Behind the scenes

  Calling all photographers (good or otherwise), social networking followers, or anyone who has ever used Wikipedia to look up some obscure topic….That’s nearly everyone then. Well, we are very excited as Prestongrange Museum and John Muir’s Birthplace are taking part in a special Wikipedia initiative being held in February 2010.

 What’s it all about, I hear you cry! Get out of those wellies, knock the snow out of your ears and I’ll tell you more…

Wikipedia are holding a photography competition called ‘Britain Loves Wikipedia’. The focus of it is that people will be encouraged (through prizes) to take photographs of their local museums and their collections and post them onto Wikipedia, hence generating much more interest and information surrounding museums in general. So we decided to run an event to coincide with this.

It’s called ‘East Lothian Photographers LOVE Wikipedia’ and its on Sunday 14th February at Prestongrange Museum and John Muir’s Birthplace.  We’re also offering free tea/coffee/tours at both venues from 1-4pm! It sounds like it could be really successful and a good, fun event to get new people into and using our venues. I just hope we get enough people who are interested…Please do help us by passing the details onto anyone you know who might be interested. Can you beat our rather stunning photography attempts? (This was taken by the passenger, I promise)

More details on our event: www.eastlothianmuseums.org/content/pages/events-and-activ…

And on the wikipedia competition which you might be interested in anyway:
uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Initiatives/Britain_Loves_Wikipedia

 And lastly, what did I last use Wikipedia to look up? The Glasgow Police Museum which I visited over the holidays. A very friendly reception so do pop in if you’re passing.

Curious thing, the Web. The Blogosphere. An occasional wander around can often throw up, um, unsolicited comments all over the place. Take John Muir’s Birthplace as an example. All these are from a wee trawl recently:here and here and here. There’s another, with a pretty horrible picture of me that I don’t even remember being taken: here.

They all have their own reasons for featuring the Birthplace – tourism, work, pilgrimage – but from our point of view it’s interesting to see what folk take away, what the hits and misses are. As we’re not standing asking the posters to fill in a ‘visitor survey’, then perhaps these are our real reflections?

   On Monday and Tuesday (30th-31st March), I had 6 Italians and 3&1/2 Hungarians visiting Dunbar as part of a EU funded project on collecting family photographs. The 1/2 refers to the son of Viki, one of the main organisers, who kept us all entertained during dull moments!

At the meeting we discussed our different activities taking place around the fotomemoria project. All the partner’s projects have been slightly different, some using Flickr to collect family photographs, some creating their own databases. It’s been a really varied project and it draws to a close in June. If you’re a regular blog reader, you’ll remember I went to Compton Verney last year as part of the same project.

 It was interesting having them in Dunbar and showing them Dunbar Town House, especially the Local History Society room as they said they didn’t have those types of groups in their own countries. They were fascinated by the Brrrr video about Dunbar’s outdoor pool (yes, I said outdoor pool) and couldn’t believe people would actually venture outside in anything less than scarves, gloves and a hat! And it was quite a warm day on Monday too!

They were encouraged by Gordon in the Town House to try the fish-based dishes at dinner on the Monday night, and they certainly did. The Smoked Haddock and Scampi and chips were very popular! On Tuesday before they left, we had fruit scones with jam and cream. They all agreed that Dunbar had been a lovely place to visit and that the scones were one of the highlights!

 Homecoming, pah, try Scone-coming, we’d bring in huge numbers…

 We’re obsessed with all things Scottish at the moment with 2009 being the year of Homecoming. I was at Knox Academy a few weeks ago doing sessions with their S1 pupils as they are creating their own exhibition for Homecoming. The pupils struggled to come up with famous Scottish people they actually wanted to research straight away. Many shook their head at David Tennant and pulled a face when Lorraine Kelly was mentioned! The queen of breakfast tv indeed!

 So the topic opened up to include a more general Scottish theme. What they came up with was interesting insight into how we view ourselves as a nation - Irn Bru, Haggis, Whisky, Tam O’Shanter, Sir Henry Raeburn, Andy Murray, William Wallace, and so the list goes on…I’m going tomorrow night to view the finished versions so I’ll report back (and hopefully add some photos to our Flickr site too).

