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By Stewart Emmens on

Help Us Create A Gallery Display About Your Ancestors

Later this year the Science Museum’s opening a temporary exhibition that will explore the relevance of our collections to family historians. We’re looking for people who could help us to develop it.

Miners
Miners taking a break, South Wales 1931 (NMeM / Daily Herald Archive / Science & Society)

One part of the exhibition will focus on a number of different trades and professions. A theme that we are already looking at in an ongoing series of articles for Family Tree magazine.

Do you have an ancestor story to tell that relates to one of the areas to be featured? 

Factory workers
Workers making metal goods, Doncaster early 20th century (National Railway Museum / Science & Society)

We want this part of the display to be a ‘co-creation’ with our collaborators playing a big part in developing the content of the case. 

This would mean contributing label text, helping select relevant objects from our collections, but also bringing to the display personal objects, images and anecdotes relating to your ancestor’s work to really bring their story to life.

Nurses
Nurses, late 19th century (Science Museum / Science & Society)

The trades and professions we are planning to feature are:

  • Scientists and research workers – perhaps a leading scientist or a humble laboratory worker.
  • Communications workers – a telegraphist, cable layer, messenger boy or postal worker etc. 
  • Medical workers – be they nurse, surgeon, midwife or hospital porter
  • Miners – Digging out coal or minerals.  
  • Manufacturing workers – skilled craftsmen or factory mass production line?
  • Textile workers – from the industrialised cotton mills to home-based dressmaking. 
  • Domestic servants – did they have to come to grips with the new ‘labour saving’ technologies? 
  • Transport workers – on water, on land and perhaps even the early days of air.  
  • Agriculture and food production workers – on the land or in the factory.

If you think you have an ancestor story that could be displayed please contact us at publichistory@sciencemuseum.org.uk with details.

2 comments on “Help Us Create A Gallery Display About Your Ancestors

  1. My grandfather was the senior projectionist for Warner Brothers. They had a private cinema in London where he showed the premieres to the King and the stars. He was the projectionist on the first talking movie.

    My mum has all sorts of memorabillia – including a notebook he kept dating each film premiere and who was in the audience. Its full of Dukes and Duchesses, film stars of the 40’s and royalty!

  2. Dear Gavin

    Thank you very much for your response. Your grandfather’s occupation and mementos sound very interesting. We will keep in touch.

    Yours truly,
    Therese Avedillo
    Intern – Public History
    The Science Museum

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