Our museum during the Great War

This post is a synopsis of a Behind the Scenes event I presented in September looking at a “snapshot” of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales' working activities during the WWI period.

My research entailed scanning Annual Reports, scrap books, publication archives and photographic collections for the years 1914 to 1918 and picking  out interesting items of news concerning  staff and exhibitions.

However, the first thing I did was to warn everyone that in 1914 this is what we looked like….

 

We still existed of course, established by Royal Charter back in 1907 but without a finished building to call our own.

Therefore, during the years while construction of the building was in progress, administration was carried out in offices close by at Park Place and the Kingsway area while exhibitions were held in temporary galleries next door in City Hall.

 

I centred the staff news around three people:

Archibald H. Lee, the Museum Secretary, who saw active military service and was decorated with the Military Cross after fighting at Gaza. He returned to work after the war and remained Museum Secretary for 44 years, finally retiring in 1953. He appears in many photographs of special events and royal visits over the years.



Archibald H Lee

Cyril Mortimer Green, who was appointed as Botanical Assistant, but never took up his post. He held a Commission in the  3rd Royal Sussex Regiment, went abroad to fight and was killed on active military duty in November 1917. His death is all the more poignant because, not only did he never take up his position at the Museum, his brother Hugh Mortimer Green had also been killed on active duty back in 1915. 

Click  here [and scroll down] for more information on Cyril and his brother.

Eleanor Vachell, spirited and outstanding amateur botanist who stepped in to take charge of the botany collections, while Cyril Mortimer Green was absent on military duty. She did this, with the help of pupils from Cardiff High School for Girls, whilst also supporting the war effort as one of the ‘Committee Ladies of the Auxiliary Workers Territorial Forces Nursing Association’ at the hospital set up in Howard Gardens, working as both nurse and librarian.

 

Eleanor Vachell

Eleanor was the daughter of Charles Tanfield Vachell [1848-1914], he was secretary and president of  Cardiff Naturalists' Society for many years, instrumental in the creation of the Cardiff Municipal Museum and, a member of the National Museum Wales council for some years from 1908 onwards. Eleanor compiled, with her father, the Vachell herbarium that contains 6,705 dried specimens and is one of the most complete herbaria ever collected by a private individual. This is now held here at the museum along with a very large collection of their own personal library on British floras.

 

I also looked at the problems faced in the construction of the building due to a lack of basic materials that had been re-allocated for the war effort. The progress must have been excruciatingly slow and all material orders had to apply via license applications to The Ministry of Munitions and the Report for 1917/18 reports that work was suspended completely for a time…

Construction of the dome section

Unfortunately it has become necessary to suspend work on the New Building, and an agreement terminating the contract has been entered into with the builders, Messrs J. Willcock & Son. The roof had already been completed and the windows have been filled with oiled canvas so that the structure is now weather proof… Some of the rooms in the New Building are already in use for storage of specimens. NMW Annual Report p. 9

 

One of the most enjoyable parts of researching this talk was looking at the exhibitions that were held through the war years. War notwithstanding, the museum had an obligation to the public to carry on programming exhibitions and events. Here are just a few of the many exhibitions held at City Hall and for which we hold the original catalogues:

Turner’s Welsh Drawings

Open from Oct 26^th 1914 to Jan 30^th 1915 and visited by over 8,000 people

 Exhibition of Modern Belgian Art

Held in 1915 from March 17^th to April 15^th….visited by over 6,000 people.

 Exhibition of Topographical Prints and Engravings

An exhibition of Prints and Engravings of places in Wales was opened on July 27^th 1915 and will remain open until October 30^th… A catalogue, with technical and biographical notes , has been prepared by Mr Isaac Williams. The number of visitors to the exhibition up to the 30^th September was 7,600.

Lovett Collection of Toys

Mr Edward Lovett, of the Folklore Society, whose Collection of Dolls aroused such interest when on exhibition in the Temporary Museum two years ago, offered to lend his unique Collection of Children’s Toys and Playthings for exhibition… It had originally intended to close the exhibition on August 16^th 1915 but in view of the interest it aroused, and to give school children an opportunity of visiting it during the whole of their holidays, the date of closing was postponed to September 2^nd.
The total attendance was 21, 889.
 

