Hidden treasures and stories from our collection
Over the last six months or so the Powerhouse Museum has been going through a major revitalisation project. One result of all this activity has been the opening up of some large exhibition spaces. Given International Museums Day is just around the corner and the current level of interest within the museum surrounding exhibition development I thought it could be an opportune time to blog about this vital area of museum work and see how museums in general have been approaching the issue.
Portrait of Min-Jung Kim, Curator of Asian Arts & Design, Powerhouse Museum, Photo by Sotha Bourn
People often ask me what curators do. Usually my answer is “we research, collect, document and display objects.” However, this answer doesn’t seem to satisfy people who wonder what really goes on behind the scenes in the museums and galleries.
2007/50/64 Music magazine, 'Juke' Melbourne, used by Festival Records, Sydney, 1986. Collection: Powerhouse Museum
Vince Lovegrove was an Australian journalist, music manager, television producer, musician and AIDS awareness campaigner. Perhaps best known for his job as manager of rock group Divinyls and singer Jimmy Barnes. Lovegrove was a member of a 1960s band the Valentines sharing vocals with Bon Scott whom he later introduced to heavy rock group AC/DC.
Continue reading ‘Vince (Vincent) Lovegrove, 1948 – 2012′
Recently we were doing the final proofs for a new book about the issues of long term preservation of digital information. I came across a discrepancy in two separate entries on the same object that introduced its own issue about information preservation.
The book, Digital Dark Age: a cautionary tale, is a collaboration between the Parramatta Heritage Centre and the Powerhouse Museum and draws on the graphic art work of Matt Huynh. It looks at the issues associated with the storing of personal and society’s information records using technology that is likely to be obsolete in a few short years.
One of the Museum’s objects that feature in the story is a Sumerian clay tablet which is a record of a financial transaction that took place 4000 years ago.
Sumerian clay tablet, receipt for livestock, 2041 BCE, 85/452
The tablet is mentioned in the body of the text and in a glossary of objects. A translation of the cuneiform script on the tablet in the body text referred to a receipt for ‘..five sheep, one lamb and four grass-fed male kids..’. Later in the object glossary the caption referred to ‘receipt issued- Total: five grass-fed sheep, Total: one lamb. Total: four male kids’.
I drew a red ring around both entries and made a note to find out whether the sheep or the kids had been grass-fed and wondered if it was me who was the duffer who had incorrectly transcribed the information from the acquisition record or whether I could blame someone else.
I went to the Collection’s database record and found that the transcriptions for the front and back sides of the tablet were the source of the error. Obviously who ever transcribed the information from the original paper file had made the mistake. (The tablet had been acquired in 1985 before the museum had a computer based collection records system.) That let me off the hook.
So I went to the original file to find out the true identity of the grass-eaters but again found the accession form had the same discrepancy.
I had decided that modern museum professionals should all hang their heads in shame and that we would have to get the cuneiform translated again when I found a note at the very back of the file – the original translation.
Translator's notes for Sumerian clay tablet 85/452
Click above image to see the original transcription.
Note to self: if my records are going to be preserved I’ll have to make sure they are correct.
Atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Powerhouse Museum Collection.
Dr Alan Walsh had an ‘aha’ moment while gardening in 1954. Straight away, he phoned a friend and said: We’ve been measuring the wrong bloody thing! A CSIRO chemist, he wasn’t referring to delphiniums (blue) or geraniums (red). He was thinking about atoms that emit characteristic colours when heated in a flame – elements such as strontium (red) and selenium (blue).
At that time, the concentration of certain atoms in a sample was determined by measuring the amount of light the sample EMITS when heated in a flame. He realised it would be better to measure how much light of a particular colour (wavelength) the sample ABSORBS. He thought his ‘atomic absorption’ method would be more accurate than the emission method.
Now Walsh had been thinking about this problem off and on for years. In his ‘aha’ moment he realised it was possible to get around the major stumbling block: the need to filter out the emitted light so it didn’t swamp the measuring device.
Walsh soon set up an experiment to test his ideas. It worked brilliantly. With the help of other scientists and technicians, he designed a new type of lamp containing the element to be measured. His technique did prove to be more accurate than the old method – and it was more sensitive, and useful for many more elements. His work led to the creation of a local industry making atomic absorption spectrophotometers (AAS). It also led to scientific and practical advances in many fields as CSIRO scientists developed new techniques and labs around the world purchased the instruments.
