Glasgow Gallivanting: September 2024 (2)

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Hunterian Museum: Roman stone celebrating victory over foreign barbarians (us!)

On the middle weekend of the month, my cousin Ian and his wife Lynn came to stay. One of the things we did was visit the Hunterian Museum, part of the University of Glasgow. It’s a while since we’ve been there – we more often go to the Hunterian Art Gallery which has a programme of changing exhibitions. However, I was pleased to see that, like the Art Gallery, the museum has updated its displays to acknowledge the problematic provenance of some of its collections. The middle section is now given over to “Curators of Discomfort”. The information panels below give some idea of how this works and why museums cannot be regarded as neutral places.

Declaration of Discomfort
Burma Medal

One of the current exhibitions at Glasgow Women’s Library is Conversations with Joan, in which artist Kate Downie has created a completed version of an unfinished Joan Eardley painting which was left on her easel when she died in 1963. It features, as many of her Glasgow paintings did, two of the large family of Samson children, Ann and Pat. You can see them with Kate in the newspaper article below.

Samson sisters with Kate Downie
GWL exhibition board

Both paintings are on display – Two Children by Joan Eardley and Four Children by Kate Downie – alongside other work by Kate. Joan Eardley has long been a favourite artist of mine and I think Kate has done her justice.

Joan Eardley: Two children (unfinished)
Kate Downie: Four children

Now to one of Glasgow’s public libraries, Woodside, which has recently unveiled a Scottish Suffragettes stained glass window. Obviously, I had to see that! There was also a small display in which I was happy to note that “my” Suffragette, Jessie Stephen, got a mention.

Suffragette window
Suffragette display
Suffragette display

Woodside Library has been beautifully refurbished in recent years, proudly displaying a vintage Public Library torch sign (the light of knowledge).

Woodside Library
Old public library sign
Chandelier

Finally – we spent the last two weeks of September gallivanting away from Glasgow: a few nights in Dornie, a week in a cottage on the island of South Uist, and a few days in Portree on Skye. The latter was unplanned – thanks to CalMac ferries removing at short notice the Uist route on which we had booked our return we spent a happy evening finding another crossing, cancelling the hotel in Mallaig where we had intended to stay, and rebooking accommodation in Skye. It worked out well because we were proactive and didn’t wait for CalMac to come up with a solution.

Just one picture from each leg of our trip for now.

Dornie reflected in Loch Long
Shieling by the Bay: our cottage in South Uist
Portree, Skye

And that’s a wrap for September. October so far has been a bit of a whirl and I have another couple of trips coming up – hope your October is shaping up well too!

Scotland, UK , , , , , , ,

78 Comments »

  1. Hi Anabel – I’d love to visit the Hunterian museum … and Art Gallery – the Hunters from the 1700s have always fascinated me … particularly following my talk on George Stubbs. I’m delighted ‘your’ suffragette is mentioned … we are so lucky they were there for us. Sounds a good September for you – cheers Hilary

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  2. One thing that puts me of visiting the Hebrides (and other Islands) is the unreliability of the ferries. Weather is one issue but it seems there are others too. Good job you have initiative, In that situation I’d worry about being stranded with nowhere to stay

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  7. Thanks to you, I’ve started looking for places where women’s role in history has received a mention. Latest find – the memorial stained glass window in Salisbury cathedral one panel to the men who kept the forces flying, sailing etc, and the other to the women who kept the country going – land, city and everything. I thought it must be the Traces of War window, but it doesnt match what I thought I’d photographed!

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    • It seems to be a community development project – from the libraries’ FB page:

      ”Artist Keira McLean created the window in collaboration with young people from SiMY Community Development in Townhead, where they helped research, design and make the artwork. The window is part of a wider project, The Glasgow Libraries Stained Glass Window Trail and makes up the 8th window and 3rd Library in the trail.”

      I did ask the two staff who were on for further information but they couldn’t help! I agree it’s very impressive.

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      • The project as a whole must have attracted external funding of some sort. I wish I’d come up with that idea when I was running public libraries, but shudder to think of the permissions I would have required before I could proceed. Local government (here, at least) is a bit bureaucratic (!), so kudos to Glasgow Libraries for both the idea and the stamina needed to carry it through. Great way of getting the community engaged.

