The Archive and Museum Workshop

The archive and the collections at Callendar House are a vast resource that I feel like we have barely even begun to scratch the surface of. I have been taking an interest in various random objects, around the House; a sampler made by Janet Livingston in 1858, A Political Reform banner from 1832, a book of handwritten music: these feel like direct links with the people of the past. This week I have also visited the Museum Workshop in Grangemouth and was shown around by the collection curator Emma Roodhouse, its like a smaller version of the Transport Museum and the Open Museum in Glasgow, with a huge range of objects, from large items like tram cars and many objects representing the heavy industries of the area, the ironworks etc. to smaller domestic items. I inevitably felt far more drawn to the things that are a representation of human interaction, the more domestic side of things. I ended up photographing handbags and purses and lace items, and looking at the clothes that are stored away in cupboards, in acid free tissue paper and boxes, until my camera battery ran out. One of the handbags was a post war number with a fake gold trim, which in a haphazard way was the type of thing I was looking for. I have also been taking photographs in the archive where there is a storeroom that has been restored to the original décor when it was the Lady’s boudoir, complete with a gold leaf covered cornice. Its hidden away out of view, in an area not open to the public, but it must be one of the grandest storerooms I’ve ever seen.

In the archive it feels like you can pretty much go on your own random journey. I was looking at copies of the Stirling Journal and Advertiser from 1850 that caught my eye, as they were bound up in a marbled effect hardback cover, unlike the others that were all bound in plain leather. I was intrigued by articles such as “A Meeting With Edinburgh Thieves”; “Lady Fire Extinguishers”; “The Storm”; and regular sections entitled ‘Domestic Intelligence’, ‘Scottish Intelligence’ and ‘Irish Intelligence’. Taken out of context they seem strangely poetic compared with the brash tabloid terminology we are used to today. The pages seem to be full of murders and attempted suicides, so no change there then…. Our magazine “The Village Voice” is currently at the printers and should be ready next week. There will be a small launch for it later in the month……