Hipster Museum: Handel & Hendrix in London

Museum offices are often fantasied about as dusty treasure troves with tomes of accession registers and objects adorning the desk, however we all know in reality they are like any other office environment but with less room hidden away in cupboards and basements museum offices aren’t as exciting as they may seem. But for the staff at Handel House Museum their office was once the space that Jimi Hendrix slept, played records and hosted. Now although unlikely to have contained any of his remnants that’s a pretty cool museum office.

Thanks to a heritage Lottery Fund Project, the Handel House trust received a grant to recreate Hendrix flat and improve visitor’s facilities as part of a three-year redevelopment – but where did the museum offices go?

The reinstatement of Hendrix’s flat has been a successful one and has bought a new vigour to the house museum and gives visitors an opportunity to further understand the lives of the two prominent musicians through the place that once called home. For 36 years Handel composed and lived in the Georgian house, opening in 2001 the Handel House museum aims to promote the knowledge and enjoyment of Handel through their creation of his home and his music and recently added to their mission the promotion of the continued diversity of the neighbouring house 23 Brock street through its association with Jimi Hendrix. Both houses are the only homes of both musicians that still exist!

Entering the property is an exciting escape from the busy side streets of Oxford street behind a brightly painted red door, up a crooked and squeaky staircase we explored the life of Handel – although interesting we were really there to see the Hendrix addition so a first glimpse into the costume room was an exciting and silly experience. Invited to try on costumes from both musicians, take selfies and pose as Handel and Hendrix alongside each other. A bit of fun but it was really interesting to see how some costumes could have been either personalities.

Making a final climb to Hendrix flat at the top of Handel’s house and across we were greeted into a room full of information, AV and graphics filled the room with facts about Hendrix life and time in London, noting its proximity to the bustling streets Hendrix has given his then girlfriend Kathy etchingham a wad of cash to go out and decorate the place with fabrics from Liberty and John Lewis. Fortunately, one of Hendrix guitars was also featured in the exhibition space as part of the introduction to his life.

The real thrill however came from the recreation of his bedroom, right down to the two telephones and cigarette trays, surprisingly tidy apparently from his time spent in the army many consultations were conducted with his then girlfriend Kathy to get the place just right - even a few last minute tweaks over skype! The room has a private and nostalgic feel even in its recreation. My favourite part however was the remaining treads of staircase let just outside the room that used to lead to the pink bathroom – a visual and practical remidnder of the space as a home and on longer as a museum office. 

Hendrix addition to Handel house has made it an accessible house museum and a great way to celebrate the diversity and richness of London’s musical history. 

The Grand Old Duke of York and the Guards Museum #HipsterMuseum

If you’re a big fan of the Ministry you’ll already know of our #hipstermuseum series that sees us review and try to bring to attention the smaller lesser loved museums in London. Often their on your radar but perhaps not top of your list to visit they still deserve a bit of museum loving to ensure that they remain open especially in advance of the vicious cuts we’re likely to hear of soon.

As November 11^th marks Armistice Day , a day of memorial for the fallen heroes of war across the commonwealth counties it seems somewhat apt to remember those who lost their lives fighting by highlighting one of London’s military museums.  

A certainly more obscure museum than ones we usually review  the Guards Museum is situated right in central London opposite St James Park, and as part of the Wellington Barracks that host her royal highness’s foot guards. Costing only £6.00 to visit the displays document the military history of five regiments of the Queen’s foot guards - grenadier, cold stream, scots, Irish and welsh and aims to be a secure repository for artefacts belonging to those troops and help young guardsmen to learn about the history of their regiment.

The showcases are full to the brim with a wide range of objects relating to the military personnel, beginning with the uniforms of the Queen’s guards and a handy video introduction from the curator highlighting the differences in the regiments and how this is reflected in their grand uniforms including those bearskin hats. Moving on to some creepy waxworks and early drawings of the guards the museum gives a full outline of their history, hosting medical, personal and prestigious objects. Perhaps most excitingly the medical kits and objects of infamy such as the Grand Old Duke of York’s (yep the one who went up the hill!) hat. Of course, the place is filled with the expected royalist and nationalistic ephemera including some of Queenies military clothes and the occasional noise of a fanfare but with the Chelsea Pensioners as museum wardens walking around with their cups of tea and offering stories it becomes less intimidating.