One of these instruments was offered to the Museum a few years ago by Tim and Kylie Bennett from Alstonville in northern NSW. They were planning to upgrade to a new AAS for their analytical service lab, and the donation of their old one was very welcome. They told us its original owner was the University of New England, where it had been used for studying domestic ruminant physiology.
Now that more information is available online, it appears highly likely that the ruminants studied were sheep and the instrument was used to show (among other things) that they need copper and zinc in their diet to grow good quality wool. A nice connection to our wool and textile collections!
More information is also available about the work of the Bennetts’ company, Soiltec. As its name suggests, it was involved in analysing agricultural soils, but it also analysed plant material. This work was largely aimed at helping farmers grow crops without adding unnecessary quantities of fertiliser to the soil. A nice connection to our sustainability theme!
Making connections is a vital role for museums. These include connections between objects and ideas; connections between disparate objects; connections between objects and images; and, most importantly, connections between objects, ideas and people. I hope my chemistry-themed blog posts for the International Year of Chemistry have made some interesting connections for you.
Powerhouse Collection. Gift of Mr C A Saxby, 1970.
When I decided to feature our rare Whittle aircraft engine in a recent blog post, I entered the term ‘Whittle’ in our database. Data on the engine appeared, along with a photo. Another object also popped up, with little data and no image. Intrigued, I had to check out this ‘early experimental Whittle turbine blade with fir tree base’.
I’d seen turbine blades before, but none as small as this, just three inches (75 mm) long and one inch (25 mm) wide. I didn’t have a clue about the fir tree base, but I did know it couldn’t be made of timber! And I wanted to know more about the donor, Mr C A Saxby, and whether the Whittle attribution was true; if it was, the object could connect us directly with an important and contentious research program, Frank Whittle’s development of the jet engine during World War II.
Powerhouse Collection. Gift of Mr C A Saxby, 1970.
Whittle’s autobiography (Jet: the story of a pioneer) explained that the fir tree base was developed by his team to overcome the problem of wobbly blades. A turbine has a large number of blades attached to a fast-spinning rotor, and vibration at the attachment points reduces both efficiency and lifespan. Whittle’s earliest experiments used the established ‘bulb root’ design, a cylindrical base that fits in a matching slot; in cross-section, this resembles a plant bulb in a round hole. The fir tree base, which has a series of steps that lock the blade into the rotor more effectively, is the standard design today.
But who was Mr Saxby, and how did he come to have the blade? Exam results in Trove gave me his Christian names, Colin Ambrose. A 1935 article turned up a grainy photo of him; the caption placed Saxby as one of a select group to graduate from Sydney University that year with honours in electrical and mechanical engineering.
So Saxby was a bright young engineering graduate at the time Whittle began his research. Did he travel to England and work with Whittle? One of our archivists searched for correspondence related to the object – and scotched that theory. The real story was that Saxby was the Acting Advisory and Inspecting Engineer to the NSW Government and was sent to England to tour various engineering works soon after the war ended. When he was at the Vickers works, an employee offered him the turbine blade. As Vickers made jet engines during the war, with advice from Whittle, it is highly likely that the story of the blade is true.
Curators must be sceptical about provenance because apocryphal stories can develop around objects, often linking them to famous people or events. However, provenance is not the only story. One object can tell many stories, and in this case they include: a problem to be solved; engineers striving to find a solution; the technology this contributed to; use of that technology in warfare and later in civilian aviation; technology transfer from Whittle to Vickers; and the story of Colin Saxby, his contribution to engineering in NSW, and his decision to donate this interesting souvenir to the Museum, to inspire future generations.
Toner Stevenson outside the WA State Library.
Written by Toner Stevenson, manager, Sydney Observatory. Only last week Nicholas Serota, Director of the Tate galleries, campaigned against environmentally-damaging conditions in Museums and galleries worldwide. It is true, many museums spend a significant proportion of their budget in keeping galleries at a steady temperature and humidity level. Filtering pollutants and controlling light levels is taken very seriously. Also costs escalate when Museums display loaned artifacts which require even more stringent controls governed by contracts.
