We've been making amazing prints and collages throughout the week. I'll put up all the rest of the work next monday and tuesday! Thank you to everyone who came to the workshops and I hope you enjoyed them!
John Read le Brockton Tomlin was one of the most highly respected shell collectors of his time. Amgueddfa Cymru holds both his extensive shell collection and his archive of correspondence.
It is an archive not only of scientific history, capturing a bygone era of collecting, but also a personal insight into the lives of some of the most famous shell collectors of the day.
The archive is estimated to contain well over a thousand documents dating from the early 1800's through to the mid 1900's. It is a collection of all of the correspondence between Tomlin and his many shell associates around the world.
Many interesting discoveries have been made whilst cataloguing this archive. It has brought into focus aspects of the lives of collectors, recounting expeditions and voyages, personal illness and hardship, war, dinner invitations and Christmas cards.
A selection of items from the archive have been made available below.
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: A photograph of the Japanese shell collector, Shintaro Hirase, his wife and six children.
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: A letter from Yoichiro Hirase relating how his ill health has led to the closure of his museum in Kyoto, Japan.
"I often feel a sever pain in the abdomen and an attack of fever. A complete rest is of the greatest importance to me, and I am, therefore, obliged to be still and lie quietly in bed".
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: A Christmas card from William Evens Hoyle, the first director of Amgueddfa Cymru, 1909-1926.
INTIMATE INSIGHTS:
Seasons greetings and a poem!
"Here, direct from a Ceylon friend
A Butter-firkin cone I send.
'Tis said to be the largest known,
(Well, friend, that's not for me to own)
Linnaeus, Martini, Sowerby, Reeve,
Might have a bigger up their sleeve.
If this should prove the largest size
'Twould be to me a great surprise.
Notice its bulk and elevation,
("The finest Betulinus in Creation").
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: Letter from the American shell collector, Joseph Emerson, announcing his retirement.
"...Now I am 86 and a half years old and I must say finis to a work which I love and have been engaged in so long. It is too great a tax on my nerves...".
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: A dinner invitation "Soused salmon, remnant of lamb and a salad will be ready for you here at six tomorrow".
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: An invitation from Reverend Ellerton Alderson to Tomlin, proposing a visit to his house in West Sussex. "The nearest railway station at Goring is practically useless, the train service being, as you justly remark 'putidious' ".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Postcard from W. Junk, Berlin, 18 April 1933. "Though of Jewish origin, I have not been disturbed".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: A postcard from a German shell collector and dealer Martin Holtz, 1 February 1928.
"By the war however my whole existence is destroyed and especially as naturalist, traveller and dealer. In want of means and without support, I am unable to continue my scientifical enterprises".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: A postcard from the Japanese conchologist Yoichiro Hirase, 1 December 1918. "I wish you the merriest of Xmases and the happiest of new Years, with every kind of good fortune, especially on this occasion when the cheerful light of peace has begun to dawn to drive away the gloomy clouds of terrors and horrors, overhanging the whole world for these four and a half years, which have been caused by the Great European War, the most horrible and the most extensive disturbance that has ever been experienced on earth".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Letter from the American conchologist Walter Eyerdam, 4 August 1935. "My wife and baby girl of 3 and a half years have been in Germany since Christmas. They will soon start for home. My wife seems to be very inspired over the new system as put in force by Adolf Hitler and the revival of progress and national Spirit amongst the Germans. My sincerest wish is that there should never be a rift again between Germany and England...".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Letter from La Société Guernesiaise, 12 October 1946. "We ate limpets as long as there were any, they were sold in the market for 2/- a small (very small) bowl. The Germans ate them too during the latter part of their stay when their food did not come through after D. Day".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Letter from the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, Edinburgh. 4 February 1918 "Never was any material in my laboratory more inaccessible than it is at present under war conditions. I have no staff (all serving or killed), and it is quite impossible for me to handle the Mollusca you ask me for".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Letter from the Honorary Secretary of the Biology War Committee, 4 December 1944. "The Biology War Committee has been asked...for information on the dangers of swimming in tropical waters...I should be very grateful if you could give me any information on the distribution of clams or other mollusca which might either catch swimmers or in any way inconvenience them".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Portrait of Arthur Douglas Bacchus. (Reserve) Household Battalian, Combermere Barracks, Windsor. 17 January 1917
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: Letter from C. Hughes describing his holiday in America, 19 April 1892. "Our American trip was enchanting! We saw all the Chief Eastern towns — went 9000 miles in a special train — saw the Yellowstone Park and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona...Rode on horseback 40 miles a day, slept under trees in the forests at night and were out in the thunder and sand storms...The Grand Canyon was beyond words...".
