The working life of Museum of London

Anish Kapoor: Turning the World Upside Down in Kensington Gardens from O Production Ltd. on Vimeo.

If you travel across the city by Tube and are anything like me you’ll have found yourself, in recent months, staring across the tracks at the thin, curved screens arriving where before were peeling billboards.  At first very little happened, but it was clear that ‘live’ advertising was about to start on the London Underground.

I found this quite exciting, in a distracting-yet-moving-with-the-times sense.  Of course I expected this excitement to be dampened instantly with advertisements extolling the virtues of life insurance or personal shopping.  Yet it doesn’t have to be that way.  The screen is only a blank canvas, a servant, and a project which has taken that literally is Smile For London.

They have invited film-makers to produce shorts – films, art or animation, to be cycled between advertisements on selected Tube platforms during the rush hour, between the 17th and 28th of January.  Participants include Aardman (the creators of Wallace and Gromit), Anish Kapoor, Laurie Hill, Light Surgeons and Amy Thornley.  Keira Knightley stars in a silent film called Maze made by artist Stuart Pearson Wright.

Last week the Museum of London hosted a celebration of the work of Smile for London, and an awards ceremony for the creative individuals and collectives who have taken part, with a showing of the shorts to be screened.  Until the 28th the Museum will continue to screen the shorts in its digital space by the Galleries of Modern London.

The Museum’s support for Smile for London is a reflection of its constant participation in the curation and also creation of London’s history.  It seems particularly fitting that thistakes place, for a short time on the London Underground, in Victorian tunnels on wartime platforms, obscured by 1980s carriages, seen by passengers carrying Oystercards and flicking through their Blackberrys.  So if you’re on the Tube from now until the 28th look up and Smile for London.

Hello again,

We have had a bit of a break as we have had changes to the project team, so let me introduce you to the hosts who are taking this exhibition forward.

We now have photographs being taken by myself, Peter, Dave and Donald.

Other regular updates will be coming from Rachel and Matt as the exhibition develops.

We are picking up from where we left off on our blog with this photograph from High Summer:

This is part of the Greenway (a walking route through the Olympic site) looking calm and tranquil. Things are a lot different now. We will show you how in future updates as  interest in the site in general has grown massively in the last few months with organised group visits commonplace including I might add ones for visitors to our museum!

 Our next update will take you through from Autumn right into the heart of Winter.

After we have talked you through these changes we will then go onto discussing further the development of our free exhibition which opens in July this year (one year before the Olympics are due to begin).

On Saturday I spoke at an Untold London workshop held at the Museum of London, on the subject of LGBT history and blogging. This was coupled with a tour of the ‘gay’ artifacts in the Museum and a writing session.

LGBT history is full of great stories and many brave individuals right through history who were ready to defy the convention, and often the laws of the day to lead their life. Its interpretation is fraught with difficulty, often due to twentieth century abstract perceptions of what it means to be ‘queer’. What was it like to be of alternative sexuality two hundred or three hundred years ago? Despite my grasp of the stories and facts I don’t know, do I? I don’t know what it’s like now (I managed to announce, to much hilarity, that ‘I am not a gay man’). I have never felt alone or rejected because of my sexuality, and have certainly never been persecuted for it.

So when I was preparing for the workshop, I had no idea what to expect – and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. What a crowd! For a start, our venue in the Clore centre was packed, almost double the attendance expected. Interests ranged from high fashion in court circles to trades unions to concepts of what it means to be trans-gender, genealogy and education.

