Contemplating History

This morning Katherine and I set out for a day of exploring two of London's best museums: The Museum of London and the Imperial War Museum. 

Our day began with a trip on the Tube to The City to see the exhibits at the Museum of London. When we arrived at the museum we headed straight to the special exhibition entitled London Street Photography. This exhibit featured photographs of major city locations, such as Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, and The City, between the years of 1860 and 2011.  It was amazing to see how much the famous locations in London have changed over the years.  Here are some of my favorite prints from the exhibit as found on the museum website.

Fleet Street during the 1920s

Piccadilly Circus during the 1920s

Great image showing fashions of the past

My favorite picture from the exhibition: Henry Grant's Trafalgar Square from 1955

I especially appreciated seeing the changing fashion and styles of buggies and cars.  It was just so fascinating to see what some of my favorite places looked like over 150 years ago and see how they progressed throughout each of the decades.  Following my advertising class during the first part of my program, it was cool to see street advertisements for some of the most popular brands. Further, it was interesting to learn how the techniques and purposes of photography have changed.  In the past photography was used as a means of capturing day to day life as well as creating social change.  The exhibit ended with some pictures from today juxtaposed with quotes about street photography.  My favorites were, "Street photography is about seeing and reacting" and "Capturing a slice of daily life."

Next, we moved on to the timeline exhibit which showed clothing, toys, furniture, and much more throughout the "recent" history of London. I really enjoyed seeing all of the dresses, shoes, and suits from different time periods.  They made me yearn to watch Pride and Prejudice once again.

Also, I thought it was really cool to see the display of town shops containing all of the objects that would have been found within them. The exhibit featured a pawn shop, bakery, and barber shop, amongst others. The most impressive part of this display was the Lord Mayor's Stagecoach circa 1757.  Bathed in natural light, its gilded edges and hand painted exterior were absolutely amazing.

The Lord Mayor's Stagecoach

Famished, we left the museum to find some lunch.  We decided upon the Gourmet Burger Kitchen which was across the street from St. Paul's Cathedral.  We both had been wanting to try this chain and were definitely craving some burgers and chips.  I was very impressed by my cheeseburger, chips, and chocolate milkshake.

Our next stop of the day was the Imperial War Museum.  Because of the wonderful weather, we decided to make the journey on foot to South Bank.  Along the way we crossed through the courtyard of the Southwark Cathedral. With blooming trees and crowds of people enjoying their treats from the Borough Market, it was a beautiful sight.

Southwark Cathedral

After a nice walk and navigating our way through the underground tunnels guiding us to our destination, we reached the museum.

Imperial War Museum

Before entering the building, we paused to look at a piece of the Berlin Wall which was displayed outside.

Portion of the Berlin Wall

Once inside, we began our visit by looking around at the impressive display of planes, tanks, and missiles found on the main floor.  The planes made me smile because they reminded me of my dad's favorite Christmas tree plane ornaments which are hung each holiday season.

Planes in the entry of the museum

Continuing further inside, we first went to the War through Children's Eyes exhibit.  The goal of the display was to show the visitor what the World Wars would have been like for children living through them.  I felt that it was an interesting take upon the historical material.  Many times we learn about the wars through the perceptions of governments or adults, but rarely do we think what impact they would have upon kids.  By sharing numerous quotes from children and toys, games, and school lessons, the exhibit was very intriguing.  It was interesting to learn that many children were evacuated from the city of London during WWII and sent to live with relatives or in boarding houses in the country.  Because I had never heard about this before, I was fascinated by the stories of individual children and their experiences.  Additionally, I enjoyed seeing the Anderson shelter, a small bomb shelter that many families had in theirs yards to protect themselves during the Blitz.  The tiny interior room was meant to hold six people, although it was hard to imagine that many people fitting within the structure.  I also liked seeing the model 1940s home that they had in the exhibit.  I loved seeing the old appliances and furniture in the kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms.

Kitchen in the 1940s model home

After this exhibit, we headed to the World War I and II displays.  I can easily say that I have never seen such an extensive and well-done exhibit outlining the World Wars.  The impressive amount of artifacts from the wars, paired with the easy to follow informational paragraphs, made this display incredibly detailed and thorough.  It was great to walk through the chronological areas of the exhibit to hear and see the story of the wars played out before me.  The museum even included an "Experience" room for each war to put the visitors into the footsteps of either a soldier or civilian during the Wars.  For WWI the experience was a trench that you could walk through, and for WWII the experience was the "Blitz experience" in which you could sit through an interactive show that demonstrated what it would have been like to live through an air raid. I thought these were a fun way to show what the wars were actually like.  It is one thing to read about the wars and see remnants of them in a display case and a completely different thing to be in a situation that feels life-like.  My favorite part of the WWI display was the personal letters and audio recordings documenting survivors experiences during trench warfare.  In the WWII section, I really enjoyed seeing all of the war time posters urging women to enter the workforce and promoting the rations and seeing the military uniforms.

WWII Poster

Nazi Uniforms

Discussing the exhibition, Katherine and I decided that what this museum did exceptionally well was to present the history of the wars from a neutral viewpoint. We found it interesting recalling what we were taught about the wars in school and how most of what we focused upon was the American involvement.  There was a much broader perspective to the wars which we couldn't remember touching upon in history classes.  This exhibit's ability to present all sides of the war in a captivating method provided a much thorougher look at what truly were worldwide wars.

Our final stop at the museum for the day was the Holocaust Exhibition.  It is difficult to put into words the experience of going through this exhibit.  I think that the museum website describes it best stating, "The silence and intensity of emotion only deepens as you go further into the exhibition."  While everyone has learned about the Holocaust in their history courses, it is a new experience to take time and reflect on the events while seeing pictures, letters, artifacts, and videos about the event.

One of the strengths of this display is that it includes many personal accounts of the Holocaust from survivors alongside the informative descriptions of what took place. Going through the exhibit you could recognize the individuals names and faces and learn about their horrifying experiences. I found it very moving to read the final letters that individuals sent to family members at home as they were entering concentration camps.  Their hopefulness masked their urgency and was both inspiring and heartbreaking.  At the conclusion of the exhibit there was a video of one of the survivors explaining his difficulties in sharing his experiences with others.  While he was in a concentration camp he thought that if he were to someday make it out he would tell the entire world about the atrocities that took place there.  However, when he was freed he struggled for twenty years to tell anyone about his experiences.  It wasn't until his daughter asked him about it specifically that he decided he needed to share.  His reasoning was that if he couldn't tell his own children about his story how would they be able to tell their children about what had happened.

Overall, this exhibit was very well put together.  Its quiet and somber feel gave me time and space to comprehend everything that I was reading, hearing, and seeing. The stark evidence of persecution and slaughter, collaboration and resistance shared in the exhibit left me contemplating the event long after I left the museum.