of service delivery to that key person in the equation, you the visitor. Conservation can be through preventive conservation, whereby each agent of deterioration is identified, the likelihood of its causing damage is assessed, and steps taken to avoid or mitigate its effects. It can also mean remedial works, anything from minor works, like re-attaching bits that fall off furniture (kind of the background hum to my work), to major interventive, and sometimes re-constructive works, such as that detailed about the Queen Anne State Bed at Temple Newsam House in earlier Secret Lives of Objects blogs, or the pair of Chippendale window pelmets from the Drawing Room at Burton Constable Hall, which were approaching the point of no return from extensive woodworm damage, various pictures below.

Conservation advice links

For advice on furniture conservation that you can download, or view online, I refer you to something I wrote for the Institute for Conservation, available via the following link: http://www.icon.org.uk/images/stories/furniture.pdf

The next link takes you to more explanations of conservation, collections, interiors, preventive and remedial treatments, etc. in the context of an historic house, and altogether more information about Temple Newsam's history, and the collections, than is available through the main Leeds Museums and Galleries website:

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/templenewsam/house/house_cons.html

The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) has masses of easily accesible information of practical use in helping to make choices regarding preventive and remedial care of heritage assets, portable and built, and it ought to be referred to in more websites of museum services. The collection care advice given on so many museum websites generally tend to fall in to one of two categories, either so basic as to be essentially useless, or good information, but not well organised, and difficult to navigate. Why re-invent the wheel?

http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/caringfor-prendresoindes/index-eng.aspx

Art Funded

2011-12-03T16:24:00.014Z

The Queen Anne State bed at Temple Newsam House has made the front cover of the current issue of Art Quarterly, the newsletter of the Art Fund. In it there is a splendid article, written by Art Fund trustee Philippa Glanville, about Temple Newsam's achievements as one of the greatest non-national decorative arts museums in the United Kingdom. A shortened version of the article may be read via the link below. Given the Art Fund's status in the arts and heritage sector this is a significant citation, and very welcome publicity for Temple Newsam and the Bedtime Stories exhibition which opens to visitors on 08/12/2011.

http://www.artfund.org/news/1270/the-story-of-temple-newsam

http://www.artfund.org/

A Victorian Christmas

2011-12-02T11:16:00.000Z

I have really enjoyed my internship at Abbey House Museum where I have been cataloguing many of the items within the ephemera collection. I have been updating records of greetings cards and I became particularly interested in the vast and varied collection of Christmas cards.

With thousands of Christmas cards produced and sent every year I was curious to learn about the history of the humble Christmas card. I discovered that the first Christmas card was sent in December 1843. It was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole as an alternative to the usual Christmas letter and as a way of offering seasonal greetings without having to write lots of individual personal messages. The trend of sending Christmas cards soon became popular in the nineteenth century. Cards varied in shape, size and material, and they often featured flowers, children and winter scenes. Many were highly elaborate, and were often gilded, embossed, had fancy fringes, satin inserts, fold-outs, padded sachets, and paper lace features.

My favourite design that I have come across are traditional cards that feature intricate paper lace with painted flower panels that fold-out; quite different from the Christmas cards we find today. Dating from the 1870s, this example of a Victorian Christmas card features intricate paper lace, a chromolithographic printed oval tab with an image of lily of the valley and violets, that folds out to reveal the following Christmas verse:

Christmas
Time of pleasure
and of mirth
Time when friends abound
Every blessing upon earth
In your home be found

It was also interesting to find out why robins were a popular image of many Victorian Christmas cards. Due to their red uniforms, the postmen who delivered Christmas cards were often nicknamed ‘robins’ and so the image became incorporated into designs.

Dating from circa 1900, this Christmas leaf-shaped card includes a hand-painted robin design, and interestingly is made out celluloid, with an intricate cut-out border.

I’ve enjoyed looking at the elaborate and varied Christmas cards that were designed in Victorian Britain, and I have enjoyed the opportunity to broaden my museum experience through an internship at Abbey House Museum.

Posted by Nicola, but written by Emily Ironmonger, Leeds Museums and Galleries Intern 2011

Botany - a lifelong passion

2011-11-14T09:39:00.001Z

As a recent graduate of archaeology, I was slightly worried when I started my botany internship at LMDC that I simply wouldn’t know enough about plants and would, as a result, lose interest in the collection I was working on. I needn’t have worried, the botanist whose collection I was sifting through left many little clues and notes in his work which allowed me not only to better understand the fascinating world of botany, but also how he lived his life and his story.

I knew from his obituary already that William Arthur Sledge was born in 1904 and died in 1991. He was a pupil at Leeds Grammar School, then at the Department of Botany at Leeds University where he later became a Senior Lecturer. He was associated with the university for 69 years, and was clearly a well respected member of the botanical community. However, it is the letters from fellow botanists, his little notes and hidden away photographs and newspaper cuttings that give a more personal view.

The first I came across was a letter from a Mr A J Willmott of the British Museum in 1940. From the looks of things, Mr Wilmott was rather forgetful (as later letters also reveal), and Sledge had to write to him in order to get some of his precious specimens returned. Wilmott talks of the confusion at the BM, presumably from the bombing which damaged the museum and surrounding areas, and apologises for the late response. He writes again in 1942, thanking Sledge for another loan of specimens, then again in 1944 apologising profusely for another lapse in memory and for keeping his collection of Rhinanthus for so long. Wilmott was a forgetful soul, whereas Sledge clearly never forgot anything to do with his beloved collection. It is a shame we don’t have Sledge’s letter to Wilmott, but this one side of correspondence shows a fair deal about both men’s character.

There are many other letters and notes sent from other botanists, and I know through another intern's work that he sent out letters himself clarifying identifications and so on. For his studies he travelled all over the world, to New Zealand and to Ceylon and Samoa, his knowledge of the flora of these countries was highly respected and sought after by many in his field.

However, the most personal thing I have so far discovered is a couple of his old books, dated in his own hand, to 1918. We discovered a book in the library here called ‘Illustrations of the British Flora: A series of wood engravings, with dissections, of British plants’, which was presented to Sledge by the Master of his Grammar School as a prize from the Midsummer Examination of 1918, for ‘proficiency in botany (senior prize)’. This book is clearly something he cherished throughout his life, its pages are filled with photographs, dried cuttings and newspaper clippings dating right up to the 1950’s, many of them with no date are possibly later then that. It has been well used, its spine falling apart and its pages very well thumbed.

In a world before Google to help identify species (it’s been a life-saver for me during my time here!) and without email to request the return of loaned out plants or to help others, books, letters and newspaper articles were essential in the life of a botanist. And they give us a wonderful insight into the man behind the collections. His obituary calls him ‘The botany man’, and he truly was just that, from his childhood right up until his death, he was a botanist through and through.

Posted by Clare but written and researched by Hana Makin who worked diligently on the wonderful plant collections at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre over summer 2011.

The Full Monty

2011-11-09T14:03:00.001Z

Less about taking your clothes off, as actually putting them on!

There are various origins of the famous phrase ‘The Full Monty’, but one version is that it came from the ‘demob suits’ given for free to all demobilised servicemen after WWII. These were full three-piece suits (a jacket, waistcoat and trousers) – in comparison to the standard two-piece suit, and they were provided by a Leeds based firm called Burtons. As an intern at Leeds Discovery Centre I have been privileged enough to work with their vast collection of suits, including those from Burtons own collection and I was particularly fascinated by the demob suits I came across.

Burtons was first established in 1903 by a Lithuanian immigrant Jew, ‘the tailor of taste’, Montague Burton (the name taken after the former Meshe David Osinsky spent a pleasant afternoon at Burton-on-Trent railway station). Hence why the demob suits obtained the nickname – ‘The Full Monty’!

Burtons was not only hugely important in the war effort, during and after, but estimates also suggest that at one point Burton was clothing a fifth of British men, with ready-made or made-to-measure suits. He was even knighted for his efforts. Burtons was also hugely important for Leeds itself and will forever be part of its history – many families in Leeds can still today recall at least one family member, if not more, who once worked for the Burtons corporation.

Demob suits were generally known for being of a high quality, made of good materials with such merits as turn-ups on the trousers and their owners were proud of them. For many of the owners it was their first ever suit and they were very pleased with them. However, due to issues like rationing from the early 1940s to the 1950s we saw the introduction of utility cloth which led to some demob suits being made in utility style. These suits were ill-fitting and shapeless, with none of the luxuries such as back pockets, shoulder padding or even turn-ups on the trouser legs.

The fact that on the conclusion of world wars, all fighting men were rewarded with a suit tells us that they had a special meaning in twentieth-century society. The now universal nature of suit-wearing of the nineteenth century was both a reflection of social and cultural change and an outcome of innovation in retailing. Therefore, demob suits were in fact, a clever marketing strategy as suits had become a powerful way of acquiring ones sense of place in modern society.

By Rebecca Jenkins

Catwalk Cape-ers

2011-11-09T13:55:00.002Z

Type ‘capes’ into a search engine today and the results will probably show an array of highstreet and luxury brand names offering to sell you ‘this season’s most fashionable cover-up’… ‘the chicest alternative to a classic coat’. Touted by Stella McCartney as ‘the new season silhouette’ and spotted on the catwalk at Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent, to name just a few, the cape is currently having quite the fashion moment.

As an intern at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre, I have been working with the vast collection of capes, which contains everything from mourning capes to christening capes – even emergency rain capes! Common in Medieval Europe, the cape is a sleeveless outer garment, fastening at the neck and falling loosely over the shoulders, generally no longer than waist length. The cape reached its most fashionable in Victorian Britain, as a part of both day and evening wear for women of all social classes.

These 19th Century capes were usually made from velvet or silk. As etiquette dictated that the period of mourning for a husband was up to four years, many were also produced in black. Most famously, Queen Victoria entered a permanent state of mourning following the death of her husband, Prince Albert, in 1861, and wore only black for the remainder of her life. Nevertheless, mourning capes were beautifully embellished with jet beading, lace, appliqué and fringing - rather than choosing one form of decoration, the Victorians opted to use them all!

You can see examples of just some of these fantastic mourning capes at Abbey House Museum, but as ‘all occasion wear’, capes were certainly not restricted to mourning! They were produced in a multitude of fabrics and colours, with bold, decorative linings and elaborate trimmings such as gold braid and feathers. The cape style became so popular that short capes were even being added to coats and jackets towards the end of the century.

Current fashion trends might dictate that the wearer picks up a cape with a faux-fur trim, with military style embellishments, or even a patent leather-trimmed, transparent cape as seen on the models at Burberry Prorsum! Although the modern-day cape may seem far removed from it’s earlier origins, it is clear that its legacy as a fashionable garment in Victorian culture has stood the test of time!

By Shauni Sanderson

Souvenir Roses

2011-11-08T15:23:00.010Z

Over the course of my internship at Abbey House, I've worked with a wide range of objects, from antique chocolate box labels and Punch and Judy puppets to 1980s newspapers and World War One propaganda. Among the most intriguing and unique items I've found have been the souvenir roses produced by Joseph, Myers and Co. around the middle of the nineteenth century. These were delicate paper items, cut into the shape of a rose when folded and then opened out several times to form a roughly circular shape, decorated on both sides with intricate engravings depicting a number of scenes from a particular location.

These roses were sold in envelopes that were also decorated with similar pictures:

Our collection contains twelve of these roses, from London, Paris, Edinburgh, Crystal Palace, Leicester, Manchester (two examples), Brighton, Southampton & Portsmouth (on a single rose), Hastings and St. Leonard's (on a single rose, two examples), and Switzerland, which is depicted on a posy rather than a rose.

We also have a set of leaflets advertising these roses and giving details of the whole range, which included 42 roses in total at the time of publication, with another six designs on their way. These included a great number of German scenes, as well as the "Winter's Tale Rose", which was advertised as containing "all the scenes in Shakespeare's play of the 'Winter's Tale". It was accompanied by a short description of the play itself, and the envelope it came in had a picture of the Princess' Theatre, where the play had recently been performed.

Most date from the 1850s and 1860s.

Posted by Kitty Ross on behalf of Sam Ross, who worked diligently as an intern working on the social history ephemera collections during the summer of 2011.

