Browse results
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‘As snug as a bug in a rug’: post-war housing, homes and coal fires
This article examines the image of the open coal fire in redefining the home in post-war Britain. Rather than a timeless source of reverie and comfort, the post-war fire articulated values that were central to the nation in this period of reconstruction.
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‘Everything passes, except the past’: reviewing the renovated Royal Museum of Central Africa (RMCA)
This article describes the author’s impressions of the new Royal Museum of Central Africa gallery. It discusses the successes and failures of the project, as well as its implications for UK museums.
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‘Iron lung’ as metaphor
I will argue that ‘iron lung’ became eponymous as it connected the material reality of the NPV with imagined sensory experiences for publics in the UK, highlighting the often contradictory earlier metaphors of modernity and sound.
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Review: Living with Machines
Review: Living with Machines
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‘Something simple and striking, if not amusing’ – the Freedom 7 special exhibition at the Science Museum, 1965
The Mercury capsule Freedom 7 was displayed at the Science Museum in 1965–66. This was well documented through photographs in addition to textual documents. This paper proposes an analysis of the exhibition in the light of these records.
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‘South Kensington is practically as far away as Paris or Munich’: the making of industrial collections in Edinburgh, Newcastle and Birmingham
A comparison of the early histories of the industrial collections within National Museums Scotland, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, and Birmingham Museums Trust, and the implications of those histories for their respective contributions to the distributed national industrial collection.
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‘Your body is full of wounds’: references, social contexts and uses of the wounds of Christ in Late Medieval Europe
The wounds of Christ was an immensely popular motif in Late Medieval Europe. This collaborative essay discusses three different instances where the iconography is adapted to respond to the devotional and practical needs of the diverse and changing audiences.
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'½ vol. not relevant': The scrapbook of Winifred Penn-Gaskell
Ephemera in collections of science and technology museums are often understudied and even less frequently displayed. This paper argues for a re-evaluation of the scrapbook of Winifred Penn-Gaskell as a key item in her collection of aeronautica.
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A discourse with deep time: the extinct animals of Crystal Palace Park as heritage artefacts
This essay addresses the transformation of the prehistoric animal models exhibited in Crystal Palace Park from scientific models, initially yoked to British heritage through rhetoric, to objects recognised as historically significant and worthy of conservation.
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A history of amulets in ten objects
This article presents a historical survey of ten amulets using objects from the Science Museum collections. What can we learn about the place of amulets in the larger narrative of European healing from the early modern era to the present day?