Story Category: Legacy

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Preston Manor staff and Royal Pavilion & Museums conservation team and volunteers used the February half-term last week to give the rooms and furnishings a thorough overhaul.

As part of the general tidy up and deep clean a filing cabinet was opened to reveal a collection of photographs that were once the property of Mr Henry Roberts, the first curator of Preston Manor when it became a museum in 1933.

World’s First Trackless Train in Brighton, 1926

One photograph in particular stood out. It shows 56 year old Henry Roberts sitting in the cab of the World’s First Trackless Train – the vehicle parked outside the Royal Pavilion showing the Brighton Dome in the background. Henry is shaking hands with an unknown man whose suit, jaunty hat and general demeanour suggest he might be one of the representatives from the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer film company. MGM used the ‘train,’ which is actually an articulated rubbed-wheeled road vehicle faked as a train, to promote the film company.

Wherever it went the train caused a sensation and bought out huge crowds, and there was plenty to marvel at: an engine and single Pullman coach with six berths, kitchenette, diner and observation platform all lighted and heated by electricity.

The first ‘trackless train’ was manufactured by the Henry O McGee Manufacturing Company, Indianapolis in 1917 as a new venture in transport, a precursor perhaps of ideas one hundred years on about driverless vehicles.

McGee’s trackless train, as seen in this photograph, was leased by Metro-Goldwin Pictures in 1925 ahead of a three year world tour, travelling first to the US and Canada, and then in Europe, Australia, Mexico and Central and South America.

Moving images of the train visiting London and being admired by crowds and whizzing past a sedate tram can be seen in the British Pathe film archives.

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The train came to Brighton in the summer of 1926, possibly June, as it was in Guildford in Surrey on 18 June where it broke down outside the Guildhall.

Although clearly summer by the full foliage on the trees note the three piece suits, ties and stout overcoats worn by the men and the school cap and blazer worn by the boy on the right – and the highly-polished shoes and hats worn by all but one bystander.

In 1926 there was a through road between the newly built India Gate (1921) and the William IV Gate with traffic passing close to the building, and part of this road is visible in the photograph. Henry Roberts was, at this time, Director of the Royal Pavilion Estate and busy overseeing the restoration of the Pavilion following its use as a military hospital between 1914 and 1920. Perhaps he hoped the appearance of the famous vehicle would draw attention to the restoration needs of a building much bruised by war use.

The train returned to the US in April 1928 after its tour thrilling the world. However, the trackless train idea never took off and the train in this picture returned to Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer and was used as a travelling motion picture studio before being sold for scrap in the build up to the Second World War.

Paula Wrightson, Preston Manor Venue Officer

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Since Fashion Cities Africa closed its doors for the final time on 8 January, it’s been a busy month. Deconstructing a major exhibition is no mean feat!

The take-down began with the mass ordering of all the kit required for the job; bubble wrap, textile boxes, wrapping tape, and so on. Then, with all equipment on-site and ready to use, the first job for Curator of Fashion & Textiles Martin Pel and Collections Assistant Stephen Kisko was to photograph all of the mannequins fully-dressed and in position, labelled with chalkboards. The ‘M’ on the chalkboards stands for ‘mannequin’ with the ensuing numbers corresponding to the physical order of the mannequin in the exhibition. Next, all garments were labelled and photographed in a similar fashion, this time using a slightly more complex numbering system. The ‘C’ on the board stands for ‘clothes’, with the first number corresponding to the mannequin number and the decimal point representing the particular accessory or item of clothing in the ‘order’ in which it appears on the mannequin’s body. And this is only the beginning!

Then of course came the Mannequin Challenge, the day when museum staff came together to fit in with the stars of Fashion Cities Africa by channelling their inner mannequin. This footage is in the process of being chopped up and polished as we speak and we hope to have the finished product with you very soon – keep your eyes peeled!

Martin and Stephen’s next task was to carefully remove the clothes from the mannequins and write condition reports on each and every garment, noting any faults or wear. Luckily, the damage overall was extremely minimal and the majority of the pieces have perfectly withstood their nine months of air time. Along with the condition reports, Martin and Stephen have also written instructions on how best to dress and style the mannequins – this scarf is draped towards the front and not the back! This trilby should be worn slightly tilted! All of this literature will be passed on to Amsterdam’s Tropenmuseum, where the exhibition is moving next, to help them perfectly reconstruct the show for their visitors.

All non-creasing garments were then wrapped in tissue paper and folded up into textile boxes, whilst the pieces more likely to crease over time have been left hanging on a clothes rail for the time being. Any other clothes that are in need of dry cleaning or minor repair have been stored in plastic boxes.

