The working life of Museum of London

LAARC has just started a new project - LAARC Volunteer Inclusion Project. The general idea is to create more space in the archive by effective, efficient storage, using the help of 30 volunteers a week.

As well as creating space for future archives, we are also promoting inclusivity and learning opportunities and shall be running specialist workshops for volunteers.

There is a new section of these blog pages specifically for the project so have a look and see what we’re up to.

http://mymuseumoflondon.org.uk/blogs/laarcvip/

As part of the project we welcome back the University of the Third Age (U3A) who shall be improving the archive for MSL87 - one of the Roman Eastern Cemetery Sites. This side of the project has its own website and can be found at:

http://laarcvipu3a.wetpaint.com/

And don’t forget our archaeology blog pages, where each month we run the object of the month competition. Click below to find out September’s winner

http://mymuseumoflondon.org.uk/blogs/archaeology

 Woo hoo! LAARChaeology is taking over!!!

You can find out the winner of July’s Object of the Month Competition by following the link to the archaeology blog site:

http://mymuseumoflondon.org.uk/blogs/archaeology/2008/08/08/julys-winner/

A quick announcement before I go on leave, and fingers crossed I haven’t broken anything, but site pages on the LAARC will now display maps again.

They’re only static maps, I’ll add dynamic maps (so you can zoom, move around, etc) if I get a chance when I’m back from holiday.

Museum of London’s archaeological archive is the home of the Museum’s collection. The big warehouse in Hackney is the largest in Europe and 10km of shelving houses fascinating finds that have been unearthed in London. Clearly the archive is an incredibly important place but it faces a great threat…dust.

Dust, grime and dirt are all enemies at the archive and so it was decided that a big clean was needed to rid the space of its arch nemesis. The cleaning and clearing of the archives was scheduled for 16-20 June 2008. Staff, volunteers and members of the City of London Police rolled their sleeves up to give the archive its first deep clean since opening in 2002.

From Officers to Inspectors, all ranks were involved in the big clean over 2 days. How had the tables turned so that they were now the subjects of community service and why had they chosen the archive? These particular officers work for the City Police’s Specialist Crime Operations, where anonymity is of the utmost importance as there is a lot of covert work involved, and so this was the perfect opportunity to render a service to the London community whilst retaining discretion. Another officer added ‘The archives just fitted the bill and we wanted to see your coach!’ referring to the Lord Mayor’s Coach which is being temporarily housed at the archives whilst the redevelopment of the lower galleries of Museum of London is in progress.

From one genre of detective to another; Graham White from Southend-on-Sea, is a long-serving and dedicated volunteer at the archive with a qualification in Archaeology. Usually his job entails examining and documenting artefacts from previous digs which is of huge importance to the cataloguing system at the archive; yet, he is on the clean today and is very positive about the positive effects that it will inevitably have on the preservation of the artefacts of the building.

This optimism is shared by the two work experience students currently at the Archives. Sam Ridgeway, also from Southend-on-Sea, studies at Westcliff High School for boys and gained his work experience through Museum of London. Having already been involved with the archive for a week, the prospect of cleaning does not seem to have dampened his spirits - ‘well it certainly needed a clean!’ Dressed in their white boiler suits with dusters at hand, it seems that although unconventional work experience, this has not put off Nick Beaver who started as soon as the big clean did. Nick studies at Berkhamsted Collegiate School who helped him get in touch with the archive due to his interest in History and English. He doesn’t mind a bit of hard graft with the cleaning at all and is looking forward to a sneaky peek at exactly what goes on in the archives before returning home to Watford.

The clean up operation was a huge success with a horrifying amount of dust removed and the Museum’s collections preserved for a few more years to come. The yellow rubber gloves and masks have been put away until next time…

Check out our photos for a glimpse of the archive cleaning operation.

The London Archaeological Archive & Research Centre has one of the most successful volunteer programs within the Museum of London. Since opening in 2002, we have had over 400 volunteers of all ages, from various backgrounds and from all over the world, come and assist us in making London’s archaeological more accessible.

But it’s not all about packing objects and creating databases. Although improving the conditions of the LAARC material is a necessary task, it’s equally important to have some fun and enjoyment out of volunteering as well as learning new skills. One way in which we do this is by offering volunteers a chance to create displays relating to the site they’ve been working on.

The first of these can now be admired outside the Ceramics & Glass store at Mortimer Wheeler House. For the past 6 months, three of our long serving volunteers have been improving the accessibilty of 1986’s excavation at the site of the former Royal Mint (MIN86). The majority of its finds relate back to the medieval abbey, St Mary Graces (1350 - 1540) which stood on the site.

 A combination of private research and important archaeological artefacts from the site as well as personal favourite items (including 3 LAARC object of the month winners!), volunteers, Chris Chadwick, Sybil  Hunot & Pamla Lamb created and arranged the first of what looks set to be many excellent and informative volunteer display cases.

Next time you’re passing the stores up at Eagle Wharf Road, be sure to take a look at their work and see what they’ve put together for yourself. You can let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Each month, three artefacts are taken from the archaeological archive’s stores and put up for public vote. Your vote decide which goes on display in the Archive’s temporary exhibition case. The winning object for this month will be announced on Friday 6th June.

To celebrate the launch of MoLAS’ new book - London’s Delftware Industry, part written by LAARC’s very own Roy Stephenson, the three selected objects are all fine examples of this fine ceramic.

Go check out LAARC Object of the month - Delftware to view and vote for your favourite object.

Each month LAARC runs an Object Of The Month competition. Three artefacts are taken from the archive’s stores and put up for public vote to decide which goes on display in the Archive’s temporary exhibition case.

Competitions take place during the final week of each month. The winning object for this month will be announced on Friday 2nd May.

This month’s choices are all lead based alloys dating from the 16th & 17th Century.

1) From Abbot’s Lane (ABO92), a seed trough that would have hung on a bird cage

2) From Braidwood Street (BRA88), a decorated child’s finger whistle

3) From Abbots Lane (ABO92), a engraved spoon, with the maker’s mark, IG

1) 2) 3)

Click Here to vote for your favourite object.

You can also view and find out more information about the objects on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laarc/sets/72157604281666414/

Finally to find out more about the sites they’re from visit our online catalogue:

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/laarc/catalogue/

Happy voting!

If you want to let us know exactly why you voted for an object, you can leave a comment below.