The lovely Babs gave an introduction, I blathered for a bit about being alternative in Georgian London and then Kate took us on a tour of the gay artifacts of the Museum. What is a gay artifact? Well might you ask. After all, gay people own clocks, shoes and read books just like everyone else. A ‘Pride’ badge is not enough to show the input of gay people into the history of London. So we looked at objects such as the head of Hadrian found near London Bridge. Hadrian was devoted to his lover Antinous, whose death almost broke the emperor. Did you know Antinous’s ‘head’ was the only non-imperial one ever to appear on Roman coinage? As our large group wended its way through a busy Saturday afternoon Museum of London, the sense of fun and enjoyment was clear. I learned things I didn’t know, and not just from Kate – my knowledge of Marie Antoinette’s fashion dictatorship is now considerably increased. As we walked we discussed the difference between the performance of alternative sexuality (Alexander McQueen came up here) and the reality of living an alternative life. Which is which and which deserves to be remembered?

We returned to the Clore for questions, discussion and writing. The challenge was to put something down about the experiences of the day, and the results were quite simply, brilliant. Varied, eloquent and often very funny, they highlighted what had been learned and often passed sharp comment on modern gay life. I would like to thank everyone who came (and Babs and Kate for a splendid day), and to extend an invitation to celebrate LGBT history month in February: email me a blog post please (lucy@georgianlondon.com), up to 500 words on your favourite pre-1950 LGBT Londoner, to be featured on the Georgian London blog. Tell me how you found them and why you admire them. It can be integrity, heroism, social daring or killer style. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.

February

Greetings fellow Olympian enthusiasts! When I last left you, the team had just submitted our exhibition proposal to the relevant committee . It’s been some time since that last post (sorry!) so I won’t keep you in suspense much longer. As it turns out, our exhibition proposal was too ambitious, the good news however is that a scaled down exhibition will mean increased emphasis on things like blogs and I am now very important. Also, as we won’t be able to display as many of the fantastic photos in the physical exhibition, I am able to debut the ones I fancy right here, right now. So join me, won’t you, as today we take a journey through this last year.

March

March

I have chosen to use the main stadium as the ‘control’ if you will, in order to better contrast the seasons. The decision to use the stadium was a symbolic one for, as the focus of the ceremony and grandeur, this stadium represents the heart of the…
I’m not sure where I’m going with this. We had a lot of pictures of it, ok?

As you may have guessed, this is the stadium in March. I wasn’t exaggerating when I mentioned a journey through the year. Each month hosts have been braving the elements and documenting the Olympic site. In fact, the banner picture at the beginning is from February.
In addition to a control shot of the stadium, I also wanted to include something a tad arty-er, which brings me to this companion shot. The holey obelisk in the photo is a signpost awaiting signs. Hopefully, after the Olympics, the signs will be removed again and the post buried in order to confuse future archaeologists.

April

June

June

The observant ones among you may have realised we skipped over May. I’m not sure why. Perhaps we were particularly busy. I would encourage you, however, not to dwell on this omission and, instead, enjoy the spring-time stylings nature has brought to the site and the stadium.
Though the construction process is fascinating, I’m always amazed by flora and fauna of the Olympic site. As the area has sat idle since the factories slowly died off, nature has had a head start and the variety of animal, and especially plant life could be an exhibition in and of itself. Of course the dilapidating factories also left behind an equally wide assortment of contamination.
Luckily for the flowers and the Earth in general, a major push is underway to clean the area. Every bit of dirt on the Olympic site is being systematically gathered, rinsed of all pollution, and released back into the wild. Though I’m still a bit unclear on the exact process (cleaning dirt will always strike me as a contradiction in terms) it’s wonderful to know that, whatever else it brings, the Olympics will certainly leave a legacy of a clean and arable Stratford.

July

July

July saw the implementation of what can only be described as a very English campaign protesting the Olympic regeneration. The campaign was waged in the form of brown cardboard signs, as seen in the picture, each sporting a rather adorably genteel and frequently misspelled observation.
In case you can’t quite read it, the one in this photo remarks

The transport links are very usefull(sic) in their own way, but they are just another means of diluting the community.
Other highlights include

I pass it a lot(sic) but I don’t have much day to day contact with it

When you build up an area like this to being urban, like having so much development in it, I think you kind of risk it becoming a bit sort of soulless(sic) and detached from the rest of the world

and my personal favourite

I’m a little bit dubious about the outcome.

