A matter of life and death
Paul Whittle's letter concerning the display of stuffed animals implies that we shouldn't display items that we consider unethical (Museums Journal January 2009, p19).
I have three reasons for displaying such items. Firstly, attitudes to death in the past are different to those of today and we have the opportunity in displays of taxidermy to illustrate these cultural and temporal differences.
Secondly, examples of taxidermy are often beautiful representations of animals and birds that few have a chance of studying so closely. Thirdly, we shouldn't sanitise or hide aspects of the past that are distasteful to some.
My visit to the concentration camps at Auschwitz last year was very disturbing, but I wouldn't want to close the museums there just because what was done to people in those camps was unethical.
One of the many questions which passed though my mind at Auschwitz was to what extent should the ruins of this terrible place, and the thousands of shoes and suitcases and the tons of women's hair, be conserved and preserved?
My answer was that it has to be preserved as a reminder of some people's inhumanity to all living things. Exhibitions on taxidermy should make people think about their own attitudes to killing.
Michael Freeman, curator, Ceredigion Museum, Aberystwyth
Not beside the seaside
Re an outpost of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in Blackpool, it is an ineffective idea. It's typical of metropolitan tokenism.
If the V&A want to reach new audiences, the best way to do it is to repeat what worked brilliantly for over a century: a touring exhibition programme, though this time not as spoon feeding, but as an invigorating partnership with museums, galleries and public venues wherever they are, including Blackpool.
It's much easier, quicker and cheaper for people in Gateshead and Nottingham, let alone Plymouth and Norwich, to get to London than it is for them to get to Blackpool. Who do the V&A think they are doing this outreach for? Or is it that they don't care?
Julian Spalding
Unnatural selection
Simon Stephens's article on the commemoration of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species omitted some important points (Museums Journal January 2009, p20).
Although Stephens mentioned the Darwin200 partnership and the website (www.darwin200.org), it is worth stressing how useful the website is.
The article also did not mention some of the biggest events taking place - including Shrewsbury's Darwin festival; the work of the research councils; and Kew and Wellcome's Great Plant Hunt. For our part, Manchester Museum is running a Darwin festival, which starts in late summer.
Although the three full-page spreads of images were most attractive, it would be useful to give readers more information on the range of activities that are taking place and the significance of his ideas to museum practice and society in general.
Henry McGhie, head of natural environments and curator of zoology, Manchester Museum
Ruffled feathers
Given the enthusiasm of Liz Hide's review of the Natural History Museum's Darwin exhibition, it seems churlish to point out a significant error in her opening paragraphs (Museums Journal January 2009, p50).
The "Darwin's finches" she describes at the entrance to the exhibition are in fact type specimens of two species of endemic mockingbirds collected by Darwin on different islands in the Galapagos - the San Cristobal and Floreana Mockingbirds.
While Darwin did collect a number of the now famous Galapagos finches, he lacked the experience to recognise their close relationships and they played no role in the initial development of his ideas.
By contrast, we know from his Beagle voyage notebooks and later writings that the differences between these Galapagos mockingbirds caught his eye immediately, rapidly leading to speculation about whether species might change. Several pairs of Galapagos finches do feature elsewhere in the exhibition to demonstrate their diversity, but they are specimens from another expedition.
The mockingbirds are perhaps not the Darwinian icons that people may expect to encounter, but we wanted to recognise their crucial role in inspiring Darwin, providing visitors with an opportunity to see them.
With her emphasis on collections-based evidence, it's unfortunate that we missed communicating the mockingbird story to Hide during her visit; clearly our campaign for mockingbird recognition must continue.
Joanne Cooper, curator, bird group, Natural History Museum, Tring
Archives for all
Free access to national records, whether on the web or not, is an essential part of archival provision. (Museums Journal January 2009, p17).
For the 2007 commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade, the Paxton Trust with permission of the Home Robertson family and assisted by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), digitised all the material relating to the two plantations of Waltham and Paraclete on the island of Grenada held on temporary deposit in the National Archives of Scotland. This has made the documents available to a wider range of researchers and helped protect the originals.
Unfortunately, the HLF does not give assistance to elements of projects outside the UK. With the generosity of the National Archives of Scotland, a second hard drive containing 22,232 images was made available and this has been presented to the high commissioner for Grenada so that the islanders could have immediate access to some of their historical records.
The Paxton Trust is proud to be (as far as we are aware) the first body to provide such digitised material to a commonwealth country and would urge others to do the same.
John Malden, director, Paxton Trust, Berwick upon Tweed
London calling
Contrary to your report (Museums Journal January 2009, p13) Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) London's funding for 2009-10 has been confirmed by MLA Council and MLA London will continue to operate on its current model until at least March 2010, pending the outcome of a review of delivery models in the capital, commissioned by MLA Council, in consultation with the Mayor's office.
Your broader coverage of the Mayor's Cultural Metropolis consultation covered many of its main themes, including the threat to London's local authority museums, particularly in outer London.
But it didn't mention some key programmes supporting these museums in London, principally the London Cultural Improvement Programme (LCIP), to which 14 of London's 26 local authority museum services are currently signed up (hopefully the rest will follow) and Renaissance London, which, in partnership with MLA London, is investing in the LCIP programme, and is also commissioning Redbridge Museum and Orleans House Gallery in Richmond to develop their own services with other non-hub museums.
