‘Stuffed, Pickled & Pinned’ Julian Carter, 9 December 2015 Linking Collections is a project that unites the natural science collections found in the museums across Wales. Put together these make up a distributed natural history collection for the whole of Wales, forming a part of our shared cultural and scientific heritage.As part of this project a touring exhibition entitled ‘Stuffed, Pickled & Pinned: 50 Wonders of Nature in Welsh Museums’ has been developed. Formed from a selection of objects and specimens from across the regional museums the exhibition will visit 18 museums over the next three years!In preparation for the tour the chosen specimens and objects were brought together at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Here the Natural Sciences conservation team prepared them for their three year journey by creating packaging to protect them in transit, minimise the need for handling and, where necessary, provide an easy form of display.The exhibition contains a very diverse range of natural history specimens and objects with many different packaging and display requirements. For a number of the specimens specific support mounts were made from a conservation grade of inert foam called Plastazote.For other specimens it was possible to create a display mount that also provides support when in transit. A good example is the puffer fish. This has been mounted on black Plastazote that slides out of a Correx box that opens from the side. For extra support when travelling a thin strip of Plastazote is placed diagonally across the puffer fish and secured to the base with entomology pins.A pickled (fluid preserved) adder from Llandudno Museum required some creative packaging to protect it when travelling. Two plastic tubs were cut to shape and Plastazote padding placed at each end. The specimen jar is then placed inside and empty space filled with acid free tissue. The plastic tub is then placed tightly within a thick black Plastazote box. An option for some of the fossils was to package them so that they could be displayed in their box. Plastazote with cut outs support the specimen and they can be presented as they are or at an angle on a Perspex support.Old entomology boxes have also been put to good use as a way of creating a display case for collections of small specimens such as eggs and shells.The Linking Collections Exhibition “Stuffed, Pickled & Pinned; 50 Wonders of Nature in Welsh Museums” opened at Powysland Museum on October 20th 2015. Further information can be found on the People’s Collection Wales website - http://www.peoplescollection.wales/collections/475828Ruth Murgatroyd, Masters Student in Conservation at Cardiff University
Making a photographic collection accessible - Part 2 Mark Etheridge, 8 December 2015 As mentioned in my last blog post staff at Amgueddfa Cymru are working on the Hansen shipping photographic collection to enable this collection to be made fully accessible to researchers and interested parties. I also gave a background to the collection and the work staff and volunteers are doing on it – you can read it here. In this post I’ll explain a bit about the cataloguing process. We are working at putting each individual negative onto our collections management database (CMS), where details of all the museum’s collections are stored. Each entry will record full details of the name of the ship, the date and place the photograph was taken, and the name of the photographer. This will allow us to do comprehensive searches. It will also include the medium (in many cases gelatin dry plate negatives, with some film negatives). We will also being adding as much historic details of the ship as possible, and one of our volunteers has been working on brief histories of some of the vessels. This collection comprises over 4,500 negatives, so you can appreciate the scale of the work needed to fully catalogue, store and digitise this collection. We have made good progress so far, having added a further 334 negatives since the last blog post, and now have 1,834 records on the system.As staff are working through the collection we are also re-packing from old glassine bags into modern conservation grade four-flap envelopes specifically designed for the long term housing of glass plate and film negatives. We no longer use glassine bags for storage of photographic collections as under certain conditions, especially if exposed to moisture, the bags can stick to the glass and film negatives causing permanent damage. Therefore, where possible we are re-packing into conservation grade packing. The whole collection is stored in an environmentally controlled photographic store at the National Collections Centre, Nantgarw. Mark Etheridge Curator: Industry & Transport Follow us on Twitter - @IndustryACNMW
UK Disability History Month - Invalid Chair Sioned Williams, 7 December 2015 The focus for UK Disability History Month this year is how disability and disabled people have been portrayed in the past and present.With this in mind, I revisited some objects in the collection at St Fagans which made an appearance on the Welsh Millennium Centre stage last year. These objects had been selected by Mat Fraser to be used in his keynote address at the Museums Association Conference in Cardiff, October 2014. Mat’s ground-breaking performance, Cabinet of Curiosities: How Disability was kept in a Box looked at museum collections and how we should reassess the ways we portray - or as in most cases - don’t portray disability.One of the objects selected by Mat for his show was an early wheelchair, or ‘invalid chair’ as they were once referred to. At first, I was surprised that the chair was among Mat’s choice of objects for the simple reason that there wasn’t much to say about it. I later realised