Bears in Brighton
From the end of July 2016 until early 2017 there will be a display on bears in history, art and popular culture on the North Balcony of Brighton Museum. It is curated by Lee Ismail, Curator of Natural Science at … Continued
Art group for adults. A friendly way to spend half a day!
Hove Museum offers adult art groups on Tuesdays afternoon. Would you like to pick up some tips on drawing and painting in a relaxed, friendly and informal way? Let you be guided by our talented painter Dave Cronin… There are … Continued
Grown ups, join us for coffee and crafts!
Fancy a creative way to start your week? At Hove Museum art facilitator Nadya Derungs can make your day suggesting new ways to make art while relaxing and having fun. “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to … Continued
Talks and Tales at The Fringe of the Booth!
It’s May in Brighton and that means the Brighton Fringe Festival, the largest arts festival in England, is back! And once more the Booth is host to a couple of events. Our first event is a talk by our former … Continued
The Cat’s Whiskers!
During routine conservation work on Elizabeth Blackadder’s painting Two Cats on a Kelim an offending hair was seen under the glass. After its removal it was identified as a cat’s whisker! The whisker has been wrapped and labelled, and is now … Continued
Festive Birds from the Booth Museum
As a farewell to 2015, a final blog from the Booth Museum looks at some of the festive birds in the collections. In a nod to the twelve days of Christmas, we start with the partridge. Despite the grey being … Continued
Taking Over
Kids in Museums’ Takeover Day – Friday 20th November 2015 Takeover Day is a celebration of children and young people’s contributions to museums, galleries, arts organisations, archives and heritage sites. It’s a day on which they are given meaningful roles, … Continued
Recreating Nature
The Booth Museum is a wonderful showcase of Victorian taxidermy, but one of the main features of Edward Thomas Booth’s displays are the dioramas his birds are displayed in. The typical manner of displaying taxidermied birds during the Victorian period … Continued
A Trip To Brighton
Extracted from: Sussex and other Rhymes by James Harvey Published in 1919 by Hearth Cranton Ltd, London. A TRIP TO BRIGHTON Tom: You can’t see Brighton in a day, You want about a month to stay; To-day I’ll own, … Continued
Behind the scenes at the Booth Museum
Day 1 Just after the longest day in June on a torrential Monday morning very unlike a summer morning I started my work experience at the Booth Museum in Hove; something I have been looking forward to with great excitement. … Continued
Sidney the Scorpion
The most notable fact about specimen number R5964 is that, unlike every other creature in the Booth Museum, it lives and breathes. This European Yellow-tailed scorpion (since christened ‘Sidney’ by staff) was spotted scuttling across the living room carpet of a … Continued
Artists get creative at Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition
A group of artists with learning disabilities had an inspiring trip to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at Brighton Museum. The artists aged between 16 – 25 spent a morning getting creative using wildlife images and real-life exhibits … Continued
“Is it possible to become friends with a butterfly?” Haruki Murakami, 1Q84
This quote from a Japanese novel is certainly apt in the case of the latest scientist to visit the Booth Museum. Dr. Shinichi Nakahara, most certainly a friend of butterflies, recently arrived to study the marvellous collections of butterflies at … Continued
Deep Stuff: Getting Under the Skin of a Taxidermist
You may remember that I kicked off my residency last year when I was treated to something of a baptism by fire at the Booth Museum at their excellent after-hours event Night of the Curiously Strange. This week you can … Continued
Shedding Light on the Slightly Strange: Lantern Slides from the Booth Museum Collections
It was a chill November evening. A handful of eager observers were gathered together in a darkened corner of the Booth Museum. They gazed at the illuminated picture thrown onto the wall by the magic lantern in the corner. The … Continued
Types of Butterflies
‘Type’ Specimens Of all the several hundred thousand butterflies in the collection there are some very special ones: the ‘types’. When ever a new species of animal or plant is found it has to be given a name, described and … Continued
Half term at the Booth Museum
Another half term has ended, and we’ve had another two very well received events at the Booth Museum, both in conjunction with the Brighton Science Festival! On Monday 16th February, half term week kicked off with the ever popular animal … Continued
Ronnie’s Museum of Antiquities
A seven-year-old boy from Twickenham got a surprise parcel in the post just before Christmas after his mother sent a photograph of a museum he set up in his spare bedroom to Brighton Museum staff. Su Hepburn, Senior Learning Officer, … Continued
Contains Preservative
The first thing to strike a visitor to the Booth Museum is the smell of the place – which is basically ‘mothballs’. And if you think it’s noticeable in the main gallery you should spend the day in the stores … Continued
A Curious Night at the Booth Museum
Well I could not have hoped for a better start to my exciting new post as the third Blogger in Residence for Brighton Museums than a visit to the Booth Museum of Natural History, where I squeezed in for a … Continued