Flog It! filming at Temple Newsam House

2011-11-05T14:33:00.006Z

BBC programme Flog It! has been filming content at Temple Newsam House for two episodes to be broadcast in 2012, showcasing the curatorial, conservation, and education expertise, collections and history that has made Temple Newsam House one of the greatest decorative arts museums in the United Kingdom: "a beacon of hope", to quote Sir Nicholas Goodison, author of the Goodison Review.

http://www.artfund.org/policyandcampaigns/campaign/414/the-living-and-giving-campaign

http://www.museumsassociation.org/publications/8248

Asian Elephant Skull

2011-10-25T14:16:00.000+01:00

I spent my summer as an intern at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre helping to catalogue their vast herbarium collection. Each day I would enter the store to collect my herbarium samples, passing hundreds of thousands of fascinating objects on my way. One object that repeatedly caught my eye was the skull of an Elephas maximus, the Asian elephant.

To think that this skull is an impressive 1.04m high it is clear to see why I found this object to be so captivating. It is no wonder elephants are the largest extant land mammals. With its large ivory tusks, I can only imagine how daunting it must be to stand next to a live one.

Elephas maximus is the only remaining species of the genus Elephas and has itself been listed as an endangered species. Currently there are an estimated 25,600 to 32,750 individuals in existence. This may seem like a lot; however, it’s put into perspective on learning that only three generations ago there was a population size double that of today. This is worryingly fast and unless serious conservation action is taken quickly it shows reason to be greatly concerned for the future of such a remarkable species.

Posted by Clare but written and researched by Steven Laird who worked diligently on the fantastic natural science collections at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre in 2011.

A woman of substance

2011-10-12T11:23:00.009+01:00

Having read that West Yorkshire Archives and Huddersfield University have been busy digitising 80,000 records about the lives of women in Yorkshire and the North from the last few hundred years through their historytoherstory project, I thought I’d take the opportunity to tell you about a collection we hold here at Leeds Museums and Galleries.

We are very lucky to hold a large collection of material relating to votes for women, the suffragettes and other issues such as trade unions and vegetarianism that were all donated to the museum by Leonora Cohen and her associates. For those of you unfamiliar with suffragette history, Leonora Cohen was a formidable Leeds based campaigner in the movement to secure voting rights for women. Perhaps her best known act of defiance was smashing the case containing the crown jewels in the Tower of London. We are lucky enough to have the label attached to the iron bar she used. It states:

"Jewel House, Tower of London. My Protest to the Government for its refusal to Enfranchise Women, but continues to torture women prisoners - Deeds Not Words. Leonora Cohen"; on the reverse "Votes for Women. 100 Years of Constitutional Petition, Resolutions, Meetings & Processions have Failed"

My favourite item in the collection has to be a scrapbook put together by Leonora Cohen. It contains a variety of newspaper cuttings and photographs. Many of the items are annotated by the lady herself (in green or purple ink where possible) and she identifies herself and friends in pictures and cuttings. It is quite exciting to get your hands on something so personal on an issue as important as voting rights for women.

Even in her later years she kept up her interest in political issues, was active as a Magistrate in Leeds for a number of years (even though she had herself been a prisoner on more than one occasion), awarded an OBE in 1928, and lived to the ripe old age of 105.

Other items in the collection range from pamphlets and leaflets about votes for women, to a dress that she made to wear at the Arts Society Ball in 1914 and a feeding tube that was used in Armley Prison. An exhibition was put on here at Abbey House in the 1966 (with the help of Leonora herself) which was how we came to acquire such a collection of material that is still relevant today.

If you are interested in the collection, we have a number of items (including the dress and feeding tube) on display in the Leeds Gallery at Leeds City Museum. Most of the archival and paper material is kept in storage at Abbey House Museum – but if you would like to see some of it you can contact the museum in advance and we will try to set up an appointment for you to come and view it.

And now, the end is near and so I face the final curtain..

2011-10-08T14:17:00.013+01:00

300 years ago in 1711, John 1st Earl Poulett comissioned the Queen Anne State Bed and then named his son Anne.
30 Years ago in 1981 the bed was purchased for Leeds.
5 Years ago extensive research began into the restoration of the bed.
18 Months ago I started writing about it.
2 weeks ago the upholsters arrived and littered the Picture Gallery with all of the vast acres of finished curtains, cornices and valences.

Up went the new cornices, across went the curtains and all I could do was watch.

Now was the moment when my zillions of phonecalls and hundreds of panic stricken and slightly officious emails finally made sense. It's coming together, it's almost the end. I think I speak for all the upholsterers, weavers, engineers, designers, artists, carvers, curators and conservators, when I say, "Yes! We did it our way".

Even yesterday the mattress platform went in. In a few days time, three mattresses, four velvet feet, and one bed cover arrive. A final bit of tweaking and we will have put the bed, to bed, so to speak. So now, until it is finished, no more will be said about the bed. No more photos. No more blog updates on our progress. I don't want to spoil it for you. If you do get desperate @CuratorPolly on twitter might mumble something. Dearest readers, I am afraid that if you want to see the finished bed you will need to wait until December 8th when our Bedtime Stories exhibiton begins.

The Secret Lives of Contemporary Collectors

2011-10-06T12:45:00.027+01:00

Since the Leeds City Museum re-opened in 2008, the Community History department has been committed to inviting local collectors to display some of their contemporary collections in our Collectors Cabinet Gallery.

So far we have hosted ten collectors displays that have included; Disney, teddy bears, Star Trek, soap powder boxes, half-dolls, Lord of the Rings, Black History, Snow Globes & Cocktail Sticks, Spice Girls and our current Cher display, see image below.

The objects are only half of the exhibition as each display is accompanied by a short film of the collector being interviewed. These are generally recorded at peoples homes so we can capture the way their houses can act as mini museums themselves!

Here are a couple of behind the scenes photos of us filming our next two collectors, Maria and Mary.

If you have a collection you would like to display at the City Museum in the future, please contact Marek Romaniszyn (Assistant Curator of Community History) at the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre.

Blind botanists, Iraqi mulberries and the Cowthorpe Oak

2011-09-27T11:05:00.000+01:00

During my botany internship at the Discovery Centre I have been working on the collection of Mr John Grimshaw Wilkinson (1856 - 1937). This contains many samples of plants from the Leeds area, as well as others from around the world. Some of the most interesting examples include twigs from what was the largest oak in England, at Cowthorpe, near York, and two Mulberry samples from Basra, Iraq. I find these items interesting because each is accompanied by an old photograph, so it is easier to imagine exactly how the plants would have looked when growing, and what kind of places they grew in. It is also interesting looking at the work of John Wilkinson because he had a difficult life but was still extremely accomplished.

Wilkinson started his working life as a grocer, however, after a severe illness left him blind at the age of 22 he went on to become a well-known and respected botanist, identifying his samples through touch and smell. According to a friend of his, his usual method of identification was to lick the edges of leaves to check their shape, which can't always have been a pleasant experience. He was also known for his excellent memory and advised on the planting of several parks in Leeds. In 1915 the University of Leeds awarded Mr Wilkinson an honorary Msc degree in recognition of his work. Mr Wilkinson lived in Leeds for his whole life but the collections in the Discovery Centre show a wide range of contacts from across the world including Iraq, Canada and Australia. Even as someone who doesn't really know a lot about plants, I find it inspiring to think about how much effort Mr Wilkinson must have made in order to overcome his blindness and build such a large and varied collection.

The object to the left is a sample from the famous Cowthorpe Oak which was about 20m in circumference. There are even records of 70 people (mainly children) fitting inside the hollow of its trunk at one time, although some must have sat on each others' shoulders to fit in. By the 1800's the oak was already in decline but there are records that in the early 1700's the branches spread to cover over half an acre (about 1/4 of a full-sized premiership football pitch). The sample in our store was taken by Mr Wilkinson on 1st August 1916, although it has since died completely. In the photograph below it is just possible to see Mr. Wilkinson standing in front of the tree. The branch supporting beams shown in the sketch can also be seen.

The Mulberry samples to the right were collected in Makina Masus, Basra, Iraq in 1918 by H. Whitehead (Bsc) and sent to Mr Wilkinson. Whitehead was obviously also a keen botanist as he is mentioned as a collector in several botanical journals such as the Kew Bulletin (1957, 12:2). British troops were posted in Basra to protect oil supplies during WW1, although we do not know whether Whitehead was there with the armed forces or independently. The attached photograph presumably shows the area they were picked from. These are just a few examples of items with interesting back stories, but it is amazing how the little clues scattered throughout the Wilkinson Collection build up to form a picture of the friendships and acquaintances of one man, and how his work was known across the world in the days before instant communication.

Posted by Clare but written and researched by Kim Hemming (biology intern, Summer 2011) who worked diligently on the wonderful herbarium collection held at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre.

Volunteer’s Tea Party at Leeds City Museum

2011-09-19T16:30:00.000+01:00

At Leeds Museums and Galleries we have around eighty volunteers giving their time to help us across our nine museums and galleries sites. Our volunteers help with lots of different tasks such as cleaning and caring for the objects, repacking and sorting, researching objects that we don’t know very much about, supporting the commercial team to keep the museums shops stocked and helping us at special events. Based on the current number of volunteers we have and the hours they give to the service we think that our volunteers will have contributed around 10,000 hours to our service in this year alone and completed a lot of work that we wouldn’t have been able to resource without their precious time and hard work.

Every year in June ‘Volunteers Week’ celebrates the work volunteers do right across the UK. During this years ‘Volunteers Week’ we held a Tea Party at Leeds City Museum as a small thank you for all of the hard work our volunteers do. Many of our volunteers came along for a lovely lunch, a massage/alternative therapy session, a fun quiz and a special invitation only guided tour of the museum!

Volunteers had the opportunity to meet with volunteers and staff from our other sites and chat about their different roles over lunch and a cuppa!

Thank you to all of our hardworking volunteers for the work you do and for making our Volunteers Week celebration a success.

We hope to see all of our volunteers together again at the Christmas party.

Conservation...the final frontier.....to boldly treat objects no one has dared treat before.....

2011-09-14T16:48:00.027+01:00

The project which is re-constructing the Hinton House state bed to its original "angel" tester configuration is not over yet, but the end is in sight, and the combined efforts of various skilled people have started to coalesce in to what the state bed expert Annabel Westman reckons to be the most exciting and ambitious bed restoration project to have taken place in many years. I am making the last major wooden components, the carved feet, that will be covered in the same crimson velvet that features on the outer valances, cornices and curtains. I am using limewood (Tilia species *), which has ideal carving properties, easy to work, and close-grained. The lime tree that the timber is from was felled on Temple Newsam Estate over 10 years ago, and I have had several planks of it air-drying since then. Carving of such heavily 3D, essentially sculptural work, has been new territory for me, and like everybody involved with this project, I have learned a lot, not the least of which is the importance, in sculpting/carving from a solid, of first making a maquette in something pliable, such as clay, in order to arrive at the design, or something close. A big thank you to artist Catherine Gray for taking me in hand on that. Moreover, I owe a lot to a previous generation of curators, such as Christopher Gilbert, Anthony Wells-Cole and James Lomax, for an extraordinary leap of faith in appointing me to help look after the heritage assets at Temple Newsam, and for great leadership afterwards. If I have achieved anything worthwhile in my career as a museum professional, it is to them that I largely attribute it. Someone else to acknowledge and thank is the late Sir Yehudi Menuhin, whose book Unfinished Journey had quite a marked effect on my own journey. A few words about his trusteeship of West Dean College, and the college itself, was enough for me to research this institution, and end up studying there.

The accompanying exhibition on beds and bedding, which will open late in 2011, will be a worthy addition to the lexicon of ground breaking Temple Newsam exhibitions on country house themes. As the project nears its completion it is worth reflecting on the efforts of the previous generation of curators to whom Temple Newsam House, as a great museum of decorative and fine art, owes its existence. Make it so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilia

http://www.westdean.org.uk/

Victorian Astronomer’s Chair

2011-09-06T13:43:00.000+01:00

In the Library at Lotherton Hall is a strange chair with a long, narrow, curved back made out of a single piece of wood. The supporting frame is so low that it almost scrapes along the ground and the back is at a delirious angle somewhere between 33 and 45 degrees. So what is it? It looks too low to be a nursing chair - how would the unfortunate nurse get out of it? – and it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with books and reading. The only clue is a metal disc which is fixed to the inside of one of the legs with a die-stamped inscription. It reads W.CALLAGHAN REGISTERED LONDON JAN.15 1873 23A NEW BOND STREET. William Callaghan was an optician who practised in London and his name appears in trade directories between 1866 and 1892. The label tells us that he patented this design in 1873. Was it for his patients to sit in? Hardly; it would have been very difficult to examine them in that position. Much more likely it was for gazing at the stars. William seems to have had a sideline in optical equipment which he probably did not make himself but sold from his premises.

