We went to the Orkney Museum to see the John Rae exhibition, and found that there’s another one upstairs of recent acquisitions. That one finishes on the 24th October, and the John Rae one finishes at the end of the month.
After this exhibition, the ‘Recent Acquisitions’ might turn up in various other contexts, while some might be stored away – basically this could be your best chance to see them!
The exhibition is upstairs, and I’ll take you round the room, clockwise.
First, a fold-up caricature of Hitler as the ‘biggest pig of all’
This appeals to me as an example of human ingenuity and humour, and I wonder if someone could do something along those lines based on Trump?
Turning round, to the central display cases, I came across a display of cardboard fashion ‘dolls’ labelled ‘Fashion Teaching Aids (1960’s)’ which were made by Mary Bain, Home Economics teacher at Kirkwall Grammar School
This brought to mind two things – the paper cut-out-dress-up dolls I played with as a child
.and doing Home Economics at school – I’ve got an ‘O’ Level in Domestic Science – remember ‘O’ levels’?
Continuing round the central ‘isle’ …
The wedding dress of Christina Jessie Wylie (nee Bain)
Christina married Thomas Henry Wylie on the 29th December 1915. War-time shortages would have meant that it was more practical to have a dress of a colour which could be worn on other occasions.
It’s Orkney, so there has to be archaeology!
Stackelbrae
Mine Howe
Thinking of Mine Howe makes me wistful now…
I wasn’t aware of the finds from when the Balfour Hospital was being built
These include a ‘Clay spherical object’. I take any opportunity to present Orkney’s ancient spherical objects..
All sorts from the Neolithic Heart of Orkney
And finally, Easter eggs – hand-decorated with Haikus by George MacKay Brown!
This is a selection of what most appealed to me – there’s lots more to see!