Now, we are left with a room full of slightly startling naked mannequins. These nude figures were photographed, again labelled with their existing chalkboards, so that the Tropenmuseum will know exactly which mannequins are meant for which outfits. Next, they were deconstructed, each into seven parts, with each body part carefully labelled with its mannequin and part number. The mannequin number comes first, whilst its part is listed as a decimal point – the head and torso is listed as .1, .2 is the legs, .3 is for the left arm, .4 for the right arm, and… You get the picture! Such time and care was taken in cataloguing the mannequins because we will be retrieving them from the Tropenmuseum once Fashion Cities Africa is over so that we can rent them out to other museums and public spaces in the future.

The mannequin parts were then wrapped in bubble wrap, with some parts stored in plastic boxes and others simply stacked up in the galleries. Admittedly, large piles of severed hands and limbless torsos are a fairly sinister sight! In the meantime, members of the Programming and Design teams such as Creative Programming Curator Jody East and 3D Designer Alex Hawkey have been deconstructing and whisking away the exhibition’s staging and set work.

So, whilst none of this sounds like a walk in the park, I was intrigued to find out whether there were any processes that were particularly challenging. ‘None of it’s been easy – it has been a bit of a logistical nightmare,’ Stephen admitted. By all accounts, devising and deciding on the most effective systems for cataloguing the mannequins was tough – in fact, working with the mannequins in general was way more challenging than working with the textiles. ‘A lot of stuff we’ve just had to deal with and plan for as we’ve gone,’ Stephen told me. ‘The goat skull headdress featured in To Catch a Dream needed to be packed really carefully so I had to hand-make some packaging for the inside of a box, complete with moulds for the horns and everything.’ So, if winging it isn’t your style then taking down an exhibition perhaps isn’t for you!

The Constable and Brighton exhibition opens in April but will only take up two thirds of the gallery space. The third gallery room will be used to store all Fashion Cities Africa paraphernalia until July, when it will then begin to be packed up and shipped to Amsterdam. There’s currently some talk of Brighton Museum staff potentially nipping over to Amsterdam with the kit to help the Tropenmuseum with putting the exhibition together – but that’s yet to be confirmed. The Tropenmuseum’s doors are due to open on Fashion Cities Africa in September 2017.

So, there you have it – a full account of what exactly has been going on behind the scenes here at Brighton Museum! We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the ongoing work and how Fashion Cities Africa is getting on in Holland.

Thanks for reading!

Ruby McGonigle, Retail and Bookings Office Assistant for the Royal Pavilion & Museums

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

So it is over, a month since the workforce development conference and it seems like a good time to reflect.

The conference team, Nick, Alice, Kate, Ellie, Helen and I had two days to make the final preparations including making the name badges, the delegate packs, designing the signage and ensuring everything was in place ready for the off. Typically for the end of November, there were germs going round with half of the conference team feeling the sniffles.

Eventually the big day came and despite all of our preparations there were unforeseen hiccups that we could not have prevented. A TV screen which we planned to use and had tested would not work, and we could not find an extension cord and worst of all one of our workshop speakers called to say he might not be able to make it in. But our weeks of planning and preparation had prepared us for this, so we were ready. The TV was turned off and on again, two extension cords were located just for good measure, and with the support from Nick and Kate the speaker was able to do his session.

Maria Foy giving her speech.

The conference was held in a rather cold Old Courtroom, part of the Royal Pavilion Estate just across the road. The Mayjor of Brighton & Hove opened the day, followed by Helen Graham, leader of the Workforce Development programme; Abigail Thomas, line manager of the staff involved; and Maria Foy, an ex-staff member who developed skills in the programme to set up her own company. We then heard from some external speakers including London Museum Development on innovative training approaches to cross-departmental working; Norwich Teaching Museum, Extend (engage) on Co-production: Nothing About Us Without Us; and the Museums Association on the Transformers programme.

After a lunch break the first of two workshop sessions started. I was quite disappointed that I was not able to watch some of these sessions because I had my own workshop to run on the Pavilion Tales programme. The session included a short tour round the building, including some of the areas the tales have focused on, a talk from Maria Foy who set up the programme and me on taking over since Maria left. I have given talks to the public before, but there is something more nerve wracking when the talk is to peers. Despite starting off nervously I managed to get into the swing of it even answering all of the questions with only a little difficulty.

One of our workshop signs.

