Welcome to the 24 Hour Museum news in brief page for the week ending November 11 2007.
09.11.2007 – Free website editorial training on offer for archive volunteers
The National Council on Archives is offering free training to volunteer editors for www.communityarchives.org.uk.
The Community Archives website is looking for six new volunteers to join its team of editors posting news items, and adding entries to the national directory of community archives.
Volunteers will need to offer eight hours a month for at least six months, working from home. While web literacy is a must, no other special technical skills are necessary. The work would be good experience for those interested in working in the cultural heritage sector.
For more information, contact Louise Ray by November 30 2008 on 020 8392 5347 or 07834 606732, or email louise.ray@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
09.11.2007 – Welsh criminals to feature in festival
At the Lens Festival of Welsh Documentary Photography this weekend, Professor Richard W Ireland of Aberystwyth University is to propose that mug shots are an important but neglected phenomenon in the history of photography.
“Photographs of criminals provide an interesting counterpoint to the ‘Sunday-best’ world of Victorian and Edwardian photography, with its carefully composed subject and elegantly painted backdrops,” says Richard.
“Here too is a world in which photography could represent not an artistic diversion or a happy family memento, but a scientific weapon in the hands of those who sought to suppress ancient social disorders by modern means.”
Prof Ireland will talk on November 10 at Lens – People and Portraits, at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. The festival will run from 10.30am-4pm. See The National Library of Wales website for more details.
09.11.2007 – V&A hangs up some dusty wallpaper
Cleaners at the V&A have been posting the dust they have collected while working at the Kensington museum to an artist. It’s nothing malicious – artist Catherine Bertola is using it to create an unusual version of William Morris’s Marigold print wallpaper.
The wallpaper, pasted with the dust in Morris pattern from the V&A archives, will go on show in the first exhibition at the museum’s refurbished Porter Gallery, opening on Tuesday. The show, Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular Crafts, features works that use meticulous craft techniques.
08.11.2007 - British library funding to rise to £100 million in 2010
Government investment in the British Library will rise from £92 million this year to £100 million in 2010/11 as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, Culture Secretary James Purnell announced on November 8 2007.
The 'inflation-proof' settlement means that this internationally-renowned institution will be able to continue its work as a resource for its business, education and technology customers.
“In a really tough spending round, I am pleased to be able to give the British Library an index-linked settlement that recognises the importance of the institution to the nation – now and in the years to come,” said James Purnell.
The funding settlement will see their grant-in-aid rise in line with inflation from £92.339 million this year (2007/08) to £94.832 million in 2008/09, £97.393 million in 2009/10 and £100.022 in 2010/11. Its income from other sources was around £23m in 2006/07.
08.11.2007 - Auchindoun Castle reopens to public
Auchindoun Castle near Dufftown, in Moray has been officially reopened to the public after a three-year programme of safety and conservation work by Historic Scotland.
The medieval hill-top fortress was closed in the 1960s due to the danger from falling masonry. In the 1980s, the gaps in the curtain wall were blocked to provide more of a physical barrier to access.
It is now open and free for people to explore at their leisure.
08.11.2007 – Royal Armouries launches No to Knives campaign
The No to Knives campaign has been launched at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. The campaign aims to change attitudes and educate people about the dangers of carrying knives. At the heart of the campaign are weapons awareness courses, which educate people about the dangers of knives and try to change attitudes.
07.11.2007 – Inquiry launched into future of Smithfield Market
English Heritage has launched an inquiry into the future of the historic market buildings of Smithfield in London.
Despite interest from developers who would like to use the Victorian General Market Building, the City Corporation has expressed approval for proposals for its wholesale demolition.
English Heritage argue that both the main building, the Annexe Market and Red House Cold Store all make a positive contribution to the Smithfield Conservation Area and should be preserved. In addition, the organisation believes the Corporation has flouted planning policy by allowing the buildings to fall into disrepair.
07.11.2007 – Schütte’s Model for a Hotel unveiled on Fourth Plinth
The new artwork for the Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square has been unveiled. Thomas Schütte’s Model for a Hotel (2007) is strikingly different to the previous sculpture on the plinth (Alison Lapper Pregnant). The architectural sculpture is comprised of brightly coloured sheets of glass.
06.11.2007 – Young Archaeologists of the Year get VIP treatment in York
The country's brightest two young archaeologists joined Raksha Dave, of popular Channel 4 TV programme Time Team, for a weekend of all-access archaeology in York on November 3 and 4.
The weekend was their prize for scooping the top spots in the individual categories of this year's prestigious Young Archaeologist of the Year Award.
Winners Jocelyn Lee (10) from East Molesey in Surrey, and James Dilley (15) from Royston in Hertfordshire designed monument and memorial trails for visitors to their local areas to win the award.
During their winners' weekend, James and Jocelyn spent a whole day working alongside professional archaeologists from York Archaeological Trust (YAT) on the major Hungate dig.
The winners' all-access archaeology weekend included an exclusive trip behind the scenes at the Yorkshire Museum and a VIP trip around Jorvik Viking Centre.
06.11.2007 - Taunton museum displays portrait of Britain's last Tommy
Somerset County Museum, Taunton, is displaying a new portrait of First World War Veteran Harry Patch.
Harry, known as Britain’s last Tommy (WWI slang term for an English infantryman), is now 109 years old, and lost his three best friends at the battle of Passchendaele. In the last ten years he has become a vocal peace activist, meeting Tony Blair and having his memoirs published earlier this year.
The painting, by Somerset artist Bill Leyshon, was commissioned by the Western Daily Press and is on long-term loan to the museum, where it hangs in the Great Hall.
06.11.2007 - Morris collection won't go to De Morgan Foundation
Waltham Forest Council has pulled out of negotiations to move the William Morris Gallery collection to the De Morgan Foundation in Lambeth.
Supporters of the Waltham gallery are pleased that the collection will not be moved to central London.
A campaign has been running to save the William Morris Gallery after the council cut its funding in early 2007, leading to reduced opening hours. See www.keepourmuseumsorpen.org.uk for details of the campaign to save the William Morris Gallery.
06.11.2007 - Tenby fort to be turned into military museum
Chapel Bay Fort on Wales' Angle peninsula will be converted into a museum, following approval from the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority.
The fort, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, will be restored and filled with a major collection of military artefacts.
05.11.2007 - Final Call for Entries to Jerwood Moving Image Awards
Artists are invited to submit work online before the closing date of Monday 3 December in order to be considered for the Jerwood Moving Image Awards – a major new prize celebrating digital moving art.
The Awards are designed to support artists in the early stages of their careers and were announced in September 2007 by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, and three awards of £10,000 will be made in March 2008.
05.11.2007 - English Heritage Blue Plaque for Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
The life of architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902 - 1983) is to be commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at 2 Wildwood Terrace, Hampstead, London NW3, where he lived from 1936 until his death in 1983.
Pevsner's Architectural Guides are widely regarded as the most authoritative source for information on the buildings of Britain and members of his family will gather at the house, which still remains in their ownership, to reveal the plaque at 2pm on Monday November 5.
05.11.2007 - Artist donates iconic railway painting to Swindon Steam Museum
Swindon-born artist Terry Court has donated a painting depicting Swindon's heyday as a railway town to Swindon Steam Museum.
Called Railway Town, the painting is an impressionistic take on the town's railway works, which dominated the town until its closure in 1986.
Terry, who now lives in Cornwall, was inpsired to paint the picture because many members of his family worked on the railways in Swindon.
