Betty Smithers Design Collection, Staffordshire University
Collections and Disability
A severely visually impaired student on placement at the Collection undertook a project on the changing attitudes toward clothing. Because of the BSDC approach to handling objects, she was able to ‘read’ how garments from the ‘Make Do and Mend’ era compared to modern disposable fashion from outlets such as Primark. By feeling the different fabrics used and the different methods of construction she could investigate and contrast the making processes used then and now.
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Origins of the Afro Comb
An extensive research engagement programme across 23 prisons working with 4000 prisoners, 300 members of staff, and delivering 400 sessions, culminating in an exhibition and public programme. The project began by focusing on the Museum’s ancient Egyptian and Sudanese collections and now delivers new research in the fields of Egyptology, archaeology, anthropology and criminology as a means of enabling men of African, Black British and Caribbean descent to engage with their history and cultural heritage.
Pitt Rivers Museums, University of Oxford
Visiting With the Ancestors: The Blackfoot Shirts Project
Historic hide shirts from the Museum’s collections were loaned to Canadian museums within traditional Blackfoot territory, where elders, ceremonialists, teachers and youth were able to handle them under supervision, prompting participants to share traditional knowledge, arts, rituals and social practice with each other. This project contributed to the survival of endangered arts and cultural heritage, strengthened social relationships and Blackfoot identity and contributed to social healing after colonial trauma.
Durham University
The Birthplace of the Buddha
The Curator of University Museums is working with colleagues from the Department of Archaeology on a project designed to enhance the conservation and interpretation of the Buddha’s birthplace at Lumbini, Nepal. His work in the Lumbini Development Project has garnered support from the museums in Kathmandu, Lumbini, and Tiluarakot as well as from UNESCO, among other key national and international partners in the Project.
