TY  -  JOUR
TI  -  ‘A Chamber of Noise Horrors’: sound, technology and the museum
  AU -James Mansell
PY  -  2017
VL  - Special Issue: Sound and Vision
IS  - Spring 2017
KW - exhibition history
KW - museums
KW - noise
KW - Science Museum
KW - sound
KW - Technology

AB - This article examines the 1935 Science Museum temporary exhibition on Noise Abatement, situating it in the sound historical context of inter-war Britain, and making an argument that the ‘way of hearing’ it advanced was part of an attempt to shape auditory perception in the interests of a class-bound culture of acoustic civilization. Further, the article uses this exhibition to mount an argument that museum scholars should consider sound not simply as a medium of engagement, but also as a politically interested and socially active field.

N1 - In taking this approach the article deliberately leaves aside several important questions relating to the practicalities of using sound in museum spaces, including issues of hearing ability/disability.

N1 - Newspaper clipping, ‘Noise: By Lord Elton, In an Interview’, The Sunday Chronicle, 23 June 1935, National Archives, FD1/4048

N1 - Letter from Sir Henry Richards to Pelham, 9 October 1934, Science Museum, Nominal file 5134

N1 - File note, Proposed “Anti-Noise” Exhibition, Science Museum, Nominal file 5134

N1 - Typescript of a radio broadcast made by Lord Horder on behalf of the Anti-Noise League, 20 January 1935, Museum of English Rural Life, SR CPRE C/1/150/1

N1 - British Medical Journal, 10 August 1929, pp 267–268

N1 - Exhibit list, Science Museum, Nominal file 5134

N1 - Letter from R F Millard to members of the Anti-Noise League, 14 March 1935, National Archives, HLG/52/1210

N1 - Loan questionnaire, National Archives, HLG/52/1210

N1 - Daily Telegraph, 31 May 1935, p 21

N1 - Typeset description of demonstration house prepared by the buildings sub-committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, National Archives, HLG/52/1210

N1 - Typeset description of demonstration house prepared by the buildings sub-committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, National Archives, HLG/52/1210

N1 - Typeset description of demonstration house prepared by the buildings sub-committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, National Archives, HLG/52/1210

N1 - Description of silent lift exhibit, National Archives, HLG/52/1210

N1 - Minutes of the third meeting of the Buildings Sub-Committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, 6 February 1935, National Archives, HLG/52/1210

N1 - Draft of article ‘Noise and Housing’ by Hope Bagenal, National Archives, HLG/52/1210

N1 - ‘Noise: By Lord Elton, In an Interview’

PB - The Science Museum Group
 
SN -  2054-5770
LA -  eng
DO -  10.15180/170704
UR -  https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/sound-technology-and-the-museum/
T2 -  Science Museum Group Journal