of course, that it was exactly the point he wanted to make.When we initially received the request to list potential candidates from the Museum’s collections for Mat’s performance, we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task. The Museum’s classification didn’t include a section on disability so the only way of searching was to systematically trawl through all of the index cards. The few invalid chairs in the St Fagans collection were catalogued under the theme of transport, among various wheeled vehicles, from agricultural carts to bicycles.The chair was collected by the Museum in 1985 from a house in Cardiff along with other various objects but there was no further information in the file about the donor or its previous owner. So I started to do a bit of research.It seems that this type of folding invalid chair would have been manufactured from the early 1900s up until the Second World War. It has a cane seat and back, and a wooden frame which means it’s not too heavy to manoeuvre. It was designed with two small wheels at the back so that it could be wheeled up and down stairs by two people without having to lift the chair ‘saving effort and reducing the risk of accident’. [1]There’s no maker’s name on the chair but it’s very similar to models manufactured by the more well-known specialist makers from London such as John Ward, Tottenham Court Road, and Carters of Great Portland Street. Their products were advertised in newspapers and could be purchased from catalogues. Their ranges included the more expensive bath chairs with leather upholstery to basic chairs such as this example, costing around £3 in the early 1900s.However, this was still expensive for the majority of the population. In the industrial south Wales valleys during the first half of the twentieth century, many medical aid societies would help with the purchase or loan of wheelchairs and mobility aids.[2] After the First World War the British Red Cross also lent surplus equipment such as bed rests and invalid chairs which could be hired out on a weekly basis – a service which continues today.Without knowing why or who used this chair, we are still missing a big part of its history. Sadly, this is also true of most disability-related collections in museums. As Mat Fraser noted in his keynote address last year:‘...but we know nothing about it, and this illustrates so many artefacts to do with disability – they have no notes. Nobody knows anything. So I suppose the only thing I would take from that is to say that when we have artefacts, we need to label them, we need to get the right people to write the right notes to accompany some of these artefacts because conjecture would be very different for every single one of us as to where this came from. And yet, none of us will never know the real truth which exemplifies and illustrates many points.’ [1] The Concise Home Doctor Encyclopaedia of Good Health Vol 1, p.303 [2] Ben Curtis and Steven Thompson, ‘A Plentiful Crop of Cripples Made by All This Progress’: Artificial Limbs and Working-Class Mutualism in the South Wales Coalfield, 1890-1948’, Social History of Medicine (2014) 27 (4): 708-727.
William Smith and the Birth of the Geological Map Tom Sharpe (Lyme Regis Museum and Cardiff University, former Curator of Palaeontology and Archives in Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales), 30 November 2015 Geological maps are fundamental tools to a geologist. Displaying the distribution of different types and ages of rocks, they are the first step to understanding the geology of a place and key to the search for raw materials. Today, the whole of Britain has been mapped, largely through the work of the official agency, the British Geological Survey. But two hundred years ago, geology was a new science and the Survey was yet to be established. The industrial revolution was in full swing and the demand for coal, iron and limestone was huge. Landowners, keen to find coal on their properties, were being exploited by itinerant surveyors who, through greed and ignorance, persuaded them to fund searches where coal was never likely to be found. William Smith, a surveyor from Oxfordshire, realised that a map showing where different rock layers - strata - came to the surface would be of value to both landowners and surveyors, not just for locating coal but also for agriculture, showing the different rocks and hence soils of different types. It would take him almost 15 years to complete. Smith was born on 23 March 1769 in the Cotswold village of Churchill where his father was the blacksmith. He had a limited schooling but at the age of eighteen he was taken on as an apprentice surveyor in the practice of Edward Webb in Stow-on-the-Wold. He showed an aptitude for measurement and mathematics and an eye for the shape of the land. In 1791 Smith was sent to survey and value coal mines in the Somerset coalfield south of Bath, and two years later was appointed to survey the route for a new canal to transport coal from the mines. Discoveries During the six years that Smith worked on the Somerset Coal Canal, he made two fundamental discoveries. The canal was to be constructed in two branches in adjacent valleys and Smith noticed that the sequence of rock layers was not only the same in each valley but that the layers were always tilted towards the southeast. During his travels around the country to examine other canal routes, Smith realised that the strata of southern England always occur in a regular order and all were tilted in the same direction. His other discovery was the realisation that certain fossils were associated with particular strata; this meant that he could use the fossils to identify where a layer of rock lay in the sequence of strata. The practical application of