- How to read a Japanese print
The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has a collection of around 1,500 Japanese prints. I investigated how we can ‘read’ these pictures to understand more about the cultures that produced them. Japan had a flourishing print culture in the 18th and 19th century. Japanese prints became objects of fascination for Europeans in the 19th century, but the stories the pictures told… - Calculators, Calculators, Calculators!
The Whipple Museum of the History of Science holds the largest (probably!) collection of electronic handheld calculators in the United Kingdom. This summer, I have had the opportunity to audit, rehouse, and construct a new case of these devices. Technology has developed so quickly over the past decades that we think of calculators as much as apps on our phones… - Make Do and Mend, Museum Edition
Here’s how a repaired Naga body cloth from India can provide inspiration for mending your own socks. As part of the Stores Move Project, the team at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), the team has recently been processing textile collections from India, preparing them to move to our new store. You can learn a lot about the way… - Reimagining the Learning Gallery at the Whipple Museum
The Whipple Museum of the History of Science has begun a refurbishment project to make our Learning Gallery even more fun and family-friendly. The Learning Gallery is the heart of the Whipple Museum, home to Marcel the anatomical model, charismatic calculators, hands-on activity boxes, and – of course – Whipple icon Mr Froggy. Tucked behind the Main Gallery, this space… - The Family Welcome: A Museum Research Project
To understand how to provide a great family welcome at the Fitzwilliam Museum, we went straight to the experts: babies, young children and their parents. Using a range of creative research tools, both inside the museum and during outreach sessions in the local community, we worked together to explore what it means to feel welcome. The Family Welcome Project The… - Celebrating 12 years of Portals to the World
Our programme for people with dementia and their companions celebrates its 12th anniversary in 2024. In this blog we reflect on the programme and ask people what motivates them to take part. Established in 2012, Portals to the World is a partnership initiative delivered by the University of Cambridge Museums with local community organisation, Dementia Compass. We provide two sessions… - The Return of the Gweagal Spears
On 23 April 2024, the Gweagal Spears were returned to the La Perouse Aboriginal community at a ceremony held in the Wren Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. On 28 April 1770, the HMB Endeavour commanded by Lieutenant James Cook arrived at Kamay (Botany Bay) in present day Sydney. This was the first encounter between the British and Indigenous Australians of… - University of Cambridge Museums Activity Update, January – March 2024
The beginning of the year got off to a flying start for our Collections in Action programme. Working with local partners, creative practitioners, schools and audiences, our museums have delivered a whole range of events and activities under our themes of Social Justice, Our Planet, Creating Opportunities, Health and Wellbeing. Behind the scenes we’ve also been hard at work planning… - Life as a Museum Experience Intern
My name is Amy and for the last three months, I have undertaken a Museum Experience Internship provided by University of Cambridge Museums. Last year, I graduated from my master’s degree in Earth Sciences and, like many recent graduates, I was deciding what was next. My master’s year was spent in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and I… - Welcoming Families at the Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum invited families to explore its Tensions of Belonging: Connecting Cambridge display through a special drop-in family event designed by members of the community. For more than a year, the Fitzwilliam Museum has been working with community members in the Connections Through Collections group to ask what happens when we place local residents at the heart of how… - A month as Inclusion Assistant
I joined the University of Cambridge Museums team in early April as Inclusion Assistant Apprentice. Here’s everything I have been up to in my first few weeks. My first few weeks as Inclusion Assistant for the University of Cambridge Museums have been a whirlwind – in the best possible way! From jumping headfirst into community events to seeing a real… - Help digitise the collections at Cambridge University Herbarium
Help digitise the Cambridge University Herbarium by becoming an online volunteer today! Cambridge University Herbarium is home to some 1.1 million plant specimens. The collection is a treasure trove of taxonomic, historic and ecological data waiting to be digitised and made available to researchers around the world. Thanks to a grant from the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), we are… - University of Cambridge Museums Activity Update, October- December 2023
Covering the period 1 October – 31 December, here is an insight into some of the stories behind our NPO-funded activity. Discover more about the work our museums and collections have been delivering under the main themes of: Social Justice, Our Planet, Creating Opportunities, Health and Wellbeing; as well as the additional delivery underpinning our programme enablement. Activity overview This… - Creative Health – Age Well Museum Resources
Ruth Clarke, the UCM Inclusion Associate for Learning shares a series of collaboratively produced resources for the mind, body and imagination. Created through partnerships with health and social care providers for adults, the resources are designed to inspire, uplift and absorb, and provide respite and solace when needed. Discover the resources below. Dance into Nature with Art and Poetry –… - “I tried liquor and got a t-shirt!” Adventures with keywords in the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology catalogue
At the end of November staff and students at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology got together for a pilot workshop on ‘Keywords’, to collaboratively and competitively search the online catalogue for things that aren’t necessarily easy to find. Two of the participants reflect on their experiences. Blog posts on the MAA Digital Lab always start with an object in… - Power to the Programme: Piloting an Open Call for events and activities on the theme of Power and Memory
Over the last 18 months the UCM Partnerships team have been working to explore the theme of Power and Memory across the consortium. One initiative we knew we wanted to try very early on was an ‘Open Call’ process – inviting community organisations and local creatives to suggest ideas for events and activities that the museums could help make happen… - Science, Exploration and Empire
Science is often considered to be objective, just about “facts”. However, scientists are people and the way they see the world is affected by the ideas around them. At the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, we wanted to create a schools session that puts science in context and explores the darker side of the history of science in… - My Science Story- Women’s experiences in the field of science.
Women who have worked or work in the sciences were invited to spend a creative afternoon at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science getting hands-on, and exploring their experiences of this field. This workshop was both a pilot for research to develop an artistic residency project, and a way of increasing audience awareness of the Whipple collection, and… - COLOUR: Art, Science and Power
COLOUR: Art, Science and Power ran from July the 26th 2022 to April the 23rd 2023. The exhibition drew from across UCM collections and explored how colour influences our understanding of the world, our emotions, creativity and relations with others. It invited visitors to discover different ways that colours are perceived, experienced and given meaning. I worked as a research… - Curating COLOUR: Art, Science & Power
The multidisciplinary exhibition COLOUR: Art, Science & Power showcased diverse and exceptional objects from across the University of Cambridge Museums. Colour is all around us. It reflects and influences our understanding of the world, our emotions, creativity and relations with others. The interdisciplinary exhibition COLOUR: Art, Science & Power at the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (26 July 2022 –… - Breaking the Silo: Delivering a Participant Led Workshop
Connections Through Collections is a participatory action research project that has worked with ten local Cambridgeshire residents to interrogate how the Fitzwilliam Museum works. Later this year, we will launch a co-curated display in the Museum. In September, we joined our project colleagues at the Group for Education in Museums (GEM) conference to deliver a collaborative workshop, based on our…