This Black History Month blog shares our recent work to explore and celebrate the Cambridge connections of Olaudah Equiano, Britain’s most important Black Abolitionist. Within his 52-year lifespan, the time that Olaudah Equiano spent in Cambridgeshire might appear insignificant. His documented associations lasted less than seven years from summer 1789 until spring 1796. And yet the people whom Equiano met…
We have always known that Anna Maria, the eldest daughter of Black British abolitionist Olaudah Equiano, died on 31 July 1797 and was buried in Chesterton. However, the exact site of her grave had long been forgotten. This Black History Month blog is the story of our rediscovery of Anna Maria’s grave. This discovery builds on research initially conducted by…
For the last year, the Museum of Zoology has invited the public to chat to museum animals in an innovative AI experiment. What has the Museum learnt? Since October 2024, visitors have been able to ‘chat’ with 13 specimens in the Museum of Zoology, from the dodo and the fin whale to a cockroach or a butterfly. You simply scan…
This Black History Month blog shares our recent work to explore and celebrate the Cambridge connections of Olaudah Equiano, Britain’s most important Black Abolitionist. Within his 52-year lifespan, the time that Olaudah Equiano spent in Cambridgeshire might appear insignificant. His documented associations lasted less than seven years from summer 1789 until spring 1796. And yet the people whom Equiano met…
For the last year, the Museum of Zoology has invited the public to chat to museum animals in an innovative AI experiment. What has the Museum learnt? Since October 2024, visitors have been able to ‘chat’ with 13 specimens in the Museum of Zoology, from the dodo and the fin whale to a cockroach or a butterfly. You simply scan…
This Black History Month blog shares our recent work to explore and celebrate the Cambridge connections of Olaudah Equiano, Britain’s most important Black Abolitionist. Within his 52-year lifespan, the time that Olaudah Equiano spent in Cambridgeshire might appear insignificant. His documented associations lasted less than seven years from summer 1789 until spring 1796. And yet the people whom Equiano met…
As her apprenticeship comes to an end, Macy Gaines, Inclusion Assistant Apprentice with the University of Cambridge Museums, shares her experiences and learnings from the last year. When I wrote my first blog post a few weeks into my apprenticeship, I had only just begun to discover what it meant to be an Inclusion Assistant Apprentice at University of Cambridge…
Covering the period 1 July – 30 September 2024, this report provides an insight into some of the stories behind our NPO-funded activity delivered under our Collections In Action programme themes: Social Justice, Our Planet, Creating Opportunities, and Health and Wellbeing, as well as our underpinning Programme Enablement activity. Our main themes of Social Justice, Our Planet, Creating Opportunities, Health…
For the last year, the Museum of Zoology has invited the public to chat to museum animals in an innovative AI experiment. What has the Museum learnt? Since October 2024, visitors have been able to ‘chat’ with 13 specimens in the Museum of Zoology, from the dodo and the fin whale to a cockroach or a butterfly. You simply scan…
Covering the period 1 July – 30 September 2024, this report provides an insight into some of the stories behind our NPO-funded activity delivered under our Collections In Action programme themes: Social Justice, Our Planet, Creating Opportunities, and Health and Wellbeing, as well as our underpinning Programme Enablement activity. Our main themes of Social Justice, Our Planet, Creating Opportunities, Health…
For the last year, the Museum of Zoology has invited the public to chat to museum animals in an innovative AI experiment. What has the Museum learnt? Since October 2024, visitors have been able to ‘chat’ with 13 specimens in the Museum of Zoology, from the dodo and the fin whale to a cockroach or a butterfly. You simply scan…
This Black History Month blog shares our recent work to explore and celebrate the Cambridge connections of Olaudah Equiano, Britain’s most important Black Abolitionist. Within his 52-year lifespan, the time that Olaudah Equiano spent in Cambridgeshire might appear insignificant. His documented associations lasted less than seven years from summer 1789 until spring 1796. And yet the people whom Equiano met…
At the end of last year, we introduced a new student placement in collaboration with Cambridge University Hospitals, exploring how museum objects and artworks can support therapy for stroke rehabilitation patients. The placement was an exciting step forward in our ongoing collaboration with the Occupational Therapists at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, which has developed over the last three years. In…
To understand how to provide a great family welcome at the Fitzwilliam Museum, we went straight to the experts: babies, young children and their parents. Using a range of creative research tools, both inside the museum and during outreach sessions in the local community, we worked together to explore what it means to feel welcome. The Family Welcome Project The…
