World War I ‘Guest Suitcase’ in Germany

Conscientious Objector postcard

A few weeks ago a school group from Ludwigsburg in Germany visited our galleries and Labour History Archive and Study Centre to find out more about our World War I collections and the history of the labour movement around World War I. History teacher Joerg also asked if we wanted to participate in a series of mini-exhibitions the school were curating which involved people giving them material to display in ‘guest suitcases’. Due to the amount of two dimensional items we have relating to World War I, we decided to make some replicas of a selection of items, which the group could display back in Ludwigsburg, and keep after the display was taken down.

Sergeant Dugdale

People’s History Museum gave the school, Oscar-Walcker-Schule, two replica photographs of Ben Tillet, a Salford MP visiting the Ypres in 1918, two replica conscientious objector postcards produced by the No-Conscription Fellowship and replica material from our Dugdale collection.

Sergeant Alfred J Dugdale was a soldier in the British army during World War I and his collection of WWI material was donated to the museum after his death. During the war, Dugdale served in Egypt, Turkey, France and Germany. While stationed in Gallipoli in 1915, he won the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for bringing in wounded soldiers under heavy fire. At twenty-four, he was one of the youngest British soldiers to be given this accolade.  A day before he was due to leave Gallipoli in January 1916, he was shot through the thigh and had time out to recover at home. In 1917, he was captured during the Battle of Cambrai and remained a prisoner of war in Germany until the end of the war. Following the end of the war, he was admitted to hospital in Cologne to recover from the influenza epidemic. We do not know the exact date of his death, but he lived into his 80’s.

Items on display in Germany

 

Amongst replica items given to the school were a photograph of Dugdale wearing a goat-skin coat in Gallipoli in December 1915 and a field service postcard sent from the front to his wife, Emma. Field Service postcards provided a way for soldiers’ to send short, simple messages that could be expanded upon in a longer letter at a later date. The postcards let family members know if the soldier was well or injured, and whether they had received a letter from them. It was strictly controlled, and soldiers were forbidden from writing anything else on the postcard other than their name and the date.

Jeorg kindly sent us some images of our ‘guest suitcase’ display at the school and tells us it has been well received. We are thrilled to have some of our World War I items on display in Ludwigsburg!

Chartist Leader William Cuffay’s book donated to People’s History Museum

William Cuffay’s book of Byron poetry has been donated to the People’s History Museum and will go on display in our Labour History Archive and Study Centre throughout June.

Son of a former slave, William Cuffay was a prominent member of the Chartist Movement and one of its most militant. He was one of the key organisers of the rally at Kennington Common in 1848, but was said to be disappointed by the fact that many members were reluctant to use force to advocate their demands.

In the same year, Cuffay was convicted of conspiring to start an uprising against the government and was sentenced to transportation to Tasmania for 21 years. After 3 years, he was pardoned, although he chose to stay is Tasmania until he died a pauper in 1870.

The book is said to have been given to Cuffay by his Chartist colleagues before his transportation. It was found with a thumb print marked on one of the pages and leaves pressed in the cover.

Professor Malcolm Chase, author of Chartism: A New History said of the acquisition;

“What a wonderful find. William Cuffay is an inspirational figure in the history of Chartism, and in the struggle for democracy generally. This is the only object, anywhere in the world, that we definitely know belonged to Cuffay. His homes in London and Tasmania, and the workhouse where he died, have all been demolished. It’s all the more poignant because this book was a gift from his fellow Chartists. When you see the thumb print on the page that includes Byron’s ‘Song for the Luddites’ you can almost hear and feel the breath of history.”

The book will be on display in our Archive throughout June. Following this, it will be available to access upon appointment. Please note that the Archive is open 10am-5pm Monday to Friday. Please contact us before you make a special visit.

People’s History Museum exceeds annual target of 100,000 visitors!

We are all really excited at the museum to announce that we achieved over 100,000 visitors in 2013/14. Four years since the museum re-opened after its capital redevelopment in 2010, the museum has seen visitors grow and grow each year from around 25,000 before our new building was opened to 108,600 in the last year!

The museum continues to attract a mix of visitors with 50% of people visiting coming from Greater Manchester, 30% from across the UK and 15% international tourists. We work hard to promote the museum far and wide and to provide services and activities for local residents and for visitors to the city region.

And all these extra visitors are also donating to the museum and spending money in our shop and cafe – with March 2014 seeing the highest ever amount received in our donations boxes and the highest ever amount spent in our shop.

