Today Islington Museum launched an engaging exhibition about 900 years of Clerkenwell history, focussed on the Green.
There’s erudite panels including a timeline of protest and demonstration from 1381 …
… reference to the excellent Marx Memorial Library…
… the role of Clerkenwell in providing water to the City …
… and entertainment …
The panels are complemented by a series of mural-scale illustrations
And artefacts including an original water pipe …
… and commemorative jugs from the Marx Memorial Library
The main content has been created by year 5 pupils at Hugh Myddelton Primary School – which seems pretty amazing to me.
At the private view we had some speeches over wine and nibbles explaining how that was done – and my first thought was to do a couple of interviews for this blog, and applaud.
However, talking to the head teacher and museum staff who worked on the project it seems to me that there’s scope to do a lot more.
- We could link the exhibition content to the Radical Clerkenwell trail I created recently with Footways: blog post here, and direct link to map
- Further content could be added to the records I created in Layers of London about Radical Clerkenwell.
- We could experiment with other mapping and media platforms. There’s some here, and more recently I’ve experimented with 360 tours using Panoee.
- Staff and pupils could tell the story of how they created the exhibition, and inspire others.
- The Radical Clerkenwell group of local organisations, formed after a meeting about the trail, might like to provide support.
Rather than do more on this post I’ll share these thoughts with the Museum, Hugh Myddelton Primary School, and other organisations and report back later. Meanwhile, do visit the exhibition – Museum opening times here.
Links from above, and others that may be of interest:
- New Footways maps celebrating Clerkenwell’s heritage and radical history
- Radical Clerkenwell on Layers of London
- Clerkenwell Commons site – scroll down beyond map embeds on the home page
- Destination Clerkenwell – engaging visitors and residents
- Developing a Museum of the Streets