Though soft spoken, I suppose only time will reveal if his dubiosity is justified. In the meantime this signage has disappeared as the Olympic site has continued to expand and evolve. Sadly for you, I’ve been taught to always leave an audience wanting more, so you’ll have to wait for the next post to see photos from August through December. These photos are totally worth the wait. Seriously, incredible stuff. You will be astounded and dumbfounded and all sorts of ounded. Afterwards, colours will look brighter. I’ll stop now, I’d hate to oversell you on this. I guess what I’m saying is check back early and often.

Hackney Dust destructor on the Lea near to Lea Bridge (Water colour by Leonard Richmond, 1928)

Y’all come back now, ya hear?

-Kathryn

Donald

Your 2012 Profile of the Week

Donald

Role: Lead photographer/Exhibition designer.

Likes: Travelling, foreign cinema, the feel of wind in his hair

Dislikes: Fakes

Donald is an artiste who is single handedly responsible for drawing up the layout of our exhibition and capturing no less than 27 images of ducks in the month of August. Watch this space for the premiere of his work which captures and quiet corners of the Olympic site in ways both abstract and intimate.

This week I was lucky enough to venture into the very depths of the Museum of London to meet Jelena Bekvalac and her team in Human Osteology where they are slowly but surely reassembling and recording the skeletons of Londoners from a 2000 year period. This mammoth task includes separating and cataloguing the bones of everyone from plague victims to newborn babies.

The plague, or the Black Death, is a particularly interesting period in London’s history; it was both short and dramatic, hitting hardest in 1349 to 50. Whilst outbreaks of plague in London would continue throughout the following two centuries (and still occur throughout undeveloped parts of the world), the largest death toll occurred in a very brief period. Families were wiped out, whole neighbourhoods destroyed and the landscape of the medieval city was changed for good.

Chatting to Jelena and the team, one thing became clear, that the architecture of ‘catastrophe cemeteries’ has changed little over hundreds of years. When the need arises to bury many bodies in a very short space of time, multiple burials or ‘pits’ are how it works. The London Plague Pits are remarkable in their construction, forming two long trenches rather than rough holes, indicating some order and forethought. This is, as far as is known, a unique site.

London’s plague pits in East Smithfield are, of their type, the finest and most complete in the world, matched only by a similar Black Death catastrophe cemetery of similar age in Germany. Catastrophe cemeteries are invaluable in providing a ‘living cross-section’ of society. This sounds strange, but as plague is an indiscriminate and ‘unnatural’ killer, the cemetery contains the remains of Londoners from every strata of the city and from tiny babies to healthy youths, all the way to the elderly. Jelena and her team have worked with the remains disinterred from this cemetery to reconstruct a picture of the city in those years. The results are fascinating.

Jelena will be speaking on excavations undertaken at the catastrophe cemetery at East Smithfield (upon which the Royal Mint was subsequently built), at the upcoming Museum of London free Lunchtime Lecture.

Following on from our blog post earlier this week our Assistant Curator on-site, Dan, has just sent through this update:

So far this week we have been visited by pupils from Mulberry School for Girls, Cannon Barnet School, The South International School and a home schooling group all of whom have been digging, washing their subsequent finds alongside undertaking art activities in the Park.

We have been joined also by an adult group from Toynbee Hall, a passing Whitechapel walking tour and students from University College London.

Couple this with local residents and office workers enjoying the park and enquiring about our activities (alongside sharing their knowledge of the area) and you have a very busy week, having spoken to hundreds of people aged between 3 and 73 years old.

Finds uncovered throughout the week from Trench 1 include building material, roof tiles, pottery, clay tobacco pipes and animal bone mostly from the late 19th and early 20th century.

Also unearthed were a collection of complete glass bottles alongside an early 20th century ceramic milk bottle top with the inscription ‘Purifiled Milk Co. Forest Gate E’.