Original material on display

I also found mention of a number of war related exhibitions held at City Hall but for which we do not hold catalogues…

 Exhibitions of Women’s War Work

A Ministry of Munitions exhibition of photographs illustrating women’s war work, aroused considerable interest during two weeks in February 1916

 Exhibition of Allied War Photographs

An Exhibition of Allied War Photographs was held in 1917 from August 4^th to 20^thand was visited by nearly 4000 people.

 British Battle Photographs [in colour]

An exhibition lent by the Ministry of Information. This was opened November, 1918. It closed on the 11^th December, and was visited by about 3,500 people.

I concluded by showing two other items held here in the Library that are connected with WWI. The first was volume of military portraits of soldiers from the Welsh Horse Yeomanry. This regiment did not exist before the Great War. It was formed in August 1914 under the administration of the Glamorgan Territorial Force Association and headquartered in Cardiff [Sophia Gardens]. The title page states that the album was presented to Alderman J. Robinson, who was Lord Mayor of Cardiff (1913–1914) and it was donated to the Library on the 27^th April 1932 by Councillor R. G. Robinson.

http://www.1914-1918.net/welshhorse.htm

 

 

 

The second item I showed comprised of three albums, possibly put together for promotional purposes for the Italian air craft manufacturer, Caproni. The factory was founded in 1908 [in Taliedo, near Milan] and during WWI, they developed a series of successful heavy bombers, used by the Italian, French, British and US air forces.

1.    Officine Caproni contains photographs of large Caproni factory spaces [interiors and exteriors]

2.    Aeroplani Caproni contains photographs of all manner of Caproni aeroplanes [many with machine guns attached]

3.    Smaller third album [blank cover] containing photographs of Caproni staff groups at work

This album also contains 5 typed sheets of paper listing the aeroplanes and giving all sorts of technical information.

Entries are accompanied with phrases like

·       Very useful in attacking infantry

·       Well armed with 2 - 4 machine guns

·       Purpose built for attacking enemy ships

 

These albums were donated to the Library on 15^th February 1926 by “Lord Treowen” [Major-General Ivor Herbert, 1st Lord Treowen] National Museum Wales Treasurer 1907-12, Vice President 1912-17, and President 1917-22

Further information on Caproni can be found via the following links:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Caproni   
 
http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/contractor.asp?thisCompany=Caproni     

The last item I showed was one of our scrapbooks covering the war years that contains newspaper articles concerning the museum. These in particular, paint a vivid picture of an exceptional and turbulent period in the history of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.

 

 

 

 

 

'A day in the life' - a post for the Twitter event 'Museum Week UK'


I begin my day by checking our general library inbox for any enquiries that we might have received over the weekend. This morning [as usual] there were quite a few but they were mercifully straight forward so didn’t take too long to answer. Next, I spent a very enjoyable hour squirrelling away through our old photograph drawers for some interesting images to share with everyone during this Museum Week UK  on Twitter and what treasures I have found [but more of that to come via Tweets from @amgueddfa_lib during the week]!
 

Vintage albums and photographs

 

Main Library photograph drawers
 

I also took some photographs of the pages of a giant old scrap book full of museum ephemera; it contains tickets, pamphlets, public announcement posters, order of services, lists of lectures and just about anything else [museum related] you can stick down with heavy duty glue and sellotape…

 

 

 

 

However, my day begins in earnest with the post – as Assistant Librarian one of my main priorities is to manage the journal subscriptions. We maintain around 700 titles, a combination of paid subscriptions, exchanges and gifts. Therefore, after our Administration Assistant has opened and checked it, I weed out all the journals and record them onto our database. By doing this I am alerted to previous issues not received and will then chase them up with relevant suppliers. This time, there are no missing issues to chase but we have received a few duplicates, and [as always] these are from suppliers who categorically promised that no further duplicates would be sent out! Next, I count and measure the post so that at the end of the year I am able to supply our Principle Librarian with the total number of actual issues received and the meterage of space they will have covered. For instance, our statistics for 2013 were 1972 issues received that covered just over 11 metres of shelf space


The "ordered chaos" of journals management!