The chair has always looked a little out of place in the library. If only Lotherton had an observatory - but it hasn’t and the Gascoigne family who lived here don’t seem to have had any interest in stargazing. The chair is so interesting and unusual that we couldn’t possibly just leave it in store. Perhaps if we had a telescope to show alongside it…?

Every bone tells a story

2011-09-06T09:02:00.004+01:00

My name is Janet Fletcher, the Osteoarchaeologist in the Lifelong Learning Centre at the University of Leeds and I am working, with my colleague Debbie Hallam, on the unprovenanced human remains collection at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre. In early July I also had help from an ex student of mine Emily Marlow, who is now doing her PhD at the University of Manchester and who wanted access to skeletal material to provide data to test her theory about biometric sexing techniques.

I still need to analyse a few boxes but to date the skeletal material has been very interesting and despite lack of provenance there are some interesting stories to be told about the lives of the individuals studied. There is evidence of trauma, cultural modification, disease, lifestyle and activity-related pathologies. One individual in particular exhibits the marks of interpersonal violence and is proving to be a sad and moving case study.

All of the material studied has the potential for integration into community-based learning activities and the next step is to discuss the development of sessions to introduce the stories of the past populations of West Yorkshire to those living here today. I am looking forward to it.

Above: The facial reconstruction of Nesyamun, the Leeds Mummy, on display in Leeds City Museum.

Author: Janet Fletcher, Osteoarchaeologist, Sept 2011.

Walter Meeson's dulcimer

2011-08-31T09:39:00.011+01:00

Every so often a family history enquiry comes along that sheds new light on objects which have been sitting quietly in the museum collections. When Howard Beck contacted us to see if we still had a zither belonging to his ancestor Walter Stainton Meeson I was able to show him not only the instrument in question (actually a dulcimer - which is similar to a zither, but the strings are struck by hammers), but also a photograph and the bronze medal and certificate he won for making it. In exchange, Mr Beck has provided a full biography of the man we previously only knew as W.S. Meeson of Leeds.

It turns out that Walter was born in Stockton-on-Tees, son of a master brush-maker and beer retailer. We don't know how he gained his musical education but he seems to have been living in Shoreditch, London in 1888 where at the age of 22 he married his first wife Eliza Elizabeth Nockles. This is also the year in which he made the dulcimer and entered it into the Workmen's Industrial Exhibition held at the People's Palace for East London on Mile End Road. It won him a bronze medal.

The plaque on the dulcimer reads "W.S. Meeson, Leeds" and he was certainly living in the city by 1911 when he appears at Oban Villas, 89 Leopold Street in the census. The dulcimer is specifically mentioned in his will and was passed to his son Harold Meeson. Walter had made his living as a music teacher, musical instrument maker and piano tuner and died a wealthy man in 1928.

Quite what inspired him to make a dulcimer is unclear. The instrument originated at least 2000 years ago and was popular in the middle ages. It is the ancestor of hammered keyboard instruments such as the pianoforte. Dulcimers are commonly used in the folk music of eastern Europe but are also played in the traditional music of Wales, East Anglia and Northumbria.

The dulcimer is currently at the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre.

Hinton House bed project: conserved inner valances installed

2011-08-17T11:33:00.006+01:00

Three of the original silk damask inner valances were in good enough condition, such that with expert textile conservation, undertaken and supervised by Caroline Rendell, they could be re-united with the tester. Cleaning, consolidation of lifting fibres, infilling of losses, and netting have made these three valances presentable, and they have just been installed.

Soapy Joe's sewing machine

2011-08-17T09:30:00.005+01:00

With well over a hundred sewing machines in our collections we generally no longer accept them, although I receive several offers a month. So what made us want to collect this one? And what could it possibly have to do with soap!

Although it was not made in Leeds (it is a Jones model, made in Manchester) this sewing machine was given as a promotional prize by one of Leeds' most successful companies, Joseph Watson & Sons, often affectionately referred to as "Soapy Joe's". Printed prominently in full colour is the following: "Presented with the Compliments of Joseph Watson & Sons Limited, Whitehall Soap Works, Leeds, Competition 1906".

Joseph Watson & Sons were one of largest soap manufacturers in the country and their leading brands were Watson's Matchless Cleanser and Venus soap. They employed about 750 people and were producing six hundred tons of soap a week in 1893. However they were in a very competetive market with well-known rivals such as Pear's, so needed to have inventive ways to publicise their brand. This sewing machine was one of the top prizes in a newspaper advertising campaign to promote Watson's soap. Customers were encouraged to save and send in their soap wrappers, with the best prizes going to those who sent in the most. The top prize in 1906 was £50 cash and there were 500 of these Jones' hand sewing machines (valued at £6) on offer. Every customer was sent something, even if just an unspecified "consolation prize".

The company did not have an entirely clean reputation. As well as soap, the company also dealt in oil, resin, tallow, animal skins and hides, some of which caught fire in 1892 at their warehouse under the Dark Arches. The company's waste helped to pollute the river Aire and one of their less household-friendly products was dynamite!

The sewing machine is on display at Abbey House Museum for the next few months, part of a small display of objects acquired by the museum during 2010 and 2011.

Dealing in Shells

2011-08-04T12:36:00.013+01:00

Since February I have been undertaking a natural history internship documenting a significant collector's mollusc collection which contains over eight thousand shells . . .

. . . over eight thousand shells from across the globe, collected over a lifetime of devotion to Conchology which now reside in the grand stores of the Discovery Centre in Leeds.

Who could have possibly amassed such a collection of molluscs?

The answer to that question would be Sylvanus Charles Thorpe Hanley (1819-1899).

But who was he and how did the collection come to rest in Leeds?

How did he move from the halls of Wadham College, Oxford, studying humanities to becoming a leading author on mollusca? Although there is little documenting Hanley’s personal life we do know that after inheriting a fortune at a relatively young age he was able to focus all of his energies on a sixty year career of collecting and discovering molluscs. Resulting in him publishing the first book on shells using the then new technique of photography. Hanley not only collected extensively for himself but also corresponded frequently with many other naturalists of his time. Even acquiring several specimens of the now extinct, Unio, for fellow naturalist Issac Lea.

After his death in Penzance, 1899, the collection became the property of his nephew Mr Crew Hanley. After this inheritance a significant portion of the collection types then found their way into the hands of the British Museum via the means of a shell collector known as H. Harvey. Following this there was a period of silence concerning the collection before it emerges again during the 1930s as a donation to the Tolson Memorial Museum in Huddersfield, and finally being transferred to Leeds in 1957.

Although little is known of Hanley as person it is evident from his work on mollusca that he was a driving force in the natural history world, willing to collaborate with anyone if not working alone.

LEEDM.C.1957.173

Posted by Clare but written and researched by Kate Hollier (biology intern, Spring 2011) who worked diligently on the wonderful Hanley shell collection held at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre.

A tale of two cisterns

2011-07-28T13:16:00.005+01:00

My colleagues at Temple Newsam may be rejoicing at the successful purchase of a splendid silver wine cistern once used by Lord Raby. However, in my humble opinion, the cistern acquired yesterday into the Leeds history collections is just as important in its own way.

Evidence that Leeds really was a city of "a thousand trades" and home to many very specialised manufacturing companies, we have just collected a wooden toilet cistern made by the Valveless Syphon Company based in Kirkstall, Leeds. This was collected from a house in West Park that was built around 1911. The cistern uses the company's "Waterfall patent" system which was patented in 1905. A link to the original patent can be found here: http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=GB&NR=190503237A&KC=A&FT=D&date=19051102&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_EP

The company was still listed in Kelly's trade directory of 1947 as based at Wyther Lane.

Thanks to the Leeds Local History library and the Patents Information Service for help in researching this object.

Fabric!

2011-07-08T12:16:00.019+01:00

The Queen Anne State bed, is, well, not quite nearly finished but the end is in sight. Essential to the whole process of restoration has been choosing the fabrics and trimmings for upholstering the bed. In 1710, the fabric you used said a lot about who you were. The bed was probably made at the very moment that he became first Lord of the Treasury, a most prestigious position in the Royal Court. The silk damask and velvet and gold lace (braid) were amongst the most costly fabrics available. To give some context, he probably spent the equivalent of 5 farm workers’ annual wages on velvet and 9 farm workers’ wages on gold. The 1st Earl Poulett wasn’t messing around. His extravagant fabric choice conveyed his high status and what must have been his immense wealth. Likewise, choosing suitable replacements must mimic as much as possible the opulence and splendour of the original but also match in with faded glamour of what remains. Difficult decisions were made and compromises were inevitable. However, Visiting the upholsterers and seeing the valences being remade, the curtains hung and the cornices recovered, I think that the project team has chosen rather well. Ask me more about the bed using Twitter! http://twitter.com/CuratorPolly

We chose the colour by matching it to where another sample was glued!

New and Old together

We chose the velvet colour using tufts.

Colin covering a new cornice with velvet.

Kasia sewing on braid on a new valence

A glimpse of what the finished cornice will look like, covered in velvet and gold lace.

An architect uncovered (and the story of a successful placement)

2011-06-24T16:11:00.004+01:00

My name is Archana Kapoor and I have just finished a three week placement at Abbey House Museum.

I have very much enjoyed my placement here at Abbey House. It was a great opportunity to increase my experience of working in museums. I had had a brief experience of working in my local museum in Wolverhampton, but the length of the placement hardly allowed for much work. At Abbey House it has been the opposite! I have been involved in such a wide range of activities and tasks from cataloguing images and text on TMS, preparing web texts, measuring and scanning photos, dusting items at Discovery Centre, to researching in trade directories. Such a range of work has given me a different insight into the world of museums and curatorial work. It is not only continuous but also extremely flexible. I have found it also requires good social skills. I was a bit taken aback when I asked to attend a buffet lunch (for volunteers) on my second day, but I found that I enjoyed meeting different people and began to feel part of a team. I was very grateful for the help and advice that Kitty and Nicola gave me, especially during the first week, but also (and perhaps more!) the interesting conversations we and other staff had about their work and historical issues in general. It gives out a signal of enthusiasm, which made the placement even more enjoyable.

Similarly, each task I was asked to do I enjoyed - even the dusting! It was something new that I hadn't even thought of as being part of a museum job before, the work that goes into creating a profile on TMS and in addition it tested my flexibility as well. What I valued more as an historian, however, was the work done with primary sources, something which does not happen as much in my course. I did find though that the method of researching for my degree helped in my placement. Trade directories, censuses, newspaper archives and National Registry information were all used in the work I was set.

One of the tasks I really got stuck into was finding out about the man behind the drawing tools (see picture at the top)! Having quite literally just a name to go by, I soon found that Thomas Howdill had had quite a brilliant career as an architect and popped up every now and then in the newspaper announcements. Again, trade directories and newspaper archives were used, and I was delighted to be able to see the drawing instruments themselves when the donor brought them in this week. It was a thrill for to me to see the link between the information on paper and a physical link to the person I was researching. It is this element of my placement, which has flown by, that I value most, and which is something my course had not quite introduced me to. Because of this, and because of the kindness of the staff, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself here at Abbey House.

Archana Kapoor, History undergraduate student at Leeds University.

The drawing instruments have just been donated to the museum by Mr Woods from Pembrokeshire who was given them as a boy by Mr Howdill (Mr Wood's mother and grandmother cleaned for the Howdill family). Thomas Howdill designed among other buildings the Oxford Place Chapel and Brudenell School in Leeds.

Up on the roof - Temple Newsam House

2011-06-19T15:43:00.001+01:00

Up on the roof - Temple Newsam House, a set on Flickr.

There’ll be dancing in them there streets…

2011-06-15T18:31:00.009+01:00

Two months ago, if someone had asked me about the most unusual way my research had been used, my answer would probably have been rather unexciting - for use in an exhibition or an essay. If someone asked me today, my answer would be very different...

Over the last few months, a team of dedicated museum staff along with volunteers and members of different Leeds communities have been frantically preparing for a summer of 'Dancing in the Street' - the next special exhibition to arrive at Leeds City Museum from next month. It will be looking at carnivals and celebrations, focussing on four very different Leeds events - Otley Carnival (18th June), Bramley Carnival (17th July), Leeds Pride (7th August) and the Leeds West Indian Carnival (29th August). However, rather than simply collecting and curating souvenirs and memories, the team leading the exhibition had a dream - a dream where Leeds Museums and Galleries would not just spectate, but would participate in these events.