After my own workshop Nick and I swapped places between steward and presenter for the session he was presenting with Ted on their work with the conservation department. When it had been uncertain if Ted would be able to make the session through other commitments, Nick had organised for Gaye the conservation manager to present with him. The session turned into a medley of Nick’s experience of working with the conservation team; Gaye’s management perspective of how it has helped the under staffed department; and Ted’s wealth of knowledge on the history of the copperware that they have been working on.

John Orna-Ornstein of Arts Council England

Back in the Old Courtroom for the last part of the day it had warmed up from the introduction of heaters which we had borrowed from other parts of the estate. John Orna-Ornstein, Director of Museums at Arts Council England, closed the day discussing the importance of programmes like Workforce Development and how he had been helping develop a museum course for local college students that same day. During his talk he remembered my presentation I gave at the Transform People to Transform Museums conference in Colchester a few months before on the ways in which Workforce Development helped me to gain skills I needed to be able to secure the job I was not ready for earlier this year. I was rather humbled and embarrassed that he remembered such a story but it also made me remember how far I have come in such a short year.

Alice and Nick closed the day by summing up their experiences of the Workforce Development programme and the day. Neither of them had experience of public speaking and it took a lot of guts for them to get up and talk. Although I was rather jealous, it used to be that presenting at a conference was a rare thing — now it feels like everyone has done it!!!

Alice and Nick presenting to close the conference.

As part of their talk Alice and Nick reminded people of the drinks reception and Fashion Cities Africa gallery talk given by Curator Helen Mears and we all headed over to Brighton Museum. The gallery talk gave the rest of us enough time to run around putting out popcorn and filling glasses. Although there were more staff than delegates at the reception it was a great way of thanking the staff who had worked so hard on the day and before, for preparing their presentations, and a lovely way of carrying on the conversations.

We were locally trending on Twitter

Overall the day was a major success despite the cold temperatures. We even managed to be locally trending on Twitter for a bit. If you had asked me that morning if I would run another conference, I would have said NO, not ever. Ask me now and I say bring it on!

Holly Parsons, Visitor Services Officer

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

The gateway at the southern entrance to the Royal Pavilion estate has gone through many transformations. The existing India Gate dates from 1921 and was designed by Thomas Tyrwhitt in a simple Gujarati style. It was erected as a gift from the people of India to the people of Brighton to commemorate the Indian soldiers wounded during the First World War who were tended in the military hospital established on the Royal Pavilion estate. But what did the south gate look like before 1921?

Surprisingly, we know very little about the design of the south gate in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. In architect John Nash’s ground plan from 1826 it is called a ‘lodge’ and depicted as two small square brick structures:

The much more substantial gate house in this print from c1835 (a lithograph by T Cooper after a drawing by Edward Fox) was built in 1831 at a cost of £3437 10s.

After Edward Fox: The Entrance to the Royal Palace, Brighton, c1835. Lithograph by T Cooper for ‘Views in Brighton’

It was designed by the architect and surveyor Joseph Henry Good, who also created the North Gate, which survives. Among Good’s architectural plans in our collection there are at least twenty that show various proposed designs for the South Gate. He drew it from different angles and perspectives, outlining each storey, indicating how rooms in the lodge could be used, and provided suggestions for external ornamental detail.

Architectural plan of the South Gate by J.H. Good, 1831.

The version that was built had two stories containing a number of staff rooms and bedchambers for staff and possibly guests, and a third attic-like storey without fenestration. It was linked via narrows halls and stairwells to a large steward’s room and laundry areas to the east and a servants’ dormitory block to the west, resulting in a much more enclosed look than the earlier gate, but creating valuable work and living space.

Architectural plan of the South Gate by J.H. Good, 1830.

In the Cooper lithograph we can see royal guards in and next to their sentinels to the left and right of the gated carriage entrance. Fashionably dressed figures and the Blue Coach office advertising a coach service between Brighton and London add to the impression of a busy and thriving town. However, in the first complete descriptive account of the Royal Pavilion by E. W. Brayley (1838) the author criticises the look of the new entrance: ‘The South Lodge, which has more resemblance to a gate-house prison than to any object of architectural beauty, is utterly unworthy of description.’

The South Gate to the Royal Pavilion. Coloured postcard dating from c.1904.

After the purchase of the Royal Pavilion from the crown by the town commissioners in 1850 the South Lodge was demolished, the bricks sold for their material value, and replaced with a much more open and lower structure, comprising two arches resembling the main porte cochère of the Pavilion, on a much smaller scale. This first municipal South Gate can be seen in many late Victorian and Edwardian postcards and was eventually replaced by the India Gate.