Thank you to everyone who has visited and supported the museum this year!

We look forward to welcoming and working with even more of you in 2014/15 – please do come along and see what we have to offer at the People’s History Museum.

As the National Museum of Democracy – we are the Home of Ideas Worth Fighting For and a place to explore the extraordinary achievements of ordinary people who have changed the world we live in today…

• Find out more online at http://www.phm.org.uk/

• Follow us on Twitter @PHMMcr, Facebook PHMMcr, or read our blog at PHMMcr

• Sign up to our E-Newsletter and Learning E-Newsletter to receive regular updates

Family Friendly Highlights over Easter

If you follow our blogs, you’ll know that in November 2013, year 5 from St. James’ Primary School in Rusholme came to the People’s History Museum and took over our jobs for the day. They got involved in front of house duties, exhibition checking, evaluating our shop displays and much more!

As you may also know, we’ve recently launched a new aspect of our collections website, our Collection Highlights, and over the next few months, we hope to update our highlights page to include many different themes. The first of these is our Family Friendly Highlights, chosen by none other than our Year 5 class from St. James’- who better to test our interesting interactives, fun dressing up areas and immersive displays! The group were given half an hour on each gallery to inspect, test and evaluate what they most preferred, and what they wanted including in our new Family Friendly Highlights.

We then came down to our offices and (after a lot of working out) we decided on our highlights. Year 5 then went on to the marketing department to tweet about what they’d been doing. On their return back to school, they very kindly wrote us some blogs telling us about their time at PHM.

 

Ellie decided to share the objects the group decided to be in their highlights in her blog:

“We have just finished judging the top ten family games. Here they are:

1. The co-op shop
2. Football display
3. Life boxes
4. 1945 living room
5. Wheel of fortune
6. Build a bridge/ picket line
7. Hannah Mitchell’s kitchen
8. Match box making
9. Badge making
10. Dress up”

 

Aman described his morning at the museum:

‘…On Friday I went to the Peoples history museum and we wrote a twitter we all thought which part we liked in the museum. There was a co op shop and a football display and a TV that showed football..’

 

Maham also liked the Coop shop:

‘.. The history is very interesting and its only 10 minutes till lunch we saw a co-op shop was very fun for children to play in, that would be fun admit it. ..’

 

Zain told us about his favourite part of the day:

‘..In our group we decided the top ten “Family Friendly Activities.” It was so fun!

My personal favourite was defiantly the “Build A Bridge”’

You should visit.”

 

Finally, Larry gave some sound reasons for visiting PHM!

‘Hi, my name’s Larry, and I recently went to the Peoples History Museum with St. James Primary School, Rusholme. Me and my class, Year 5 went for National Takeover Day, an idea by Kids In Museums on 22^nd November 2013. We had quite an eventful day…

My group were mainly involved in marketing, but did do a certain part on the Top Ten Family Friendly Activities, the top three being:

• Pre-WW2 Co-op Shop
• Football Displays
• Life Boxes

It was a very exciting day altogether, and checkout the P.H.M. website for more information! I have one more quote, and it’s on the Family activities

“I was impressed, and if you want to see more, then come to the Peoples History Museum!”

 

We’re really excited to have our PHM Family Friendly Highlights chosen by St. James’s Primary School. Check the collections page on our website over the Easter holidays to find out more about their expert choices!

New feature to our Collections Website

As you may have already seen, we have a new feature to our collections website! Our featured highlights display ten objects on display in the main galleries with the hope of introducing new visitors to what we have on show, but also by giving more regular visitors extra information on our top objects. After some deliberation between the collections staff, our objects are as follows:

–          Tom Paine’s table

–          Peterloo handkerchief

–          Shoemakers banner

–          Secret Society Skeleton painting

–          Pank-a-Squith board game

–          Bricklayers emblem

–          1906 Labour Party minutes

–          Equal Pay Plate

–          Michael Foot’s Donkey Jacket

–          Viv Anderson’s football shirt

To see images of these objects and to find out more information, visit our site and click on the images in the slideshow!

In the future, we hope to add more featured items; hidden gems from our stores, family friendly objects and interactive, best items from the 1980s… the list goes on so check back for updates!

PHM Top 20 Tweets of 2013

A guest post from our Marketing & Development Officer, Daisy Nicholson

One of my favourite parts of my job is tweeting (along with my colleague Karen Moore, Marketing Manager) about all the exciting goings on at the museum and especially hearing what tweeters have to say about PHM.  It was too difficult to narrow it down to a top ten tweets of 2013, so here’s the top 20.  Why not join the conversation and follow us @PHMMcr.