To start with it sounded easy - a group of people would make a few costumes and enjoy some fun (hopefully) in the sun. But, it quickly became clear that there was going to be a lot more to it. I wasn't involved in the original planning of the exhibition, but have been to a fair few carnivals around Leeds, and was gently coaxed by Helen Langwick, Curator of Exhibitions at Leeds City Museum, into taking part. I dutifully attended the first information session, but with my dislike of dancing and wearing costumes, I really wanted to find a way to help behind the scenes. My opportunity came when Hughbon Condor, renowned carnival costume designer, told us about his vision for the costumes.

For those of you unfamiliar with carnival etiquette, there are showpiece costumes designed to wow the audience, and troupe costumes that are usually themed to match the big costumes. In our troupe there are going to be two main costumes. One is based around Leeds Museum Discovery Centre, and the objects and treasures in our collections. The other is the Leeds 'His-tree' - a tree made up of leaves using a selection of images to reflect the history of Leeds. The other members of the troupe are split into two different groups - the saplings who support the 'His-tree', and a group wearing historical costume to demonstrated the wide range of historical sites and objects our collections represent.

My job, on the surface, sounded easy - find pictures representing the history of Leeds. Once I began, it quickly dawned on me what an enormous task it was. Firstly, where do you start? As Assistant Curator of Leeds and Social History, I am used to looking for stories in the unlikely, often overlooked places. I didn't want to miss anyone or anything out - but there are only so many leaves one carnival costume can support. I spent several afternoons trawling through a wealth of images - firstly from our own collections and then on the fantastic http://www.leodis.net/. (Can I just add a massive thank you to the staff at Leeds Libraries for all their help).

But how on earth do you pick key events over such a long period that will give something for everyone?

In the end I started thinking about the events and people I already knew about. It was important to include modern events and images as well as those long since past so that everyone at the carnivals would see something familiar and that meant something to them. It must be noted that, at this stage, I still had little idea of what the finished costume would look like. This made it especially tricky to visualise which images would fit well. My next step was to speak to people I knew had been in Leeds for most, if not all of their lives, to see if they could think of anything I hadn't. I then tried to fill in a few gaps as there were some great suggestions that we didn't have the images to support. (Another thank you goes to the Leeds office of the West Yorkshire Archives Service).

Once I had compiled a rather long shortlist of images, it was out of my hands until they arrived printed and ready to turn into a 'his-tree'. However, the rest of the troupe have been working extremely hard, giving up evenings and weekends to make the vision come alive since then. I went along to their penultimate workshop last Saturday, and was really impressed with the almost finished article. The residents of Clarence Dock had no idea what had hit them when the troupe were marching and dancing up and down the Discovery Centre car park in full costume - taking instruction from 'Dancing Debbie', charged with the task of coordinating everyone's routine - with some typical West Indian Carnival music booming out from a stereo on the steps! There were still lots of bits and pieces to do, but it was the first time I could truly imagine how all my research would fit in and what it would look like.

If you fancy coming and having a look at the finished articles, you can either see the troupe taking part in the four carnivals over the summer - or when we're not off 'Dancing in the Street', you can see them as part of the Special Exhibition at the City Museum running from 22nd July 2011 until January 8th 2012. The first carnival date os Otley this Saturday (June 18th 2011). Please come and support us and see for yourself what the 'His-tree' of Leeds has to say.

For more information visit our website - www.leeds.gov.uk/citymuseum or come and find us at one of the carnivals!

The first UK telephone call

2011-06-14T10:31:00.004+01:00

This mysterious looking polished wooden object (one of a pair) is actually part of the equipment through which the first ever telephone conversation passed in the United Kingdom. Its significance might have been lost for ever without the remains of an old museum label which stated that it was an "early telephone receiver" made and donated by James E. Bedford. Unlabelled this would have probably remained as an unregarded "mystery object" in the museum stores.

In 2010 we had an enquiry from a descendent of James's brother Charles S. Bedford asking to see what was reputed to be "the first telephone in made England" and were able to locate it and start to understand its significance, but the evidence was still just anecdotal. Earlier this month we received a letter from George Rudram, a volunteer at Amberley Museum in West Sussex which helps shed light on the claim and enclosing a copy of an article in "The Telegraph and Telephone Journal" from April 1933.

The article is based on an interview with Mr Charles S. Bedford, Managing Director of the Leeds firm of Wood & Bedford, manufacturing chemists:

"In 1876, he and his brother the late Mr James Edward Bedford, later to become the first Lord Mayor of Leeds in the Great War period, were two youths interested in all kinds of mechanical contrivances. To assist them in their hobby, they perused among others, the periodical "Scientific Americans". From it they were vastly intrigued by a description of Graham Bell's new invention, the telephone, and they immediately decided to make two replicas.

A suitable piece of beech was first obtained and by turning on a lathe the frames of two telephones were evolved. Mr. Charles Bedford has rather poignant memories of this lathe, for he states that he provided the necessary power, whilst the future Lord Mayor performed the more skilled operations. For the next stage a bar of steel 2 feet long and 5/8 inch diameter was obtained and cut to the desired lengths. The pieces were then bored and tapped for an adjusting screw, and magnetised.

The diaphragms were made of thin ferro-type plate and were very similar to the modern type. The coils were made of fine wire wound round bobbins, the latter being fixed to the bar magnet and the two ends of the wire coils led out to terminals at the other end of the magnet. A wooden cup, bevelled in the centre similar to the present receiver caps, was fitted by means of screws, and the combined receiver-transmitter was ready.

Bell wire was run on pot insulators from the attic to a workshop about 30 yards away in the grounds of their residence, Sycamore Lodge, Woodhouse Cliff, Leeds. The internal leads to the instruments were of gutta-percha covered wire.

Although no batteries were used, speech could be heard quite plainly at the first trial after a preliminary adjustment of the adjusting screws.

The first conversation over the line was:-

"Are you there?"

"Yes, I am, will you count?"

"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9"

"That's all right. Will you go through the alphabet."

"A.B.C.D.--"

"Wait a minute while I adjust the screw."

The new telephone was an object of interest to all the friends of the family and many were the demonstrations given in the evenings."

The original instruments were donated to Leeds Museums by James Bedford in the early 1920s.

It appears from the chronology that James and Charles Bedford just managed to make their replica telephone before Graham Bell patented his invention in England. Bell had been granted his US patent in March 1876. The Bedford brothers first tried out their version in October and Bell was granted his English patent in December. Bell's telephone was first officially exhibited in England in August 1877 to the British Association at Plymouth and was demonstrated to Queen Victoria in January 1878.

Muntaka Musa comments on Leeds Hausa Hats

2011-05-16T10:59:00.013+01:00

Muntaka Musa is a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, who is studying for an MSc in Design at the University of Leeds this year. Following a conversation during an Islamic display at Parkinson Court he kindly agreed to comment on Leeds Museums' Hausa collections. The Hausa people live in northern Nigeria. Muntaka Musa is himself from Katsina, capital of Katsina state. These photographs show Muntaka with his own hat, a hat with geometric hand embroidery of high quality, the sort of hat which is known by a local name that translates as 'See You at the Bank'. The textile design with sharks is his own work.

Amongst the museum's Hausa collection is one hat similar to Muntaka's, with blue on yellow hand embroidery, and another of even finer more detailed stitching of three bands of geometric design topped by a cream silk thread bound knob.

The rest of the Leeds Hausa hats are of lesser quality. The knitted hat, with bright mauve diamonds and triangles on a green ground, would have been made with a circular needle and a smaller hooked needle. Tha Hausa name for this type of knitting is Kwarashi. The museum's hat is made of cotton, but they are often made from wool, and are popular urban wear for poorer people, being very cheap to buy. A machine embroidered one, with a design of elephants and camels, would definitely have had the design pencil sketched onto the fabric first. The plain cream cotton stitched hat, with several different stitching patterns, would be made without a preparatory sketch, and the design is known by a Hausa phrase which translates as a 'thousand punches'. A very new looking hat, unworn, made from deep blue silk velvet with rows of elephants, is probably an experiment with a left over piece of fabric, an experiment which went wrong, as the elephants are all upside down.

Just as dead as a Dodo...

2011-05-12T15:19:00.002+01:00

In 2008, I was rummaging through a box of Dodo bones when I came across something I hadn't expected. I was looking for material to use in an articulated Dodo skeleton for the displays at Leeds City Museum.

The box was marked 'Dodo bones' but half its contents clearly wasn't Dodo - the bones were slimmer and of a different colour. I was very disappointed, it appeared that we didn't have quite as large a collection of Dodo material as we'd thought. What I'd come across however, was something just as special: an unknown cache of Great Auk bones.

Great Auks are extinct seabirds that lived across the north Atlantic - for more information see http://tinyurl.com/3k4kmxy . Their skins, eggs and bones have been popular with collectors for centuries but Leeds - up until now - did not have any Great Auk material in its collections (we did have a mount at the end of the 19th century but sadly that was only a loan and so finally ended up being sold to Edinburgh).

Great Auk bones are relatively common in museums but what was surprising in this case was that no one knew Leeds had any. A photograph of a display in Leeds c.1930, clearly shows Great Auk bones lying behind a 'Bones of the extinct DODO' label. The chunky Dodo bones lie behind the slender Auks at the front:

So there we are - a new species to add to the record books in Leeds. If you would like to visit the bones then please make an appointment to see them (for free) at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre.

Great Auk Pinguinus impennis
LEEDM.C.2010.179

The biggest objects in the collections

2011-05-10T10:12:00.015+01:00

The historic buildings under Leeds Museums and Galleries care are the biggest objects in the collections. They are an assemblage of an almost countless number of separate objects of course, but their care needs to be looked at in the round. Listed Buildings, like Temple Newsam House, Grade One listing, are protected by legislation and their care, repair, modification etc. need to be done in prescribed ways. Reactive maintenance, planned programmed maintenance, periodic surveys by building experts, housekeeping inside and out are all typical actions. William Morris advocated a drip, drip "little and often" approach to the care of old buildings, an approach which the Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) also advocates. Our visitor assistants contribute to this cycle in a quiet way that is perhaps not appreciated enough, and they take a lot of pride in helping to look after what they know to be a very special building.

Here Les is renewing the oil finish that protects the oak North Hall door. First he has rubbed down, with an abrasive pad, the previous year's coat, which also cleans the door and prepares it for the oil. After a thorough rub down and dusting off Les applied diluted tung oil, a drying oil that is highly effective in protecting wood outdoors, and dries to a matt finish. The wood is protected, the colour is saturated, and the whole appearance of the door is given a lift.

Here Lynne and Louise are weeding and clearing up leaves in the coal cellar area, just outside the north cellars. Exposed to the elements, and sheltered, makes it an area that is prone to plant growth. Unsightly, but also potentially damaging to pointing, and possible harbourages for rodents. These might all seem like minor tasks but someone has got to do them and, taken in the round, these sorts of tasks make a huge difference to care, presentation, and service delivery.

Even seemingly minor details are important to get right in the context of a Listed building, down to the correct repair of the exterior door handle of North Hall door. After decades of wear the pin, holding the wonderful Victorian handle, had worn close to the point where it would fall out, with the consequential loss of the handle. An effective repair was specified to a suitably skilled metalworker, who has a long-standing working relationship with Temple Newsam's metalworking needs. Continuity of care is of paramount importance when looking after heritage assets.

Yippeee!!! Hinton House state bed tester is installed!

2011-05-04T23:02:00.018+01:00

The steel bracket installed and bolted to a joist and RSJ in the ceiling void for the suspension hook, being fitted in this picture.

The suspension hook.

The tester about to be raised to height on Genie lifts.

On its way up.

Connected to the ceiling with the "angel rods".

The tester is supported also by a substantial wall bracket.

The stunning damask and ribbon within the tester.

A big thank you to Tim Martin of Context Engineering for the manufacture of the suspension metalwork and curtain rail and help with the installation.

The bed frame has been assembled under the tester. Decisions need to be made about the next stages of the project, such as specifics as the height of the headboard. I think we had better get on with fitting a mattress and support so that Adrian here can have a proper kip. Helping to assemble the frame must have left him a bit cream crackered.

Hinton House state bed re-construction project update

2011-03-15T14:37:00.028Z

Copy of the cornice, delivered and it looks fantastic. The carving and carved curves of the original cornices has been faithfully copied by carver Mike Howden. Jon Wray, joiner, undertook the manufacture of the structural works, to which the carvings are attached, and mouldings such as the very bold cove, technically quite a challenge to make. As with the tester, whose original construction left rather a lot to be desired, so it is with the original cornices. Brilliant carving, but rickety structural work. Jon Wray, working with Mike Howden, devised an understructure that is very light, but rigid. Like the consolidation work on the tester the new constructional design is essential for rigidity, but unseen.