Next, I date stamp and separate them into departments. Our subscriptions naturally correspond with the curatorial departments, so we receive journals on the following disciplines: Art, Archaeology, Zoology, Botany, Geology and Industry and we also subscribe to more general subjects kept here in the Main Library. Once all this is done, it’s time to go and shelve them in the departmental libraries. These are dotted all around the museum so I wait until I have a little pile, normally a few days’ worth, before I go on my shelving travels.

 

My next task is to work through any invoices received in the post and this morning there quite a few. The way I process these has changed recently and whereas it has taken a little time to get used to the new system, it is much more straightforward and done in no time at all.

Walking into town for lunch, looking back over my shoulder...



After lunch, it’s all about the special collections! I begin by photographing books for a new post on the Museum Blog; I have been posting articles for some time now and really enjoy it. This next post I’m working on concerns books with “marginalia” and we have some excellent examples so here is a little sneak peak…

Cambria Depicta: a tour of North Wales by Edward Pugh [1816]



Instructions for collecting and preserving insects; particularly moths and butterflies by William Curtis [1771]

The last few hours of the afternoon are spent working on a talk I will be giving in April as part of the Museum’s Behind the scenes series where the curatorial departments allow groups of visitors in to show them what goes on behind the scenes. My working title is “Curios” and the talk will be based on a small selection of our more unique items, such  as fore-edge books, annotated books, and books made from unusual materials and bindings!

On my way out I leave via the art galleries, it does take a little longer to get out going this way but it gives me the chance to browse and see what's on display and today there were two things in particular I wished to see. First, the new exhibition Wales Visitation: Poetry, Romance and Myth in Art which includes works by  David Jones, Graham Sutherland and Richard Long. And also the new Constable painting [currently on loan from the Tate]; Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows  is a stunning work and I particularly like the dark storm clouds brooding behind the rainbow.   


A selection of books on WWI all ready for the 1914-2014 Centenary
 

This post has been produced as part of the Twitter event #Museum Week UK [24-30 March 2014]

All photographs in this post taken by the author

                  

Happy Halloween!

I took this photograph a few years ago in our Clore Discovery Centre and it still sends shivers down my spine! Enjoy :-)

We heart Manchester :-)

On Wednesday 25^th July the Library enjoyed a day out in Manchester where we visited two iconic libraries: John Rylands and Chetham's. We toured the amazing cathedral like John Rylands Library first; one of the world’s finest collections of rare books and manuscripts. Established in 1889 by the textile entrepreneur John Rylands, it did not open to public readers until 1900 as the building was 10 years in construction [designed by the architect, Basil Champneys].  It became part of the University of Manchester in 1972 and therefore has a busy and vibrant atmosphere which creates a fascinating juxtaposition with the striking gothic architecture.

After partaking of a most enjoyable lunch [at The People's History Museum] we then went on to Chetham’s. Founded in 1653, it is the oldest surviving public library in Britain and the building is older still, built in 1421 to accommodate a college of priests it remains one of the most complete medieval complexes to survive in the north west of England. We had the foresight to book a tour, and amongst the historical facts there was also a little magical fiction [?] in the tale of a burn mark on a table reputed to be the cloven-hoof print of the devil conjured up by John Dee during his Wardenship of the College in 1595.

Links were forged and a great day was had by all despite a freezing cold train on the way there and a boiling hot one on the way back!

John Rylands photographs first:



One of the finest examples of neo-gothic architecture in Europe






Reading space




Statue of John Rylands - founder of library and Manchester's first multi-millionaire





Window detail




Where old meets new: the red brick of the original building coming through in to the new wing





Main view of library showing temporary exhibition cases

 

...and now Chetham's




Our group [on the right] trouping in next to water sculpture

 


Medieval staircase and leaded window




Show and tell with Librarian Michael Powell

 

A "chained" library comissioned by Humphrey Chetham [1580-1653] - five of these were produced and placed in local churches 



Now called the Audit Room but originally this would have been allocated as the Warden's Room




Table [in the Audit Room] with mysterious burn mark...
 Cloven hoof print? You make your minds up :-)



Thing 19: Catch-up week/reflection

Some time to think about how you might integrate the Things so far into your workflow and routines...





Sunshine on our museology section

Well for starters, I really didn’t think I’d STILL be doing this course in May! When the news about the certificates came out back last year and we were told that in order to get one we’d have to finish by November, I remember telling my colleague Kristine [who by the way, finished on time] that even though there was no way I was going make the deadline, I’d definitely be finished by the end of January… famous last words.

