On 10th September a group of us met at the Horniman Museum for a chance to wander and review the collections, followed by hot drinks and a walk in the grounds afterwards.
The main areas of the collections are natural history, anthropology and musical instruments.
The natural history section is full of stuffed animals, models and bones in lovely old cases. It’s rather dated of course and, although that can feel quite odd, it’s also fascinating and an interesting time capsule. Of course we had to have a group photo by the walrus – famous for being over stuffed before they really understood how walruses looked in the wild!
The Anthropology section has been massively overhauled in recent years. In the past the items were in old cases with no wider context given. Now they are presented in geographical areas, with full information given not just about their culture and origin but also tackling ideas around colonialism and appropriation. This all led to some interesting thoughts and conversations.
The musical instrument collection is vast and fascinating. Nearly any instrument you could think of, in all states of development throughout history. Although there were some interactive displays, some of us longed for more….something about seeing many instruments grouped together gets the hands itching to get involved!
After tea/coffee and snacks in the cafe, along with plenty of good conversation – and a little tree hugging en route! – we wandered into the gardens. This was a revelation and one of the reasons the Museum won the Art Fund Museum of the Year recently. The gardens are all planted out to reflect the collections of the museum. The area where the old rose garden was is now dedicated to plants producing fibres or dyes and further on there are areas reflecting grasslands from around the world. We marvelled and admired. A wonderful end to a very enjoyable visit.
And finally, don’t you think the world gallery (anthropology) introduction almost seems like a Humanist manifesto…?