Meanwhile, work progresses on the construction of the oak bed frame. State beds of this era follow a standard pattern, and it is the state bed at Dyrham Park that has been used as the example to follow.

Conserving the textiles involves, in part, careful cleaning to remove years of dust.

The tester has been turned over so that the textile conservator can undertake consolidation and cleaning of the surviving textiles, and disguise areas of loss.

The ceiling void above where the tester is to be suspended has been assessed, and the requisite support structure designed. There is a massive RSJ steel beam to attach to, a beam that was added years ago to support the weight of the showcases in the room above the Crimson Bedroom. The pilot hole is being marked in the picture left. The RSJ is on the left side of the picture on the right. The drill bit can just be seen between the tape measure and the RSJ.

And one very dead bird near the point of tester suspension. Poor thing must have found its way in through a disused sealed up chimney in the room, with a gap down in the void, and gotten trapped. All chimneys were capped when Temple Newsam was re-roofed in the late 1990s. Not the first dead bird I have come across in Leeds' historic houses, I hope it is the last.

Willow Pattern Take Two

2011-03-11T15:00:00.006Z

As a ceramics graduate I was somewhat surprised to discover my ignorance of the story of the Willow Pattern. I stumbled across the tale whilst carrying out my internship on the documentation of the pearlware collection at Temple Newsam. The now familiar blue and white Chinese scene, created by Josiah Spode in the late 18th century to imitate Oriental porcelain, proceeded to flood the market and appeared on a whole host of earthenware, from egg cups to potted meat dishes. The legend of the pattern had passed me by but fear not, I shall fill you in..

Willow Pattern PLate, Spode, Late 1700s, LEEAG. 1969.11.86

A Mandarin customs officer, who lived in the large two storey temple centre-right of the image, grew rich whilst his secretary Chang did all the work. Amongst rumours of bribery and corruption, the officer was granted retirement by the emperor, and he withdrew to his lovely house taking with him his secretary and Koong-se, his beautiful daughter. Chang and the Mandarin's daughter soon fell in love and continued to meet in secret after Chang had finished the work and been dismissed. They knew their love could never be as they were from different classes and her father had forbidden their relationship.

The Mandarin imprisoned his daughter in the smaller house next to the main building, enforcing the separation with a fence to keep them apart, and then betrothed her to his wealthy duke friend Ta-Jin who came bearing a box of wedding jewels. Obviously ancient Chinese grooms and fathers-of-the-bride are no different from their modern Western counterparts, and they set about getting drunk before the nuptials. Taking their chance, Chang and Koong-se raced across the bridge to freedom, pursued by her whip-brandishing father. Evading him, they sailed on a boat to a far off island and settled there happily.

Luckily they had remembered to grab the box of jewels before their escape, which they sold, using the money to buy the island and build a home. Chang wrote a book on agriculture and gained a great reputation which sounds lovely, but unfortunately this success was to be his downfall. His fame led the angry jilted Ta-Jin straight to his door, who then had him arrested and killed. Koong-se was so distraught at the death of her partner that she ran to her home and set it alight, dying in the flames. Koong-se and Chang were reunited in death, transformed into the two doves which make the Willow pattern so distinctive, the fated lovers flying together for eternity; the willow tree at the heart of the pattern signifying sadness.

Blue and white transfer printed Chinoiserie was hugely popular from the moment it was manufactured, and though it may flit in and out of fashion it won't go away. The Willow pattern has come to symbolise an entire era of British ceramic production. It still continues to inform and inspire. As in all contemporary art mediums, ceramicists draw inspiration from the past. Two relatively recent Leeds Museums and Galleries acquisitions which clearly demonstrate this are Robert Dawson's plates, 'Bridge' and 'Border', from the After Willow series designed for Wedgwood in 1995.

Bridge and Border by Robert Dawson for Wedgewood, LEEAG.2006.13.1&2

These plates, which directly reference the pattern, reinterpret the familiar design and present it back to us in a fresh way, encouraging us to look again at the 18th century ware side by side with the new. Skewed and slanted, they could be dismissed as mere copies of an original, but is that not what the first Willow pattern itself was created for - imitation and suggestion? To me, these pieces represent the importance of adding modern work to museum collections, they have such value in moving collections forward, challenging us to create new connections and references. Seeing them in the pottery store cabinets placed next to the 200 year old earthenware is so much more rewarding than only viewing them in a contemporary gallery setting with no reference to their origin.

I love the sentiment of the Willow and its enduring imagery, the timeless story. Once I knew its history, I connected to it and got so much more from it than taking it for face value. Now I know this tragic story, its easy to distinguish the pattern from other similar variants. Imagine my delight upon finding my own small piece of ceramic history in an antiques shop; a marked Middlesbrough Pottery Willow pattern plate, cracked and unwanted and mine for 25p. A real bargain.

By Helen Pickles, Ceramics Intern, Temple Newsam House

World's biggest 3D Jigsaw?

2011-02-18T08:53:00.004Z

A bold claim maybe but a big puzzle nonetheless. My engineering volunteer team Andy and Gill found these rusting cast iron leviathans stored outside whilst auditing, apparently in no particular order but next to other bits of machinery including a press, a rolling mill and a couple of large boilers. The first image appeared to be a lineshaft with a set of pulleys and two flywheels, not a common arrangement. The second picture shows, hidden in the undergrowth, a large cast iron disc with rubber inserted around the rim and a central square sockle hole. The third picture seemed to be two curved arms with bearing rests at one end. After Gill and Andy brought the audit sheets back and i was trying to reconcile what we found with accessioned items I had several trips down to try and figure out the puzzling bits and pieces and see if i could work out what they were part of. they certainly didnt seem to be part of the same thing.

I decided to have a closer look at the press because we had identified it as a blanking press made by Greenwood & Batley of Leeds. It was used at the Royal Mint in Haverfordwest but I still couldnt work out how all the bits could be part of it.

I couldnt see any power source for this press, it had no motor or pulleys for belt drive, and the other thing that struck me was the sockle on the top of the screw thread, which was square. taking measurements showed that it fitted the hole in the centre of the disc with the rubber inserts perfectly. this still seemed odd though, a horizontal flywheel? and what was the rubber for? I measured the outer diameter of the disk and then took a closer look at the gap between the two flywheels on the lineshaft - again, it fitted perfectly. and then a metaphorical lightbulb lit up and i realised how the press worked and how the pieces fitted together. The two curved arms fitted on the flat rectangular sections at the top of the press, they supported the lineshaft with the two vertical flywheels whilst the other flywheel fitted horizontally between them on the top of the screw, creating what is known as a friction drive. The leather inserts would give enough adhesion to allow the disk and the screw to be driven downwards to press out the coins or blanks but once slipped out of gear it could be skidded back into its original by the lever mounted near the sockle. Using a friction drive meant that the press screw could move in two directions without having to invest in a complex gearing system or reversing the power source, and it turned out to be a very common and still used drive for screw presses.

As an added bonus I looked up Greenwood & Batley screw press on Google and found this, the very same press in action at the Royal Mint!

Keeping the Balance: a 2500 year old coin

2011-02-10T12:17:00.006Z

The oldest coin that I’ve had the privilege to look at in the numismatic collections at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre has been preying on my mind since I first saw it several weeks ago, waiting to be photographed in its drawer.
This tiny coin is only 12 mm across, much smaller than a five pence piece, and much thinner too when you feel it. What first intrigued me about the coin was its ambiguous antiquity – its card label said “?5th century BC” – and I was struck by that. I had never (knowingly) held anything as old, and I have been thinking a lot more about where this piece came from how it ended up here. What makes the piece even more interesting to me are the animals shown on the obverse: a goose and a salamander. The goose is turning its neck round so it can look at the salamander and the Greek capital letter Η (theta).

A little research at http://www.forumancientcoins.com/ told me that this coin is of a type that was produced at a town called Eion between 500 and 480 BC and is called a trihembiol.

Eion was a town in western Thrace that had been established as a trading post by Persian traders in the sixth century BC. Under Athenian expansion in the fifth century BC, Eion was seen as a strategically important port and soon after 476 BC the Persians had been removed and Athenian settlers arrived.

What is most relevant to our numismatic understanding of the piece comes from this tussle between Persian and Athenian powers. The quality of a coinage is based on its weight and on the fineness of the metal and these small coins from Thrace fitted both Athenian and Persian weight and fineness standards so could be used for trade with both commercial powers. Persian coins weighed around 3.85g; fractions (quarters of Athenian staters) weighed between 3.6–4.4g. The trihembiols still retained their own local identity through the distinct iconography on them.

The foundation of the city of Amphipolis by the settled Athenians put paid to the coinage and indeed the city of Eion, and by 440 BC it was uninhabited.

What is unusual about these trihembiols is that they are often found pierced with a hole so that they could be worn and are found, not just in the area near Eion, but across southern Thrace. Were these coins kept by people who came from Eion, unable to be used as currency, but perhaps carrying an apotropaic power of their own?

Just as the salamander balances the goose in the coin design, so too this fascinating local coinage of ancient Greece kept the balance between two major empires who were vying for control of the city. Producing this currency meant allegiance did not have to be formerly asserted to either power and at least a semblance of independence could be maintained. From this you can imagine the day-to-day lives of people using three different currencies with the threat of war constantly looming.

What began as curiosity becomes a quite melancholy window into the past.

Accession Number: LEEDM.N.2010.0004.0030

Author: Lucy Moore, Leeds Museums and Galleries Intern 2011

Taste our new exhibition at Abbey House

2011-01-28T15:56:00.008Z

The new exhibition at Abbey House for 2011 is "Taste: The Culture and Politics of Food" which opened on 22nd January and runs for the whole of the year. It offers a mouth-watering spread of food related objects and looks at the many issues and contoversies around what we eat, where our food comes from and who produces it.

The logo and the whole look of the exhibition were designed by students from Leeds Metropolitan University, School of Architecture, Landscape and Design. Bobby Morse, Andy Knox and Greg Michell won the competition to design the exhibition in November and then had to make their vision a reality in time for the exhibition to open last week.

This is the second year we have worked in partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University and it has been a fantastic experience both for the museum and the students.

Andy, Greg & Bobby at the opening

Visitors at the opening admiring themselves in the fat & thin mirrors, which are an eye-catching (and mind-boggling) feature of the exhibition.

As well as a wealth of wierd and wonderful obejcts from the collection, there is also a chance to view some fascinating archive film footage courtesy of the Yorkshire Film Archive, including a Headingley fish and chip shop and the canteen at Parkers Mill.

Unveiling Ouida: A Glimpse of Public Sculpture in the Early 20th Century

2010-12-16T14:04:00.000Z

On a crisp day in November 1910, a crowd gathered in the small town of Bury St Edmunds to witness the unveiling of a new public momument. Dressed in the day's finery, men, women and children waited for a glimpse of the bronze and marble statue by sculptor Ernest Gillick, commemorating the life of locally-born author Marie Louise de la Ramee, who wrote under the pseudonym Ouida.

The photograph provides a rare insight into public arts practices and partonage in the early 20th century Britain, and are part of a collection of papers belonging to sculptors Ernest and Mary Gillick, donated to Leeds Museums & Galleries, deposited in the Henry Moore Institute Archive, in 2005. I found these during my internship with Leeds Museums & Galleries, working through and listing the extensive archive of drawings, letters, diaries, photographs and research papers.

Born in Bradford in 1874, Ernest Gillick attended the Nottingham School of Art from 1896-1899, where his talents won him several gold medal awards. In 1901, The Royal College of Art Awarded Gillick a National Travelling Studentship and he spent a year studying the architecture and sculpture of Italy. He was elected Associate of the Royal College of Art in 1904.

Misty Ericson, intern, December 2010

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! Fröhliche Weihnachten! İFeliz Navidad!

2010-12-13T16:19:00.004Z

Say it with a fan…

This miniature silk fan is part of the Leeds Museums collection housed at Abbey House Museum. It is a sweet twist on the idea of sending a Christmas card. The greeting on the fan is, ‘Joy and all fair things attend your Christmas tide’. The fan is from the nineteenth century and depicts a new and innovative way of sending your Christmas greetings.

Christmas cards have been passed between families and friends since the mid nineteenth century. The first ever commercial Christmas card was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London, 1843 and was designed by artist John Callcott Horsley.

As the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Sir Henry found himself too busy in the Christmas season of 1843 to compose individual Christmas greetings usually in the form of letters for his friends. Therefore he came up with the idea of sending a card by post. One thousand copies of the card were printed and sold for one shilling (5p today).