Andrew Holden, interim director, MLA London
Paul Whittle's letter concerning the display of stuffed animals implies that we shouldn't display items that we consider unethical (Museums Journal January 2009, p19).
I have three reasons for displaying such items. Firstly, attitudes to death in the past are different to those of today and we have the opportunity in displays of taxidermy to illustrate these cultural and temporal differences.
Secondly, examples of taxidermy are often beautiful representations of animals and birds that few have a chance of studying so closely. Thirdly, we shouldn't sanitise or hide aspects of the past that are distasteful to some.
My visit to the concentration camps at Auschwitz last year was very disturbing, but I wouldn't want to close the museums there just because what was done to people in those camps was unethical.
One of the many questions which passed though my mind at Auschwitz was to what extent should the ruins of this terrible place, and the thousands of shoes and suitcases and the tons of women's hair, be conserved and preserved?
My answer was that it has to be preserved as a reminder of some people's inhumanity to all living things. Exhibitions on taxidermy should make people think about their own attitudes to killing.
Michael Freeman, curator, Ceredigion Museum, Aberystwyth
Not beside the seaside
Re an outpost of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in Blackpool, it is an ineffective idea. It's typical of metropolitan tokenism.
If the V&A want to reach new audiences, the best way to do it is to repeat what worked brilliantly for over a century: a touring exhibition programme, though this time not as spoon feeding, but as an invigorating partnership with museums, galleries and public venues wherever they are, including Blackpool.
It's much easier, quicker and cheaper for people in Gateshead and Nottingham, let alone Plymouth and Norwich, to get to London than it is for them to get to Blackpool. Who do the V&A think they are doing this outreach for? Or is it that they don't care?
Julian Spalding
Unnatural selection
Simon Stephens's article on the commemoration of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species omitted some important points (Museums Journal January 2009, p20).
Although Stephens mentioned the Darwin200 partnership and the website (www.darwin200.org), it is worth stressing how useful the website is.
The article also did not mention some of the biggest events taking place - including Shrewsbury's Darwin festival; the work of the research councils; and Kew and Wellcome's Great Plant Hunt. For our part, Manchester Museum is running a Darwin festival, which starts in late summer.
Although the three full-page spreads of images were most attractive, it would be useful to give readers more information on the range of activities that are taking place and the significance of his ideas to museum practice and society in general.
Henry McGhie, head of natural environments and curator of zoology, Manchester Museum
Ruffled feathers
Given the enthusiasm of Liz Hide's review of the Natural History Museum's Darwin exhibition, it seems churlish to point out a significant error in her opening paragraphs (Museums Journal January 2009, p50).
The "Darwin's finches" she describes at the entrance to the exhibition are in fact type specimens of two species of endemic mockingbirds collected by Darwin on different islands in the Galapagos - the San Cristobal and Floreana Mockingbirds.
While Darwin did collect a number of the now famous Galapagos finches, he lacked the experience to recognise their close relationships and they played no role in the initial development of his ideas.
By contrast, we know from his Beagle voyage notebooks and later writings that the differences between these Galapagos mockingbirds caught his eye immediately, rapidly leading to speculation about whether species might change. Several pairs of Galapagos finches do feature elsewhere in the exhibition to demonstrate their diversity, but they are specimens from another expedition.
The mockingbirds are perhaps not the Darwinian icons that people may expect to encounter, but we wanted to recognise their crucial role in inspiring Darwin, providing visitors with an opportunity to see them.
With her emphasis on collections-based evidence, it's unfortunate that we missed communicating the mockingbird story to Hide during her visit; clearly our campaign for mockingbird recognition must continue.
Joanne Cooper, curator, bird group, Natural History Museum, Tring
Archives for all
Free access to national records, whether on the web or not, is an essential part of archival provision. (Museums Journal January 2009, p17).
For the 2007 commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade, the Paxton Trust with permission of the Home Robertson family and assisted by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), digitised all the material relating to the two plantations of Waltham and Paraclete on the island of Grenada held on temporary deposit in the National Archives of Scotland. This has made the documents available to a wider range of researchers and helped protect the originals.
Unfortunately, the HLF does not give assistance to elements of projects outside the UK. With the generosity of the National Archives of Scotland, a second hard drive containing 22,232 images was made available and this has been presented to the high commissioner for Grenada so that the islanders could have immediate access to some of their historical records.
The Paxton Trust is proud to be (as far as we are aware) the first body to provide such digitised material to a commonwealth country and would urge others to do the same.
John Malden, director, Paxton Trust, Berwick upon Tweed
London calling
Contrary to your report (Museums Journal January 2009, p13) Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) London's funding for 2009-10 has been confirmed by MLA Council and MLA London will continue to operate on its current model until at least March 2010, pending the outcome of a review of delivery models in the capital, commissioned by MLA Council, in consultation with the Mayor's office.
Your broader coverage of the Mayor's Cultural Metropolis consultation covered many of its main themes, including the threat to London's local authority museums, particularly in outer London.
But it didn't mention some key programmes supporting these museums in London, principally the London Cultural Improvement Programme (LCIP), to which 14 of London's 26 local authority museum services are currently signed up (hopefully the rest will follow) and Renaissance London, which, in partnership with MLA London, is investing in the LCIP programme, and is also commissioning Redbridge Museum and Orleans House Gallery in Richmond to develop their own services with other non-hub museums.
Andrew Holden, interim director, MLA London