And our search for the original ‘White-chapel’ has been met with some success…

Trench 2 has produced a large quantity of glass, pottery and clay tobacco pipes plus two phases of church wall from the 1600’s and 1900’s , possibly a vault from the later phase of rebuilding.

On Thursday several blocks of white chalk were uncovered from Trench 2 which may belong to the medieval church of the Blessed Mary of Matfelun. The colour of the church leads to locals referring to the ‘Whitechapel’ and the name expanded to include the entire area.

Work on Trench 2 continued under the watchful eye of Dave Sankey from Museum of London Archaeology and all our hard work was not in vain as fragments of  a handle from a Londonware jug dating to the 12th century and a piece of Borderware pottery with green glaze from the 16th century were found.

These are the earliest finds so far.

The week has passed too quickly and we have been very fortunate to have had an unseasonably dry week for October.

We hope to create a temporary display using the finds back at the Museum of London soon which will tell the complete story of our week spend at Altab Ali Park.

This week the Museum of London , in collaboration with muf architecture/art, is transforming Altab Ali Park in East London into a temporary open-air museum and archaeological dig.

Local residents have been encouraged to bring personal objects to the site to display alongside items retrieved during the archaeological excavations as we search for the remains of the 13th-century Chapel of the Blessed Mary of Matfelun, better known as the ‘White-chapel’.

Curator Jackie Keily, provides this insight into the first day of work on-site:

Monday was our first day of excavation and we welcomed pupils from Canon Barnett Primary School to the site.

Everyone took turns digging in Trench 1 and washing the pieces of pottery and bricks that they found.

Later the pupils learnt more about the history of Altab Ali Park through an art workshop.

A big thank you to all the pupils, and their teacher Peter, for helping us on the day.

Over in Trench 2 our adult volunteers have been helping to uncover the history of the churches that once stood on the site. By the end of Monday they had uncovered part of a wall from the 19th century church that was badly damaged in World War II. Its walls were built of yellow bricks but there are also remains of the earlier, 18th century church,  built from red brick to be seen.

Tuesday saw the delivery of these intricately carved watermelons for inclusion in the open-air museum exhibits and our staff on-site were so impressed that a flurry of updates to the Museum’s social media sites took place immediately.

Work will go on for the rest of the week and we will keep you updated as to developments here on the Museum’s blog. Find out more and how you can visit the dig and open-air museum on our website here.

Hi there, Kathryn (host at Museum of London Docklands extraordinaire) here to give you a glimpse into the creation of Your 2012, an exhibition reflecting on the past, present, and future of the communities affected by the Olympic Games. This exhibit also has the distinction of being curated by hosts just like me! Truth be told, I joined the project in progress owing to my recent date of employment. I hope this blog can contribute to the excitement and scope of the project, and I’m also eager to share the things I’m learning as I catch up with my colleagues.

the stadium smelt of elderberries!

Our last meeting was a Big One. It was the meeting during which we finalised the Exhibition Concept and Content Outline. Said outline is now being reviewed by a team of experts, and if all goes well, we will be assigned a project manager by the end of October and can begin putting together all the material collected and researched during the past months.

The exhibition has a very photographic emphasis, which has the double benefit of showing the fascinating evolution of the Stratford area and being very cheap. Evidently the nation is in some sort of recession, who knew? Nevertheless, it’s been a fascinating enterprise scrolling through photos taken at the site every month since February and seeing the transformation through the spring and summer. Last week I was able to add autumn, and compare the photos with the evidence of my own eyes when I took my first trip to the Olympic site.

its purpose is as undefinable as its colour

We didn’t actually go inside the site (though they do offer bus tours), but walking around the area was an incredible experience.  As a frequent patron of the DLR, it was fascinating to see more than tiles proliferate on the roof of the aquatic centre and to explore the landmarks I studied twice a day from the window of the little teal train. A neon lime construction turned out to be the View Tube, a gallery/classroom/café/lecture theatre/viewing platform…let’s just call it a multipurpose space. When I was there, they were just hanging a display of art made by a local youth group consisting of gorgeous photos of the site, meshed and modified into something I wanted to hang on my wall.

