Untold Histories Museum Tours: stories of collecting through colonialism and conflict
In October 2018, a new museum tour launched at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Untold Histories tours “tell you what the labels won’t.” The tours explore the difficult histories of how objects came to be in the museum. We discuss collecting, curating, and representation, and ask the question: ‘if objects tell many stories, which ones are on the labels…
The day five collections teamed up to create “crime scenes”
How do you get thirty six 8-11 year olds excited about science in museums? Give them a ‘crime scene’ and skills to solve the crime. Early one Saturday morning in August, we welcomed our budding scientists for Science Detectives, a full day of forensic fun. The Whipple Museum of the History of Science, the Polar Museum, the Sedgwick Museum of…
Do Not Touch: getting in touch with PhD students to answer difficult questions at the Fitzwilliam
The Fitzwilliam Museum has been thinking about tactile access to collections for a long time. From touch tours for the blind and partially sighted to education seminars for students, the Museum understands that touch can offer a fantastic opportunity to learn from and enjoy the collections. Working in Collections Care, I am approaching this topic from a slightly different angle;…