these discoveries was immediately obvious to Smith. Coal occurs in association with grey mudstone rocks, but such rocks appear in several places in the sequence of strata, both far below and above the coal. Using fossils, Smith could identify which grey mudstones were part of the coal beds and which were not, and with his knowledge of the sequence of strata, Smith could construct a map showing where the different rocks were present at the surface and where coal could be found. When Smith explained his work to his friends Joseph Townsend and Benjamin Richardson in Bath on 11th June 1799, they persuaded him that he needed to publish his discoveries in order to receive credit for them and, possibly, reward. That evening, he dictated the order of the strata to his friends and soon handwritten lists of the sequence of rocks from the coal up to the Chalk were in circulation. Soon afterwards, Smith sketched a map showing the rocks of the Bath area and a small map showing some of the rock outcrops extending across England. In 1801 he published a prospectus of his intended great work on the strata of England and Wales. Over the course of the next fifteen years, Smith travelled widely across the country, working on commissions as a land surveyor and drainer. As he travelled, he took note of the landscapes and the rocks, gradually accumulating the information he needed for his map. Publishing the Map The map was eventually published late in 1815 by John Cary, a leading London mapmaker. A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales, with part of Scotland was a monumental work. At a scale of five miles to the inch, it was huge, over eight feet tall and six feet wide. It was spectacularly (and expensively) hand-coloured. It sold at prices starting at 5 guineas for the map in fifteen sheets, plus an index map and an accompanying Memoir. But although Smith’s Memoir listed over 400 subscribers to his map, few had paid in advance, and as his map had taken so long to complete, some of his subscribers had died. We do not know how many maps were sold, but it may have been in the order of only about 350. During the years of its production, Smith continually altered the map as new information about the distribution of the strata became available to him and there are at least five different issues of the map known. Within five years, Smith’s map was eclipsed by another, in places more detailed, map, the product of the collaborative effort of members of the Geological Society of London under its first President, George Bellas Greenough. And within twenty years of the publication of Smith’s map, detailed geological mapping came within the remit of a new, government-funded Geological Survey of Great Britain. Smith’s beautifully-coloured map, however, remains an icon of the science of geology and is widely regarded as the first true geological map of any country. It also the more remarkable in that it represents the work of one man, who single-handedly mapped, for the first time, over 175,000 square kilometres of Britain. Today the map is much sought-after by collectors and commands serious prices (currently there is one for sale in London for over £90,000). The number of copies still extant is currently being researched, but it is likely to be in the order of 150. The Department of Geology (now Natural Sciences) in the National Museum of Wales is in the unique position of holding nine complete or partial copies of the map, more than any other institution in the world, thanks to the foresight of its first Keepers, Frederick J. North, Douglas A. Bassett and Michael G. Bassett. North, in particular, rapidly established the Geology Department’s map and archive collections as one of the most important in the country and this has been built upon by his two successors. The National Museum is the only place in the world where almost all of the different issues of the map can be examined side by side. A version of the article was published in Earth Heritage.
We are off to a fantastic start this year Penny Dacey, 30 November 2015 Hello Bulb Buddies,We are off to a fantastic start this year. With 177 schools and 6,339 pupils taking part in the Spring Bulbs for Schools investigation 2015-16.Each pupil taking part has planted their Daffodil and Crocus bulb and labelled their pot. Schools have been using the thermometer and rain gauge provided by the project to take weather readings on days they are in school, and have been uploading their findings to the National Museum Wales website.You can see the findings so far on the Spring Bulbs project webpageThe results for each participating school are illustrated by graphs. The website has been edited this year to include results from previous years. This means that returning schools can easily see how their data compares to previous years! Schools in Wales took part in the Edina Trust’s ‘Planting Day Photo Competition’ for the first time this year. We had some lovely photos sent in by participating schools and it was very difficult to choose just five winners. You can see all of the photos on the Spring Bulb project Twitter page: @Professor_PlantThere have been many interesting questions and comments sent in with the weekly data. Please see below for these and my responses.Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies,Profesor Plant Your questions, my answers:Stonehouse Primary School: Tuesday was a strange day for weather. It was frosty in the morning but in the afternoon all the children had their coats off because it was so hot. Ysgol Pentrefoelas: Mae hi wedi bod yn gynnes wythnos yma a nin chwarae allan heb ddim cot. Professor Plant: Hello Ysgol Pentrefoelas and Stonehouse Primary. You both noted in the first week of weather records that it had been warm enough to play outside without coats. Aren’t you lucky! Other schools reported lots of rain and frost! It’s interesting that you are both so far apart and that one of you is on the coast (Conwy) and the other is in-land (South Lanarkshire). What strange weather for November! Have you seen that the warm November weather has caused Daffodils to flower in Cornwall! Daffodils flower slightly earlier in Cornwall because it is slightly warmer there, but this variety of Daffodil would usually flower in December and they were a month early! I wonder if our plants will be earlier than usual this year!School: Hi, I'm unsure as we are recording the amount of rain- do we need to water the plants ourselves? Professor Plant: Hello, thank you for your question. Yes, please do water your plants twice a week if they look like they need it. You won’t need to water them on days where it has rained enough that the soil is moist.St David's RC Primary School: It was sunny at the start of the week and then the rain came and got heavier and heavier through the week and it was terrible weather for us. We had to stay inside through the rest of the week it was awful weather we had on Wednesday Thursday and Friday. We did not like the weather, did you have good weather where you are or bad weather because we didn't have very good weather it was horrible it was very, very, very boring for us because we had to stay in side for 2 weeks isn't that boring Mr Plant what would you do if you stayed inside for 2 weeks. Professor Plant: Dear St David’s RC Primary, I’m sorry to hear you had such awful weather during the first week of the project. I hope it has improved! I will look at your weather reading now to see! Inside for two weeks! I would probably read lots of books if I had stay indoors that long. There are some things you can read on the Spring Bulbs website. When you are next stuck indoors why not have a look for the ‘Life of a Plant – make your own Origami booklet’ resource on my website!Severn Primary: We had an INSET day on Monday November 2nd, so we didn't take any readings. It wasn't really 0degrees. Ysgol Mair: On Monday 2nd November we were not in school so have no data but we were not able to record 'no record'. Professor Plant: Dear Severn Primary & Ysgol Mair, I’m sorry you weren’t able to record your inset day. We had a slight blip with the website where the ‘no record’ button wasn’t working. In future please record all days where there are no readings as ‘no record’. Thank you for spotting that readings of 0degrees can affect the results and for letting me know Bulb Buddies!Betws Primary School: We collected the data for our class. It was warm and sunny at the start of the week. We had a lot of rain on Thursday and Friday. Our bulbs should be happy! Professor Plant: Well done Betws Primary. Keep up the good work.Castlepark Primary School: P6 were very enthusiastic about keeping track of the temperature and rainfall this week. They felt like real scientists and are ready to show another class how to record the details next week. Professor Plant: Fantastic Castlepark Primary. I’m glad you are learning new skills through the project and that you are having so much fun doing so. You really are Super Scientists!St. Oswalds V A School: We are worried about having a true reading on a Monday if it has rained over the weekend. Shall we empty the rain gauge Monday morning and take the rainfall measurement as normal? Professor Plant: Hi St Oswalds. That’s a good question, well done for thinking about the effect this has on Monday’s results. The reading on Monday afternoon will include any residual (left over) rain fall from the weekend. Please don’t empty the rain gauge before taking Monday’s reading, as we want the reading to reflect the weather over at least the last 24 hours. Keep up the good work bulb buddies.Our Lady of Peace Primary School: Hello we had fun planting the bulbs. It wasn't the first time we have planted something. We have planted spider plants in primary 1. Hopefully our plants come up healthy. Good bye. Professor Plant: Hello Our Lady of Peace Primary, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed planting! You sound like experienced gardeners now! Keep up the good work!Drumpark Primary ASN School: We have had fun taking data. Professor Plant: I’m glad to hear it Drumpark Primary. Keep up the good work!Biggar Primary School: We are enjoying the experiments. Professor Plant: I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the project Biggar Primary. For more experiment ideas look for ‘Professor Plant’s investigation Ideas’ on the Spring Bulbs website: https://www.museumwales.ac.uk/spring-bulbs/Maesycoed Primary: A very mild start to the season. Our year group is split into two classes with a different facing outdoor area. We are monitoring the effects the other class experience against our own as we have more sunlight then they do but they are more sheltered. We will let you know if their flowers appear first. Professor Plant: Fantastic experiment Maesycoed Primary! Please do let me know what your findings are and what you learn from them! This also gives you an opportunity to practice averages. As only one reading a day is needed on the Museum website, you could look at the readings taken by each class and work out the average to enter to the website! Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies.Brisbane Primary School: Our Monday reading is collated over the weekend. We are taking our readings at 2.30pm Mon - Frid. Thank you Professor Plant. Professor Plant: Hello Brisbane Primary, thank you for your up-date. It’s great that you are managing to take your readings at the same time each day, as this helps to ensure a fair experiment. Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies.