The View Tube itself is built out of disused shipping containers, a method very much in keeping with the Olympics on whole. Evidently, as the Stratford area was by no means short of bits and bobs (and I-beams) of disused factory detritus, the project managers are endeavouring to salvage and reuse as much material as possible in the construction of the

not pictured: a minigolf course

Olympic Village. They’re even using the local network of currently algae-clogged waterways to transport these salvage materials quickly and cheaply. It makes me feel all green and fuzzy inside. (Perhaps that’s the algae)

I could go on, but this post is meant to be about Your 2012 so lets return to the Museum of London Docklands hosts, and their steps and progress in making the exhibition a reality. Currently we have a blueprint for the gallery and a layout for the exhibition, the most recent addition to the plan being a frieze along the top and bottom of the walls featuring our myriad of artistic and quirky photos. We are also attempting to get a bird’s eye photo of the Olympic Stadium therefore one of us will be flying to Belgium and back in order to capture some aerial shots. As you do. Details (who/when/how) are still a bit sketchy, but believe me, I will keep you posted.

Cheers!

Kathryn

Your 2012 Profile of the Week

he is being a sundial, fyi

Dave

Role: Archaeological liaison, tour leader, and Olympics Mastermind.

Eyes: Blue

Hair: N/A

Dave knows everything about the Olympic site because it is situated in his back garden and because he knows everything.  I know this, because he took me on his home-made, hand-crafted tour this week. Be sure to catch his ITV 1 debut in Whitechapel this Monday. He’s the one yelling “HIT ‘IM!”

A short post today, about something new to the Museum’s display – a ‘kosher’ Delftware plate bearing the Hebrew character ‘chlav’ for milk.

This striking dinner plate dates from c.1720 and was made in Lambeth on the South Bank. Blue and white Delft was very popular at the time and made in large quantities for tiles and everyday domestic items, such as dinner services. However, to find one that would have been part of a ‘milk’ dinner service within a Jewish home is exceptionally rare – I’m not sure another one is known.

Kosher dietary law, or kashrut decrees that separate food utensils be used for milk and meat products. Whilst being aware of this requirement, I had previously assumed that families had simply used two distinguishable services, such as one patterned, one plain. The presence of this plate in London at this date suggests two things: that the Jewish community was large enough to warrant the Lambeth manufactory producing ‘milk’ and ‘meat’ services, or that a Jewish member of the community had the two services commissioned (I am assuming the existence of a matching ‘meat’ service).

I think this plate is an important piece of London’s diverse history and definitely worth a moment or two of your time on your next visit.

Our excavation in Burgess Park has sadly now finished.  The machine arrived yesterday and we filled in the trenches.  Today the cabins will be collected. 

I have really enjoyed working in Burgess Park.  We have uncovered some interesting details about the history of the park and met some interesting local residents who kindly shared their research and memories of the area.  Some 400 local school children have helped explore the archaeology and we’ve trained 31 adults in the techniques and principles of archaeological excavation. 

We may have finished excavating but this is not the end of our work on the site.  The next stage is done back at the office and we need to pull together our research, photos, maps and finds, consult with specialists and write up the results.  These results will be published and available to anyone who is interested.  The records and finds from the site will be archived with the London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) in due course, and again these will accessible by appointment to anyone who would like to see them.  After all that the process starts again.  Where shall we excavate next summer…?

Thanks to all the staff and volunteers who helped run the excavation; thanks to everyone who took part; thanks to all the local people who shared their knowledge and memories; thanks to Southwark and Lambeth Archaeological Excavation Committee for their funding and finally thanks to Southwark Council for allowing us to excavate in Burgess Park.

Kate Sumnall, Community Archaeologist, Museum of London