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: An American conchologist, Junius Henderson, collecting molluscs in Colorado. "A sort of a conchologist in 'cowboy' leather 'chaps' collecting molluska on Grand Mesa, Colorado at an altitude of 10000 ft. 1923...".
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: Letter from the Australian conchologist, Charles Hedley recounting a long holiday in Africa. 11 April 1925
"I wondered leisurely through the Great Rift Valley, one of the geological wonders of the world, down to Nairobi. After wasting a week trying to buy a giraffe for the Sydney Zoo, I moved on to Kilimanjaro".
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: Continuation of letter from Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell, 19 November 1927. "We left the boat at Port Said and went to Cairo and saw Pyramids and Sphinx. The things in Museum at Cairo are more splendid than the published pictures could reveal...We had about 8 hours at Naples — saw the Zoological Station and went to Pompei".
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: Letter written at sea by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell. 'Just passing out of Bab-el-Mandeb' [a strait located between Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea], 19 November 1927
"I sketch at sides the topography on both sides of Bab-el-Mandeb. It is volcanic and amazingly like that of the lesser Madeira Islands. That is French Somaliland is like the Desertas and the Arabian side is like Porto Santo".
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: Anthony Arkell — Sudan (c. 1925)
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: "Just me in one of my dreams". Thompson van Hyning - Florida State Museum, 27 April 1925.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: Photograph of a meeting in Vienna, July 1930.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: The collectors Phillipe Dautzenberg, Charles Hedley and Henri Fischer - Paris, October 1912.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: The collectors Emery and Elsie Chace and Daniel Emery - St Petersburg, Florida.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: The French collector Eugène Caziot, 1923.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: John Wesley Carr from the Natural History Museum, Nottingham.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: Amateur conchologist, Henry Burnup who settled in South Africa in 1894.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: The British collector Arthur Edwin Boycott, 1925.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: The American collector Frank Collins Baker in his collection.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: Collectors Robert Tucker Abbott, Bill Clench and Emery Chace - San Pedro, 1940.
Just another short-ish post to highlight the arrival of our new, updated Tudor packs.
Tudor Pack in English (.pdf file)
A colourful detail from the reconstructed Tudor church at St Fagans National Museum of History
These resources were designed with teachers and school groups in mind, but contain some lovely illustrations and ideas suitable for families as well.
We've put them together for use during, and after, visits to the site's Tudor buildings.
Through the Learning Department's training days for primary teachers, we've been able to get a fair bit of feedback regarding the contents - but we're always happy to hear more. What kinds of resources for learners, of all shapes and sizes, would you like to see at St Fagans: National History Museum?
I was up at St Teilo's Church this morning with Darren the photographer, taking pictures of our Tudor handling objects for use in a post-visit picture book for children. I'm excited to see what the designers will make of the photos, and how the finished product will turn out. I'll keep you posted!
For those of you wondering what other opportunities we currently offer primary schools and teachers, here's a handy guide: Opportunities for Schools (.pdf file)
Blaenavon Working Men's Institute, early 20th century
Between the 1880s and the 1930s a number of Workmen's Institutes were built in the industrialized townships of south and north-east Wales. Their aim was to provide educational and recreational facilities for workers and their families. They usually housed libraries and reading rooms where daily newspapers were available, but might also include theatres, cinemas and games rooms (snooker, billiards and dominoes were particularly popular). Used for public lectures, political rallies, concerts, dances and eisteddfodau (competitive music and recitation competitions), the Institutes also provided venues where groups and societies could meet and local bands could practise and perform. Some Institute buildings were four or five storeys high and even contained swimming pools!
The Reading Room, Oakdale Institute about 1946
The Oakdale Workmen's Institute served the community based around Oakdale Colliery in Monmouthshire. The first shaft had been sunk in this hitherto relatively unspoilt part of the Sirhowy valley in 1906, and a second — the Waterloo shaft — was sunk four years later. The coal seams proved to be outstanding both in terms of quality of coal and thickness of the seams. Accommodation for the workers and their families was provided in a purpose-built ‘model village’ named Oakdale.
