A miscellany of British museums

What did we do in England for the month of July? In addition to crewing on a narrowboat and hiking in the Lake Country, we visited museums. Here are a few of them:

The best, or at least most rewarding, first: the Imperial War Museum outside Manchester. I've wanted to visit one of the IWM's three locations for years. The visit was totally worth our time; we did it by tram from the boat. This charitable foundation shares not just stories of wartime heroism and sacrifices, of massive social upheavals, but also asks the questions and highlights the misgivings raised by Europe's spasms of 20th century barbarism. 

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Also in Manchester, we visited the Science and Industry Museum which recounts, celebrates, and interrogates the history of the first modern industrial city. Erudite Partner was mainly excited by the historic cotton looms; she's a weaver. I was gripped by seeing this earl 20th century Linotype machine on display; in the early 1970s when I worked on the Catholic Worker newspaper, we went to press from a shop that used just such a set up; their real business was printing Variety, but they made room for us. Typesetting consisted of a skilled printing professional typing out lead lugs for each line of print from such a mechanism. The machines, arrayed in a long line, were deafening.

I sat in on a class which instructed 8 year olds about the industrial and scientific accomplishments of their city. They were enthusiastic.

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On the  Liverpool docks, we visited the International Slavery Museum. I got the impression of a facility trying to find its footing. On the one hand, the museum makes very clear how the trade in human chattel formed the city, its economy, and its residents.

 

But the museum seems to be struggling to give voice to what enslavement meant in the lives of the enslaved people. A work in progress?

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In Sheffield, we were impressed by the Kelham Island Museum which documents the industrial accomplishments of the city, particularly in steel fabrication. Among these, the prototype of the modern water closet.

Sheffield is a city whose prosperity is rooted in steel fabrication, so it is not surprising that its Anglican cathedral features this steel nativity scene by Brian Fell.

We had a great time, away from the local lunacy. There are few joys to equal learning about new places and people!