John Muir’s Birthplace is also going Homecoming crazy this year with their programme of events. Their exhibition on at present is about John Muir’s links with Robert Burns. You should make a little trip along to see it, and if you’re lucky and can shove the children off it, you might get a chance to re-enact Tam O’Shanter on a stage. 

Wow, that’s twice I’ve managed to mention Tam O’Shanter during this post. But no one does Scottish better than the Americans so here’s my favourite version of the poem on YouTube. I like the fact Tam is wearing a baseball cap and that it got them extra credit in English lit.

Other museum news….Sheila’s been off to the Brunton to find all our paintings hanging about there, Ken is now working on a brand new loan box on fishing, the John Gray Centre plans roll on, and we’re about to recruit new seasonal Museum Assistants. Exciting times! If there’s any news in particular you’d like to hear about, let me know!

 The fact I have to open my office window every day and my cactus looks as if it’s dying tells me that summer is finally here! Only a few weeks until the school summer holidays start in Scotland and most people are sunburnt already.

At Prestongrange, David’s Red Hot Pokers are looking lovely and survived the hectic Three Harbours Arts Festival. The opening night saw the museum play host to wonderful choirs, dancers and musicians. Staff also got into the swing of things by dressing up as characters from the museum’s past. As Christine and Claire walked across the site it looked as if we’d suddenly gone back in time! Unfortunately we didn’t make it into the East Lothian Courier’s photographs. Better luck next time!

 In Dunbar, John Muir’s Birthplace continue their hectic schedule with a visit this week from pupils from Yosemite Valley School in California. A huge thanks goes to all the host families who have went out of their way to make the children feel at home whilst they are here! 

 Dunbar Townhouse is currently in a state of flux as the next exhibition, Band of Brothers, is due to open this week. If you happen to be passing, don’t let the scaffolding put you off, there’s lots of great things to see inside.

 Apart from that, plans for the John Gray Centre march on. Our online survey is now ready to roll. If you want to have a say in how the centre develops (it will include a museum, library and archives) then complete the online questionnaire.

You may think it’s always hot and sunny here in California, but two weeks into my staff exchange at the John Muir National Historic Site (JMNHS) here in Martinez, and I’ve seen every kind of weather so far!

The idea of running staff exchanges between the Birthplace and John Muir’s family home in Martinez was first discussed as far back as 2004. Dunbar and Martinez were ‘twinned’ several years earlier and visits from Dunbar Grammar School pupils have already taken place. It was thought therefore that through our staff exchanges we could build on the existing good relationship between our two towns, not to mention the benefit for both sides to be had from an exchange of ideas and for personal development.

I have been living in Martinez now for over two weeks and feel I’m now settling into the routine. Group visits, school parties, shop sales, team meetings and, most importantly, assisting visitors - one of the main things I’ve learned so far is that working at the front line in the museum sector/heritage industry is basically the same everywhere. Mastering the till in foreign currency (with tax) and getting used to driving an automatic on occasion on the ‘wrong’ side of the road has probably taken a little longer! The site is an oasis in the middle of town and perfect not only for discovering more about our famous son, but for environmental education, picnics, events, or simple ’sauntering’.

Last Saturday (21st April) was an important day here, being Birthday/Earth Day. What has now become a traditional celebration of John Muir’s birthday, organised by the local John Muir Association, with many of his own family present, was linked with the wider ‘environmental’ event. 52 stalls, tours, a fun run, music, food, speeches, pipers and over 1650  visitors later, all agreed that the day had been a success. Moreover, the rain held off until the late afternoon!

Summer is now on the way at last and the temperatures are rising with lots of sunshine. As well as working at JMNHS, I have enjoyed one or two ‘familiarisation’ visits to other Park sites in the area. American playwright Eugene O’Neill’s beautiful Tao House by Danville, the Rosie the Riveter site at Richmond, and a day’s visit to Point Reyes National Park have all been highlights.  

Both staff and volunteers here at JMNHS have been so welcoming and patient with a ‘foreigner’ in their midst, not to mention one member of staff allowing me the use of her home while, coincidentally, she is visiting Scotland. Hopefully we will be able to reciprocate the hospitality in the not too distant future.