At the heart of the new village was a Workmen's Institute. Construction work began in 1917 and on 3 July that year a ceremony was held at which two foundation stones were laid. Specially engraved trowels were presented to the two main participants: Harry Blount, on behalf of the workers, and Alfred S. Tallis, Managing Director of the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, which owned the Oakdale mine. The building was finished the following year when, presumably, a 'topping out' ceremony would have been held to mark the completion of building works.
The building was officially opened on 10 September 1917, and a special key was presented to A S Tallis, representing the mine owners, as a token of the building committee's appreciation for the loan of £10,000 given by the company towards the cost of erecting the building.
The Oakdale Institute was donated to St Fagans National Museum of History (then called the National Folk Museum of Wales) in 1987. It was dismantled, re-erected and refurbished to its late 1930s appearance and opened to the public in 1995. The two trowels used at the ceremony to mark the laying of the foundation stones were donated to the Museum in the months leading up to the opening by relatives of their original recipients. (One trowel had found its way to the Isle of Wight, while the other was in Swansea.) The building was officially opened by the Rt. Hon. Neil Kinnock, then European Commissioner for Transport, but formerly leader of the Labour Party and MP for the constituency of Bedwellty within which Oakdale was situated. Days before the opening, the engraved key given to the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company was also donated to the Museum.
The 'Stute is a prize-winning animation made by the animation company Cinetig with pupils from two South Wales schools. It celebrates the crucial role Oakdale Workmen's Institute, Gwent, had in the mining community and draws on oral testimony from the archives at St Fagans.
The 'Stute is a prize-winning animation made by the animation company Cinetig with pupils from two South Wales schools. It celebrates the crucial role Oakdale Workmen's Institute, Gwent, had in the mining community and draws on oral testimony from the archives at St Fagans.
Macmillan have now ended their stand-off with Amazon, and come to an agreement over the terms of sale of their ebooks. When Macmillan initially demanded new terms, all their books became unavailable on Amazon.
Now, even Rupert Murdoch says that Amazon's terms "devalues books", and he looks like renegotiating HarperCollins terms.
The problem is Amazon's selling model, in which they act as a straightforward reseller. They can sell the ebooks at any price they choose, even lossleading on some if they want to. Apple, on the other hand, have taken a completely different model with US publishers, who are welcoming it with open arms. Apple will be buying ebooks from publishers at a price set by the publishers, with Apple effectively taking a commission.
There's still no indication that Apple has started negotiating with UK publishers, so when the first iPads ship to the UK at the end of March ebooks might not be available through iBooks. If not, however, it won't be trhough lack of enthusiasm on the part of publishers. This is one American trend I don't think we'll mind following.
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: A photograph of the Japanese shell collector, Shintaro Hirase, his wife and six children.
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: A letter from Yoichiro Hirase relating how his ill health has led to the closure of his museum in Kyoto, Japan.
"I often feel a sever pain in the abdomen and an attack of fever. A complete rest is of the greatest importance to me, and I am, therefore, obliged to be still and lie quietly in bed".
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: A Christmas card from William Evens Hoyle, the first director of Amgueddfa Cymru, 1909-1926.
INTIMATE INSIGHTS:
Seasons greetings and a poem!
"Here, direct from a Ceylon friend
A Butter-firkin cone I send.
'Tis said to be the largest known,
(Well, friend, that's not for me to own)
Linnaeus, Martini, Sowerby, Reeve,
Might have a bigger up their sleeve.
If this should prove the largest size
'Twould be to me a great surprise.
Notice its bulk and elevation,
("The finest Betulinus in Creation").
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: Letter from the American shell collector, Joseph Emerson, announcing his retirement.
"...Now I am 86 and a half years old and I must say finis to a work which I love and have been engaged in so long. It is too great a tax on my nerves...".
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: A dinner invitation "Soused salmon, remnant of lamb and a salad will be ready for you here at six tomorrow".
INTIMATE INSIGHTS: An invitation from Reverend Ellerton Alderson to Tomlin, proposing a visit to his house in West Sussex. "The nearest railway station at Goring is practically useless, the train service being, as you justly remark 'putidious' ".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Postcard from W. Junk, Berlin, 18 April 1933. "Though of Jewish origin, I have not been disturbed".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: A postcard from a German shell collector and dealer Martin Holtz, 1 February 1928.
