Glasgow Museums Research Articles

Asbestos in the Cambridge geological collections: past, present, and future

Naturally-occurring asbestos poses a threat to curators of geological collections, as well as to other staff, researchers, and members of the public who may come into contact with it. UK law mandates to document and mitigate the risk from asbestos in non-domestic settings, including museums. However, there are no formal UK regulations applying to natural asbestos in geological specimens. In the absence of such regulations, museums have to devise their own local policies. The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge hosts one of the largest geological collections in Britain. Its petrological and mineral collections comprise some 200,000 specimens, additional uncatalogued material, and material deposited by other institutions; all of which include a small but significant number of asbestos-bearing specimens. The ongoing migration of part of these collections into new, improved storage facilities necessitated the development of a policy that allows rapid identification and management of risk from naturally-occurring asbestos for tens of thousands of specimens. We report on the development and implementation of this policy, which builds on existing policies at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and may serve as a template for similar policies elsewhere.

An uncut copy of Scleromyceti Sueciae: lost and then found

BackgroundA copy of Scleromyceti Sueciae, a work on which the nomenclature of many fungi is based was known to occur in Scotland’s Glasgow University Botany Department but the buildings were devastated by fire in 2001 and the whereabouts of this important work, if it existed, was lost. Its re-finding is reported herein.ResultsThe Glasgow copy of Scleromyceti Sueciae, an uncut first edition of Fries’ work, was located in the Glasgow Museums in its original cabinet being transferred there years before the fire and its specimens being now databased. It is one of the few existing uncut copies of this important scientific work and one of the best-preserved copies of the first edition.ConclusionThe discovery of this first edition of Scleromyceti Sueciae emphasizes the significance to reserve special conservation for important collections by early mycologists. It also allows interested mycologists world-wide to know of the existence in Glasgow of an uncut, first edition copy.

Glasgow Museums Biological Records Centre: achievements over the past 25 years and future prospects

The development of Glasgow Museums Biological Records Centre from its inception in 1997 to the present is described, along with geographical and taxonomic coverage of the records. The principal sources of records are listed, and the contribution of online recording systems in recent years is highlighted. Data accuracy, gaps in taxonomic coverage, and new taxa possibly resulting from climate change are discussed. Finally, the possible future of the Centre in the context of the Scottish Better Biodiversity Data project is outlined.

Blake and Exhibitions, 2022

Continuing effects of COVID-19 disruption included delayed and sometimes reduced displays to mark the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death (Fogg Art Museum; Simon Fraser University; University of Melbourne) and delayed rehangs of works kept in storage after exhibitions or during renovations. In February 2022 the Rosenbach celebrated the rehang of The Number of the Beast Is 666 after a period of rest since its loan to the Blake retrospective at Tate Britain in 2019–​20. In May Glasgow Museums reinstalled Eve Naming the Birds and Adam Naming the Beasts in the main corridor of Pollok House following storage to protect the works from environmental conditions. Displays featuring treasures from permanent collections included the incipit of Vala, or The Four Zoas at the British Library and Milton at the New York Public Library. Building the Bookman’s Paradise, an exhibition reconstructing plans and showcasing treasures at the Morgan Library, included two Job watercolors among early medieval and Renaissance illuminations and modern treasures.

Knit in Gold: An Examination of a Seventeenth-Century Knitted Waistcoat

Seventeenth-century knitted-silk waistcoats have mystified dress historians for years since little is known about how these intricately patterned knitted garments were worn or used. This paper documents the examination and research of a seventeenth-century woman’s knitted-silk waistcoat from the Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums, Scotland. This waistcoat, acquired by the museum in 1937, is knit in silk yarns and illustrates the impressive craftsmanship of seventeenth-century knitting techniques. In documenting the close study of this seventeenth-century waistcoat, this research report shows that this garment was significantly altered for sale prior to the acquisition into the Burrell Collection and serves to contribute to knowledge of early modern knitting techniques.

A Multimodal Appraisal of Zaha Hadid’s Glasgow Riverside Museum—Criticism, Performance Evaluation, and Habitability

High-profile projects promoted by governments, local municipalities, and the media do not always meet program requirements or user expectations. The Riverside Museum in Glasgow by Zaha Hadid Architects, which has generated significant discussion in the media, is used to test this claim. A multimodal inquiry adopts three factors: criticism, performance evaluation, and habitability. Results from this method are then correlated with visual attention scans using software from 3M Corporation to map unconscious user engagement. A wide spectrum of tools is employed, including a walking tour assessment procedure, contemplation of selected settings, navigational mapping, and assessing user emotional experiences. Key aspects of the design and spatial qualities of this museum are compared with an analysis of critical writings on how the project was portrayed in the media. Further, we examine socio-spatial practices, selected behavioral phenomena, and the emotional experiences that ensue from users’ interaction with the building and its immediate context. The findings suggest design shortcomings and, more worrisome, that spatial qualities relevant to users’ experiences do not seem to have been met. In going beyond the usual method of analysis, we apply new techniques of eye-tracking simulations, which verify results obtained by more traditional means. An in-depth analysis suggests the need for better compatibility between the imagined design ideas and the actual spatial environments in use.

HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: OVERLOOKED EVIDENCE CONCERNING JAMES CROLL (1821–1890)

ABSTRACT Three new pieces of evidence concerning James Croll, the nineteenth century Scottish autodidact and climate change pioneer are revealed. These untold facets became apparent as a result of pursuing evidence further than might have seemed warranted, and comprise: (1) Croll’s short-lived attempt to become a publisher; (2) appointment to a janitorial position at Anderson’s University and Museum in Glasgow a year later than claimed by himself and repeated by subsequent commentators; (3) the enigma of why letters from Joseph Dalton Hooker to Croll were copied onto notepaper headed Montreal Cottage in Perth, Scotland (the town in which Croll lived), and the identification of John Bower, a retired fleet-surgeon and friend of Croll, as the copyist. It is argued that the findings were hidden in plain sight, are not trivial, and shed light on the biography of a relatively neglected individual.

A Catalogue of the Fifteenth-Century Printed Books in Glasgow Libraries and Museums. Comp. by JACK BALDWIN

A Catalogue of the Fifteenth-Century Printed Books in Glasgow Libraries and Museums. Comp. by JACK BALDWIN

A Catalogue of Fifteenth‐Century Printed Books in Glasgow Libraries and Museums: Volume I. By JackBaldwin. Boydell & Brewer. 2020. xxxiv + 353pp. £175.00.

A Catalogue of Fifteenth‐Century Printed Books in Glasgow Libraries and Museums: Volume I. By JackBaldwin. Boydell & Brewer. 2020. xxxiv + 353pp. £175.00.

‘Tuesday Morning’, the schoolboy and Mann

The rediscovery of human remains, correspondence and other unpublished excavation archival material in the Glasgow Museums collection of Ludovic McLellan Mann prompted the reappraisal of a short archaeological investigation undertaken in April 1931 at Holm Park, near Ballantrae, Ayrshire, by a schoolboy, Eric French and his biology teacher, William Hoyland. This article offers a re-evaluation of their fieldwork which exposed two inhumation burials, named ‘Tuesday Morning’ and ‘Tuesday Afternoon’. Eight dog whelk shells remain from an overlying diffuse shell midden spread that may reflect the remnants of a dye-processing site. The skeletons and marine shells went on temporary display at Bryanston School, Dorset. The area south of Ballantrae is well known for prehistoric flint scatter sites and the finds presented the intriguing possibility that the burials might be Mesolithic in age, the excavators believing they might even be Palaeolithic. A collection of flint cores, initially associated with the archive, now appears unrelated to this excavation for it was found with a note written by a local lithic collector, William Edgar. New osteological analysis confirmed the presence of at least two adult individuals, and one bone sample returned an early medieval radiocarbon date. This evidence contributes to national understandings of early historic burial practices in unenclosed cemeteries during the transition from Iron Age pagan to Christian burial rites, important given the paucity of 1st millennium evidence in south-west Scotland. It also offers insight into an earlier account of multiple inhumation burials, found in the general vicinity in 1879, although aspects of the precise location and relationship between the two discoveries is currently unresolved. Mann’s correspondence with French’s father, a prominent Glasgow industrialist, and with Hoyland reveals the character of archaeological social networks in western Scotland during the 1930s which have been a neglected aspect of research to date.
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A Catalogue of Fifteenth-Century Printed Books in Glasgow Libraries and Museums, by Jack Baldwin

<i>A Catalogue of Fifteenth-Century Printed Books in Glasgow Libraries and Museums</i>, by Jack Baldwin

Ludovic McLellan Mann and the Cambusnethan bog body

This article considers the circumstances, aftermath and legacy of the discovery of a bog body near Cambusnethan in North Lanarkshire in 1932. The body of a man and a unique jacket were assessed by Ludovic McLellan Mann soon thereafter and removed to Glasgow Museums where they remain today. The body was popularly perceived to be a Scottish Covenanter although there is no scientific or historical evidence of this, and Mann himself was vague. In an attempt to provide some clarity, this article traces the interplay between archaeological and historical evidence, as well as contemporary popular memory around the find. There is an enduring belief the body was a Covenanter, exemplified by a cairn in Greenhead Moss Community Nature Park in Lanarkshire which has displayed the story since 1997. In the last 25 years, there have been repatriation claims for the remains and the story was raised in the Scottish Parliament. Thus, Mann's archaeological practice continues to shape opinion today although in this case his work was exemplary. Whilst the ‘Covenanter in the bog’ was not Mann's myth, this article reveals how the story evolved and why it remains in the popular consciousness across Scotland.