Volunteer 3D modeller Colin Jones has been re-creating the different appearances of the South Gate in 3D-images. Here are some examples:

3D image by Colin Jones of the later 19th century municipal gate.

3D image by Colin Jones: Aerial view of the south end of the Royal Pavilion estate in c.1832

3D image by Colin Jones: View of the South Gate, c.1835, with water and clock tower visible to the right.

The Cooper lithograph, the Good plans and many other lesser known and unusual images of the Royal Pavilion Estate will be shown in a new display titled Visions of the Royal Pavilion Estate at the Prints & Drawings Gallery in Brighton Museum, 14 March 2017 to 3 Sept 2017. Over the next few months I will focus on more highlights from the display in the free local magazine Viva Brighton.

Alexandra Loske, Curator, Royal Pavilion Archives

More information

• Tales from the Pavilion Archive project
• 3D models of the Royal Pavilion
• Unveiling of the Indian Gate
• The Royal Pavilion during WW1

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Collections related to Martha Gunn.

The images and text in this collection are all available for free re-use by schools.

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This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Collections related to The Victorians.

The images and text in these records are all available for free re-use.

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This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Illustrated records of items in our Ancient Egypt collections.
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This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

It’s always good to kick off a New Year with something new, so I’m delighted to introduce the Royal Pavilion & Museums first venture into virtual reality (VR).

VR version of Royal Pavilon Estate model — when viewed without a VR viewer

Volunteer 3D modeller Colin Jones has produced a model of the Royal Pavilion Estate that allows you to explore some of the buildings from a central point in the Pavilion Garden. All you need to access it is a smartphone and a Google Cardboard style VR viewer.

To use the model, simply go to http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/VRPavilion on your phone browser, then pop the phone into your viewer. You will now be able to use the viewer to explore the estate with a turn of your head.

Colin has also produced another version of the model which can be used without a VR viewer: http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/3DPavilion This version features an audio commentary by curator Alexandra Loske and should be accessible on any computer, tablet or smartphone with an internet browser.

The model can be sampled below, but is best viewed in full screen.

• Transcript of 3D Royal Pavilion Estate commentary [PDF]

Going 3D

This is likely to be one of several uses of 3D digital technology we will be experimenting with this year. Colin is working on further models of the Royal Pavilion Estate at different stages in its history, and we plan to showcase some of these in our forthcoming Visions of the Royal Pavilion Estate exhibition in Brighton Museum.

We have also been exploring 3D digitisation with the University of Brighton’s Cultural Informatics Group. Some of these digitised models are available online, and we are currenlty working with them to publish 3D images of coins and other items in our numismatics collections online.

You can also find some other examples of digital 3D technology on our website, produced in partnership with digital agency MOHARA. These include Murder in the Manor, a recreation of Preston Manor as a murder mystery game; Tales of the Pavilion Hospital, a fictional exploration of the building’s use as a WW1 military hospital; and our virtual tours of the Royal Pavilion.

Why 3D?

You may wonder why we are investing so much time in exploring 3D. Although there is quite a buzz around VR at the moment, there are deeper reasons behind using this technology.

First, the move to 3D is a logical extension of the digitisation work we have been carrying out for several years. Like many museums, we have been digitising our collections since the early 2000s, but it’s always been a fundamentally unequal process. The word ‘digitisation’ is generally taken to mean the conversion of a physical object into an electronic copy; in practice most museum digitisation is a case of taking a photograph or scan of an object and presenting the image with its related catalogue data online. In the case of a 2D work like a painting or a photograph, that image can act as a reproducible copy of the original. In the case of a 3D object, like a pot or a handaxe, the digitised work is at best a series of partial views of the original object.

In short, this feels like a copy:

The Raising of Lazarus, Jan Lievens 1631

And this feels like an illustration:

Pot with lid, 18th-19th century

From this perspective, the ability to digitally reproduce objects as 3D models is a solution to that problem. It also opens up the possibility of creating physical replicas through 3D printing.

The complication is that even in its simplest form, digitisation is a labour-intensive and time-consuiming process. Producing 3D models, whether by scanning or photogrammetry, takes far more work.Rendering those models online is also much more complex than dropping an image file into a database. It’s an important area of exploration — and one where the University of Brighton’s Cultural Informatics Group are leading the way — but the days of mass 3D digitisation are probably still some way off.

3D Storytelling

A second reason for exploring 3D is that it opens up new opportunities for storytelling. The combination of rich narratives and a navigable space can create compelling and immersive experiences. Our Murder in the Manor website is a great example of that: although it receives a modest number of users, it still receives by far the longest dwell time from its users of any microsite or digital experience we’ve created.

