About us

Julien Parsons:

When you come to RAMM, I think you probably think about the museum as a whole but, in fact, it's made up of lots of different parts. I'm Julien Parsons. I'm Head of Collections at RAMM, and I've been lucky enough to work at RAMM since 2004. So I've seen a few of the changes that we're going to see today and how they fit together.

The Royal Albert Memorial Museum is just over 150 years old, and it was created as a memorial to Prince Albert. So we're standing now in the original foyer of the Albert Memorial Institution, which was the place where RAMM originated.

It was set up originally as both a museum and a library, as well as a college and a school of art. And as these different functions have moved out of the building, so the museum was able to expand its collections and its galleries into something like we know the museum as it is today.

When you walk around, you'll see a mixture of different architectural styles: some that relate back to the original building, some to other extensions in the 19th century, and some to the redevelopment in the 21st century.

You can see behind me the back wall of the original museum that was finished in 1868. So you can see how small it was, and it's literally nothing more than the foyer and a gallery space.

Standing in the courtyard space is one of the great chances to see the old and the new meeting. So, in this case, we've got, if you look up, you can see the original 1868 wall meeting the modern redevelopment of the courtyard. And it's that sense of the old and new coming together, I think, which is one of the great things about the building.

So this gallery we're standing in now was built in 1895 and has a wonderful Gothic coved ceiling. The original architectural style that was chosen for RAMM was Gothic Revival, and that's its very distinctive façade. But as architects added galleries to the building, they also used Gothic styles. So when you walk through the World Cultures gallery, if you get a chance, have a look up and look at the wonderful ceiling, as well as the fantastic displays.

Walking round RAMM, you can see a lot of the original architecture still surviving, but it's very rare to see the original displays. So, what we have behind us, the Sladen gallery, is one fantastic example of a gallery that is virtually unchanged since it was installed before the First World War. It contains a collection from Percy Sladen of starfish and related creatures. It's one of the best collections in the UK, and it's still shown in its original cases. It's a real gem.

So we're now standing in the Ancient Worlds gallery with antiquities on either side of us. But lots of people who visited RAMM in the past, in the 20th century, will know this as the Gerald viewing gallery because Gerald used to be down there, his neck stretching up, and you could look at him almost eye to eye.

So this is Gerald's new home, and he's been here since the end of 2011. The only way that we could move Gerald from his previous location to the new location was actually through the ceiling of the gallery in a crate. So that was a really important and momentous time for the museum, just before it reopened.

Gerald's been a star at RAMM since he arrived back in 1919. And when the collection of large mammals arrived, they had a real problem because they just didn't have space for them all. So temporary accommodation was built at the back of RAMM, known as the Peel Hut after the collector, and that lasted for about 50 years.

And it really just shows the fact that the museum was always expanding its collections, always getting more and more, and it just ran out of space. And as you walk around RAMM, you'll see the way that the space has been modified and used through the generations to kind of cope with the amount of the collections, the wealth and the rich of the collections.

So we're now standing in the Garden Entrance, which is the most recent era of changes to the museum. This was part of the redevelopment that opened in 2011. So, by the end of the 20th century, the museum was showing signs of its age, and so an ambitious project started to refurbish it, to make additions to it, but to make sure that we didn't lose the Victorian spirit and the Victorian architecture. So what happened was a moulding, a marrying, of the old and the new, and I think you can see that best in the new entrance.

As part of the new development, it wasn't just about refurbishing the old spaces. It was about creating new spaces as well, because one of the key things that we wanted is to provide people with changing exhibitions and new content. So the building of this space, the new Gallery 20, was key to the redevelopment as a way for people to come to RAMM and always be entertained and enjoy new content.

As you can see, it's a complicated story and there is a mix of different styles. But that's what I love about it. That's one of the great charms of RAMM. You can see this story of the building as it evolves, and I'm sure it will continue to evolve over the next 150 years.

Julien Persons takes a walk through the museum and talks about the building’s architecture and how the museum’s displays have changed over time.

Morwena Stephens:

So a conservator helps make objects more accessible to the public by making them able to withstand display in the museum.

I'm Morwena Stephens and I'm a conservator based here at RAMM.

Conservation is really about preserving the collections in the best ways possible. And a large part of our work is actually something we call preventive conservation or collections care. So trying to make sure that things don't deteriorate.

And, as a textile conservator, that's something that I come across a lot in the South West of England because we have very damp and mild conditions. There are a lot of carpet beetle and clothes moth, and their larvae really can cause a huge amount of damage to wool, fur and feathers.

So this dress was cleaned first using a dental vacuum – so very controlled, light suction. And then the areas of damage have been encased in a very fine net to prevent further deterioration and loss. So there's just a very fine net stitched across the whole of the split silk lining.

And then the cuffs were rather grey and grubby-looking, and so they've been wet-cleaned and that released a kind of yellow and grey soiling. And then where some of the border was detached, that's been restitched back into place, using a very fine curved beading needle and a very fine thread.

Another important part of the work has been preparing the mannequin. So, we start off with a papier-mâché mannequin, which is smaller than the dress because obviously it's important that we don't put any strain on the dress.

So, for the 18th century, a dress like this, an open robe, would be worn with a stomacher, and unfortunately the original stomacher wasn't in a condition to be used. So we've recreated a stomacher out of acid-free card and silk that's been dyed in the museum.

Dresses at that period would have a relatively flat front, but quite large hips. And this is achieved through use of net to create volume, some boning in the base petticoat, but then something we call pocket hoops, and they are worn underneath the net petticoats. We then put a top petticoat of silk over all the other underlayers.

And similarly, the sleeve supports are covered in silk to make sure that they slide into the garment without catching.

More complex costumes like this very fine, high-status, and expensive costume – what I'm aware of is all the different people who have contributed to it. So there's obviously the designer designing the silk fabric, there's the weavers weaving that fabric, the dyers.

So, on this dress, for instance, all the trimmings really match the colours in the fabric, and so that involves a lot of people with a lot of skills coming together to produce everything that makes up the garment.

Occasionally, some damage will occur when things are on loan. So here there's been a small amount of damage where some beading has come loose. So these are Native American moccasins from the World Cultures collection at RAMM. We have the hide, which would be Indigenous, but traded materials. So traded wool, which could well be from the West Country, particularly this fine red broadcloth, and then glass beads possibly from Bohemia. Fortunately, all the material is here, and so I will look at what kind of thread to use and how to anchor the stitches and then reinstate the beading.

So when I visit museums and see costume on display, one thing I'm drawn to is the costume and the fabric, the textures, the colours. And those were some of the factors that drew me into textile conservation in the first place.

So I actually studied psychology for my first degree, but realised I was especially interested in textiles. I really love conservation because every project is different. Sometimes we have to deal with the less savoury aspects, like sweat deterioration and so on. But at the same time, you really sense that these were used by people who've lived generations ago, and that's very exciting to be able to bring us closer to the stories that the costumes and objects can tell.

Morwena Stephens explains how RAMM’s conservation team work on conserving delicate items in the textiles collection, and reveals their specialist skills and tricks of the trade.