The card had three panels. The outer two showed people caring for the poor and the centre panel was a family drinking and eating together. The inscription read, ‘Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.’ Although the card caused controversy because it showed a child being given a glass of wine, the sending of Christmas cards was a hit.

Of the original one thousand Cole cards printed only twelve are known to exist in private collections. An original Cole card that was sent to his grandmother holds the world record as the most expensive Christmas card ever sold. It was sold at auction in 2001 to an anonymous bidder for £22,250!

No one could have predicted the outcome of Christmas cards, even the Christmas card manufacturers themselves believed it was a phase that would pass. However as printing and postal methods improved the sending of cards became much more popular and they were produced in large numbers from 1860.

These early Christmas cards depicted, flowers, fairies, sentimental designs of children, humorous designs of animals and even flying butterflies amongst stalks of wheat or insects landing on ripening blackberries. These images were to remind the recipient of the approaching of spring. A complete contrast to what we view today as being ‘traditional Christmas cards’ ones that show wintry or religious themes. It was not until late Victorian times snow scenes with a robin, like this one from the 1860s, became popular because of the postmen’s nickname, ‘Robins’ due to the red uniform that they wore.

Today Christmas cards contain many different types of images and themes. They also come in many shapes and sizes and even the method has changed with many people preferring to send ‘e-cards’. The UK is the world leader on sending Christmas cards, spending £1billion each year. I bet the early Victorian Christmas card manufacturers could certainly have never predicted that!

By Georgie Cash

Flirtatious Fans

2010-12-13T14:17:00.007Z

The ultimate accessory for any well respecting lady for many centuries. As well as being a practical tool for keeping cool in hot weather and complementing the dress, they were also used for ‘making eyes’ promising untold delights, aka flirting.

I am an intern looking at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre’s collection of fans and I became intrigued by them. Some of them are beautiful with intricate designs, whilst others are plain, or made from feathers or in one case disguised as what looks like a cigar! I began to delve a little more into the world of fans and found what is known as ‘the language of the fan’ as rather amusing.

The earliest recorded use of a fan dates from 3200BC, however it was not until the eighteenth century in Europe that the use of the fan was developed to the highest degree. They were used in winter and summer, as memory aids, political propaganda, parlour games and masks as well as flirting tools. The language of the fan was developed to such sophistication that entire conversations could be conducted without having spoken at all!

In 1910, a book was published that listed over fifty signals that could be conveyed with fans, ranging from ‘I hate you’ to ‘I long to be near you’. Forget dating sites and lonely hearts columns, why not grab a fan and try out some eighteenth century ‘fan speak’ and see where how effective it is for you.

Shut fan held to the heart says - you have my love
Placing fan on the left ear – I wish to get rid of you
Shut fan resting on the right eye – when may I be allowed to see you?
Drawing fan through the hand – I hate you
With handle to the lips – kiss me

Structure and Decoration: Work Continues on the Hinton House Bed.

2010-12-08T16:45:00.020Z

So much has happened since the bed canopy came down and it's getting really exciting. Ian Fraser immediately began working on rescuing the canopy from total collapse. Once the canopy was at eye level two things became really obvious. 1) How near the structure was to total collapse. 2) How badly made the bed was. The dome of the canopy is made out of cheap wood, it's really thin and crackly and crumbly, totally lacking in inner strength. This also means that there is nothing solid to fix anything to the canopy. Unusually, there is no structure to support the dome which means that there is nothing to stop it from collapsing inwards. Ian thinks that the collapse may have even begun as early as ten years after it was first built. So, 290 years later a lot of the bed is really sagging.

The Sagging Bed Canopy. Previous conservators glued fabric to the structure to hold it together

Ian has been really ingenious in making a light weight "super structure" which he has used to
a) hoist up sagging parts of the canopy b) prevent any further collapse c) eventually fix the rods and bolts and hook necessary to raise it back up to and suspend it from the ceiling, and d) raises the cornice to its correct level in relation to the rest of the tester. In its previous displays, as a four-poster bed, the cornice had been too low by 10 cm. We know this because of the difference in width between the inner and outer tester valances.

The Super Structure. Hooks attached to a strong, hollow base lift up and support the sagging canopy. The whole thing will be covered up by the new cornices.

I am sure Ian will post in detail how this marvellous structure works. In the meantime, I have drawn a diagram which explains the basics.

Yesterday the carver and the joiner came to survey and take away one of the cornice pieces that they will be recreating for the bed. Like so much of this bed the cornices are structurally unsound and the crimson velvet has faded to a bogey green colour. Together and under expert guidance the team spotted that there had once been decoration in the cornice panelling.

There are very clear incision marks which leave a pattern in each of the panels. This shows that there was once raised decoration, which would have been covered in velvet and trimmed with gold braid to match the rest of the cornice.

On one of the panels it is clear to see that new wood has been inserted. However, the decoration was not replaced and it was probably at this stage that the decoration on all of the other panels was removed. This was probably done to save money or to create a consistent look. Close inspection of the upholstered panels reveal that plain velvet panels were added at a later date.

I can't emphasise enough how exciting this all is. We have learnt more about how the bed originally looked. The watchword of this project has been to follow the evidence. This means that we will include the lost decoration on the newly carved cornices therefore returning the bed to how it originally appeared in c1710. It's amazing how a fresh look at an object after thirty years can bring new insights and new discoveries. I wonder what other secrets this bed holds.

Francisco de Goya's Circus Lady

2010-12-01T10:34:00.004Z

While documenting works purchased by the Leeds Art Collection Fund as part of my internship I came across a piece of work by Francisco de Goya with three different titles: The Circus Lady, and Skating on Thin Ice and also, my particular favourite, Punctual Folly. I was aware that alternative titles were often given to art works, but the weirdness of these three and the image of the curiously demure yet daredevilish lady astride her equally fearless horse compelled me to look a little further into the matter.

The image was produced as part of a series called Los Proverbios (proverbs) and was only published after the death of the artist. The title of the series and that of each image were in fact given by the publishing house. Goya’s fascination with human behaviour and the excesses that provailed at the time of Carnival, a celebration held throughout Europe in the severn days leading up to Lent sheds a little light on his interest in the circus lady. Whether it was Goya’s intention or the publisher’s interpretation, many of the images seem to be warning against the perils of reckless behaviour and selfish acts; however, connections between Goya’s work and the chosen proverbs have since been put into question. As it has been found inscribed on some of the images earliest impressions, the title Disperates is now often used to refer to the series. In Spanish the word disparate can denote something nonsensical, irrational or outragous and therefore in many ways seems far more appropriate. Yet, for me, despite their dubious origins, the titles given under the heading Los Proverbios only add to the charming quality of the The Circus Lady and the disperate character of this fascinating set of works.

Written by Helen Deevy, Leeds Art Collection Fund Intern, 2010

A Puzzling Process

2010-11-19T14:39:00.005Z

An important part of the numismatic cataloguing that is being done at the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre is to assign catalogue numbers to coins that have not been listed already. Some of these coins are completely unknown, some are partially identified and some are wrongly identified! For me one of the biggest joys of numismatic research is the puzzle-solving that is involved in narrowing down ‘a coin’ to its very specific classification. So if you like crosswords and sudoku, follow this …

Obverse and Reverse:

To begin with what can we tell from this piece of an ancient coin? Luckily in 1988, a H. Williams classified some of the collection of Roman coins of England, so we know that this piece is an antonianus (a smaller denomination than the more familiar denarius) of Carausius, who was emperor of Britain from 287–293 AD. Beyond this there was little information.

The coin itself is worn and corroded so at a first glance it is easy to assume that there is little more information to be gleaned from the piece, yet there is enough detail remaining for us to do just that.

Close examination of the obverse shows that most of the inscription and much of the head is missing from the fragment, but for many coins, what the bust is wearing is as equally important for classification as the head and the wording around it. The clarity of the neck and shoulders shows that the bust was draped – a toga – but most importantly it shows that the bust is NOT cuirassed (armoured). The part of the head that we can see shows a radiate crown (the zig-zags), rather than a laurel wreath.

The reverse shows Pax holding a sceptre and an olive branch. Pax is the Roman personification of peace and is a common motif on the coins of Carausius. In fact the majority of antoniani that Leeds Museum holds feature Pax. What is most important about the depiction of Pax is that way the sceptre is held: it is held transversely across the body of Pax. This a rarer form of the Pax reverse type. The next important information we can glean from the reverse is that the mint-marks are just visible, with a S to the left of Pax and a P to the right.

Now we have four important numismatic characteristics for this coin:
Bust is not cuirassed.
Bust wear a radiate crown.
Pax holds her sceptre across her body
Mint-mark are S and P, either side of Pax’s body.

After this careful examination of the coin, we can begin to consult the reference volumes!

The main reference work for the coins of Carausius is found in volume V of Mattingley and Sydenham’s ‘Roman Imperial Coinage’ (RIC). What can be even more puzzling is that numismatic reference works can often seem to be written in a type of code. If you look at the page below, you see in the field labelled ‘obverse’ there is a number and then some letters. The number relates to the most common inscriptions, from 1 to 9; the letters relate to the types of bust and go from A to G.

This page list the types of Pax holding a transverse sceptre, from which we can narrow down the obverse types.

As the inscription is illegible we need to narrow down the letters that refer to the types of bust. For the ‘tranverse Pax’ types there are three possible bust types - A, C and F:
A: Radiate, draped bust, facing right.
C: Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, facing right.
F: Radiate, cuirassed bust, facing r.

Immediately, since we know the bust is not cuirassed, we need to now only consider numbers from the page that are type A. So rather than us having to choose between numbers 118 – 123, our choice is now limited to 120 or 123.

Now we consult the page again, this time looking at the mint-marks column. Mint-marks have a special notation, to show where on the coin they are found:
Left reverse image│Right reverse image
Under reverse image

So we need to look to see if either 120 or 123 have mint mark notation like S│P. From that we can see that the piece is best categorised as number 123. In the Museum catalogue all our research is then written as RIC Carausius/123, showing the reference work, the emperor and the number to consult.

Why is this important I hear you ask?

It is important because the more pieces that are individually and correctly identified, the more detailed our knowledge of particular coinages becomes. When contextualised as part of the economic and political history for a particular time and place, then it greatly adds to what we already know.

Part of the joy of this internship is the process of sorting out the puzzle. Using skills of examination and deduction to get to a result, in this case a result no-one had reached before, is loads of fun!

LEEDM.N.2010.0020.009

Author: Lucy Moore, Leeds Museums and Galleries Intern 2010

Great Ape Collar Bone

2010-11-18T14:50:00.002Z

Whilst examining the fascinating and varied animal osteological collection at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre, I came across a rather unusual clavicle or collar bone. The bone was from a Great Ape, probably either a chimp or a gorilla and whilst this bone is nothing unusual, it caught my eye due to the pathologies present.

The clavicle had been broken and may have not been set causing an infection in the bone. It is even possible that this active infection killed the ape and caused it to be part of the collection!
To me this is one of the most interesting remains because it allows us a short glimpse into the life of this animal and how inadequate medical attention possibly caused its untimely death. What caused the break, I’m not entirely sure, but it could be a fall which can cause this type of fracture in humans.

Object Number: LEEDM.C.2010.925

By Sam Carter (intern with the natural science department, Summer 2010)

Marquetry research, part 2: Chippendale's marquetry revealed

2010-11-14T18:13:00.006Z

Jack Metcalfe and Dr. Heinrich Piening undertaking colour and dye analysis on the Chippendale writing table at Temple Newsam House.

Continuing on from Marquetry research, part 1:

Some of Chippendale's furniture exhibits the finest English marquetry created, and stands with the best anywhere in the world. Jack decided for his next project he would research, catalogue, and do a technical analysis of every known piece of Chippendale marquetry, with a view to a second book. For the project, in addition to the research and cataloguing, he and a colleague are making a precise copy of the celebrated Diana and Minerva commode at Harewood House.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/peoplesmuseum/week3_06.shtml

Another feature is the virtual recolouring of the faded colours of the Chippendale pieces researched.

The technical analysis has involved the use of an technique pioneered by Dr. Heinrich Piening, Senior Furniture Conservator and Scientist, Bayerische Verwaltung der staatlischen Schlosser, Munich, whom Jack met at the conference in Sweden

http://www.schloesser.bayern.de/

Heinrich presented in Sweden a stimulating paper on his recent research into identifying dyestuffs used on antique marquetry work, without affecting the integrity of the original work. UV-VIS Spectronomy (ultra-violet, visual) is a scientific technique that produces a white light across the specimen of veneer under test, at opposing angles of 0º and 45º, for a period of 50 milliseconds, whereupon some of the white light is absorbed and some is reflected. The reflected light is detected and split by a spectrometer. This in turn produces a unique wavelength for the dye pigment lurking below the veneer surface. The wavelength can later (back at the laboratory), be run against a computer library of known dye pigments, until a matching wavelength is obtained. In layman’s language matching wavelengths against library copies can be likened to finger printing or DNA.

