The topic for our only monthly pub meet-up for August was our favourite small museums, galleries and historic sites or houses. We discussed these in ‘breakout rooms’, which is tremendous fun. For our second ‘breakout rooms’ we discussed our favourite objects within those institutions. Here follows a data dump, tidied up a bit, from the meeting Chat. Please agree, disagree or add your own choices in Comments.
Small museums and institutions
Foundling Museum, Burgh House, 2 Willow Road, Fenton House, Wallace Collection, Sir John Soane Museum, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Pittshanger, Courtauld – specifically temporary exhibitions, Garden Museum, Florence Nightingale Museum, Dickens House, Benjamin Franklin’s House, Handel/Hendrix Museum, Dr Johnson’s House, WW2 bunker Uxbridge, Horniman Museum, Denis Severs House, Fusilier Museum, Linnean Society, Geffrye Museum (now Museum of the Home), Wellcome Museum, 2 Temple Place, Museum of the Mind, Old Operating Theatre, Emery Walker House, Red House, House of Illustration, 19 Princelet Street, The Old Operating Theatre, 18 Stafford Terrace, Barts Museum, Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum, Kew Bridge Steam Museum, Kirkaldy Testing, Pollocks Toy Museum, Philip Mould Art Gallery, the Herb Garrett SE1, Whitewebbs in Enfield, the Museum of Brands and Packaging, Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability in Hampton Wick, Cinema Museum, John Wesley Museum, Royal College of Physicians, Museum at Lord’s.
Dr Johnson’s House.
Royal Fusilier Museum at the Tower.
The Old Operating Theatre in Southwark.
Royal College of Physicians.
London Museum of Water and Steam, Kew.
Kirkaldy Testing Museum.
Wow, a 15 minute brain dump from about 20 of us makes you realise just how fortunate we Londoners are. Many of these places are free to visit or very low entry. They all really need our support now.
On to objects.
The Lac d’Annecy, by Paul Cezanne, 1896, Courtauld Institute
Tokens in the Foundling Museum
Elizabeth Carter’s Whatnot in Dr Johnson’s House
Florence Nightingale’s pet owl (which she accidentally starved to death!)
Silver Teapot from Dr Johnson’s House
Stained glass window from 2 Temple Place
Maquette of the City of London Regt soldier (Holborn) in the Fusilier Museum
Florence Nightingale’s Lamp
The public loos at the Wesley Chapel
The Foundling Museum’s tokens easily had the most votes. These were identifying aids that mothers left when they gave up their babies at the Foundling Hospital. Very rarely was a child ever reclaimed by its parent. They are heartbreaking items.
Token, Foundling Museum.
Token, Foundling Museum.
Maquette, City of London Regiment, Royal Fusiliers.
And the statue itself, Holborn.
Mike Paterson
I rather like the stuffed parrot in the Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet St (just around the corner from Dr Johnson’s house) which had obituaries in newspapers around the world thanks to the many journalists who used to drink there.
The Fan Museum in Crooms Hill Greenwich is rather gorgeous too.
Years ago, pre-coronavirus, I visited the Foundling Museum, Dr Johnson’s House and Sir John Soane Museum. They proved that house-museums were important sources of quality historical material, inside the rightful architecture.
John Soane Museum was too squashy for my liking, but that is the joy of a small, private museum as opposed to a Hermitage or Louvre.
We in Melbourne are still in severe lock down, alas.
Londoners are indeed fortunate but I have been fortunate also to have been able to visit a few of these and have added a few more to my list for upcoming visits.