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        • There was a newspaper article at the time of the unveiling but that didn’t say how it was funded either. I thought as it was part of a trail there might have been a leaflet of some kind, and that would probably have credited funders, or at least the staff might have been briefed. The libraries, museums, sports centres etc are all run by an arms length organisation called Glasgow Life which is classed as a charity so maybe that helps.

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          • If I were still working I would make further enquiries through the grapevine with a view to attempting something similar, but as I’m happily retired I’ll pass on that! The fact that Glasgow Libraries are run by an arms length charitable organisation definitely enables them to attract funding that libraries directly run by local government can’t access. Public libraries are in big trouble right now, and the sort of organisation you describe is probably their best chance of prospering. But that, as they say, is a whole different story.

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              • I did nearly 40 years in the sector. We always thought we were in trouble, but that part of the local government mentality!

                Having said that, the 1980s were undoubtedly bad, and it began to get rough again in the 2010s. I spent the last few years of my career planning and implementing re-organisations designed to save money, while protecting the best aspects of the service and adapting to a society that was changing quickly and profoundly. It was soul destroying, seeing something to which I’d dedicated pretty much my whole working life starting to fall apart. A lot of good people lost their jobs. The decline appears to be ongoing, and although it makes me very sad I’m relieved to no longer be part of it.

                I was glad to read your comment that things are maybe not quite as bad in Scotland. The initiative in Glasgow that you wrote about in your post tells me that there’s still life in the old dog. Woof woof!

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                  • I can well believe that the academic sector was a bit less tumultuous than public libraries, though not, I’m sure, without its ups and downs. I often wonder what would have happened to me if I’d chosen to go down the academic library route rather than public libraries. One thing’s for sure – I would have had less contact with politicians. The last 15 years of my life were “enlivened” by regular contact with many wretched, self-important regulators. They were often the bane of my life. To be fair, some of them were decent, well-meaning folk, but as for the others…don’t ask!

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  16. Excellent post, Anabel. We are, indeed, becoming more aware that museums cannot be regarded as neutral places. As you said in one of your comments, “It’s great that more and more institutions are taking this approach. History is not set, it all depends from whose point of view it is told.” And thanks for your recounting of the Hebrides trip, takes me back 25 years, and I doubt much will have changed..

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    • Yes, I definitely like this new approach many museums are taking. As for the Hebrides, you might be surprised. We first went to South Uist in 1989 when there was virtually nothing in the way of facilities. We next visited in 2018 and were gobsmacked to find cafes! By the way, I tried to comment on your Rain post a couple of times yesterday but it just wasn’t having it. Maybe I have been classed as spam! WordPress keeps wanting me to sign in at the moment even when I already am. So frustrating!

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  17. September looked pretty special with your interesting visits and trips. Great photos and Portree and Dornie look so pretty- when I’ve located them on a map I might visit them one day!

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  20. oh my goodness what a busy couple of months you are having – September looks like it was great fun. And like you I really like what the museum is doing to both recognise how they have evolved, and to challenge us white / westerners to think about it

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    • In much of the Outer Hebrides houses are few and scattered like this. The photograph was taken from a picnic table on top of the wee hill behind the house which was ours to use if we wished. We only went up that once to take the picture and almost blew away!

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  24. Nice loch reflection and Portree shots. Like the stained glass window. Yet again I think Scotland is missing a trick with not having more colourful villages. Doesn’t have to be overboard with dozens everywhere or a Portree or Irish copy. Could be pastel shades or even tartan borders on houses. Quirky. Bright colours also hide the truth mind you. Worse chip suppers I have ever tasted in my life have been on Skye and throughout the Scottish Highlands. So much so only two bites was enough… the rest went straight in the bin… despite being hungry straight off the hill… and consistently terrible over 30 years apart :o)

    Bob BSS. Luckily my local one in Glasgow… and every single one in the Lake District I’ve ever tried has been excellent over six decades.

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    • Thanks Bob – I agree the colours are very attractive. As for the food, it was hard to get in anywhere as the place was busy and post Brexit and Covid nowhere has enough staff so a lot of places close a couple of nights a week. I think we got the last table in Portree at 8:30pm on Monday!

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  25. I like the colourful suffragette window and the vintage library sign. lovely views from your trip away too, I’m looking forward to reading more about it. I’ve recently been gallivanting around the remains of an old coal mine, it’s a very interesting place 🙂

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