stored-collections « WordPress.com Tag Feed

Optics in focus

museumoftheuniversityofstandrews — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:38:41 +0000

The Collection of Historic Scientific Instruments contains over 900 items and this guest blog post come from one of our student volunteers, Suzie Hill, who has been helping organise this collection:

Over the last few weeks I have been exploring the MUSA Collections Unit. The store itself is like a rather posh warehouse, with hundreds of beautiful old objects all with hand written labels, black ink on cream card attached with string, which appealed to the kitsch in me. Every object holds some kind of history, from the selection of gowns through the ages to the portrait of a distant academic in which the head was cut out by a sabotaging group of students.

I have been charged with the job of making sense of the arrangement of the huge and varied range of scientific instruments recently moved to the store from the Physics department. Each of the objects is registered on the database as being part of a specific group (for example if the object is linked to the study of electricity or navigation), and the challenge is to place all the objects from a particular group in the same area of the store. I began with the large sections entitled ‘optics’, which included an array of lenses, slides, and even a very beautiful, metallic-coloured insect.

For the first shelf that I arranged I collected together anything that was tall, gold, and shiny. This brought together telescopes, microscopes and Polariscopes. The Norrenberg Polariscope is a particularly beautiful object. It allows light to pass through lenses in the main body of the instrument onto a mirrored plane, which itself has a hinge and therefore the light can be reflected at an angle. Having done a little research I have gathered that Polariscopes are used to analyse and measure the polarisation of light waves (which are an example of transverse waves). They look at the optical properties of materials, considering, for example, how light bends when it passes through specific materials. The mirror plane immediately below the cylindrical lens fills the role of the polarizer, and the mirror at an angle is the analyser. This object is now proudly exhibited in the middle of the top shelf that you come to when you enter the store, along with all the other tall, golden, ‘opitical’ pieces.

It is the aesthetics of these objects that really strikes me, but then as an art history student that is probably inevitable; however as I collect more like objects together I begin to piece together the purposes of these pieces and the science which they represent. I am now familiar with the objects used to study birefringence (which is the splitting of a ray of light into two when it passes through particular materials) and all the various ‘-iscopes’, which in themselves are a significant part of this universities history thanks to Mr Brewster (for more information on that one get yourself down to gallery 3 at MUSA!)

That’s opitics done – now onto the sound instruments!

- Suzie Hill (student at University of St Andrews and Museum volunteer)

These are not glass slides

museumoftheuniversityofstandrews — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:08:55 +0000

These are not glass slides. They do not preserve images for later projection, on a white wall or canvas sheet. They are not for the public in a hushed room—they are certainly not for you. They are a love letter, a golem, the final aggregate of a buzzing isotope, a long distance radio transmission, and a mine that pierces so far it surfaces again, thanking its stars for sunlight. Three scientists impossibly in love, divided by space, spouses, time, children, wars, illnesses, domestic concerns—locks mended, pans scraped, post sent off—saw this as the only way. And so these images are meant to flick in rapid succession, flick one, two, three, one,two,three, onetwothree, till his glasses rest on her face and his eyes meet his eyes and their hands join up nervously, privately, endlessly by a trick of the light.

anon.

Notes on a Galvanometer

museumoftheuniversityofstandrews — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:01:38 +0000

You are the abandoned, soundless radio of our past–
a mystery and contradiction. Why the recent, twisted wires,
the modern plug that makes us feel as if we could, even now,
turn you on? You are too beautiful to be practical, with a quality
now reserved for Art and an idea that it was you who turned
your back on the modern world, its sad plastic gadgets.
But, oh! the cold heart of your Bell Transformer,
the stiff bronze knobs that no precise fingers adjust,
the hole in your hollow shell that nothing fits into and
the angled shards of glass that reflect only you, that can’t
vibrate to the pale, blankfaced meter repeating only one reading,
inaccurate… but, no: it reads its own unmoving silence, in
units of measurement we don’t understand,
somewhere on a still scale.

JMcK.

Anemometer

museumoftheuniversityofstandrews — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:00:08 +0000

I can’t resist the weight

and rhythm of the air.

I was made to turn all day

atop a North Sea rig

and not put one foot wrong

in my long pirouette.

These cast-iron hands

were made to cup the wind,

the dials on my chest

to measure out its speed.

I was made for this,

and if a strong wind blows

then east or west alike

I’ll turn.

by Will Harris

Art History and Medieval History

museumoftheuniversityofstandrews — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:36:38 +0000

Ben Reiss answered our recent call for guest bloggers. Here he writes about his experience of visiting the store and wandering between the shelves:

Wandering into the store-rooms of a museum is a vaguely surreal experience, especially when those rooms are filled with old and outdated bits of scientific equipment. You catch yourself staring vacantly at the shelves, jaw hanging slack and in the grip of some half-dream of mad scientists and old monster movies.

Some objects are clearly recognisable-telescopes, slides and, somewhat surreally, tattered, dusty humming birds. Others need a bit of squinting and figuring to work out such as the projectors and old fashioned cameras.

