With only a week until Victorian time : Spirit of the Age opens in King’s Museum, Hannah Vickery, a student on the MLitt Museum Studies course, gives us an update on the students’ exhibition and introduces the exhibition mascot.
It’s time for an update on how we are getting on with the preparations for the student exhibition and much has happened since the last post. With an amazing array of objects being collected, alongside photographs being snapped and text panels being written, everything is slowly coming together, let us all collectively cheer as it shows how hard work really does pay off!
One of the many decisions we have made is to have a mascot for our exhibition, a key object with a fascinating past and strong image. What could this object be you ask? Well of course it had to be a beautifully classic pocket watch, what better object to display the Victorian value of time than this!
Not to give too much away, this pocket watch was made here in Aberdeen and was a personal gift given to an employee for their ‘zeal, energy, ability and fidelity’ whilst in employment, a message inscribed within shows how valuable their service must have been during the late nineteenth century. One of the students, Alanna, has been looking closely at the origins of its history through the trademarks stamped inside it as well as the importance of timekeeping during this period.
More will be revealed when we have it on display next week within the exhibition itself, alongside the other objects chosen from the universities amazing collections. Look out for the pocket watch on our poster and, with the greatest of puns, watch this space!
Victorian Time: Spirit of the Age will open on the 10th June 2014 in King’s Museum, at the Old Aberdeen Town House. King’s Museum is open weekdays from 10am -4pm and Saturdays 11am -4pm.
For further details contact King’s Museum, tel. 01224 274330, email kingsmuseum@abdn.ac.uk or visit www.abdn.ac.uk/museums
University of Aberdeen Museums 
Looks very interesting