In February 2008 Jack arranged for Heinrich to visit Leeds to test a range of marquetry furniture made by Thomas Chippendale between 1770 -1775, held at various locations across Yorkshire. The results of those tests will be an integral part of Jack's next book, titled “Chippendale Marquetry Revealed” due for publication around mid 2011. In addition, Heinrich carried out tests on a table made by the London-based French cabinet-maker Pierre Langlois around the same period. The table, forming part of the Temple Newsam collection includes marquetry motifs of floral work together with other neo-classical musical images.

The test results matched the same dyestuffs found on furniture made by Chippendale, suggesting that both London-based workshops purchased veneers already dyed from a central source. This makes sense since the dyeing process is as specialised in its application as it is in its equipment to perform the processes, therefore making it unlikely that either furniture maker would be sufficiently geared up or knowledgeable enough to dye their own veneers. This probably holds true for the whole trade, with dyed veneers being supplied by specialists.

Some of results of the Spectronomy tests on the Langlois table are as follows.

Acanthus leaves framing the centre panel – Indigo carmine + barberry = green
Ribbon above the acanthus leaves – wig tree = yellow
same as 1.
Flower outer petals attached to ribbon Brazil + wig tree = orange
flowers right & left of 4 – brazil = red
music sheets – no result = plain holly - colour white
Inside left hand trumpet – wig tree = yellow
Outside left hand trumpet – wig tree = yellow
sheet music - same as 6
Harp frame – barberry = yellow
Harp strings – brazil+ barberry = orange or reddish?

Marquetry research, part 1

2010-11-14T16:34:00.015Z

Lifelong Leeds resident Jack Metcalfe has, since taking early retirement, devoted his time to studying and learning the art of marquetry, the making of decorative images in wood veneers. This art, or craft, has been practiced for centuries, and is usually used to decorate and embellish furniture. Jack has achieved a high level of proficiency and is a published author. His book The Marquetry Course has sold well in Europe, and particularly in North America. http://www.the-marquetry-course.net/
Since 2004 Jack has been getting his head around the marquetry that Thomas Chippendale decorated his furniture with. The trigger for this was the conservation treatments undertaken to the Harewood House writing table now in the collections at Temple Newsam House. During treatment, as various veneers had to be lifted for re-fixing, it became clear what the original colour scheme was. Holly, dyed greens, reds, purples, and its natural white, make up the vase and swags. The background uses the natural colours of Indian rosewood, tulipwood and satinwood. We mapped the colours.

Excited by the thought of the original polychrome appearance we did a little research into historic dyes, then dyed some holly to match the colours uncovered. For example, the greens are produced by an infusion of powdered Barberry bark and a pinch of turmeric (yellows), with vitriolated indigo (blue). It was possible to control the depth of green with the indigo. The purple of the vase, reminiscent of porphory, was successfully done with brazilwood dye. These dyes are plant derived. The scarlet red of historic textiles was often achieved with cochineal, derived from a species of Latin American beetle, with tin chloride as the mordant. We did the same and an amazing red resulted. With prolonged warm soaking the vital factor of full dye penetration was accomplished.
http://www.irg-wp.com/IRG41-Presentations/IRG%2010-20434.pdf

Jack then set to work making a copy of a door in what we are tolerably certain are the original colours, though perhaps not the original dyestuffs. The difference between new and old is amazing. The effects of oxidation, and bleaching from light and ultraviolet radiation have caused the colours to merge; light woods darken; dark woods and dyes fade, until everything is various shades of brown. I think sometimes it is difficult for us to comprehend how incredibly colourful some historic objects were; textiles and marquetry in particular. Jack gave a paper on this work and flew the flag for Temple Newsam at a marquetry conference in Sweden in May 2007, which also led to useful leads and contacts.

The next chapter of Jack's quest gets more interesting as he digs deeper into Chippendale's marquetry.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2010-11-05T19:16:00.020Z

I am reminded regularly of the extraordinary variety of items in the collections at Leeds Museums and Galleries, like the exquisitely made and highly significant Harrison precision pendulum-clock

Il Buono

(picture by Jeff Darken)

And the Hinton House state bed, whose tester, the original construction of which is so poor that it was collapsing under its own weight, and it requires, essentially, re-engineering, giving it the structure it never had. The new structure supporting the collapsing parts will be entirely hidden behind the cornice.

Il Cattivo

And these examples of Victorian excess, papier-mache furniture, lacquered and heavily decorated with mother of pearl inlay and painted floral images. They remind me of the Little Britain character Bubbles De Vere, pretentious and tasteless.

Il Brutto

The white heat of 18th century technology (Britain's Got Brains)

2010-10-26T13:17:00.019+01:00

This is the world's first equatorially mounted telescope, an exquisitely made object made by one of the most eminent clock and scientific instrument makers of the 18th century, Henry Hindley of York.

http://rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/25/1/79.full.pdf?cited-by=yes&legid=roynotesrec;25/1/79

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hindley

It is part of the historic collections of Burton Constable Hall, with whom Temple Newsam House and Leeds Museums and Galleries has a close working relationship. It has recently been at the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre so that Matthew Read, clocks programme tutor at West Dean College, could inspect and assess it for Burton Constable's curatorial team. It requires conservation treatment and will be a likely candidate for a PRISM grant.

http://www.burtonconstable.com/

Exquisitely made, one wonders how they were able to achieve such incredible fineness and accuracy. It was made to measure transits of heavenly bodies such as the moons of Jupiter, Venus etc. All part of the star mapping, astronomy, navigation, map-making endeavour, gentlemen scientists around the UK, such as William Constable, undertaking their observations and sharing them. It is missing its drive motor entirely, however. It would have been essentially a clock mechanism, weight driven, and pendulum controlled, that compensated for the rotation of the Earth, to allow the telescope to track the transit with the factor of the Earth's rotation removed from the equation. Telescopes of these types were mounted parallel to the equator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_mount

Interesting fact: the cross-hairs on graticules of this period are made from spider silk. A graticule is simply a piece of thin glass with reference marks on it, usually a grid, in order to have fixed references to measure against. They are needed in telescopes and microscopes if one is trying to measure a distance, or movement. In the store at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre we had for a time together two items representing the white heat of 18th century technology, this telescope and the Harrison clock. They were both cutting edge stuff, the rocket science of that time, one for mapping the heavens, the other for precision timekeeping.

Harrison clock pictures courtesy of Jeff Darken.

A Little Treasure: Striking Ancient Coins

2010-10-26T10:14:00.005+01:00

Have you ever wondered how the designs that we see every day on our loose change arrive there?

A small piece of metal (FLAN) is placed between two surfaces that have the designs engraved on them. These are known are DIES. There is an obverse die that has the design for the "front" of the coin on it, and a reverse die that has the "back" of the coin on it. The flan is put between them and hit very hard - this is called striking the coin. Nowadays the process is entirely mechanised and several coins can be struck in quick succession. But in the past the process was carried out entirely by hand. The design was engraved into the die by hand, the flan cut by hand and the flan was hammered between the dies to make a coin.

Easy-peasy you may think. However, in order for the design to appear the right way up, it had to be engraved backwards onto the die. This is fine for pictures and so on, but the majority of coins include inscriptions of one kind or another, and writing backwards, legibly and artistically, is very difficult to do indeed. Furthermore, it's not called striking the coin for nothing - quite a lot of force is needed for the impression to be made evenly on both sides of the coin. Mistakes can sometimes happen ...

Look carefully at this denarius. It is a double-strike.

What has happened here is that the flan was struck twice, but between strokes moved around several degrees on the die. The female figure is not meant to have two faces. She is Pietas, the personification of duty to the state and the gods, not Janus (famously two-faced) and god of thresholds. On the reverse, there is only meant to be one caduceus (two snakes wrapped around a single staff).

All double-strikes are unique. So nowhere else in the world is there another denarius like this one.

Yet, double-striking is a fairly common mistake to find on coins, both ancient and modern, so not much extra value is added to the piece. For me, an extraordinary amount of value is added as this small coin shows us that mistakes from the past can still be seen today. Ancient people weren't perfect and in 48 BC a moneyer working in Rome messed up the design on a coin. It didn't effect the value and I'm sure this coin was circulated, but it is a very tangible way of connecting with the past. After all, mistakes are only human!

Accession number: LEEDM.N.1854.0038.6137

Author: Lucy Moore, Leeds Museums and Galleries Intern 2010

The Lanuvium Marbles return to Leeds!

2010-10-13T14:58:00.010+01:00

Five of Leeds City Museum’s star objects have just returned after being on display in an international exhibition for most of the year.

The Lanuvium marbles are a group of life-size torsos of Roman cavalrymen and horses dating to the 1st century BC. They were discovered in the ancient town of Lanuvium, 20 miles from Rome, in the 1880s. There would have been at least nine statues in the sculptural group, although we don’t know how they originally stood. They may have been commissioned to commemorate the victory of the Roman general Lucullus in Asia Minor in the Second Mithridatic War, and erected in Lanuvium, his home town.

The marbles were brought back to Leeds by Sir John Savile Lumley (later Lord Savile), who carried out excavations at various sites in Italy, including Lanuvium, while he was British Ambassador to Rome. He divided the archive of finds between Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society and the British Museum in London in 1896.

As well as marble statues we have about 750 other objects from Lanuvium in the Leeds Museums and Galleries collection.

Above: Three marbles on display in the Ancient Worlds gallery, Leeds City Museum.

The marbles have been on loan to the Musei Capitolini in Rome for their L’eta della conquista [The Age of Conquest] exhibition which ran from March until September 2010. In the exhibition they were reunited with 3 other sculptures from the Lanuvium group on loan from the British Museum.

Right: The marbles on display in the Capitoline Museum, Rome, Sept 2010

The marbles have just returned to Leeds City Museum after being carefully packed and crated up by a specialist moving company in Rome, and transported back to the UK.

You can now see five of the marbles on display in Leeds City Museum on either side of the main foyer stairs and in the Ancient Worlds gallery. Entry to Leeds City Museum is FREE.

Author: Katherine Baxter, Curator of Archaeology, Leeds Museums and Galleries

A Zoo in my Roman Pocket

2010-10-13T08:12:00.014+01:00

Take the change out of your pocket or your purse and look carefully at it. What can you see? Some hind legs? A lion? A unicorn? If you look carefully at the coins in your pocket, you'll see a range of animals begin to emerge from the designs on them, but did you know that there were even more animals on Roman coins than there are on our own?

As part of my internship at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre I am working on cataloguing some of the Numismatics collections and have been photographing and identifying Roman Republic coinage from 78 BC to 37 BC. What has struck me as unusual are some of the animals shown on the coins. Roman moneyers often chose mythological motifs for the reverse side of their coins, and it is to these myths that many of the animals allude. For example, the Erymanthian boar below refers to the Fourth Labour of Hercules, where he had to capture this huge boar alive.

LEEDM.N.1854.0038.6264 REVERSE:

Some animals, however, symbolised places or deeds. The camel, for example, symbolised Arabia and this coin celebrated the surrender of King Aretas of Nabataea to Praetor M. Aemilius Scaurus. The camel is being held by the reins, but the figure holding onto it is also offering the camel an olive branch, showing conquest as well as peace.

LEEDM.N.1854.0038.6192 OBVERSE:

Some seemingly simple designs have a complicated story. Here we see a denarius with a girl facing a snake on the reverse. This refers to the practise within the worship of Juno Sospita at Lanuvium, where in order to ascertain how fruitful the coming year would be a girl was chosen who offered a cake to the snake at the temple. If the snake accepted the cake, it showed the girl was a virgin and augered well for the coming year. If the snake refused the cake, the reverse was true.

LEEDM.N.1854.0038.6222 REVERSE:

It is not just creatures from land that feature on Roman coins. Dolphins and seahorses are shown too. Both are associated with the god Neptune. On the coin below, Neptune is shown riding in a biga (chariot) drawn by seahorses.