"By the war however my whole existence is destroyed and especially as naturalist, traveller and dealer. In want of means and without support, I am unable to continue my scientifical enterprises".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: A postcard from the Japanese conchologist Yoichiro Hirase, 1 December 1918. "I wish you the merriest of Xmases and the happiest of new Years, with every kind of good fortune, especially on this occasion when the cheerful light of peace has begun to dawn to drive away the gloomy clouds of terrors and horrors, overhanging the whole world for these four and a half years, which have been caused by the Great European War, the most horrible and the most extensive disturbance that has ever been experienced on earth".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Letter from the American conchologist Walter Eyerdam, 4 August 1935. "My wife and baby girl of 3 and a half years have been in Germany since Christmas. They will soon start for home. My wife seems to be very inspired over the new system as put in force by Adolf Hitler and the revival of progress and national Spirit amongst the Germans. My sincerest wish is that there should never be a rift again between Germany and England...".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Letter from La Société Guernesiaise, 12 October 1946. "We ate limpets as long as there were any, they were sold in the market for 2/- a small (very small) bowl. The Germans ate them too during the latter part of their stay when their food did not come through after D. Day".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Letter from the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, Edinburgh. 4 February 1918 "Never was any material in my laboratory more inaccessible than it is at present under war conditions. I have no staff (all serving or killed), and it is quite impossible for me to handle the Mollusca you ask me for".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Letter from the Honorary Secretary of the Biology War Committee, 4 December 1944. "The Biology War Committee has been asked...for information on the dangers of swimming in tropical waters...I should be very grateful if you could give me any information on the distribution of clams or other mollusca which might either catch swimmers or in any way inconvenience them".
COLLECTING IN ADVERSITY / WAR: Portrait of Arthur Douglas Bacchus. (Reserve) Household Battalian, Combermere Barracks, Windsor. 17 January 1917
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: Letter from C. Hughes describing his holiday in America, 19 April 1892. "Our American trip was enchanting! We saw all the Chief Eastern towns — went 9000 miles in a special train — saw the Yellowstone Park and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona...Rode on horseback 40 miles a day, slept under trees in the forests at night and were out in the thunder and sand storms...The Grand Canyon was beyond words...".
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: An American conchologist, Junius Henderson, collecting molluscs in Colorado. "A sort of a conchologist in 'cowboy' leather 'chaps' collecting molluska on Grand Mesa, Colorado at an altitude of 10000 ft. 1923...".
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: Letter from the Australian conchologist, Charles Hedley recounting a long holiday in Africa. 11 April 1925
"I wondered leisurely through the Great Rift Valley, one of the geological wonders of the world, down to Nairobi. After wasting a week trying to buy a giraffe for the Sydney Zoo, I moved on to Kilimanjaro".
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: Continuation of letter from Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell, 19 November 1927. "We left the boat at Port Said and went to Cairo and saw Pyramids and Sphinx. The things in Museum at Cairo are more splendid than the published pictures could reveal...We had about 8 hours at Naples — saw the Zoological Station and went to Pompei".
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: Letter written at sea by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell. 'Just passing out of Bab-el-Mandeb' [a strait located between Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea], 19 November 1927
"I sketch at sides the topography on both sides of Bab-el-Mandeb. It is volcanic and amazingly like that of the lesser Madeira Islands. That is French Somaliland is like the Desertas and the Arabian side is like Porto Santo".
EXPEDITIONS AND HOLIDAYS: Anthony Arkell — Sudan (c. 1925)
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: "Just me in one of my dreams". Thompson van Hyning - Florida State Museum, 27 April 1925.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: Photograph of a meeting in Vienna, July 1930.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: The collectors Phillipe Dautzenberg, Charles Hedley and Henri Fischer - Paris, October 1912.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: The collectors Emery and Elsie Chace and Daniel Emery - St Petersburg, Florida.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: The French collector Eugène Caziot, 1923.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: John Wesley Carr from the Natural History Museum, Nottingham.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: Amateur conchologist, Henry Burnup who settled in South Africa in 1894.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: The British collector Arthur Edwin Boycott, 1925.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: The American collector Frank Collins Baker in his collection.
COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING: Collectors Robert Tucker Abbott, Bill Clench and Emery Chace - San Pedro, 1940.
Blaenavon Working Men's Institute, early 20th century
The Reading Room, Oakdale Institute about 1946
