A collection of collections

I have been reading a selection of essays called Collectors, Expressions of Self and Others, edited byAnthony Shelton who is the Head of Collections at the Horniman Museum.

In Sarah Cheangs essay 'The Dogs of Fo: Gender, Identity and Collecting' she say's at 'the Collection is the self, created by the will of the collector in response to both conscious and subconscious desires.

It represents the desired self: an ideal self. Whatever longing has produced the collection, it can be seen as a way of providing a controlled cohesion of identlity which is otherwise fractured and unstable.

This self possession through possessions is so strong that the loss of the collection can be likened to loss of self. The collection also offers an opportunity for immortality, as the materiality of the collection, of preserved intact can insure continuing integrity of the collector's identity after his/her death.

Collections provide a material encoding of the collectors desired identity.'

My Cabinet

I have some LED lights that I want to put in the cabinet but they are very dim, I've tried wiring them up to a 9v battery but it doesn't seem to make much difference, my Dad said I might need a transformer.

Not sure what's going in it yet but after talking with Rachel about the Victorians fascination with collecting and labeling I'm thinking that I'll label and number all the objects, then I'll do a key and have a display/info board with an explanation to what they all are. I might even do a paper leaflet/info sheet, maybe a word search or quiz...............................

Don't know why but I thought the cabinet opened the other way??? I've had it for ages, years and I used to use it as a bathroom cabinet but it's been hidden in the loft and shed since we moved to this house. I've had to hide it because every time Peter finds it he tries to get rid of it asking me what I want it for? I've not known what I wanted it for until now, hurray for not getting rid of things, I knew there was a reason I kept it, didn't know it at the time but I do now.

Natural History Museum

Our trip to the Natural History Museum was primarily to see the butterflies. The kids found the case with them hatching fascinating. When one feel off, because it's wings were to heavy and wet, they frantically called the keeper to rescue it and put it back on the shelf where it would hang to dry out it's wings.

And of course we had to go into the museum where I took photos for research purposes.

I love these old wooden display cabinets, all the displays look fresh and newly arranged.

I also like the way that new technology has been incorporated into these old cabinets.

I think this one shows you all the things insects feed on.

Spooky shadows

Rachel's Collections

My friend Rachel collects things; dolls, hearts, photos of shoes, graffitti......

There are some great photographs she has taken on her blog, photos from her travels near and far.

Rachel is also an expert on cabinets of curiosities having made her own 'Cabinet of Hearts' which contains lost hearts, each one telling it's own story.

Manchester Hermit

Visit the Manchester Hermit blog and explore the thoughts of the Manchester Hermit, who is living in isolation for 40 days and nights in The Manchester Museum's Gothic tower.

Just been reading through this blog and the comments so far. The Hermit has chosen objects from the museum for his own Cabinet of Curiosities and he is choosing an object each day, if no one puts forward a valid reason to keep the object it will be destroyed. 

The comments on the first object, a skull, are interesting and I'm curious to see how they compare to comments about man made objects or inventions, I'm sure they won't provoke the some type of response.

I am not in favour of destroying anything (you never know when you might need it) but an object stored away in a museum vault is as good as, it may never been seen again..................

Why are the objects in the store rooms, someone thought they were worthy of being in a museum, someone else has decided that they aren't as important as other objects

Museum of Curiosity

Museum of Curiosity on Radio 4

Horniman Museum

taken from the Horniman Museum website:

History of the Museum
Victorian tea trader Frederick John Horniman began collecting specimens and artefacts from around the World in the 1860's. Horniman's key mission was to bring the world to Forest Hill and he opened part of his family house to the public so they could view the riches he had collected. As the collections increased they outgrew the family home and in 1898 Horniman commissioned Charles Harrison Townsend to design a new Museum.
The Museum opened in 1901 and was dedicated with the surrounding land as a free gift to the people of London by Frederick Horniman forever for their recreation instruction and enjoyment. The original collections comprised natural history specimens, cultural artefacts and musical instruments. Over the last 100 years the Museum has added significantly to the original bequest with Horniman's original collections comprising only 10 per cent of current ethnography and musical instrument holdings.
Further buildings were added to the original during the course of the last century notably in 1911 when a new building was donated by Frederick's son Emslie. In 1999 the Museum demolished some of the later additions and embarked on a Centenary Development to create a new extension and several associated spaces, and opened in June 2002.

The Horniman is our local museum and I've been visiting it for nearly 10 years. There is a permanent natural history display and in the Centenary Gallery there is an interesting display about the collections and how they are clasified. I had a quick visit with my son recently and took some photos but will have to go back soon for a longer visit.

These type of displays are a favorite with my children, many an hour has been spent studying the life cycles of various animals.

Cabinets of Curiosity

One of the things that has stuck in my head after the lecture for this assignment is 'Cabinets of Curiosity'.


I've been search the internet, seeing what comes up and came across this blog

not sure how clear this page from my sketchbook is, but I've been thinking about interactive cabinet's of curiosity, ones that the viewer can choose what to put in. Using an OHP the viewer can select slides and arrange them so they look like they are in a cabinet.