Extreme Collecting: Challenging Practices for 21st Century Museums

248 Pages·2012·2.152 MB·English

by  Graeme Were, J. C. H. King

Extreme Collecting

Extreme Collecting
Challenging Practices for 21st Century Museums
Edited by
Graeme Were and J.C.H. King
berghahn
N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D
www.berghahnbooks.com
Published in 2012 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
© 2012, 2014 Graeme Were and J.C.H. King
First paperback published in 2014
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Extreme collecting : challenging practices for 21st century museums / edited
by Graeme Were and J.C.H. King.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-85745-363-1 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-78238-514-1
(paperback) -- ISBN 978-0-85745-364-8 (ebook)
1. Museums--Acquisitions--Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Museums--
Collection management. I. Were, Graeme. II. King, J.C.H. (Jonathan C.H.)
AM135.E87 2012
069’.4--dc23
2011044910
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Printed on acid-free paper
ISBN: 978-1-78238-514-1 paperback
ISBN: 978-0-85745-364-8 ebook
•
Contents
List of Figures vii
Extreme Collecting: Dealing with Difficult Objects 1
Graeme Were
Part I: DIFFICuLt OBjECts
1. the Material Culture of Persecution: Collecting for the 19
Holocaust Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum
Suzanne Bardgett
2. Lyricism and Offence in Egyptian archaeology Collections 37
Stephen Quirke
3. Contested Human remains 49
Jack Lohman
4. Extreme or Commonplace: The Collecting of Unprovenanced 57
Antiquities
Kathryn Walker Tubb
5. unfit for society? The Case of the Galton Collection at 75
University College London
Natasha McEnroe
Part II: Mass PrODuCED
6. Knowing the New 93
Susan Pearce
7. t he Global scope of Extreme Collecting: Japanese Woodblock 102
Prints on the Internet
Richard Wilk
vi Contents
8. awkward Objects: Collecting, Deploying and Debating Relics 112
Jan Geisbusch
9. Great Expectations and Modest transactions: Art, Commodity 131
and Collecting
Henrietta Lidchi
Part III: ExtrEME MattErs
10. Extremes of Collecting at the Imperial War Museum 1917–2009: 157
Struggles with the Large and the Ephemeral
Paul Cornish
11. Plastics – Why Not? A Perspective from the Museum of Design 168
in Plastics
Susan Lambert
12. time Capsules as Extreme Collecting 181
Brian Durrans
13. Canning Cans – a Brand New Way of Looking at History 203
Robert Opie in conversation with J.C.H. King
Notes on Contributors 223
Index 225
•
List of Figures
1.1. The tefillin bag brought to London by Manfred Moses in 20
August 1939 and given to the Imperial War Museum in 2008
1.2. Showcase in the Holocaust Exhibition’s section ‘Inside the 22
Camps’, which tells the story of slave labour
1.3. View of the Holocaust Exhibition showing the showcase 27
containing 800 shoes confiscated from deportees to
Majdanek extermination camp
1.4. A conservator places on display a Torah scroll, rescued from 28
Germany at the end of the Second World War by Rev Isaac
Levy, the British Army Jewish chaplain who officiated at
mass burials at Bergen-Belsen
1.5. Wooden hand-carved Nazi candlestick showing a farmer and 29
his wife, the Swastika and SS runes
1.6. ‘Trixie’ who accompanied her young owner – Ingrid 30
Jacoby – when she left Vienna for Britain as one of the
Kindertransport refugees in June 1939
1.7. The shoes worn by Auschwitz survivor Gisele Friedman on a 33
death march in 1945
1.8. Cloth dolls in concentration camp uniforms made during 34
occupational therapy classes at Bergen-Belsen
2.1. Ali Suefi of al-Lahun, excavating and supervising the Egyptian 43
team at the Royal Tombs near al-Araba al-Madfuna, Egypt,
ad1900
3.1. Human remains in museums 51
3.2. Twenty-six skeletons were sensitively exhibited at the 52
Wellcome Trust (London) in a joint exhibition with the
Museum of London, 23 July–28 September 2008
viii List of Figures
3.3. A skeleton from London is displayed in a darkened interior 55
on dust-free mineral granules
4.1. A looters’ pit at the site of Balkh (ancient Baktra) in 58
northern Afghanistan
4.2. Assemblage of images of the artefact types referred to in this 62
chapter
4.3. Aerial view of the devastation of the site of Isin, southern 64
Iraq, in 2003
4.4. Entrance to the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 67
with banner advertising the Catastrophe! exhibition
4.5. Central installation of the Catastrophe! exhibition with 68
artefacts used to explain the importance of archaeological
