The working life of Museum of London

Rebecca Lang, Conservator, installing objects into the under floor cases.

As we draw closer to the opening of Galleries of Modern London I’m getting more excited to see what some of the inclusion projects I have worked on will look like. Over the last two years I have been involved in four different projects with Londoners from all backgrounds which will feed into our new displays. Back in summer 2008 I worked on ‘London Beneath’, a really interesting project that allowed me to work closely with our conservation department for the first time.

The participants were then on the Pathways to Work programme, which supports people on incapacity benefit into work. They worked with museum staff including curators, specialists, archive staff, conservators and designers, as well as an artist to research and design two under floor cases of objects. The opportunity allowed them to gain news skills and confidence… and it was great for us to have some fresh perspectives when creating a new showcase. We worked at our amazing archaeological archive and got to spend many hours exploring boxes of finds. The two cases reflect the period of rebuilding in London that took place after the Great Fire of 1666. Several hundred objects were selected including broken domestic pottery, slate, glass bottles, elm water pipes, dice, marbles, gold rings and a desiccated cat.

Two of the group later volunteered with the conservation department. Rebecca Lang, archaeological conservator, writes:

‘The selected objects needed marking (as museum display objects) and basic conservation work. This was carried out by two volunteers from the community group, plus conservation students, supervised by conservation staff. In some cases “un-conservation” was required, such as taking down the occasional fill and removing old joins and tape residues, as the objects needed to look freshly excavated. We did stop short of putting the soil back on, however!

The cases were designed to be well sealed and dustproof, and consist of metal boxes inserted into a false floor. They are lit with fibre optics. The case bases are filled with a layer of black “granular sand”. This is a material used in floristry that we have previously found useful in other archaeological displays such as the display of skeletons.

The granular material is not actually sand, but a manufactured carbon coated polymer. It is inert, dust free, pH neutral and provides good support for objects without scratching them.

The public will be able to walk over the cases, with the archaeological objects directly beneath their feet.’

I can’t wait to see the participants again at the opening event and to see how they react to seeing their work on display for all to see.