Back at Storiel at last – to take down 2 exhibitions ready for new ones to be installed before we open. I removed Queen Victoria’s dress which had been put on display at the same time as Lucy Worsley’s talk about her last November. Handling the costume, and looking at it reminded me how much I like getting up close and personal with Storiel’s amazing collections. Most of them are in the stores, so it is really satisfying to get them some of them out for temporary displays. The new costume display will be clothes and textiles from the 1960s and 70s.
The other exhibition I took down was ‘Button it Up’ – an exhibition looking at some of our collection (and a few loans) through the prism of gender issues. The last comment in the visitor’s book ended saying ‘Nice to see a museum acknowledge all history is LGBTQ+ history and we have always existed.’ The cross dressing up box was popular too!
Emma Hobbins