Making decisions about whether and how much to cool, heat and de-humidify has been much debated and, with the onus on reducing our carbon footprints and the running costs, the old standards are in question. International Conservation Services (ICS), a private conservation company based in Chatswood, took out this year’s Museums and Galleries National Award for an Australian-based research project titled Development of Guidelines for Environmental Conditions for Museum and Galleries. The presentation of the findings by ICS Director, Julian Bickersteth, considered both human comfort in galleries and the temperature and humidity conditions required for objects made form different materials, looking at the crossover range and suggesting that more flexibility can be tolerated. The new guidelines for the UK (PAS 198) are leading the way and it is timely for Australia to consider its own varied climate, and, argues Bickersteth, set its own guidelines.
The Powerhouse Museum is fortunate to have a highly-skilled Conservation Department who monitor spaces and advise on all the environmental requirements for all exhibitions. At Sydney Observatory we can only keep paper and textiles for a very short time and in a few rooms that have the least fluctuation in temperature and humidity. These new practically-based guidelines will help all Museums and Galleries make better decisions about the storage and display of their collections, guiding reductions in energy waste. .
The Judges Comments: “This project holds great significance for the cultural and heritage sector throughout Australia (arguably the world) as it builds knowledge, skills, understanding and standards for keeping collections safely into the future, both in storage and whilst on display. These guidelines will become the well-thumbed or bookmarked resource that remains on every gallery, library, archive and museum professional’s desk.”
Related reading:
Dialogues for the new century: Discussions on the conservation of cultural heritage in a changing world, 2010.
A portico outside the 'At the Frontier' conference in Perth reads ‘The price of all history is the understanding of Modern Times’. Image Toner Stevenson.
Written by Toner Stevenson, manager Sydney Observatory who recently attended the Museums Australia and Interpretation Australia conference held in the new State Theatre and WA State Library in Perth, 14 to 18 November. There were many frontiers discussed throughout the conference and two themes that I particularly engaged with as being of relevance to the Powerhouse Museum were the new cultural frontier and how technology has impacted heritage conservation. This blog relates to the first theme.
‘Why Culture is Changing’ was the title of the keynote address by Professor John Holden, chair of a thinktank in London called Demos . Holden discussed the revolution that is occurring in the definition of the term ‘culture’. In the past exclusiveness defined culture and decisions were made for the many by the few. There was a gap between culture as selected and presented by the professionals and the home-made. An exciting frontier now exists through technologies which place the tools of creation, selection and ‘curatorship’ in many people’s hands.
Unlike in the era of the Beatles and Rolling Stones access to music recording, production and distribution is available to everyone using ever-more accessible technologies. The rules of the game have changed and there has been an explosion in home-made culture. Holden argued that if ‘making cultural choices goes to the heart of self-identity’ then the providers of cultural content, the muses, must be more important for society and the economy as everyone strives to reach their cultural potential. To engage with this frontier means that Museums have to make content available so it can be manipulated, owned and revealed by the population. This will result in a more democratic culture.
Over the next few days of the conference we explored how communication technologies can democratize culture and add deeper levels of meaning to heritage sites. This included making content available over the internet, using Twitter and Facebook to create dialogues between Museum staff and the public and how Iphone apps can provide deeper interpretation of exhibitions which can be taken away and used at any time by the user. Julian Bickersteth, Director of International Conservation Services, demonstrated, using the Powerhouse Museum Lovelace exhibition app, how smartphones can also collect feedback that creates future opportunities, including mapping behaviour patterns in exhibitions to improve decisions on exhibition interpretation.
This leads me to the second theme of the conference, the frontier Museums are facing to do with prioritising the collection and the conditions in which it is stored and displayed. The challenge is to improve our energy usage, respond to climate change and provide the longterm care of our heritage. I will outline this in more detail in Part 2.
: Inside the Heath Ledger Theatre of Perth’s new State Theatre, Image Toner Stevenson.
Related reading:
Ivey, Bill (2008). Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights.
My name is Sally Inchbold-Busby and I have had a very rewarding year working on an oral history project at the Tamworth Powerstation Museum (TPM) as recipient of the 2011 Powerhouse Museum’s Movable Heritage Fellowship. I used my experience in Tamworth to complete my final internship for my Master’s Degree in Museum Studies at the University of Sydney.
