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Review: The Fate of Anatomical Collections, edited by Rina Knoeff and Robert Zwijnenberg
Book review of The Fate of Anatomical Collections, by Rina Knoeff & Robert Zwijnenberg
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Functionless
Displays of instruments in science museums are closer to those of decorative arts artefacts than to the presentation of real functional and practical objects. This article offers a critique and suggests a path forward to go beyond functionless objects.
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Challenges of conservation: working objects
A review of conservation concepts and practice, and provision of access to objects. Discussion of the conservation issues which arise when industrial objects are operated, and of the need for research into the effects of operation and the visitor experience.
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Understanding storm surges in the North Sea: Ishiguro’s electronic modelling machine
An introduction to one of the star objects in Mathematics: The Winton Gallery, an electronic storm surge modelling machine.
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Ventriloquised voices: the Science Museum and the Hartree Differential Analyser
This paper proposes the analogy of ventriloquism as a way of extending the discussion about how objects speak and are used to tell different stories to audiences in museums as ‘material polyglots’. It explores how the Science Museum has changed the voices, stories, and physical and instrumental functions of a particular object – the ‘Trainbox’ version of the Douglas Hartree’s Differential Analyser – since it was collected in 1949.
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‘Organising Sound’: how a research network might help structure an exhibition
In 2015, the Science Museum, with the University of Nottingham and Royal College of Music, arranged three workshops to explore potential themes and contents for future exhibitions about science, technology and music. This article reports and reflects on the proceedings.
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A symposium on histories of use and tacit skills
The histories of use of the objects in museum collections, and the unrecorded skills of their operation, have posed pressing research questions for museum people and university scholars alike. This symposium drew together different perspectives on this emerging area of study.
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Giovanni Canestrini’s models of Leonardo da Vinci’s friction experiments
Among the many mechanical models based on Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, several purport to illustrate his experiments on friction. This article traces the history of these models and examines them critically in the light of recent research into Leonardo’s studies of friction.
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Doping at the Science Museum: the conservation challenge of doped fabric aircraft in the Flight gallery
A review of the materials used to make doped fabric aircraft, the Science Museum’s collection and the conservation challenge of such objects.
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The Panstereomachia, Madame Tussaud’s and the Heraldic Exhibition: the art and science of displaying the medieval past in nineteenth-century London
This article analyses the role of technology in shaping nineteenth-century experiences of the medieval past. Using three exhibitions as a lens – the Panstereomachia, Madame Tussaud’s and the Heraldic Exhibition – it explores how exhibitors drew on art and science to offer competing visions of the medieval past. In doing so, it will examine how these exhibitions reflect changing views about medieval history and heritage, raising questions about the relationship between technology and the display of the past.