We’re always happy with more attention..

1. 01/02/13: @marieemonaghan: @visit_mcr People’s History Museum is my fave, interesting & fun & I feel gets less attention than other Manc museums #followamuseumday

Visitors are often moved by the story we tell of those who fought hard for the rights we enjoy today

2. 10/02/13: @michaelquille: At @PHMMcr today, was reminded of the tremendous optimism and collective confidence people had in making a better world in post war Britain.

Great to hear our Family Friendly activities are enjoyed!

3. 24/03/13: @ybuck82: Yet another lovely family day @PHMMcr was fab munchkins really enjoyed the bug hunt 😉 xx

Some excellent advice to union reps

4. 26/03/13: @TradeUnionStudy: @PHMMcr Students thoroughly enjoyed visit thanks .All union reps should go to see the history of our movement. Keep up the good work.

Some more excellent advice!

5. 06/04/13: @nickbason: The @PHMMcr is BRILLIANT. If you are in Manchester, go.

We really do have something for everyone

6. 22/04/13: @benkenyon: Great day out at @PHMMcr yesterday looking at 200 years of struggle for democracy in UK. Take your family, your kids, your granny. Everyone!

Couldn’t agree more

7. 12/06/13: @arwallis: Visited the people’s history museum. Worth it to see how people can change society for the better. phm.org.uk

Passing on the story on to the next generation!

8. 16/06/13: @spunshon: I am totally in love with @PHMMcr. If @danielbye & I ever have kids, we’re coming on a yearly pilgrimage.

A lovely description of PHM

9. 16/06/13: @beardedcynic: Manchester People’s Museum is just swell. Modern and accessible yet with oodles of lovely history to swallow.

From someone in the know

10. 24/07/13: @DanJarvisMP: “There have always been ideas worth fighting for.” Anyone interested in politics and democracy should visit the @PHMMcr in #Manchester

Following their wedding at PHM (get in touch with our Venue Hire Team if you’re planning a wedding or civil partnership)

11. 07/09/13: @cathfeely: @PHMMcr Thank you for everything. Everyone at the museum was wonderful and everyone loved the venue. We will be in touch very soon!

Well we won’t argue with that

12. 15/09/13: @salegirl: Been at @PHMMcr again today, such a great place, most important museum in the country/world I think! #manchester

Following our Object of the Month for September 2013

13. 23/09/13: @janoveliz: @PHMMcr Well done with the Object of the Months guys. Quite nice story, regards from a Chilean in Manchester 😉

Exactly why we’re here

14. 05/11/13: @Anthillel: @phmmcr is a fantastic museum. Shows us how far we’ve come and reminds us how far we have to go!

Some of the gems in our collection

15. 05/11/13: @edithmayhall: Completely stunned by old Trade Union banners at Manchester People’s History Museum–and the table on which Tom Paine wrote Rights of Man!

Couldn’t ask for more!

16. 13/11/13: @HTrub88 just been around the people’s history museum. It’s AMAZING . Explains some difficult concepts, great objects, hands on & friendly staff.

Direct action following one of our POLLfest events (don’t worry if you missed it – POLLfest strikes back in 2014!)

17. 16/11/13: @i__like__eggs: @LucyMPowell is rather inspirational! I just went to her talk at @PHMMcr and have now joined a political party! 🙂

Following a fab day with pupils from St James CofE Primary School for Kids in Museums Takeover Day

18. 22/11/13: @andyuk71: Many thanks to the fantastic folk @PHMMcr today for the inspiration and activities – children loved it! #TakeoverDay @visit_mcr

Lovely feedback following one of our Little PHM story sessions

19. @sonnyandluca: The little PHM at the Manchester Peoples History Musuem is fab, and only £1. Highly recommended, thanks for a lovely morning @PHMMcr

And finally, a brilliant photo originally tweeted by @robnitm & @StephenGParker, shared with us in light of our current changing exhibition, The People’s Business – 150 Years of The Co-operative, on until Sunday 11 May 2014

20. 31/12/13: @susienich33: Thought you would like this! @PHMMcr The 1972 winning entry to the Co-Op milkman uniform competition… pic.twitter.com/roLfzdCuHw

Staff Top Picks: Badges and stickers in the Citizens section

In the second of our ‘Staff Top Picks’ series, PHM Marketing and Development Officer, Daisy Nicholson, explains why the badges and stickers in the Citizens section of Gallery Two are her most-loved objects in our collection. What’s your favourite item in the museum? Tell us on Twitter using #phmtop10.