But this capacity for 3D storytelling goes beyond simply creating a sense of immersion. 3D technology allows a user to explore an object or a space from a variety of viewpoints; that variety of viewpoints can allow for a variety of talking points.

As an example, take this view of the Royal Pavilion Estate from another of Colin Jones’ models:

3D model showing Northgate House on the Royal Pavilion Estate, c1832.

This shows the northern edge of the estate in the early 1830s, shortly after the death of George IV. Although the model is based on contemporary sources, such as maps and topographic prints, it presents a view that does not exist in any record of the estate from that time.

When I first saw this image I was struck by how well it illustrated one particular story about the Pavilion Estate. Late in life, George constructed a tunnel beneath the garden, connecting the Royal Pavilion to the Dome, his stable complex. One of his motivations for creating this expensive tunnel was that he was fond of his horses, and wanted to visit them without having to cross open ground. At a time when he was deeply unpopular with his subjects and grossly overweight, he apparently feared the reaction of people who might spot him in the garden.

It’s hard to tell this story in the Pavilion itself, or even the garden, which now has the later William IV gate providing a more secluded view. But this model shows just how exposed the northen side of the estate was at this time. Indeed, it’s not hard to imagine crowds of people peering or jeering over the low wall.

With thanks…. and over to you

Of course, my thoughts about 3D are fairly irrelevant if there’s no wider interest in this. One of my ambitions in launching these models is to try and learn what people think of them.

This is something we explored with our Three Ways to 3D History event in last year’s Brighton Digital Festival. The reactions then were positive, perhaps surprisingly so, but there are a whole host of questions to be answered. Does VR provide an engaging way of exploring spaces? Do 3D models really provide a platform for richer storytelling? What potential is there for 3D to be used as a teaching tool? Is it fun? I’d love to hear of any reactions or observations in the comment box below.

Finally, my sincere thanks must go to Colin Jones for his work in producing these models, all of which has been on a voluntary basis. This is an area of work we simply would not have the resources to pursue if it was not for his generosity and dedication. Digital innovation is often expensive and risky, so partnerships with committed volunteers like Colin and organisations like the University of Brighton provide vital support as we look for new ways in which we can tell stories about our collections and buildings.

Kevin Bacon, Digital Manager

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

A beautiful young woman dressed in white is walking through snow and ice, accompanied by two polar bears that appear to be submissive and loyal. Her slim figure is silhouetted sharply against an inky blue starry sky. She wears a long gown and veil of shimmering white fabric, embroidered with pearls or crystals. She looks every inch a bride.

Bite-Size Museum talk in Brighton Museum on 13 December 2016.

Her face is turned towards the viewer, and we see her large, dark, almond-shaped eyes. Her cherry-red lips stand out against the cold colours of the picture. But there is another splash of red in the picture: she is holding a bright red heart in her hands, blood dripping from it through her fingers. It is a detail you only see at second glance, once you are drawn into the painting, and trapped by its beauty, brilliance and darkness. What is the story behind this mysterious painting in our collections?

The Ice-Maiden is a small watercolour and gouache painting by the French-born and later anglicised artist Edmund Dulac (1882-1953). Dulac had studied art in Paris, but moved to London in 1904, where he carved out a career as one of the most prolific artists of what is often called the ‘golden age of book illustration’, the early 20^th century, when colour plates became easier and cheaper to produce and boards were often elaborately decorated and tooled. While Brighton-born illustrator Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898) was still working in black and white, the next generation of artists were part of the craze for colour plate ‘gift books’ on all kinds of subjects. These lavishly illustrated large-format books were marketed as collectible gifts, especially for Christmas, and publishers worked closely with galleries, where the original artwork was displayed and offered for sale around the time of publication.

Dulac specialized in creating beautifully detailed pictures for fairy-tales and Romantic novels and was quickly snapped up by Hodder & Stoughton, who were then working with the Leicester Galleries in London. The book that made him a household name was Stories from The Arabian Nights (published in 1907), which included no fewer than 50 colour plates. Among his contemporaries in the same field were Arthur Rackham (1867-1939), Kay Nielsen (1886–1957) and Charles Robinson (1870-1937).

