Museum Ethnographers Group Conference 2012

The Museum Ethnographers Group was established in 1975 and their aim is to promote an understanding of museum ethnography. Membership is not restricted to museum curators; anyone with an interest in ethnography can join and be kept up-to-date via the newsletter, twitter and website.

Last week the MEG’s annual conference was held in the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh. This two day affair was an exciting opportunity for the team to meet up with museum folk from all over the UK and gain insight into the world of museums. The location itself was ideal (just a stone’s throw from the library!) with NMS looking inspiring after the refurbishment.

This year’s theme was 'Multiple Dialogues: interpreting ethnographic collections in the 21st century' which was of particular interest to us and Carmichael’s material collection. It was fascinating to hear the speakers and learn of the various methods for presenting and interpreting collections from all over the world. A speaker from Zeeuws Museum in the Netherlands, Caroline van Santen, spoke about a Blackfoot exhibit and how she worked closely with Clifford Crane, a Blackfoot Indian, in order to gain a greater understanding of the objects in the collection. Catherine Moore from the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent spoke about how she worked with the Angolan community in preparation for a forthcoming exhibit ‘TALA! - Visions of Angola’.

Another interpretation of the theme was the museums’ youth programs. A number of speakers discussed their thriving programs and upcoming exhibits as chosen by the young curators (14-24 years old). Two of these young curators co-presented a talk about their exhibit entitled ‘The Curious Case of the …’ a play on the Victorian cabinet of curiosities. These programs allow them to organise the exhibit from choosing the objects, researching the selected objects, labeling, presenting and designing the leaflets. These opportunities only made me wish I was ten years younger!

The conference was a great event and it offered us a new perspective on Carmichael’s collection housed at both the West Highland Museum and the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh.

A brooch from the Carmichael Collection, West Highland Museum

Links
MEG
West Highland Museum
NMS

Oot an' Aboot

It's been a busy few weeks for the team as Phase 4 fever takes holds. The objects which we are cataloguing and researching are held either by The West Highland Museum (WHM), in Fort William or by the National Museum of Scotland (NMS) a few minutes up the road from the office, all of which means we've had to go oot an' aboot.

Two weeks ago, we'd a very productive afternoon with Pam Babes, Collections Development Manager and Angus Kneale, Collections System Manager at NMS looking at their cataloguing system and talking about the best approach for listing Carmichael's objects. We also got a better idea of the material we'll be dealing with there, most of which is tartan and the oddest of which is crossopus fodiens - a water shrew.

Next on the list was a trip to meet Màiri Mooney, curator at The West Highland Museum and to clap eyes on the considerably larger number of items in their Carmichael collection. The weather was hardly kind as we stepped off the train into ankle-deep puddles and driving rain but the welcome was very warm when we arrived at the museum. Many objects from the collection were out on display anyway, so we were able to start matching them to our list, which was originally drawn up to value the collection in the late 40s. What an array of artefacts! Everything from fossils to Jacobite clothing to charms to domestic tools and of course brooches. Many, many brooches. Màiri took a great deal of time with us and let us have the run of the museum for the day, so that we could plan for our next visit. High on our agenda is photographing the items - the current list has around 250 objects, so the task is a considerable one. Personal favourites from the objects we were able to see were a targe, a riding cape and knotted wool for Eòlas Snàithle [Charm of the Threads]. Seeing unfamiliar objects which have been mentioned in now very familiar manuscripts was an enlivening experience altogether.

On my own way home I took a detour to visit the project's friends at Comann Eachdraidh Lios Mòr. I mention this simply to allow me to post a picture showing how beautiful it was on the Tuesday morning!

Reference: Carmina Gadelica, vol. IV (Edinburgh, 1941) pp. 166-167.
Image 1:  Kirsty M Stewart, Màiri Mooney and Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart at West Highland Museum.
Image 2: Looking towards Ben Nevis from the north end of Lismore.