University of Cambridge Museums Activity Update, April – June 2024
Following a year of change, transition and new ways of working, this period was one of reflection and consolidation as we focussed on the planning and delivery of a second year of programming. Our well-established themes of Social Justice, Our Planet, Creating Opportunities, Health and Wellbeing, and Programme Enablement provided a focus for activity and audience development; and building on…
How to read a Japanese print
The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has a collection of around 1,500 Japanese prints. I investigated how we can ‘read’ these pictures to understand more about the cultures that produced them. Japan had a flourishing print culture in the 18th and 19th century. Japanese prints became objects of fascination for Europeans in the 19th century, but the stories the pictures told…
Calculators, Calculators, Calculators!
The Whipple Museum of the History of Science holds the largest (probably!) collection of electronic handheld calculators in the United Kingdom. This summer, I have had the opportunity to audit, rehouse, and construct a new case of these devices. Technology has developed so quickly over the past decades that we think of calculators as much as apps on our phones…