The frontispiece and title page of The Dreamer of Dreams, showing Dulac’s Ice-Maiden

The painting of the Ice-Maiden came into our collection in 1953 and is our only Dulac, but we do have a handful of Rackham drawings. Interestingly, the mysterious lady baffled curators until the 1970s, as no-one knew who she was or what story she was telling. Eventually the link was made to the book in which The Ice-Maiden was used as the main illustration, on the pictorial dust-jacket and as the frontispiece. It was one of six plates for the popular book The Dreamer of Dreams, published in 1915 by Hodder & Stoughton in London, New York and Toronto. The fantasy novel was written by Queen Marie of Romania (1875 – 18 July 1938), a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. A year later Dulac also illustrated a second book by Queen Marie, The Stealers of Light. Marie, who was Queen of Romania from 1914 to 1927, was a dedicated supporter of the Romanian Red Cross and frequently visited hospitals during the First World War. Around the time of the publication of these two books Romania joined the Allies against the Central Powers.

The Dreamer of Dreams tells the magical story of Eric Gundian, an artist at the Court of the Northern King Wanda, who is working on a large frieze painting in the royal palace but is unable to finish the face of the last female figure in the painting. After a vision in a dream, Eric goes on a search for the perfect pair of eyes to complete his painting. The Ice-Maiden is a beautiful stranger whom he meets in a snowy northern kingdom. Dulac’s picture illustrates the moment he first sees her:

“All the splendour of the night, the dazzling brilliancy, the vast snow-field, the glory of the moon, the myriad stars, all paled before the beauty of the woman that now approached. Everything about her was white, glistening and shining; so shining that the human eye could hardly bear the radiance. Her long white hair hung about her; a circle of glow-worms surrounded her forehead. Her head was bent, still gazing on that which she held in her hand. On either side marched one of the great bears like two guardians. Just as she neared the spot where Eric stood she once more bent to the snow, and with almost loving precaution raised something in her hand. As she did so her eyes met Eric’s – they were beautiful eyes – large, dark, blazing like two burning coals.”

The decorated front board of The Dreamer of Dreams (1915)

Despite her dazzling beauty, hers are not the eyes Eric is looking for, but he nevertheless engages with her and listens to her story. So what about the bleeding heart she is holding? It turns out that the beautiful maiden is not sinister at all: she goes out at night in search of broken hearts, which she picks up from the frozen plains. She takes them back to her castle built of ice, which has distinct similarities to the Snow Queen’s castle in Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s (1805–1875) fairytale from 1844. In her ice castle she places the hearts in a circle of burning flames to keep them warm. Many of Dulac’s and his contemporaries’ illustrations walk this narrow path between beauty and cruelty, mystery and menace, and one wonders whether they were actually created for children. The Ice-Maiden is one of the best examples of Dulac’s work and the ‘golden age of book illustration’ in general.

For conservation reasons The Ice-Maiden is not permanently on display, but we brought her out of storage briefly for a Bite-Size Museum talk on 13 December 2016, to accompany The Great Bear exhibition on the north balcony of Brighton Museum. We asked visitors to bring any copies of books illustrated by Dulac or his contemporaries and about half a dozen brought their much-loved ‘gift books’, including copies of the Arabian Nights and Edmund Dulac’s Fairy Book, and a first edition of The Dreamer of Dreams. Early editions of Dulac’s books, with all plates intact and present are now hugely collectible. Both The Dreamer of Dreams and The Stealers of Light are among the rarest and most valuable of them, especially when the dust-jackets are still in place.

Alexandra Loske, Curator (Royal Pavilion Archives)

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Last month we welcomed almost 40 delegates from museums across the UK to join us in Brighton for our first ever conference on Workforce Development (WFD).

Delegates at Museum Workforce Development conference 2016. Courtesy Becky Butwright.

The conference was inspired by a successful initiative at Royal Pavilion & Museums (RPM) , which has offered employees the opportunity to branch out from their usual roles and try their hand in alternative jobs and teams for temporary periods. The ultimate goal is to allow staff to discover new talents; introduce them to fields of work that we perhaps never even knew we were interested in; and offer the chance to work within different environments and teams.

I, for example, have worked front of house at RPM for nearly four years now, and in summer 2015 was offered the opportunity to work with the museums’ Creative Programming team to help run the social media campaign for the Fashion Cities Africa exhibition – a brilliant experience which then helped to land me the role of Conference Blogger last week!

Four years after Workforce Development was introduced to the Royal Pavilion & Museums workforce in 2012, over a quarter of our 100+ staff members have now experienced its benefits first hand – some even taking up more than one WFD opportunity in that time. With help from Learning, Engagement & Volunteer Manager Helen Graham and Museums & Galleries Freelancer Ellie Newland, RPM staff Alice Forward, Holly Parsons, Nick Kay and Kate Szeless spent five months working their socks off to plan and deliver last week’s conference as a way of sharing RPM’s experiences, and to celebrate and promote the WFD initiative.

