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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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‘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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'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 model instrument: the making and the unmaking of a model of the Airy Transit Circle
The article investigates the construction, reception and fate of a set of models of the Airy Transit Circle (the instrument that defined the Greenwich Prime Meridian) at the Exposition Universelle in 1855 and at the South Kensington Museum.
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Engineering and the family in business: Blanche Coules Thornycroft, naval architecture and engineering design
The article describes the role of Blanche Thornycroft as a naval architect in the family business of John I. Thornycroft. It explores her role in the family business and examines some of the products she was involved in building.
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Chronometers, charts, charisma: on histories of longitude
Charismatic objects provide invaluable, if challenging, resources for telling stories about the history of longitude at sea. In this article recent collaborative research and museum work is used to explore some opportunities and puzzles of the combination of object study and public exhibitions.
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Collecting the personal: stories of domestic energy and everyday life at the National Museum of Scotland
The Energise gallery at the National Museum of Scotland explores the sources, generation, distribution and use of energy and questions how science and technology transform how we power our lives. This article details three objects around which a focus on personal stories was adopted.
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Curating the collider: using place to engage museum visitors with particle physics
This article explores the use of reconstructed spaces and immersion at the Science Museum’s recent Collider exhibition. It sets out the challenges of engaging museum audiences with cutting-edge particle physics, describes the techniques adopted and evaluates their success.
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da Vinci Quincentenary Exhibition of 1952
This article tells the story of the Science Museum’s role in an exhibition at the Royal Academy, London, in 1952, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Leonardo da Vinci, and in particular in displaying mechanical models based on Leonardo’s drawings.
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Energy/Culture: a reading guide for historical literature
This reading guide maps the existing literature on energy history by focusing on changes in the scholarly understandings of the relationship between energy and culture. It aims to provide an entry point for thinking about energy’s past, present and future.