However, I personally find it uncomfortable and upsetting to view objects of war and so when some of the more contemporary cases paid homage to members of regiments who have lost their lives in battles within the last ten years in Iraq and the stories of those who survived I found myself feeling that it almost too recent and potentially insensitive. Nonetheless, it is important to remember that this is a museum for research, although their text panels may use outdated language and the objects may seem insensitive to myself its purpose is to teach those young soldiers taking this path and its accessibility to the public is a peak into that way of life and worth a visit, if not just to find out more about those fancy uniforms!

Visit the Guards Museum daily from 10am to 4pm. 

Or if like me, you think all wars should be ended check out Stop the War campaign 

Sound of the underground: the Strand Station and LTM

Sometimes I wonder at how much control TFL has over our lives as Londoners. Whether it's kettled in Victoria station, a buss trike or a central line signal failure - well, let's just say most of us have a pretty complicated relationship with our transport authority. but TFL also has the amazing London transport museum- a journey through London's history on the carriage, omnibus, and steam-powered tube. and if that wasn't enough, well, TFL looks after heritage most of us don't even think about, including the deep mysterious depths of the tube system itself, including its ghost stations.

Finally after years of wanting to do one of London Transport Museum's oddly expensive transport themed special events, I finally managed to go on a guided tour of the Aldwych 'Secret Station'. The Aldwych station is not that secret really, if you've ever been to KCL or been on a bus down the Strand you've probably seen its red-tiled exterior. Maybe you even thought to yourself, it's pretty weird to have a station so near Temple, Embankment and Charring Cross. and you would be right - the Strand station (later Aldwych) was basically useless from its inception.

The strand station was originally a branch of the Piccadilly line, extending like a strange appendage from Holborn down to the Strand, originally built in 1907 mainly for theatre-goers. This arrangement seems somewhat baffling as the trains only ran every 9 minutes and it takes about the same time to just walk up the Kingsway. Ten years later in 1917, they closed one of the platforms due to lack of demand. Actually they didn't even finish tiling the platform that was in use because they didn't think there would ever be enough people down there to even notice. The station itself closed in 1994 when TFL realised it was frequented by a whopping 450 people per day (compared with Holborn which received about 31 million annually).

Actually the Aldwych station was more interesting closed than open. It became a bomb shelter in the Blitz and it's disused platform was used to store artwork including the Elgin marbles! I particularly enjoyed that the station was used for experiments in tube design including poster and tile patterns. Now the station is used mostly for filming as well as training emergency services staff.

All in all, TFL's exciting 'Secret Station' was really just a dinky little half-cocked Edwardian dream that they knew was going to fail even as they built it. But hey if they hadn't gone through with it where would we film Mr Selfridge?

Crushing on the Past - The #historicalvalentine Comeback

Do you go weak at the knees when you see your crush discussed in a museum exhibit? Do you tremble as you see their picture in a history book? Or are you spending the next few weeks hopelessly constructing a time machine so you can spend valentines smooching the hotty? You must have a thing for a historical figure. 

Here at the Ministry we feel ya, and have spent previous valentines lusting over collectors, surgeons and cooks in the hope that one day we could spend V-day in their arms.

 This year we want to know  about your inappropriate historical lover and calling for submissions for our  #historicalvalentines series. It could be anyone who gets you going from an early museum director to a historical TV character, we want to post as many love letters to the historical babes as possible on our website.

All submissions to to be sent to curiositycollect@gmail.com by the 7th February 

Buy the cards featured on this post from Ben Kling here. 

For inspiration check out previous posts 

My History Valentine: John Hunter (1728-1793), surgeon, anatomist,badass   

My History Valentine: Frederick John Horniman (1835 – 1906) SocialReformer, Tea Endorser and South Londoner.

My Modern Valentine: To Katy Perry from Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936)

My History Valentine: An Ode to Mrs. Beeton

Film, archive or art? Who cares- it's Sherlock Holmes at the Museum of London

A few months ago we were, well, a little critical of the Museum of London and their penchant for exhibitions that tie in with recent television and film releases (see: this article from November). In fact this question of films, promotion and temporary exhibitions has been picked up elsewhere, including a feature in January's Museums Journal. We wondered whether all these PR driven, crowd pleasing, Hollywood inspired displays were a good enticement or an indication of the decreasing importance of collections. Well, a Christmas visit to MoL's Sherlock Holmes exhibition set us right- it is possible to build something which lures in film fans and also shows off your objects.