Most, however, are completely baffling. Plain wooden boxes that open up to reveal tangles of metal and wire or nothing at all. Complex instruments covered in dials and measurements which bear the names of forgotten shop owners in such exotic locations as Leeds and Ilford. Hypnotic twirls of glass and rubber which look rather uncomfortably like objects you would expect to see if you were ever chloroformed and woke up strapped into a dentist’s chair.

My eye was caught by something a little less disturbing, but just as baffling. A slender bronze frame stands tall and delicate from a solid wooden base. Caged within is a stately glass goblet like the kingliest of king cups. Hanging from the frame are threads ending in little wooden balls, just resting against the rim of the glass.

It is easy to imagine blue lightning crackling between the rods of the frame, down the threads and through the balls into the glass as some creature comes alive in murky green liquid wallowing in the goblet. Alternatively a king in a golden crown holds aloft the glass, freed from its cage after a year and a day of battles and quests. I’m sure the truth is much more practical, but what’s life without a little impracticality, eh?

Ben with one of the mystery object he picked from the store

Poking through a cardboard box (‘acid-free plain white paper!’) I found my next object or, to be precise, next three objects. The shelves were full of clunky glass slides but most showed comets or the effects of magnetism or schematics for mind-control machines (or something). These were different-a series of Victorian portraits of men with fabulous beards or nervous clean-shaven chins and even (shock-horror!) the occasional woman.

First out of the box was a stern gentleman glaring furiously out at the viewer through glasses, his mutton chops positively bristling with indignation. He’s clearly a mad scientist (or, possibly, the sort of man who might strap you into a dentist’s chair) and brings to mind Dr Jekyll just after he’s taken the potion that turns him into Mr Hyde.

Slide number two was Il Signor, a pale Italian looking past us into the distance, his clear face untouched by stubble. Who knows what thoughts were passing behind his eyes but it seems they are not entirely untroubled; maybe the young man is missing home, or just deep in thought.

Finally there comes a woman. Frazzled hair rises unsteadily from her head as she looks pensively away from us. She sits calmly though, as if in defiance of her escaping locks. All three slides bring brilliantly to life a bygone era of science, just as the cluttered and wonderful objects surrounding them do.

The three pictures described above are (in order) of these three people:

Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair (1818-1898) studied at St Andrews in the early 1830s and was MP for Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities 1868-1885. He was a prominent chemist and politician for much of the 19th century.

Signor Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) was rector of St Andrews from 1934-1937. He shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of his work on ‘wireless telegraphy’ and was instrumental in developing long distance radio transmission.

Marie Curie (1867-1934) was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize (1903) and remains the only person to have won it in two separate sciences (Physics, 1903 and Chemistry, 1911). There is a Marie Curie fellowship at St Andrews in the school of geography and geosciences.

THE DEBUSSCOPE

museumoftheuniversityofstandrews — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:53:17 +0000

Flowers, leaves, blots of ink,

small staves of wood, ribbons:

if the position

be slightly altered

it might prove to ladies

polished again

an inexhaustible source.

Anon., recast by Robert Crawford

This ‘found’ piece rearranges phrases from the anonymous description of the Debusscope which is printed inside the lid of its box.

Guest bloggers wanted for exciting new project

Amy Dale — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:08:52 +0000

We are looking for three guest bloggers to assist with our upcoming project “MUSA’s Mystery objects”. This winter our curators will be working with experts from the National Museums Scotland to research and catalogue our Historic Scientific Instruments collection. The Collection of Historic Scientific Instruments contains over 500 items illustrating the history of teaching and research in Natural Philosophy, Physics and Astronomy in the University over a period of five centuries.

Every object in a collection has a story, and it is our aim for people to write stories around some of our mystery objects (we call these mystery objects as we currently have no information about what the object is or how it was used). There’s no need for a background in science, this is a chance to imagine how objects might have been used and invent weird and wonderful histories.

To launch the project we need three bloggers to come for a behind the scenes tour of the store and pick objects to be the focus of people’s writing activities. They will have a chance to handle some of the items in our collection and then we will share their writing with the world. The objects the bloggers pick will become a focus of an exhibition in MUSA.

If you are interested please send me an email (ad458@st-andrews.ac.uk) explaining any previous writing experience you may have. You must be able to visit the stores located in St Andrews next week (week commencing 31st October 2011).

Down the Back of the Sofa

historiesofhome — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:19:25 +0000

Derby Museum and Art Gallery has produced a 13-minute film of its recent Effective Collections-funded project Down the Back of the Sofa, which offers an insight into visitors’ reactions to the interactive exhibition. Down the Back of the Sofa was put together by the museum in partnership with the production company Charity Shop DJ for the Vintage at Southbank Centre festival in London’s Royal Festival Hall at the end of the July.

Around 9,000 people visited the exhibition, which saw the museum use mainly mid to late 20th century artefacts from its stored collection to recreate a vintage lounge and DJ space. The Museums Association (MA) helped facilitate the project with a £19,000 Effective Collections grant. The aim of the exhibition was to encourage interaction between people and artefacts in an informal environment.

Further information, including the evaluation of the project, is available here.