When I first started CPD I was completely overwhelmed at all the things we were covering and thought I’d never have the time to integrate any of them into my working day. Then of course I got over excited and started using everything and got into a bit of a muddle and stopped the lot. Now, things have settled down and I’ve stuck with a few good tools.


A really big thing for me has been writing this blog; I love it and know I'll continue with it long after CPD is but a distant memory. I have created something that is unique to me and even though hardly anyone ever looks at it, I'm still very proud of it. It also works very well as a blogger news reel as I receive RSS feeds from an ever growing list of fellow bloggers and I get to see immediately anything interesting is posted. It has also allowed me to embrace my creative side as I started taking and posting my own photographs  and realise that I'm rather good at it.

Glass cabinets and folio shelves

Another great change is using Twitter and I feel about it very much the same way as Trinidad Librarian; I love using it but still don’t go on it anywhere nearly enough. I go through phases of constant use and then weeks pass by with hardly anything. I’m hoping this will change when I finally upgrade my tattered [yet beloved] mobile and get one with internet access, which I’ll do very soon. I have created lists of lots of librarians and organisations and enjoy seeing what they’re all up to [I’ve also created lists of celeb crushes but this is hardly the place to tell you about them J]. I think I get the most out of my Welsh librarians list; hearing about great work and best practice right on my front door step and have also made some valuable contacts here too. 

Finally, the most profound change starts with a negative; those other things I started but haven’t kept up with: LinkedIn, Evernote, Google Calender, Dropbox and Pushnote [to name but a few]. But, it was always going to be like this and the really important and positive thing is that I KNOW about these things now. I can tell people about them and show people how to use them and even use them myself if I need to [!] and this has had the biggest impact with regards to my workflow and routines - I'm different, more knowledgeable and therefore much more confident.

                                                                                                                    

Thing 18: Jing, screen capture and podcasting

I was not familiar with any form of screen capture tool so the first thing I did was read other people’s posts [I tend to do this anyway J] and a good example of down-to-earth thinking can be found [as usual] on Karen Pearce's blog extolling the virtues of screen capture [and podcasts] as an alternative to those intensely awkward phone conversations when you’re trying to acquaint someone with your OPAC or Intranet and they just aren’t getting what you say and then the computer goes really slow [and inevitably freezes] and you get those awful pauses … oh hang on……it’s going slow…..I’ve over clicked……any minute now……it always does this…….here we go….oh no……it’s frozen again.......I’d better call you back and er....can we start again? You get my drift? It’s not like we all haven’t been there.

How much easier to have an illustrated step by step guide to every little click? Something you can email in an instant to your willing and eager recipient? Well, this is supposedly one of the great advantages to using screen capture soft wear like Jing and according to the website it can save you hours and hours of repeating yourself!

Next I looked at Trinidad Librarian's brilliant post where she goes one step further and actually created a guide to reserving a book at her Library using Jing and its brilliant! Clear, precise and easily understandable [and I didn’t even hear any of it as I don’t have speakers on my work PC!]. This kind of thing would be a good project to embark on here. Don’t get me wrong, we want people coming into our library but if they don’t, the next best thing is for them to use our resources remotely and therefore we need to make it easy and a presentation like this would be great. Our systems are not that difficult to navigate but they’re not the most user friendly either and at busy times, if something doesn’t “click” straight away, a lot of people give up and move on to something else and that’s not good for us. I have downloaded Jing onto my PC at home as I couldn't do it in work so will have a good old play around with it and discuss with my colleagues about using it to create some user guides for the Library.

And finally, I recommend a read of Helen Murphy's [as always excellent] alternative post on the less positive side of screen capture tools and a very passionate ramble about The Killing. I haven’t watched any of this programme yet but so many friends and colleagues say it’s brilliant and worth watching if only for those darn jumpers J

Ps. One of the [many] great things about doing this course is that it makes me look at my own organisation [and many other things] with a more enquiring eye and yesterday I discovered that our Museum website holds a number of podcasts on various subjects including A tour of St Teilo's Church, an introduction to our Origins exhibition and oral recollections of the Davies sisters.

 I believe they may have been there for some time but let's not quibble......I know now!