Regardless of this debate, I would have gone to see this exhibition anyway. I mean- who doesn't love Sherlock Holmes? Admittedly when most people say this they mean Benedict Cumberbatch or Robert Downey Junior - but who can blame them. It occurred to me as I walked through the party trick door that MoL loves so much- Sherlock Holmes is not a real person. How are they going to pull off an exhibition about a fictional persona? Essentially the MoL had three ways they could go with this- a British Library style archival exhibition with original manuscripts, a media-dense exploration of the major themes and historical context of the works, or to focus on London as an essential character in Conan Doyle's stories. Eureka! thought the curators, we shall do all three.

Sherlock Holmes does very much feel like several exhibitions stuck together, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It begins with exactly what most visitors expect as they walk through the bookcase- lots of videos and film posters creating a cacophony of sights and sounds of Sherlock over the past 150 years. But this is no film exhibition, before you know it...BAM! We are getting archival up in here bitch. Look at these manuscripts, original prints of the Strand Magazine, even some Edgar Allan Poe. Personally I enjoyed the video clip of Conan Doyle himself (although did any one else notice how this was introduced as an interview about his close connections with the spiritual world?! Guess we are just skipping over that one...)

If you only briefly looked at the faded pages of early Sherlock, you may well have been equally surprised to find yourself in the next section - oh its an art exhibition! Personally I like this bit- the Sherlock Holmes stories have been inspired for students of London and undoubtedly the metropolis itself shapes the mysteries even more than the great detective himself. Plus hey, we are in the Museum of London and I'm sure they have infinite amounts of London based photographs, etchings, paintings, and whatnots they are dying to get out of the store. So go on then, relish it art curators. You put up all those Victorian photos of foggy London-town.

The last portion of the exhibition is probably what most people had in mind when they bought a ticket- a dense display about Sherlock as a character featuring historical objects related to the stories plus film props (swoon, Benedict's coat and all). And why not- when it comes the Victorian London I imagine MoL is bursting at the seems with stuff for people to see. Clay pipes, medicine chests, carriage models, boots, guns- you name it. Personally I found the displays around the outside which looked at the development of fingerprinting, phrenology, iris-matching, and all other fodder for Sherlockian detective work fascinating. It's so much stuff in one tiny space you probably need at least 2 times around to see it all.

Is this a good exhibition- overall, yes. It's certainly feels like several exhibitions rolled together, but maybe that's necessary when addressing a topic that people think about in so many different ways. MoL seems to be trying to please everyone in their relatively small exhibition space, and to that I say, hats off to them. When faced with the challenge of creating an exhibition about a fictional detective, the museum turned to their collections to provide the solution. Although slightly disjointed, Sherlock Holmes is well worth a visit for lovers of the original stories, its recent incarnations or just the city of London.

Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived And Will Never Die is on at the Museum of London until the 12th of April. 

November's #hipstermuseum: Museum of the Order of St John

Dearest followers and friends! It seems an age since we last revealed to you one London's hidden heritage gems that we call our #hipstermuseums. Well we think you'll like what we have in store for you this time. It's got art, it's got armour, it's got Shakespeare, a history of violence and a Crypt. What, you haven't heard of the Museum of the Order of St John in Farringdon? Let us illuminate you...

At some point or another, most Londoners will have ended up wandering (like drunk) around Farringdon on the hunt for the station, and run into this elaborate medieval looking gate structure. It looks pretty out of place in the world of Clerkenwell bars and offices, but hey, this is London and London is weird like that. But this fascinating building (part of a former priory completed in 1504) is a testament to the long history of the Order of St John (of St John's Ambulance fame). 

I think it needs to be said that of the many small London museum's we've visited, the displays have been very high quality. This one was no different, having been completely redeveloped in 2010 and looking up to date with its floating ship models and dense display show cases. The museum (free to enter) only actually consists of three galleries, including the 'Link Gallery' which is essentially just an interactive timeline. Their 'Maltese Gallery' which contains some of their oldest and most impressive pieces relating to the Knight's of St John's time on Malta is the most impressive, featuring archival documents from the 16th century, furniture, art and more. 

But maybe we are getting ahead of ourselves. Who are the Order of St John and why are they at all of my festivals and gigs? It's a long and complicated answer since the original Order of St John Hospitallers was founded in Jerusalem in 1080. Although they were technically Knights, the brothers of St John were more interested in peace, and healing specifically, as they looking after the medical needs of those going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In the 1140s a Priory for the English arm was set up in Clerkenwell, and actually the crypt from this original building still exists and is open to visitors! Most of the building though dates to the 16th century- although the changing whims of the royalty meant it was used for a variety of things after the dissolution of the monasteries. The contemporary St Johns was revived the late nineteenth century with the goal of providing medical care for ordinary people, and actually teaching them to look after themselves through first aid courses. Their mission has been pretty much the same ever since!