Tamworth has a remarkable industrial history. In 1888, Tamworth became the first town in the southern hemisphere to have its streets lit by a power station owned and operated by a municipal council. To celebrate the Centenary of electric street lighting in 1988, a group of electricity industry employees created Australia’s first all-electric museum. Today visitors can see a nationally significant collection that includes a working replica of the original power plant and an amazing collection of photographs, industry apparatus, light globes and electrical appliances spanning from early development to the 1960s.
The broad aim of my project is to research and collect the oral histories behind the key objects within the museum’s collections. A further outcome is the development of a publication to provide public access to previously undocumented information. I am working with Sandra McMahon who is TPM Manager and Director of the Tamworth Regional Gallery under the auspices of the Tamworth Regional Council. My brief is to develop a handbook that will take the reader through the museum’s narrative while telling the story of the Tamworth’s electricity industry – the idea being to draw out the social aspects of the story to complement the museum’s strong technical base.
During the first half of the year I set myself the task of selecting twenty-five objects on which to base the story and my oral history research. This was not an easy task as there are so many fascinating objects in the many collections at the museum. I spent considerable time getting to know the collections and the people who work with them. Because I am interested in early steam engines, I decided to focus the first part of the story on the development of the 1888 power station. From there I selected objects that represented the technological and social changes brought about by the introduction of electricity.
1888 power plant - John Fowler engine and boiler set with replica Crompton dynamo: Image: courtesy Tamworth Powerstation Museum
Throughout the year I have worked closely with the museum’s team of volunteers, who as former employees of the industry have some great stories and a wealth of information to pass on. I have interviewed nine people who have provided insight into what it was like to work in the power station and the importance of the industry to Tamworth. The stories I have heard and will include in my publication are moving, dramatic and entertaining. Here is an excerpt from an interview with Mal Crocker recalling peak load times at the power station in the early 1950s.
I witnessed a power generation overload which was quite exciting. The engine room where the turbines were housed would vibrate at times of peak loading. Most winter mornings around 8.00am when the industry had started for the day, all the offices and shops would have their lights on. In the homes it was breakfast time which meant the jug, toaster, stove and the radiator were all drawing power at once. This was peak load time when all the machinery was operating at high demand. The engines would settle down as the morning progressed but the power station really did rock.”
I have also learnt a lot of new things. For example; As mentioned above I know why the power station shuddered on cold winter mornings and that Hotpoint irons got their name when the maker’s wife said the heat needed to focus on the tip.
Hotpoint iron display stand, 1950s; Image courtesy of Tamworth Powerstation Museum
Through the Movable Heritage Fellowship I have been able to put into practice the understandings I gained from my studies. I have pursued my personal interest in industrial heritage while producing a publication that will be useful to the museum and its visitors. It has been particularly satisfying to develop my own project and follow it through to completion. Throughout I have been supported by the Powerhouse Museum and my colleagues in Tamworth. The development of working relationships has been very important to the success of my project. I have met some wonderful characters and have enjoyed many cups of tea. My project is due for completion later this year and I am currently working on its design. I can’t wait to see the finished product, a publication called ‘The Night The Lights Went On’.#
The Powerhouse Movable Heritage Fellowship for 2012 is now accepting applications from continuing students who would like to undertake a research project on an object or group of objects in a community museum, historical society or other collecting institution. The Fellow will receive $5,000 and spend a minimum of one week at the Powerhouse Museum working with a supervisor.
# A handbook that will take the reader through the museum’s narrative while telling the story of Tamworth’s electricity industry is being launched by Powerhouse Museum energy curator, Debbie Rudder on November 9th, 2011 in Tamworth at the Powerstation Museum.
Mirath in Mind logo designed by M K Graphics
Community outreach and engagement is a core responsibility of any museum. This is what helps us to bridge social and cultural divides, develop greater tolerance and understanding, facilitate new connections and relationships with one another and expand our way of seeing.