context
4.6. Panel and photograph display showing design intention in 69
rendering the Catastrophe! exhibition transferable
5.1. Francis Galton, 1860 76
5.2. The Anthropometric Laboratory at the International Health 78
Exhibition, 1884
5.3. Set of head callipers, c.1896 79
5.4. University College bazaar and fete, July 1909 81
5.5. Photographs of violent criminals 82
5.6. Glass eyes. Late nineteenth century 85
5.7. Composite photographs demonstrating family likeness, 87
February 1882
5.8. Photograph of patient at Bethlem Asylum, 1880s 88
8.1. Theca with a bone relic (ex ossibus) of Blessed Francis Xavier 113
Seelos (1819–1867, beatified in 2000)
8.2. Holy card with a stitched-on contact relic of St Thérèse of 115
Lisieux (1873–1897, canonized in 1925), a particle of cloth
that has been touched to her remains
9.1. Navajo jewellery stamp issued by the United States Postal 132
Service in August 2004, part of an American design series
and painted on the basis of a necklace dated 1940s–1950s
in a private collection.
9.2. Historic Route 66, Gallup, New Mexico showing shops and 135
trading stores, February 2007
List of Figures ix
9.3. Gallup Inter-tribal Ceremonial mural, painted by Irving Bahe 136
on 202 West Coal Avenue
9.4. Coral, turquoise, glass, plastic and mother of pearl necklace 137
purchased in Gallup for the British Museum, 1998. Zuni
worn, Santo Domingo made
9.5. Five pairs of jatl’oł of natural turquoise, shell and coral, 141
showing the tapering quality of the turquoise and the more
rounded and kernel-shaped ‘corn’
9.6. Necklaces and brooches worn by dancer in Newatsa, a Zuni 144
dance group, taken at the end of a performance at the
Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff
9.7. ‘Turqualite’ shown in a Scottsdale gem shop, February 2007 148
10.1. Wooden replica of an 18-inch naval gun arriving at the 160
Crystal Palace, 1920
10.2. British Army biscuit converted into a photograph frame 164
11.1. ‘Edinburgh’-style collar, made in England, by British 171
Xylonite, c.1890
11.2. ‘Gaydon’ cups and saucers designed by A.H. ‘Woody’ 172
Woodfull and made by British Industrial Plastics, Ltd.
11.3. Fresh Fat Easy Chair, designed and made by Tom Dixon, 172
first produced in 2003
11.4. B&Q Recycled Plastic Loft insulation, 2009 173
11.5. Rhoda Bag designed and made by Sarah Bayley, 2009 173
11.6. Plastics from the carcass of a fledgling albatross, arranged 174
by Dr Cynthia Vanderlip, Division of Forestry and Wildlife,
Hawaii
11.7. Jay, an articulated figurine of the character from the films 175
by Kevin Smith, made for View Askew Prod. Inc., 1998
11.8. Same figurine as in Figure 11.7, showing degradation which 175
appeared within a year
11.9. A selection of combs imitating pearl, jet, tortoiseshell and 177
ivory, made in Europe from c.1900 to 1930; the pearl comb
from the second half of the twentieth century
12.1. The Crypt of Civilization, Oglethorpe University, Atlanta 191
(GA), USA, shortly before it was sealed in 1940; it is due to
be opened in 8113
x List of Figures
12.2. A twenty-year time capsule shortly before it was opened in 192
2007 on the fortieth anniversary of the National Star
College, Cheltenham, held by Students’ Union President
Rachel Bury (centre) in the company of past and present
members of staff
12.3. Paul Smith’s ‘Spray-on essences’, contributed to the UK 193
Design Council’s Project 2045 time capsule (1995–2045)
12.4. Burying an environmental time capsule at the Royal Botanic 199
Gardens, Kew, June 1994, for 2044
13.1. Robert Opie at work with his collection. 206
13.2. Ubiquitous cereal packaging from the 1950s provides a 208
shared experience for many visitors
13.3. Brands from the 1970s 213
13.4. Toiletries and cleaners from the 1970s, especially when 215
delivered by aerosol, present particular problems in terms of
preservation and display; powders and liquids, such as bleach
or soap powders are intrinsically unstable and potentially
dangerous
13.5. Magazines, booklets and advertising images create the 216
atmosphere of the Second World War sentiment and style
13.6. Packaging from the era just before the First World War. 220
Tins and tin cans and their history are significant, as the first
modern form of industrialised packaging. Cans arrived almost
200 years ago, initially used by the British navy for expeditions
13.7. Detergent use developed during the 1940s, giving rise to 221
innovative and interesting design in 1950s packaging and
marketing, exploited in commercial television ads in the
UK from 1955