But like most museums attached the larger institutions, all the best stuff (the silverware, the paintings) is used to decorate the building. And actually in this case it's not so much the museum galleries but the building itself that's so interesting. For example, in the 16th century the building above the gate was the office of Elizabeth the I's Master of the Revels, who was in charge of approving all plays performed in the city. That means Shakespeare would have had to come here to perform all his works before they were seen by the public! Woah man, woah. Fortunately, you can get into all the fun hidden bits on the tours the museum offers twice a day (again free of charge!)

So there you have it, not wanting to give away all the secrets of the Order of St Johns. It's medical history all tied up with London history with a good dash of crusaders, priors and angry peasants. All for free! So next time you stumble across that famous gate, take the chance to look inside!

For more information about the Museum of the Order of St John visit:  http://www.museumstjohn.org.uk/index.html

The Ministry Explains It All: Spoliation in the news

Spoliation is a word you might have heard being use a lot in the museum press of late. The term makes it sound a bit like museums are hiding pieces of off fruit in their stores. But actually spoliation refers very specifically to works of art and objects looted by the Nazis during the Second World War. Simply put, UK museums need to ensure that none of their holdings were taken from their rightful owners between 1935-1945. The principal might be straight forward, but the practice is more complex. So when you hear that the Tate, the Ashmolean and the V&A have been very publicly under review by the spoliation advisory panel, it doesn’t mean that museums don’t take this issue very seriously. The Ministry is here to break it down for you and explain why spoliation is so damn complicated and why registrars are critical to museum work. 

President Eisenhower views looted art in a salt mine

It would be easy to think that in the 70-odd years since the Second World War that any art stolen by the Nazis would have ended up back where it belongs by now. However just a quick glance at the news over the past weeks will tell you Nazi loot is still a hot topic. In Germany, Cornelius Gurlitt was found to be hiding a stash of ‘degenerate’ art over £1 billion which his father had acquired with the intention of selling to raise funds for the Nazi party. Just last week, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was able to identify the owners of a painting by Paul Signac which had been presented to the institution as thanks for a performance for German soldiers. It seems no matter how much work has been done, there is always something more to be discovered.

A seascape by Paul Signac, recently returned by the Vienna Philharmonic.

The way that spoilation works in practice is a bit more confusing. The big name you’ll hear over and over again are the ‘Washington Principles’. In 1998 there was a conference in Washington about Holocaust-era Assets that ended up creating a non-binding set of principles (so best practice guidelines) that 44 countries including the UK signed up to. This includes all the things you’d expect - ensuring you know the provenance of all your objects for the period 1939-1945, making known any art that has an unclear provenance and, if a claim is made, do everything you can to return the object quickly. In the UK, objects with a squiffy history should be listed on a database hosted by the National Museum Director’s Conference (NMDC). If a claim is made, this goes through the Spoliation Advisory Panel, which is exactly whats happening to the Ashmolean and the V&A at the moment. 

Works by artists like Otto Dix have been recovered from Gurlitt's collection

There isn’t a museum out there that would purposefully want to get in the way of returning spoliated art. However the practicalities of understanding the legal protocols and how it applies to their day to day work is something that, in practice, all institutions struggle with. Undertaking a collection-wide provenance review is a thought that would bring any museum person to tears. It would be nice to think all our objects have been thoroughly provenanced, but let’s just admit they they haven’t. The specialist time it would take can seem impossible when all museums feel short-staffed even for core functions. Things are more straightforward with pieces of art from famous artists which are straightforward to check through databases before acquisition. But the V&A and the Ashmolean are dealing with claims over porcelain figures that maybe didn’t send up so many red flags. 

In museum acquisition paperwork, there is always a section in which the donor or vendor needs to specify where that object was held between 1939 and 1945. If this question cannot be answered clearly, and with proof, that object is suspect. A museum might decide even not to acquire it, and if they did they would need to list it as a risk. But what is so often the case is the donor, and the museum, despite their due diligence, despite their best intentions, simply miss something. It’s only really when a claim comes forward that a certain owner, a certain auction house become suspect. Despite efforts to make clear guidelines and widely accessible databases, the only line of defense against the acquisition of spoliated goods is a registrar with a hawkeye for administrative blips. 

American soldiers with art recovered after the war. 