LEEDM.N.1854.0038.6081 REVERSE:

In the next image the dolphin is shown next to an eagle. Here, the dolphin symbolises control over different realms, because the Romans realised that although dolphins swam in the sea, they breathed air, so were at home in two spheres. This is pertinent as the mint that produced the coin moved alongside the campaigns of Pompey. In March of 49 BC (when his coin was minted), Pompey had just fled from Caesar at Brudnisum, fleeing by sea to Epirus in Roman Greece. So by using the iconography of a dolphin, Pompey's mint puts on a show of control and fortune, that perhaps was absent in reality.

LEEDM.N.1854.0038.6245 REVERSE:

Lastly, and most surprisingly of all, is an image I found of a scorpion. (You can see it in the bottom left corner, underneath the horses' hooves.)

LEEDM.N1854.0038.6192 REVERSE:

I hope you've enjoyed a short tour of the zoo that could be found in the pocket of a Roman - quite a wealthy one I should add!

Author: Lucy Moore, Leeds Museums and Galleries intern 2010

Cataloguing the Dalton Parlours archive

2010-10-13T07:43:00.007+01:00

I have just completed a 6 week internship at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre cataloguing archaeological finds from Dalton Parlours, the site of a Roman villa near Wetherby. I have had the chance to handle a variety of interesting objects including glassware, pottery, and jewellery as well as different kinds of metal instruments and tools.

This internship has given me a valuable insight into the world of museums and galleries with particular emphasis on properly storing and caring for collections. What has struck me in particular is the vast number of objects that can be excavated from just one archaeological site but, as in the case of Dalton Parlours, only a tiny proportion of a collection actually goes on public display. Accessibility to museum stores and archives therefore allows the general public to understand and be aware of the importance of using collections for the purposes of research and education.

While at first glance some glass beads, a piece of pottery or an iron bucket handle may not immediately stand out as fascinating objects, these fragments were once part of a whole, be it a necklace, a large pot or an iron bucket, and were used by ordinary people on a daily basis. While working on the catalogue, I came across several pots that are in many pieces. When I found some pots that were mostly intact, it gave me a better understanding of the kinds of vessels used in everyday life during the period that Dalton Parlours was in use [200 - 370AD] and that each individual object has its own story.

A number of objects from Dalton Parlours are on display in Leeds City Museum. The remainder of the archive is housed in Leeds Museum Discovery Centre and can be viewed by appointment.

Vessel: LEEDM.D.2008.0001.274
Bucket handle: LEEDM.D.2008.0001.312

Author: Verity Smith, Leeds Museums and Galleries Intern 2010

A Pierced Roman Coin

2010-10-08T11:20:00.006+01:00

Over the past six weeks I have been cataloguing ancient and Medieval coins from the Baron and Edwards Collections at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre and have come across some interesting finds. One Roman coin from the Baron Collection roused my curiosity as it bears a hole, suggesting it may have once had an ornamental function.

Coins were worn as jewellery from the inception of coinage. They were also nailed onto things, such as doors, to praise deities or act as talismans. The location of the hole in this coin, and the fact that it appears to have been pierced from the obverse side, could indicate several things. First, with the hole at the top (where it certainly would have been were it nailed or hanging) the obverse depiction (the head of Roma) is angled so that the goddess stares upwards rather than portraying the bust right-side-up as one might expect.

This suggests the purpose for wearing the jewellery was not purely display. It was worn, not for the status it brought, but for the meaning it held for the wearer and the protection it garnished from the diety praised by his or her depiction (who was made to look upon the wearer as a symbol of this protection). However, it was also clearly to be worn with the head of Roma displayed, a subject which held implicit pride for the city and state of Rome, but also elite social status associated with the priesthood of the Cult of Roma to which men aspired (and thus may have been a symbol of one belonging to the priesthood).

So, status symbol, protective talisman or a coin that simply held sentimental value for some reason or another? It is hard to say, but it is obvious from its filthy state that it was well-worn and, perhaps, well-loved.

Accession Number: LEEDM.N.1854.0038.6025

Author: Melody Flahr, Leeds Museums and Galleries Intern 2010

Money, Scandal and a Sticky End: The Coins of Philip de Cambio

2010-10-01T14:44:00.007+01:00

I recently finished cataloguing the Edwards Collection, which comprises a variety of classes of Henry III's long cross silver coinage, and discovered some interesting tidbits included by collector M. J. Edwards that had been untouched prior to my project. Two class Vg coins from this collection were minted by a certain Philip de Cambio [Philip of the Exchange], about whom there is a particularly interesting and tragic tale.

Philip de Cambio was a London moneyer whose end rather than his life is recorded in the Calendar of Patent Rolls (1272-81). Apparently Edward I took issue with another debasing the English coinage, as Philip had minted an issue of coins using 8 1/2d worth of copper instead of the standard 6d for every pound of pennies produced. Philip's dirty dealings won him a place on the executioner's 'stage' where he was hanged, drawn and quartered, along with his assayer William Harlewyn, who had accepted Philip's coins as legal tender. True to the workings of Medieval bureaucracy, however, the other assayer, Thomas de Brancestre, avoided being a part of the day's entertainment by claiming clerical status!
I should also mention that Edward I later used even more copper in his silver coinage than Philip had put in those he produced. These apparently debased coins are no different in appearance from the others of their class, but nonetheless carry a history of bloodshed.

This coinage is currently housed at the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre. It has been digitised along with the rest of the Edwards Collection and will soon be searchable on emuseum.

Accession numbers: LEEDM.N.1986.0001.034 and 035

Author: Melody Flahr, Intern for Leeds Museums and Galleries 2010

Leeds Gallery Cow Pictures, Top 5!

2010-09-30T15:27:00.008+01:00

During my internship at Leeds Art Gallery, I have been taking archival photographs of the collection of watercolours, drawings and prints that are stored in the many cupboards of the print room. It’s an enjoyable experience, as each day I get to study Gainsboroughs, Constables, Rembrandts, and, on a rare find, Blakes. The range of subject matter in the pictures is quite fascinating, but what I have noticed in particular is an abundance of paintings and drawings that include representations of cows! Maybe the images of these peaceful animals caught my attention because fields full of cattle is a vista that is generally lacking in city centres. So, in an attempt to bring cows into the city, I have compiled a top 5 chart of my favourite cow pictures that I have seen so far in the Leeds collection!

5th place:
Alfred Edward Chalon, 1780-1860
Pastoral Evening

A pen, ink and watercolour drawing of a herd of cows being driven home and descending a hill as the sun sets. This picture was most likely a quick sketch or preparatory drawing, as it lacks the highly detailed finish that the Swiss born Chalon’s paintings tend to display. But this is why I like it. The legs of the roughly drawn cows look quite awkward, as if they are struggling to walk down the hill after a long day in the fields.

4th place:
Edward Dayes, 1763-1804

A stream, a bridge, a town in the background, a family, and some cows: this picture is an example of the delicate style of the skilled figure painter Edward Dayes. The intermingling of urban and rural imagery in this picture shows cows to be an inevitable part of the landscape in the 18th century in both town and countryside. The cows paddle in the stream as one stares at its own reflection in the water.

3rd place:
William Chapman, 1817-1879
A View of York

Here again, cows can be seen as an intrinsic feature of the urban/rural landscape. Chapman uses a rich pinky-red as the sun descends over York, and the cows huddle together in the foreground by a broken fence. A love of the strawberry roan colour of cows contributed to the desire of artists such as Chapman and David Cox to frequently depict these animals in their works.

2nd place:
William Estall, 1857-1897

Estall uses bright colours and expressive brush-strokes in this picture of a wooded scene with houses in the background, a stream, a paddling of ducks and two cows. This painting is one of my favourites as I feel the cows are not just simply part of the scenery, but have been imbued with personality! The cows stand by the river, looking at each other, as if deep in conversation or perhaps in the middle of a staring competition..

1st place:
George Chinnery, 1774-1852

My top cow picture is this work by George Chinnery. This was the first picture at the gallery that I fell in love with, and that ultimately inspired the top 5! Here, the cows go for a day at the beach, some paddle whilst others choose to sunbathe. The atmosphere is serene, and Chinnery’s use of light and shade plays homage to his skill as a watercolour artist.

So, cattle have proved to be popular subject matter for 18th and 19th Century watercolour artists and were, and indeed still are, common and beautiful features of the Great British landscape. The inclusion of these animals in paintings and drawings seems to automatically add a sense of serenity and an uplifting mood to the work perhaps by conjuring for the viewer the slow pace of life that cows enjoy!

Indeed, this view of cows as peaceful, uplifting animals, is one shared by the organisers of CowParade: the world’s largest public art event. CowParade has raised millions for charities and donated to artist communities over the years by staging events in over 50 cities worldwide. Life-size fiberglass cows created by artists, designers, architects and each sporting different patterns, designs and themes, are dotted around the city for all to see and touch.

CowParade’s reasoning behind using models of cattle specifically, includes the fact that the cow is an animal that receives ‘universal affection, representing different things to different people around the world’ from being a sacred or historical animal, to being a purely familiar and beloved creature. CowParade has visited cities all over the world including Florence, Johannesburg, London and Manchester, but it has yet to come to Leeds.

If you want to learn more about CowParade, follow this link to their website:

http://cowparade.com/

I hope you have enjoyed my top 5 and that it has showcased a handful of the beautiful watercolours and drawings that make up the Leeds collection.

What Goes Down Must Go Up

2010-09-20T10:00:00.027+01:00

On Friday, the Hinton House bed restoration project began to get moving..literally.
The bed was dismantled piece by piece and is now ready for the necessary structural and conservation works.
Technicians rested the canopy on two small forklifts called genies.

Then the rest of the bed was removed from under the canopy starting with the headboard.

The canopy was raised slightly, lifting it off the bed posts.The posts were removed one at a time and carefully wrapped up for storage and study. It turns out that the whole canopy was fixed by very small spikes on the top of each post. It made me wonder how on earth the canopy didn't fall down. I'll admit that seeing the posts being removed from the canopy leaving it resting on the lift.

The canopy was then slowly lowered then lifted onto a work surface ready for work to begin.

Now the canopy is at eye level it is possible to see what a mess it is in. The cornices are degraded and the structure is about to collapse in on itself.

For the first time I have been able see properly the holes and parts which tell us that the bed canopy was meant to be up in the air and flying. I suppose it is possible to draw analogies with a phoenix, that dies and burns up every 500 years to rise again anew. The Hinton House bed has been collapsed 300 years after it was made. Over the next year, the canopy will be lifted again, refreshed and renewed.

Giggleswick Tarn Logboat

2010-09-10T13:32:00.009+01:00

Today I have been writing new labels for some of the large archaeological items in our store at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre. One of the objects I looked at is a Medieval logboat from Giggleswick Tarn, North Yorkshire, which has a really interesting story to tell.

On May 25th 1863 Mr. Joseph Taylor came across a dug-out canoe while carrying out drainage works on the site of the former Giggleswick Tarn. He thought it to be ‘evidently of Celtic or British workmanship’. The landowner, Mr. William Hartley, promptly donated the boat to Leeds Museum where it was put on display.

On the evening of 16th March 1941 Leeds Museum received a direct hit in one of the wartime bombing raids, devastating parts of the collection. The logboat was shattered into forty-five pieces. Each piece was carefully sifted from the debris, wrapped in sheets of the News Chronicle, and stored in a crate.

It wasn’t until 1974 that the fragments were re-examined with a view to reconstructing the vessel. The pieces were sent down to the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich to be researched, conserved and re-assembled.

As a result of the research done at Greenwich, we now know that the boat was made from a single ash tree and dates to around 1335 AD. It was designed to carry one person sitting on the D-shaped board, from which the boat could be propelled with a paddle. There was also some room for carrying cargo. It is likely that the boat was used to fish from the tarn.

The logboat returned to Leeds City Museum in 1988. It is currently housed in Leeds Museum Discovery Centre, and can be viewed by appointment.

Author: Katherine Baxter, Curator of Archaeology, Leeds Museums and Galleries

Puzzled

2010-09-03T12:19:00.010+01:00

The Abbey House Wednesday Clubbers had fun this week piecing together jigsaws that had probably not been out of their box for over 80 years. This helped the museum to catalogue the puzzles properly, check if they were complete and also in many instances actually see the picture for the first time. Some of the jigsaws had been issued by newspapers (such as the Daily Mail and Evening Standard) in the 1930s and offered prizes of £5000 to those who could complete them. Fortunately this incentive was not needed and all the jigsaws were finished by the early afternoon.

The "Popular Dogs" jigsaw proved particularly challenging as the pieces are not fully interlocking and had a tendancy to move out of place and was the only puzzle to defeat the patience of the Wednesday Club ladies. It was completed by following day by Toni Giles, an intern student at the museum.