Surprise! Surprise! My Cilla Moment

Posted by Meredith Greiling on Monday 11 January 2010

When I was asked to write a short piece for the 'Meet the Team' segment of this website I was asked to say why I like working in museums. Knowing that my boss would be reading it, I initially came up with a pithy, enthusiastic answer about how no two days are alike at a museum and that you never know what to expect next.
This answer, whilst being politically safe, is also the absolute truth and I was reminded of it again yesterday after the following email exchange:

Enquirer:
'Would you be so kind as to assist me please?
I live in Surrey, England, my birth name is name is Miss X born in Aberdeen.
I have been trying to trace my Great Grandfathers who were Trawl Masters in Aberdeen and Peterhead and happened on an entry for my Great Great Grandfather George Rose married to Jane May Rose of 38 Springbank Terrace on your website "Aberdeen Ships" re. the "Ben Torc".
The last paragraph of the above page on your website states "Family photographs of George Rose and his wife Jane Rose held in Private Collection".
Would you be kind enough to look up who has these photographs of my Great Great Grandparents please?
Kind regards and a Happy New Year.'

Me:
Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately, we do not hold any further records or objects relating to George or Jane Rose in our collections. The paragraph you quoted is taken from a newspaper article in the Press & Journal newspaper, 12 October 1932. These are now held by the Central Library on Rosemount Viaduct in Aberdeen and you may be able to contact them via the council's website.
I also have no further details about the 'private collection' mentioned for the photographs, however, I will ask my research volunteers when they meet tomorrow if they know to what this refers.
You may find it useful to contact the city archives and perhaps also the Aberdeen Journals archive as they may have more information.
Regards and best wishes for the New Year,

Me (the next day):
Good morning,
I have just spoken with my volunteers who meet here every Wednesday and I believe that I have found a long lost relative of yours! I spoke with the volunteer who researched the entry for the Ben Torc and his wife is a relative of the master George Rose and it is she who has the photographs of George and Jane.
I hope you don't mind, but I have passed on a copy of your email to him and he and his wife will get in touch with you.
I hope that this will be good news for you - I must admit to feeling a bit like Cilla Black right now!

Best wishes,

Enquirer:
Meredith, the happenstance of this research and you finding my relatives is absolutely amazing! Fantastic! Thank you, so very much.
Have just received your email and an email from Jean, your volunteer's wife this morning and was so shocked and surprised that I burst into tears.
What an amazing story, that your researcher's wife Jean is related. You must have been as surprised and delighted as I am at the coincidence.
Thank you for passing on the email Meredith, Jean spoke of this happenstance in her delightful letter.
My heartfelt thanks for all your help and assistance Meredith. Until today, had no idea I had living relatives back home so please forgive me if this email is somewhat disjointed. I am so touched and surprised at this happenstance which is wonderful.
Wishing you a very happy 2010.

So you can see, you never know what to expect in this job.

 

The Voice of Hall Russell & Company 

Posted by Meredith Greiling on Friday 8 January 2010

In December our new special exhibition opened to the public. As is often the case with temporary exhibitions, Hall Russell & Company; the jewel in British shipbuilding, is a chance to get some of the collections that not on permanent display out of the stores and dusted down.
With this show, however, it was also an excuse to add to our collections, in particular our oral history collections.

I had the idea back in 2006 when visiting the wife of a former shipyard director who was donating items from the shipyard that had found their way into their attic. As we sat and had a cup of tea and looked through their photo albums, I listened to stories about the various ship launches they had attended, characters at the yard and how her husband had worked his way up from an apprentice, staying with the same company for all of his working life. I thought we really should record this.

When the idea for the exhibition was suggested it was the perfect opportunity to make some more recordings and really try and capture that feeling of pride and some of the stories people have of what it was like to work in a shipyard.

In July this year I called a meeting with some of the Hall Russell contacts I had made. Some had been fairly senior people at the yard, others had only been there a few years as apprentices, but all were still really passionate about the place and were keen to be involved.
The interviews took place during the months of August and on into September, with other interviewees being suggested all the time.

Usually, the conversation went something like this; 'have you spoken to such-and-such?' 'No, who's he?' 'Ah, well, you must talk to him; I'll get you his number'.
So in the end I had fourteen interviews recorded, most of them an hour long, and they all needed to be transcribed so that I could use an edited extract in the exhibition. This is where volunteers and helpful colleagues are worth their weight in gold.

I did the majority of transcribing as a penance for having had the idea in the first place, but our volunteer, Kimberley and colleague Lyn, really helped me out a lot by taking on some of the work. I can tell you that it is a lot quicker to make the original recording than it is to transcribe it later, but they can't be used effectively until you can read what you have.

Then I edited the recordings, selecting the bits I wanted to use and taking out the ums and ahs, trying to deaden the background noises of the builders over the road, or the sounds of doors opening, tables being tapped etc. One interviewee had the helpful habit of tapping his pen on the table to emphasise important points, which sounds like gunfire on a recording. The unedited recordings are now on file as part of the museum's oral history collections, but short segments are now available to listen to in the exhibition. I like to think they are the voice of the shipyard and of the exhibition.

 

 

Messing About with Model Boats

Posted by Meredith Greiling on Tuesday 5 January 2010

Wisest is she who knows she knows nothing. And even wiser still is she who then goes on a course…

Last month I was lucky enough to attend a fantastic course on the conservation of ship models at West Dean College, down in leafy West Sussex.

It is so rare in my job to find a course so specifically tailored to the specialism that I leapt at the opportunity to attend. I was sponsored on my travels by Museums Galleries Scotland, whose collections research and travel bursary made the trip possible.

Of course, just getting to the other end of Britain from Aberdeen can be a challenge of endurance in itself. I flew on a twin-propeller aeroplane slightly smaller than my car and it made request stops at airports along the way. It gave me the feeling of flying 1940's style; complete with sweets handed around at take off and landing and a pilot who came back to chat to us at the stopovers.

West Dean College continued the time warp sensation, giving as it does the feel of an Edwardian country house party to its residential courses.
There were twelve of us on the course, with attendees from across Britain, the US and Denmark led by tutors Chris Moseley head of ship and historic models conservation at National Museums Liverpool and expert ship model conservator, Steve Conway.

The course covered the history of ship models and looked at 'agents of decay'; that's stuff that can rot a model ship to you and me. We learned how to handle, pack and transport ship models, how to conserve and when to restore. We even had a snoop about in the ship model collections stores at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, a place I had visited before, but which looked entirely different with the experts guiding us.

It was one of those rare, exciting opportunities to meet and spend time with people who have the same interests and similar experiences. Talking about ship models began at breakfast and continued until well after dinner, followed by the evening lecture and then carried on in the bar until midnight. It was a great atmosphere in which to swap ideas and tell stories, compare notes and begin friendships which will be very useful the next time I have a ship model in distress.

Links:
http://www.westdean.org.uk/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1191084@N24/
http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/how-we-help-members/grants/collections:-research-and-travel-bursaries/