We’ve already demonstrated how registrars are some of the most important people in a museum. Not only do they make sure everything gets where it needs to be safely, their job is to make sure all acquisitions, loans and disposals are done to the highest of standards. This doesn’t just mean making sure you know all the interesting historical details that help out curators for exhibitions, it means making sure that object was never stolen, isn’t made of some bits of endangered species or is likely to blow up in your face (literally and metaphorically). Provenance actually plays a critical role in a museum’s daily activities, as for example an object without a clear provenance can’t go out on loan. It’s unfortunate then that so many registry positions have been axed from museums during funding cuts. Skilled registrars are what stand in between museums and the spoilation advisory panel. 

This is why your registrar's desk probably looks like this. 

What’s important to take away from these stories is that museums are really doing the best they can to follow best practice and make sure looted art makes it’s way home. The current situation of the V&A and the Ashmolean should in no way reflect on the professionalism of those institutions. You can have the hardest working registrars in the world, but it’s all too easy for something to be missed. At the end of the day, the art world is still struggling to come to grips with the extent to which works of art were looted by the Nazi regime. And as any museum person can tell you, objects can travel to the strangest and most unexpected of places. 

Art installations and dangerous ice cream at the London Canal Museum

Happy October everyone! It’s a new month, and that means it’s a new edition for our #hipstermuseum series. This is particularly appropriate as the museum we have picked is holding a pop-up art exhibition for all of October, and really what is more hipster than that? So with no more ado allow us to introduce you to the London Canal Museum.

Trendy Kings Cross location

The first thing to say about this #hipstermuseum is that is says its a museum about canals, but really it appears to be mainly about ice cream. The museum is set in a building which once served as one of the many warehouses for Carlo Gatti, a Victorian baron of ice imports. Yes back in the day before ice makers in your fridge, ice had to be imported from Norway and stores in underground cellars so that rich people could have their ice creams in the summertime. The ice trade was also called the ‘death trade’ because of the number of people that died trying to bring enormous chunks of ice from Norway to London on the winters seas. The Canal Museum focuses on this history in a big way and features ice-cream themed displays and objects. We particularly enjoyed the story of the ‘penny licks’- small glass containers which the Victorians used to sell small amounts of ice cream to London’s poor for just a penny. The only thing was that they never cleaned them and ice-cream is a pretty good carrier for bacteria. Oh you dirty Victorians.

Measuring up the ice blocks

So once you get your fill of ice cream downstairs, you can head upstairs for some displays which are actually about the canals. The museum is incredibly small but features all of the things you remember from going to museum-trips in school: canal boat models, old-timey videos of the canal, and even a model canal horse. Personally I quite enjoyed the ‘how locks work’ interactive, which is probably the only ‘interactive’ thing in the entire museum. You know what thought? I liked it. This is the kind of old fashioned museum that reminds me of being a kid. Also, there is something incredibly hypnotizing about those historic canal videos.

But I did promise you a hipster art installation and the London Canal Museum does not disappoint. Until the 20th of October, you can go to visit ‘Superposition’ an artistic collaboration between the museum and the Physics Society. Done a hard-hat and climb down to ladders into the museum’s Victorian ice well where you will discover a brightly lit glass installation inspired by neutrino experiments. There is something really striking about the damp old ice wells and the electric coloured glass which brings to mind something high-tech and alien being dropped into the completely wrong time period. Your trip down the well even comes with a physicist guide who explains more about the inspirations for the art work and how it brings together modern scientific theory with nods to the history of science. 

The London Canal Museum is undeniably the place all museum hipsters need to be this October- snap some Instagram shots in the ice well, some selfies in the life-size canal boat, and ponder modern video culture while watching a canal boat travel through London in the early twentieth century accompanied by classical music. You’d better get down to the canal museum before it gets way too mainstream. 

Superpostion at the Canal Museum runs Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays until the 20th of October, booking in advance recommended:http://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/whatson/superposition.htm

New Ministry Series: London's #hipstermuseums

We liked these museums before they were cool...

The nationals are like, soooo mainstream. Everyone knows that London is full of amazing museums. We are certainly the first in line to try and get ourselves into blockbuster exhibitions at the British Museum or the V&A. But what we love just as much is this city’s small museums, who can sometimes be forgotten in the shadow of the bigger nationals. We do our best to promote their events on par with the heavy hitters in our twitter updates, but now we are going to push it even farther with a new blog series on London’s smaller, offbeat, lesser known, shall we say #hipstermuseums. 

Each month we’ll be visiting a new small museum and writing up a review so all of you know the essentials: where it is, when to go, and what makes it so special. But don't just take our word for it, in the true hipster spirit, these museums are so much better live. Watch out for the #hipstermuseums hashtag and let us know if there is a small London museum we just have to visit before it gets too popular for its own good.