Extraordinary Ordinary

Extraordinary Ordinary – pit village life by Jack Hulme

Two very different visions of manliness!

A stunning new exhibition at Pontefract Museum celebrates the touching and captivating photographs by Jack Hulme.

Jack Hulme’s photographs of the pit village of Fryston, on the outskirts of Castleford, are a fascinating, unique and revealing record of a mining community in the mid twentieth century.  He was born in the village but, after an injury, was unable to work as a miner.

When his wife bought him a Leica camera he became the village photographer, and it is for his black and white images that he is now remembered. The enduring value of his images is that he captured the ordinary – domestic chores, playing in the street, the daily grind.

From the attitude of his subjects towards him, you can see he was part of the life he was documenting. From the National Strike to the Miners’ Strike he witnessed the passing of the industrial age in Yorkshire.

Can you imagine doing this now?

Fanny Morgan and her sister

Before Health and Safety went mad!

Before computer games took over!

Some of what he photographed is the same today but there are big differences. Change is sometimes most obvious to people who haven’t lived through it. Therefore the Museum asked students at Pontefract New College for their reactions to the images in this exhibition.

Photography is an incredibly popular subject at New College. The A-level students experience both the traditional dark room photography Jack Hulme would have recognised as well as modern digital manipulation. They have researched some of these photographs and written their own personal responses. These captions next to the originals give new perspectives on this powerful record.

Pontefract Museum, Salter Row, Pontefract, WF8 1BA, 01977 722740

Opening Times: Mon – Fri 10.00am – 4.30pm, Sat 10.30am – 4.30pm

Free Admission

The mould triumphed!

On Wednesday this week Wakefield Museum had a fascinating talk from Ivan Day, food historian.  Ivan informed and entertained visitors on a talk entitled The Triumph of the Mould as part of the You Are What You Ate project funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Original moulds from Ivan's personal collection were shown to the audience along with explanations as to how they were used and what food types would have been moulded within.

One highlight of the evening was the display of specially made deserts all of which were spectacular not only in design but in behaviour!

From jelly to cheese and biscuit to flummery and even ice cream moulds - the array and style of food preparation in the past leaves has left just a shadow of influence on modern foods.

It is a cameo brooch? No, it's a jelly/flummery!  Made in an original 18th century mould

Another 18th century flummery

The wobble on this steeple flummery was astounding!  How could a footman presenting this to table keep a straight face?

Beautifully handcarved sugar walnut moulds - put the 2 halves together and hide inside some sweets or a motto!

Amazingly detailed moulds from Ivan's collection

Working with other local museums

Our staff have met up with some other museums in Wakefield to help out, share ideas and develop projects.

Curator John Whitaker and Local Studies Librarian Claire Pickering made a trip down to The Hepworth Wakefield to help them find out more about a mill building they are opening as a new exhibition space this summer.  The ground floor of the building on Wakefield waterfront which will be transformed into a gallery has a long history.

 

By looking through historic maps in the Local Studies Library we learned that the building (or at least versions of it) has been in use for at least 200 years. In the in the 1820s it is listed as Tootal's warehouse. Tootal was a corn factor (someone who traded in corn rather than produced it) so it probably stored corn. It became part of the Victorian Rutland Mills complex and was used in textile manufacture and was occupied by Patons and Baldwins from the 1920s. Textile firm Caddies Wainwrights took it over in the 1970s and it was part of the Arts Mill in the 1990s before becoming part of a major Waterfront Redevelopment scheme from 1997.  The Local Studies library has a wealth of information about Wakefield's buildings and businesses.



Local Studies Librarian Claire Pickering explores trade directories with Hepworth's Head of Communications and Marketing Hollie Latham

Cara Sutherland, the new curator at the Museum of Mental Health came to see us last week too. The museum, formally known as the Stephan Beaumont Museum  is currently being redeveloped and reorganised . The museum uses objects from Wakefield's West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, also known as Stanley Royd Hospital to explore our changing attitudes and treatments of mental illness. The collections, which include a padded cell, are very important and many objects were salvaged from the site before it was demolished and converted into apartments. Cara is very keen to get to grips the fantastic collections they have and get the museum refurbished and reopened.

