Public History Musings : Museum musings: A short rundown of my latest public history adventures!

I'd like to start today's post by apologising for my recent failure to post anything for ages. Birthdays, hangovers, lack of funds and failure to get into exhibitions has meant that I have been lazy and failed to keep up the regularity of my postings. To make this up to you, instead of flowers and chocolate, I am going to give you a rundown of my recent historical activities- lucky you!

'Oh! What a treat, another blog to read!'

The Geffrye Museum, Shoreditch:

Tucked away on Kingsland road is the Geffrye Museum which is dedicated to showing the visitors what English middleclass homes looked like throughout the centuries. The building itself is impressive- former almshouses owned by the ironmongers guild, one of which you can visit fairly frequently to see what life was like for poor people in the 18th and 19th centuries. The main focus of those who run the Geffrye is to provide an educational experience for children of all ages and abilities. While we were there, we took part in one of the many activities offered to the children when they visit with their schools. We were given an object and asked a series of questions about what we thought it was, its purpose, what time period it was from, etc. After much discussion as a pair, we eventually worked out that the replica statue of the nun-like lady was a salt holder from the Tudor period! This was very engaging and lots of fun. The Geffrye is very skilled at making the experience enjoyable for the children through interactive talks about the rooms while looking at them, handling objects and allowing children to discover for themselves about the history of the house by using ipads to research objects. As I child, I would have really enjoyed the inclusive ways the museum makes children feel interested and furthers their understanding of history in the home.

However, as an 'adult' visitor (I use the word 'adult' loosely as I still partake in burping competitions and enjoy dressing up as medieval lady, see Museum of London photos) I found the museum underwhelming. The narrow corridors meant that I felt I was constantly in someone else's way while looking at the rooms, meaning I rushed through the museum and took little in. Without moving the rooms to a larger space, there isn't really nay resolution to be found. I would recommend the Geffrye as it is an interesting museum but be prepared to murmur 'sorry' and 'excuse me' every few minutes as you attempt to squeeze past others.

Geffrye Museum

The Geffrye Museum, photograph taken by the wonderful Gillian Gryz

The Museum of London, London Wall:

Having visited this particular museum a couple of times before, I thought I knew what to expect: a literal walk through London’s colourful history from archaeology to present day, focusing on a range of topics throughout with many interactive activities as you went along. Due to prior commitments, I had to rush through the museum in the space of an hour, meaning I was not as fully engaged as I could have been. Saying that, the majority of the museum did not disappoint. To my shame, I am not hugely interested in archaeology and so breezed through that part which then led me to the Roman and Anglo-Saxon part of the museum which has been called 'Our Londinum 2012'. Immediately, my attention was drawn to a case with a magazine showing 'Will and Kate' and a placard and roman coins saying 'Wealth'. Confused, I turned to my friends and asked them whether they understood what was meant by placing a magazine and Roman coins together. With no clear answer, I looked at the other objects in the cabinet and saw that they too were making dubious links between the modern day and Roman Britain. As I continued through the exhibit, I was in a state of confusion and annoyance at the blatant dumbing down which have been used to make it relevant for children. This included displaying a Roman kitchen with accurate equipment then a packet of coffee and a spray can of oil as well as showing Roman tools and a modern hard hat with the placard saying 'Do you think Romans cared about their safety?'

But this isn't the worst example of trying to make history relevant we saw. In one part of the exhibition, a film showing two young people discussing how the Romans were similar to us today was shown on loop. In theory, this would have been a very good tool to make history relevant for younger people, who doesn't like watching things?! However, despite their good intentions, the film was patronising, at time irrelevant and over simplistic. There was about 30 seconds of comparison e.g. 'I wear earrings, so did the Romans', then 2 minutes of footage of one or both of the teenagers walking about the street, sharing fags and having a casual conversation about where to go for lunch. It was poorly edited and not at all engaging in a positive way. From my understanding, 'Our Londinum' was created through working with Junction, the museum's youth panel. In my teenage years, I would have felt patronised and put off (as I do now) if I came across this attempt to make it relevant for my age group so I find it interesting that it was the youth who helped to create the exhibition. I would be fascinated to see how much say they had over the creation of the juxta-posed object, over simplistic placards and awful film and to what extent it was the museum trying 'to be down wiv da kidz.' From watching this behind the scenes interview with members from Junction, it would appear that the 'kidz' are partially to blame for the modern objects. I wonder whether they realise they are dumbing down the exhibition or whether they thought that it would be effective? I have concerns that some younger children might come away from that exhibition thoroughly confused about Roman society and asking their parents ‘Did Romans have fake nails?’. This is just my opinion but without the modern objects it is just easy to see the similarities and differences between both societies without dumbing it down.

Saying that, I really enjoyed the video of the re-enactment of the gladiator fights as it really highlighted the differences between our societies without spelling it out so bluntly. The rest of the visit was very enjoyable, particularly the Pleasure Gardens and the Wellclose prison cell in which you can see the inmates names scratched into the walls. The Museum of London is an excellent museum but needs to be cautious not to patronise teenagers through dumbing down history to try to make it more relevant.

Yah get me bruv?!

Museum of London Gallery

Youtube of how they created the exhibit