A WEEK AT WORK WITH MUSA

museumoftheuniversityofstandrews — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:43:28 +0000

This week we had student Aine Dodman join our team on a work expereince placement. In this post she write about all the things we got up to:

As a student at Madras College, I was offered the opportunity to take one week away from school on work experience with AWARE from the 26^th to 30^th of September. I was kindly given a place at the MUSA Collections Centre and handed a very full and varied itinerary for the week ahead. Knowing little about the museum and its work, I was taken by surprise at the quantity and quality of the collections and also of the different sites. The work differed every day, but this made it even more enjoyable.

On the first day, I arrived at the Collections Unit slightly nervous, but I settled quickly, which was lucky, as there was a lot of information to take in! I was shown around the various sites all over St Andrews, including MUSA itself, the Bell-Pettigrew and the Gateway Galleries.

In The Bell-Pettigrew Museum

I was given lots of background knowledge of the collections and the work involved. There was clearly more than I first realised, but everything was very well explained and I learned a great deal about museum life.

On Tuesday, I spend the day at the museum itself working front of house. In the morning this involved a number of important tasks, including welcoming visitors, managing the shop, cleaning the glass cases and conducting environmental checks. In the afternoon, I was asked to design a flyer advertising MUSA’s social media and also helped in the greeting of customers. Another task I carried out was to take photographs of the new Community Case display of Irvine for MUSA’s new Facebook page.

Wednesday morning was the Museum Collections Unit Staff Meeting, followed by a short session of computer work. During the afternoon I attended a talk at the Gateway Galleries on Robert Chambers that linked in with the new temporary exhibition ‘The Beginning and the End of the World’. I found that very interesting and very well presented. Afterwards, I attended a symposium about Professor James Irvine, also attended by his grand-daughter who recently published a biography about her grand-father’s life. As I didn’t know much about Irvine, I was surprised to find out how heavily he influenced the University and St Andrews to such an extent that the St Andrews we know today would probably be a very different place without him.

The first job of Thursday morning was to collect a silver candelabrum from University House to MUSA for a talk, quickly followed by the collection of broken wood from three statues in the University House garden (which we soon discovered were full of woodlice and all manners of creepy bugs-eek!). Then we were due to go across to St Mary’s and supervise paintings being put up on display in the Senior Common Room, but instead, due to some complications, we ended up drinking lovely hazelnut coffee and listening to some ghost stories- still not quite sure how that managed to happen…

Afterwards, I learned about object handling and cleaning in the Collections Centre and had a brief introduction to the object cataloguing system called Adlib. Then it was time for lunch, and then we headed across to the Bell-Pettigrew Museum to pack seabirds due to be loaned to another museum the following day for a new exhibition. (We thought the birds looked like they were wearing capes!)

Me and my new buddy ‘Wonder Duck’

My last day, Friday, I spent working in the Learning and Access department. I was given a short introduction on the team’s work, and was then asked to design posters advertising two upcoming events- ‘Meet Sir David Brewster’ and ‘Fantastic Fossils’. (Look around town closely enough and you just might find one!) After lunch, I assisted in the maintenance of the Learning Loft at MUSA, where talks and workshops are given. This mainly involved giving a good cleaning to some sturdy paint pots, armed only with fairy liquid, vinegar and a toothbrush! It was a really good end to an amazing day.

I had a great week at MUSA, a fantastic experience, and I have to thank everyone for all their effort into making my week so memorable. I would definitely recommend this placement to everyone. I’ve had a wonderful time, and am even more encouraged to pursue a museum career.

Written by Aine Dodman

MUSA Collections Centre: Object of the Month!

clairerobinsonstores — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:32:30 +0000

Dear all!

The last month has been a very exciting and busy time in the MUSA Collections Centre! The museum store has been a hub of activity – more boxes have been unpacked, objects displayed and several artworks have been taken away for conservation. One of our volunteers, Meg Garst, has been working with the costume collection in the store as part of the Museum and Gallery Studies course. One afternoon in the store, we both got very excited when we had a closer look at a very special item from the costume collection! This made the difficult task of selecting just one ‘Object of the Month’, from all the fascinating objects in the museum store, very easy!

The star object in question is a pair of embroidered leather gauntlet gloves that were presented to Sir Henry Wardlaw, 1st Baronet of Pitreavie, Fife, by Charles I (1600-1649).

Gauntlet gloves presented to Sir Henry Wardlaw by Charles I

Full-length view of gauntlet gloves

The gloves are delicately hand-embroidered in silk with images of a castle tower, water fountain and flower petals. They are decorated with minute gilt sequins, pink silk and edged with gold bobbin lace. If you look at the gloves very closely, you can even see tiny little goldfish in the water fountain!

Embroidered detail of goldfish in a water fountain

Water fountain with grotesque spouts

Castle turret with flag. Who lived here?

Photographs taken by Meg Garst, Museum and Gallery Studies student

What is your favourite detail on the gauntlet gloves? Do you think that the pictures on the gloves tell a story? As always, we would be delighted to hear your thoughts and responses to the MUSA Collections Centre’s Object of the Month!

Claire