My favourite object(s) / bit of the museum are the badges/stickers in Citizens (pink) section – having grown up in the 80s and spent lots of time as a child on marches & demos etc.(very politically active dad!), I loved collecting related badges and stickers, though at the time didn’t appreciate the various campaigns’ significance. Seeing such collections on the galleries is a nice trip down memory lane, but more importantly reflects the importance of preserving this aspect of history.

Staff Top Picks: A Suffragette’s Home

In the first of our ‘Staff Top Picks’ series, PHM Director Katy Archer tells us why the poster A Suffragette’s Home is her most-loved object in our collection. What’s your favourite item in the museum? Tell us on Twitter using #phmtop10.

One of my favourite objects is the poster – A Suffragette’s Home, produced by the National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage around 1910. The poster appealed to the working man who has returned home from work to find his hungry children in an untidy house.

The poster stands out to me for a number of reasons. Its style, aesthetic quality and colour palette are striking and part of the iconic design of many posters of this era. The artist responsible for this poster was John Hassell who also designed the famous holiday poster, Skegness is So Bracing.

I also think it’s interesting to see a poster arguing AGAINST something that can now sometimes be taken for granted. Votes for Women is such an important part of the People’s History Museum and we have a fantastic collection of objects representing this story, as well as other organisations in Manchester such as the Pankhurst Centre who are key to telling the story of Women’s Suffrage.

PHM is a champion for the Wonder Women campaign commemorating how much will have been achieved in the 100 years from 1918 (when women first won the (partial) right to vote) to 2018. 1918 was the culmination of a long, hard struggle, and although we’ve come a long way, there is still much work to be done. With events, debate, music, art and more, Wonder Women is a five-year project that asks how far we’ve come – and how far we have yet to go.

So for me this poster sums up that struggle – it shows how women had to make sacrifices for a cause that they believed in – and it shows that there have always been (and continue to be) ideas worth fighting for!

It also reminds me that working towards a bigger goal and fighting for something you believe in is more important than keeping a tidy home – which is good to see as the poster also reminds me a little bit of my house when I get home from a day working at PHM!

65 years of the NHS

Julie Parry, Archivist in the Labour History Archive & Study Centre, has written this blog on the 65th Anniversary of the NHS.

Today sees the 65^th anniversary of the birth of the National Health Service in England and Wales.  The Labour History Archive & Study Centre looks after the national Labour Party archive collection and as such includes many interesting documents charting the planning and development of the NHS.  Below are a few items taken from the museum’s archive collection.  Firstly the initial draft of the 1945 manifesto, which became Let Us Face the Future, in which the NHS – one of the Attlee government’s greatest domestic legacy only has a two sentence mention on page 7:

Next up is a page taken from a Communist Party leaflet Good Health for all: An examination of the Government’s proposals for a National Health Service (1944).  I wonder how much things have really changed for some people?

Although some of the reasons for not visiting may have changed:

Lastly there is a letter from Clement Attlee to Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health who resigned from the Labour government when it was proposed to introduce charges for eyeglasses and dentures.  This letter is Attlee’s acceptance of Bevan’s resignation in April 1951.

If you would like to know more about the archive collections visit the archive pages of the museum’s website or email archive@phm.org.uk

Welcome to our blog.

Welcome to the People’s History Museum blog. On this page we will keep you updated with life at PHM; our collections, events, people and random musings!
PHM tells the story of ‘ideas worth fighting for’; its collections consist primarily of items from the last 200 years of the organised labour movement in Britain representing the social history of working people.

Banners on display at the museum.

The museum and archive hold an extensive collection of objects, posters, badges, paintings and some 70,000 photographic images. The museum also holds the largest collection of historic trade union and political banners in the world and is the UK’s leading authority on the conservation and study of banners. See here for more info. (http://www.phm.org.uk/our-collection/).

NOISEstock event at the museum.

We hold a vast array of exciting events, meetings and learning sessions at the museum every day, so check this blog or our website regularly for updates! To learn more about a few of the interesting projects currently in progress at PHM, check out our other blogs at http://unlockideas.wordpress.com/ and http://wonderwomenmcr.blogspot.co.uk/.

We’re really keen to hear your comments and experiences of PHM, from your favourite item to suggestions for more blogs, so please get in touch.