The day kicked off in the Dome Theatre café, as delegates were ushered inside from the crisp morning cold to tea, coffee and a generous selection of divine-smelling pastries (aka THE best way to start the day). After an opportunity to mingle and warm up, everyone was ushered over the road to the Old Courtroom for a series of talks. The first was from the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Councillor Pete West, offering our visitors a warm welcome to the city – a place he described as a sanctuary which prides itself on inclusivity and diversity: qualities that he’d like to see reflected in the cultural workforce. Councillor West then had us all on our feet for a bit of on-the-spot jogging to warm up! Next up was Head of RPM Janita Bagshawe, welcoming everybody to the Royal Pavilion Estate and highlighting how crucial diversity is to the development of the cultural workforce. Janita explained how it’s been recognised that RPM’s front-of-house workforce are more diverse than those working behind the scenes; and how this was the catalyst for beginning to offer WFD opportunities.

The next 20 minutes were then centred on WFD at RPM. We started with an introduction from  Helen Graham, which provided some brilliant stats highlighting how WFD opportunities have resulted in staff feeling heightened levels of self-confidence, creativity and general happiness – complete with some fab pictures to illustrate. Helen was followed by Head of Enterprise & Business Systems Abigail Thomas, who talked us through some significant examples of when past WFD schemes have had amazing results. The first was the case of staff being encouraged to help out with restorative conservation work during the Royal Pavilion’s annual closed week, which subsequently led to VSO team member Nick Kay leading ‘Conservation in Action’ sessions every Tuesday morning. Abigail also spoke about the re-opening of the Royal Pavilion’s famous basements and tunnels to make way for public guided tours from VSO staff Geoff Greenwood and Meg Hogg; before telling delegates about how the LGBTQ-focused museum trail curated by Rob White and Kelly Boddington has now led to talk of a Queer Art History module being introduced at the University of Sussex.

The third and final speaker for this section was Maria Foy, ex-RPM Duty Manager. Maria told us how, as a manager, she felt that ‘not encouraging personal growth was not an option’ and spoke of the importance of pushing creativity and stepping outside of one’s comfort zone. WFD inspired Maria so much to develop herself professionally and personally that she has now left RPM and is living on a Greek island where she runs her own creative business, Greek Island Painting Trips. Unfortunately Maria didn’t bring the sunshine with her but to see her glowing with such happiness was equally heart-warming! Maria is walking evidence of how WFD is far more than just a way to fill gaps by shifting employees from place to place; for most, it’s the start of a journey to self-belief, newly-opened doors and a richer life.

Next on the stage were Libby Finney, Elizabeth Coningsby and Celine Luppo McDaid from London Museum Development, talking innovative training approaches. Topics covered within their insightful half-hour discussion were how WFD can help to identify both strengths and weaknesses; how ‘takeaway kits’ can enable new skills acquired through WFD to be implemented immediately and not just after funding has been secured; and how Dr. Johnson’s House’s definition of ‘develop’ is ‘uncover, unveil and unravel’.

Then came Sarah Gore from the Norfolk Museums Service. Sarah told us about how Norfolk Teaching Museum was established to provide alternative pathways into museum careers to make way for a more diverse workforce, after research findings showed that people felt there were a distinct lack of entry opportunities. The museum offers at least five traineeships a year, which provide training across all areas – from curation to education to customer service. Sarah’s talk was seriously inspiring and highlighted how the Norfolk Museums Service’s pioneering efforts to increase opportunities and diversity across their museums have set the standard for other museums to follow.

Next up were Naomi Shoba, Katherine McAlpine, Polly Andrews and Laura Aldridge from Engage’s Extend programme to discuss the importance of co-production within museum workforces. During their talk, Naomi, Katherine, Polly and Laura spoke about how co-production includes commitment to succeeding or failing as a team and means going through a development stage together, allowing all stakeholders to input and make decisions collectively. It was really refreshing to learn about other organisations’ hard work to ensure that staff in all positions are given opportunities to come together and contribute to decision-making processes as a team.

Finally, we heard Jess Turtle from the Museum Association speak about the Transformers programme, the workforce initiative for people mid-museum career looking to change the way they work – for which, by the way, applications are now open! Jess told us that Museums Association are adamant that equality, diversity and inclusion should be foundational to museums – and we agree.

