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Posts tagged ‘world museum’

Historic Liverpool 2010: A year in review

Photograph of Liverpool waterfront, including new museum under construction

Liverpool Waterfront, by Ade Bond via Flickr

It’s the end of 2010. It’s been an… interesting year politically – a coalition government for the first time in my lifetime; frequent use of the word ‘swingeing’ in many and varied ways; the Conservation Centre is shutting its doors to the public; and snow is keeping you indoors reading this.

But what else has happened this year? Anything to warm our annual nostalgia cockles?

2010 started on an optimistic note – it was the World Museum’s 250th anniversary, though this was somewhat overshadowed with the closure of the Conservation Centre.

February saw start of the excellent Streets of Liverpool blog. Later in February the keys were handed over for the new Museum of Liverpool, although controversy rose its ugly head later in the year when a historic view was shown to have been blocked.

March and April went by in a blur (oh yes, probably because I got married) and when things recovered the election was fast approaching. At the same time Lewis’s was heading for closure as everyone felt the pinch of recession.

In July the first object – a carriage from the Overhead Railway – moved into the museum, but at the same time the North West Development Agency closed its doors. Another funding source for culture had disappeared.

The Peel Waters project cropped up again and again in 2010. English Heritage expressed concerns about the effect of the new buildings on the World Heritage Site, while in later months Council Leader Joe Anderson reacted angrily to what he saw as EH’s interference with Liverpool’s development and future prospects.  Meanwhile we were spoiled for heritage and arts projects, including: Edge Hill station being turned into an arts venue, Heritage Open Days bringing people into Liverpool’s historic water supply, the funding of conservation for 95,000 aerial photographs of England as well as Visible in Stone – women’­s history and the built environment and in October Black History Month. Finally, Historic Liverpool underwent a bit of a redesign, although it’s far from a finished project. Here’s to another year of additions to that!

Phew! Liverpool and its heritage have had their ups and downs this year. We’ve celebrated the old, welcomed in the new (mostly) and commemorated the highs and lows of Liverpool’s past and imminent future.

Any predictions for the coming 12 months? Or is that an impossible task? And as for 2011, what kind of posts would you like to see here? More about researching Liverpool local history? Should I keep to the news and concentrate the history on Historic Liverpool? Or something completely different?

Some historical entertainments

The ghost town of Argleton, as old maps may have seen it

The mysterious town of Argleton, as a paper Google might have seen it, by Nefi via Flickr

I did recently promise some more entertaining blog content after the ‘historic environment’-heavy post this week. So here’s something to stick on your new iPad (or other less fancy PDF readers):

History of World Museum Liverpool

The institution currently known as World Museum Liverpool has a very long history. 150 years to be precise, and it’s celebrating in various ways. Download their free PDF called Liverpool’s Museum: the first 150 years.

I’ve not read the whole thing yet, but it’s already turning into a fascinating story of figures such as Thomas John Moore, William Brown, J.A. Picton and Lord Derby, who have all, in one way or another, left their mark on the city of Liverpool.

Lewis’s Slideshow

When you’re done with that, you should watch the ‘audio slideshow‘ commemorating the even older institution of Lewis’s, featuring voice-overs from former managers and employees, and with a soundtrack of the likes of ‘In My Liverpool Home’, which mentions old Dickie in passing.

There are some great images of the 1950s cafe interior, and the shop floors in days gone by.

Landscape Mystery

Now, you knew Google was getting too powerful, didn’t you? But now it’s creating whole English towns where none should be.

Do you know where Argleton is? Well, according to Google Maps it’s just off the Liverpool-Ormskirk road, near Aughton.

A trap to catch the unwary map-copier? A bad transcription of Aughton? Or a secret base where Google plans to spread it’s evil plan? You decide!

Liverpool Museum gets training grant

In the midst of economic troubles for many externally-funded organisations, National Museums Liverpool has struck lucky in getting £350,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The money will be used for audience development – reaching out to those who wouldn’t normally see the museum as ‘for them’. Six two-year placements at the new Museum of Liverpool will start from next year. More details available at Art in Liverpool.

Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a great holiday and are raring to go! 😉

2009 was a great year, and this blog really got going – thanks to all my readers, over 1000 of you in November! I hope to make 2010 even better, and try to develop the blog in some way to make it more interesting. I’ll be writing more posts on Liverpool’s history and landscape, as well as commenting on the news like I’ve been doing so far. Remember, though, that all the interesting headlines are shown on the right. If you’re an avid Twitterer, then you can also follow every update at @histliverpool. I’ll be posting news items, links to new blog posts, and any progress with Historic Liverpool (I promise I haven’t forgotten that in all the blog excitement!).

It’s World Museum Liverpool’s 250th anniversary this year, so even more reason to celebrate – why not visit it again to stretch your leg and brain muscles after Christmas?

Also, the Stephen Shakeshaft exhibition ‘Liverpool People‘ is on until 24th January. I visited over Christmas and really enjoyed it! What some Scousers had to endure over the twentieth century is unbelievable, and to keep a sensa yuma throughout just about sums up Merseyside’s attitude to life!

If there’s anything you’d like to see on this blog, do let me know, but otherwise just keep reading and commenting!

Cheers!