Pick of the Collections: Weekly podcast segment for Eton College Radio
New: Live video sessions from Collections Learning
Yesterday, for the first time in 10 months, I heard school children's voices. Not my own kids - I hear them all the time - but an actual group in a classroom! Normally, Eton College Collections runs a primary programme of ten different sessions across its three museums. Topics include the Victorians, animals and the Stone Age, among others. During... Continue Reading →
Within the Archives Podcast: School Exams
Welcome to the first episode of ‘Within the Archives’, a new podcast series where we look at aspects of Eton College life throughout the decades through our archival collections. This month we start by looking at school exams. School Exams podcast exams-podcast-transcriptDownload An article from the Chronicle on how to avoid Trials (Issue No. 3247,... Continue Reading →
String figure with beaded hair
First Intermediate Period 2160-2055 BCE, Textile, glass, H. 8 cm, W. 3 cm, D. 2 cm (ECM.1843-2010) This charming figure is made of fine thread knotted into bundles and wrapped around bunches of thicker string. The body is wrapped in sections, with separate bundles of thread used for the legs, arms, torso, and head. The... Continue Reading →
A ghost story for Christmas Eve
Perhaps we enjoy a ghostly tale as an antidote to the otherwise saccharine fare of the season. Or perhaps, in the gloom of winter, drawing around the light together makes us all the more aware of the darkness at our backs. For whatever reason, ghost stories have been a feature of the Christmas celebration since... Continue Reading →
Gnaw, you are not going to believe this Beaver!
Upper incisor teeth of the Beaver, Castor fiber, Thames river gravel, Boveney (NHM.285-2016) The Eurasian Beaver (Castor Fiber), part of the Rodentia order (Rodents), is a large, semi-aquatic mammal[1]. Unlike their relatives, mice and rats, beavers predominantly live in freshwater systems such as rivers, streams, irrigation ditches, lakes and swamps[2]. As they build their homes... Continue Reading →
A Collections Christmas
Warm wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone in the Eton College Collections. A Turkey and a DoveFrom Florence Hopper’s Scrapbook, 1886 This is one of 97 pages in a scrapbook compiled by 12-year-old Florence Hopper in 1886. One of the pastimes of Victorian children was pasting purpose-made coloured pictures,... Continue Reading →
Figure of an Ibis
The ibis was one manifestation of Thoth, the god associated with divine knowledge and writing. Late Period - Ptolemaic Period 664-30 BCE, Copper alloy, travertine and gold, H. 3.5 cm, W. 3 cm, D. 1 cm (ECM.1692-2010) The breed of ibis specifically sacred to Thoth is the African sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) which became extinct... Continue Reading →
#Museum30 2020
Here is a round up of posts from the Eton College Museums and Galleries Twitter and Instagram in response to #Museum30 - a month of prompts set by Gracie Price, author of Magnifying Zoology blog and creator of the online #Museum30 event. https://magnifyingzoology.wordpress.com/2020/10/27/museum30-2020/ Museum 30 is a photography based challenge designed to connect museum professionals... Continue Reading →
St Andrew’s Day at Eton College
St Andrew's Day traditions viewed through the Eton College Collections St Andrew's Day, celebrated in the Michaelmas half, has become one of the two biggest holidays marked at Eton College, the other being the Fourth of June which takes place in the summer. (In one of Eton's quirks, they are not held on the actual... Continue Reading →
Macnaghten Library: A new deposit to the WW1 archive of Geoffrey Loyd
A year ago, the Macnaghten Library received the very moving gift of the First World War papers of four Old Etonian brothers: Reginald, Robert, Geoffrey and Wilfred Loyd. All four served in the Great War, but the archive is chiefly formed of papers relating to one of them, Geoffrey Loyd (FHR., H de J 1908).... Continue Reading →