After a closing speech from Janita, delegates were released for a lunchtime break; the perfect opportunity to refuel, explore the stunning Royal Pavilion Estate, and mingle some more (there’s no such thing as ‘too much mingling’).

Following lunch was an afternoon of workshops, each of which the delegates had pre-selected and booked themselves onto. As much as I’d love to possess the ability to be in multiple places at once, unfortunately that’s not the case – so instead I picked out a few workshops from the list and nipped from one to another over the course of the afternoon, to give you guys a broad idea of what went down.

Delegates at Museum Workforce Development conference 2016 in Brighton Museum Art Room. Courtesy Becky Butwright.

The first session I popped my head into was Pallant House Gallery’s hands-on ‘Step Up: Make and Learn’ workshop in Brighton Museum’s Art Room; an opportunity for delegates to mingle, let their creative juices flow and talk arts, heritage and Outside In, Pallant House’s flagship project aimed at those facing barriers to the art world. After witnessing some immaculate cutting and sticking, eavesdropping on some really innovative discussio,n and checking out some of the artwork produced by members of the Outside In community, it was time for me to drag myself away.

Inspecting artefacts in Museum Lab. Courtesy Becky Butwright.

A quick trip upstairs took me to Visitor Service Officer (VSO) Amanda Grimshaw and Curator of Collections Projects Andy Maxted’s Badges and Medals workshop in the Museum Lab, where participants were encouraged to inspect some enigmatic metal artefacts, get their thinking caps on and have a guess at what the stories behind them were.

Next I dashed over to the Royal Pavilion’s William IV Room, where Marie Kennedy and Niki Hughes from Cambridge Museums were talking delegates through the service’s initiatives and strategies for guiding young people into jobs in museums; an area where entry pathways are often otherwise limited. Marie and Niki told us that there is a common misconception that the only museum jobs available are cleaning or sitting on the front desk, a prospect which puts young people off – and how they’re working hard to change that.

Courtesy Becky Butwright

Downstairs in the Music Room I found VSO staff Nick Kay and Ted Ward presenting a talk on how WFD opened up the opportunity for them both to contribute to restorative conservation of the Royal Pavilion alongside their usual roles. Granting access to this highly respected and important line of work has not only taught Nick and Ted a lot about the fine art of conservation, but has allowed them to work within a completely different team and learn about a side of the Royal Pavilion that they previously knew zilch about.

To round off the series of workshops, I headed back museum-wards to catch Booking Office Assistant Rob White and Buying Assistant Kelly Boddington leading a gaggle of delegates on the LGBTQ Museum Trail that they curated in 2013. The trail is a way of allowing visitors to explore LGBTQ stories behind the objects in the museum; histories which have otherwise been hidden. Rob and Kelly’s is the first permanent trail of its kind but devising it didn’t come without its challenges; for example, research was difficult to begin with due to archaic museum cataloguing conventions.

3.15pm was the perfect time for a well-earned afternoon break, with baked delights provided very kindly by the Bridge Community Education Centre in Moulsecoomb (seriously, I have never, and will never again, experience a brownie quite so beautiful). With munching and chinwagging up, delegates then hot-footed it back over to the Old Courtroom for a final series of talks.

John Orna-Ornstein speaking at Museum Worfroce Development 2016. Courtesy Becky Butwright.

A keynote speech from the Arts Council’s Director of Museums John Orna-Ornstein was the perfect way to summarise WFD and everything it stands for. John told us that he feels UK museums have amazing collections and an amazing workforce but that they also have a problem – the average museum workforce still does not reflect the society in which we live. Funders and museums simply don’t pay enough attention to WFD, John told us – only 5% of museum staff currently have a mentor. John finished up by highlighting the importance of taking calculated risks and not simply playing it safe by employing ‘the person who looks like you’ if we are ever to see truly equal, diverse and inclusive museum workforces across the UK. Much to our delight, Arts Council England will continue to work hard to tackle the lack of WFD development opportunities currently available for museum staff – and there will be more funding!

Finally, a plenary was delivered by Alice Forward and Nick Kay, two members of the legendary WFD Conference team; all of whom have slogged tirelessly to ensure that the day was nothing less than ground-breaking and all of whom should be eternally proud of themselves. The organisation of the conference itself was orchestrated entirely as a WFD project, perfectly exemplifying just how limitless WFD’s scope for success really is. Every single person who spoke, led and attended over the course of the day was passionate, inspirational and inspired, and we’re confident that all left with new-found ideas about how they can contribute to ensuring that the WFD phenomenon continues to expand and develop. Mission complete.

Ruby McGonigle,
Bookings Office & Retail Assistant