Between Metropole and Province: circulating botany in British museums, 1870–1940

Exchange of duplicate specimens was an important element of the relationship between metropolitan and regional museums in the period 1870–1940. Evidence of transfers of botanical museum objects such as economic botany specimens is explored for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and six museums outside the capital: Cambridge University Botanical Museum, National Museum Wales, Glasgow Museums, Liverpool World Museum, Manchester Museum and Warrington Museum. Botany became an important element in these museums soon after their foundation, sometimes relying heavily on Kew material as in the case of Glasgow and Warrington, and usually with a strong element of economic botany (except in the case of Cambridge). Patterns of exchange depended on personal connections and rarely took the form of symmetrical relationships. Botanical displays declined in importance at various points between the 1920s and 1960s, and today only Warrington Museum has a botanical gallery open to the public. However, botanical objects are finding new roles in displays on subjects such as local history, history of collections, natural history and migration.

Museum visiting in Edinburgh and Glasgow – 150 years of change and continuity

ABSTRACTDespite, or perhaps because of, being only 45 miles apart and of a similar size, Glasgow and Edinburgh are famous for their historical and cultural differences and notorious for their rivalry. This article will explore the history of museum visiting by comparing the current visitor demographics of Glasgow Museums, with those of the National Galleries and the National Museums in Edinburgh, and exploring the extent to which these differences can be traced back to the founding cultures of these institutions. Drawing on historical visitor data and discourse analysis of official museum commentary on visitor behaviour, this article will assess Davies, Paton and Sullivan’s museum version of the Competing Values Framework and Wouter’s theory of informalisation as approaches to interpret how institutional traditions have interacted with wider social developments. It will conclude with reflections on the implications for museum history, and for current policy and practice.

Ossianic gold: an enhanced object biography of a Viking Age or Late Norse finger-ring from the Isle of Jura in the collection of Glasgow Museums

A Viking Age or Late Norse gold finger-ring in Glasgow Museums (A.1979.19), previously thought to have been found in the Isle of Skye, is here identified with a ring said to have been found in the Isle of Jura in 1869 (together with another, now lost). This identification is based on an illustration published in 1875 by the ring’s then owner, the Rev Dr P H Waddell (1816–91). Waddell’s use of the ring as a piece of evidence in his attempts to prove the authenticity of James Macpherson’s Ossianic poems is discussed. The ring subsequently passed into the possession of the Austrian Countess Vincent Baillet de Latour (d 1942), who had developed an interest in the archaeology of Skye during her first marriage to Norman Macleod of Macleod (d 1895). Focusing on the ring as a collector’s possession, the paper takes a biographical approach, following its trajectory from antiquarian discovery to museum object.

Assembling the New: Studying Change Through the ‘Mundane’ in the Museum as Organization

Change is highly valued within the museum sector and related literatures. Despite this emphasis, it is claimed that the field struggles to adequately understand and explain change processes, and that new critical and methodological tools are needed to move discussion forward (Peacock 2013). This paper offers one possible route by developing an anthropologically informed, ethnographic approach to studying the museum as organization. Illustrated through selected empirical materials from the case of the refurbishment of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, the paper focuses on a period immediately following this major capital project. It argues that change is implemented and sustained by the many different players and practices constituting the inner life-worlds of museums as organizations. By analysing the mediatory capacities of, what in some frameworks might be considered, ‘mundane’ everyday activities (such as maintenance work and tour-guiding) the paper seeks to expand understandings of what shapes the dynamics of change in museums.

A Sign of Victory?: ‘Scottish Swords’ and Other Weapons in the Possession of the ‘Auld Innemie’

Many late medieval documents, notably inventories of arms and armour, of Englishmen contain references to ‘Scottish swords’ and other weapons. What did the compilers of these documents mean when they described a weapon as ‘Scottish’? How did such weapons come to be in the possession of these men? This article will attempt to explain this phenomenon drawing on primary documentary sources and surviving material culture from Glasgow Museums’ collections and others, as well as artworks from the period.

A significant statement: new outlooks on treatment documentation

Values-based conservation is an increasingly dominant theme in heritage conservation theory. It is less routine in the application of object conservation practice, where emphasis on the physical fabric of heritage prevails. Materials-based approaches pivot conservation decisions on assessments of object condition. Values-based approaches posit that conservation should seek to sustain and enhance heritage significance rather than arrest physical change. A values-based approach is also one where the value-judgements underlying conservation decisions are made explicit. To reflect this, a new treatment documentation format has been developed at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. The documentation procedure shifts the focal point from condition assessments to statements of significance. Within the professional setting, similar new documentation is being developed for light-based artworks at Glasgow Museums. Ultimately, using a value-based treatment report, the conservator can be aware of the reasoning behind treatment choices and be better equipped to make decisions that reflect an object’s values.

William Cookesley, William Hunter and the first patient to survive removal of the appendix in 1731 - A case history with 31 years' follow up.

William Cookesley, a surgeon in Devon, England, successfully operated on a patient with an Amyand hernia in 1731, incidentally excising the appendix. His patient is the earliest documented to have survived appendicectomy. This was confirmed by a post mortem examination 31 years later. Part of the remaining bowel was preserved by William Hunter and this specimen remains in the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.

The Port of Glasgow, 1946

A set of 18 photographs depicting the river and port of Glasgow has recently been rediscovered in the archives of Glasgow Museums. They were taken in the early summer of 1946 and featured in an exh...