Cara Sutherland next to Wakefield Museum's improving lives case which displays a sampler made by a patient at the asylum and a whistle used by one of its nurses.

Summer Holiday activities

 

There's a lot happening for families over the Summer Holidays whether the sun shines or the rain pours!

 

Click on each of the images below to enlarge. 

 

If you would like to recieve a copy of the flyer, and be added to our mailing list, please email.



 

 

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

Readers' group with a difference!

This is the book group with a difference - where you might find yourself mixing up medieval remedies, trying on a plague mask or perusing original documents from Wakefield Asylum! 

Previous sessions have included making medieval medical remedies, and trying on a plague  mask - not your usual readers' group!

Each month, the group members read a book of historical fiction - ranging so far from the time of Genesis to 1960s America - which they will then discuss the following month. Because this group is run by both the Libraries and Museums Service, each month an object from the Museum Store, from the time period or the theme of the book of the month, is also brought along for the group to explore.

The current book being read is "The Remains Of The Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro - the reminiscences of an early twentieth-century butler. No doubt the next meeting of the group with resound with discussion of class, social change, the nature of relationships, formality versus informality in the workplace and the definition of 'dignity'.

The current book for discussion

If you would be interested in coming along to the Historical Readers' Group, the next meeting is on 9th July, from 11am-12noon in the Wakefield One Library.  The group meets on the second Tuesday of the month.  

Feel free to email for more details.

Free Adult Events at Wakefield Museum

The secret of good beef: modern day beef production and the factors influencing the eating quality of beef

Wakefield Museum, Learning Zone

Thursday 27 June, 6.30pm

Adult talk - John Mackey

Johnny will take at look at how quality beef cattle can be raised on a diet of grass. After a brief background to his family farming business, he will take the audience on a walk through the life cycle of a beef animal from birth to slaughter, focusing on the four main factors influencing beef eating quality - diet, breed, growth rate and stress.

Entry is free and there is no need to book.

For more details, email or phone (0113) 343 1910.

The triumph of the mould
Wakefield Museum, Learning Zone

Wednesday 3 July, 5.45pm prompt

Adult demonstration - Ivan Day

Solomon's Temple - from a 1769 recipe

In this illustrated talk and demonstration, food historian Ivan Day will survey the remarkable genre of figurative food from the late medieval period to the eighteenth century. He will not only bring some remarkable wooden, ceramic and metal examples from his own collection, but demonstrate the unmoulding of early seventeenth century gingerbread, Georgian flummeries, sugar work and jellies from original period moulds.

Ivan Day with a couple of his moulded flummeries

Booking essential as places are limited - please call 0113 3431910 or email to book.

Both of these events are being run as part of the You Are What You Ate project in partnership with the University of Leeds, and University of Bradford - funded by the Wellcome Trust.

See here for the full programme of this season's talks, all on the theme of 'food for all seasons'.

New medieval manuscript on display at Wakefield Museum

The Food For All Seasons Exhibition at Wakefield Museum opened in March and runs until September.  The exhibition demonstrates what was on the menu season by season in medieval Wakefield.

As part of the display we have had the amazing opportunity of exhibiting some very rare and beautiful objects, on loan from the University of Leeds Brotherton Library:  3 intricately decorated books of hours.

The second book of hours being put on display

 

Due to the delicate and sensitive nature of these loans the manuscripts have to be protected from light and have the pages turned every 7 – 14 days to prevent any light damage.  The books can only be on display for a short amount of time.  The first book of hours has now been returned to the Brotherton library and replaced with an equally stunning manuscript. 

The book of hours has had a special mount made to safely hold it open for display

 

Don’t miss this rare and special opportunity to view these incredibly beautiful books.

This exhibition is part of the You Are What You Ate project, funded by the Wellcome Trust and in partnership with Wakefield Council, the University of Leeds and the University of Bradford.