The Powerhouse Museum has a long tradition of working together with communities, from our collections and exhibitions (see for example, Beirut to Baghdad: communities, collecting and culture, Our new home Meie uus kodu: Estonian – Australian stories and Ties with Tradition: Macedonian Aprons, among many others) to public programs, affiliated societies, regional services and online presence. One of these communities I have been strongly involved with is the Arab and Lebanese community (especially in Sydney and Melbourne) for two important projects. The first is an upcoming exhibition on contemporary Islamic women’s fashion in Australia (more of which will be revealed in the coming months) and the second, which I would like to share with you in this blog post, is an independent external organisation, Mirath in Mind, of which I am a representative committee member for the Museum.
Mirath in Mind is a non-profit organisation committed to celebrating and promoting the art, heritage and culture of the Arab and Lebanese world in Australia. Founded in 2010, Mirath (which means “heritage” in classical Arabic) focuses on a different cultural or artistic legacy each year and in 2011 it is the legendary Lebanese singer, Fairuz.
In case you’ve never heard of Fairuz before, it might be easier to compare her with a mainstream western performer. I would say she has the celebrity status of Madonna in the Middle East, but the elegance, grace and poise of someone more like Celine Dion. In terms of her singing abilities, however, she is unparalleled.
Fairuz was born Nouhad Wadi Haddad on November 21, 1935 in Jabal al Arz, Lebanon. She started singing at an early age, initially hymns and other popular songs of the time for radio (like Ya Zahratan Fi Khayali by Farid al-Atrash and Mawwal by Asmahan), before singing her own songs composed not only, but most famously, by brothers Assi and Mansour Rahbani. Together, they wrote many of Fairuz’s best-loved songs (my personal favourite is “Nassam Alayna”). They also scripted several of her films, including “Bint el-Haras” and “Safar Barlek”.
Fairuz recently performed at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam and some colleagues and I from Mirath were lucky enough to have secured tickets. You see, the Carré Theatre only has a capacity of 1700 and tickets sold out within a day of being advertised! Many travelled from far and wide to Amsterdam just to see Fairuz in concert. They came from Morocco, Palestine, Belgium, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and…Australia! Even though Fairuz performed only a small selection of songs, most of which were from her more recent albums, it was a magical experience and the fervour of the crowd carried over into the streets of Amsterdam until well into the wee hours of the morning! You can get a taste of the atmosphere by having a look at some of the television media coverage here.
Since one of Mirath in Mind’s key objectives is to educate and inspire the younger generations (who have an Arabic background, but not exclusively so) about the cultural icons and legacies of their native past, Mirath has been running a number of educational activities about the life and work of Fairuz. These have been taking place in schools and universities in Sydney and Melbourne where Arabic is a spoken language, among which includes St Charbel’s College Punchbowl, the Holy Spirit College Lakemba, the Holy Saviour School Greenacre, the Antonine College Coburg, the University of Western Sydney and Deakin University.
Chadia Gedeon-Hajjar, President of Mirath in Mind talks to Year 8 and 9 students at the Holy Spirit College Lakemba about Fairuz. Image courtesy of Marie Joseph Abi-Arrage.
This has involved almost 1000 quizzes with students on the previously mentioned films, “Bint el-Haras” (for primary students) and “Safr Barlek” (for high school students), as well as a variety of singing, multimedia, drama, arts and crafts projects more broadly linked to Fairuz’s expansive career. We’ve also been running an essay competition in Universities, as we noticed there is a significant gap in well-researched, academic writing on the topic of Fairuz and the Rahbani brothers. All of this hard work will culminate in an Awards Gala Day ceremony that will take place at the Powerhouse Museum on Monday 21st November (the date of Fairuz’s 76th birthday upon which we will also be launching ‘National Fairuz Day in Australia’). On this day, the top performing students in the quizzes and essays will be awarded while the finalists in the creative and performing arts competitions will compete before a panel of judges for prizes (we’re even staging a ‘Fairuz Idol’!).
We are now starting to think about what other Arab cultural icons we should feature in future Mirath in Mind projects. Perhaps Khalil Gibran, Youssef Chahine or Sabah? What do you think?
If you’d like to find out more about the work of Mirath in Mind, please take a look at our website – www.mirath.org.au. Alternatively, you can contact me – melaniep@phm.gov.au. Please note the Awards Day at the Museum is by invitation only.
While our digitisation project is well underway, with 80% of collection objects currently listed online, there is much more work to be done. Your donation will assist the Powerhouse to add high quality photographs and full background information for the 50% of online objects with incomplete listings.