Sedgwick Museum

This October half-term holiday the Sedgwick Museum was very pleased to welcome back Marion Leeper for more of her splendid storytelling. This time Marion, from Cambridge Storytellers, shared two magical and educational tales of adventure with children aged 6 and under.

The first storytelling Boy was hugely popular, as Marion narrated the adventures of a prehistoric boy looking for somewhere warm and safe to hide from dangerous animals of all kinds. There was plenty of time to learn about woolly mammoths and sabre-tooth cats as well as exploring the museum galleries’ Ice Age exhibits and drawing prehistoric scenes together (thanks to Holly Carruthers for letting us show her wonderful drawing here).

Boy was followed by The Amazing Mr Darwin, a fantastic story centred around the many marvellous discoveries that Charles Darwin made during his ocean-going voyages in the 1830s. Our storyteller encouraged the children to discover special minerals and fossils hiding inside the fabric landscape of a beautiful textile “story mat” that had been made especially for the purpose. The Darwin story mat has colourful textile coral reefs, volcanoes and oceans with all sorts of secret places to learn about and explore.

Both stories were an exciting and fun opportunity for many children and their families to enjoy learning something new this half-term. We look forward to Marion Leeper returning to the museum – hopefully in summer 2012 – for more of her marvellous tales!

Coinciding with a national programme of “Big Draw” events, the Sedgwick Museum arranged a week of “Amazing Ammonites Drawing Days” during the October half-term holidays.

Several hundred children and their families visited the Sedgwick on the 22nd, 24th, 26th and 28th October to create marvellous ammonites for a special Jurassic sea scene and get involved in other fun drawing and discovery activities. Explorer’s Notebooks were in demand as visitors took pencil in hand to draw their favourite ammonites, dinosaurs and other special specimens that they found while hunting about the museum’s Pre-Cambrian to Ice Age exhibits.

Thanks to all the young geologists and artists who made the Amazing Ammonites drawing festival such a fun and inspiring time! A small selection of images from the week are shown below…

On Monday 24th October the Sedgwick Museum was filled with the mellow and mysterious sounds of gamelan. This musical treat was part of the Festival of Ideas event Access All Archives: Sights and Sounds, where five of the University Museums provided striking backdrops for innovative musical performances running until late in the evening.

The gamelan is an ensemble of Indonesian percussion instruments, comprising a stunning array of bronze gongs, xylophones and drums of various shapes and sizes. Robert Campion of the University of Cambridge Music Department and London’s Southbank gamelan groups masterminded the gamelan repertoire especially for the Sedgwick Museum. He and his fellow musicians played many beautiful pieces in different parts of the museum galleries. Some instruments were hidden away in corners so that the haunting, meditative sounds took visitors by surprise, while others, with accompanying singers, were arranged in the main fossil and mineral galleries where crowds could gather round to experience a rich ensemble of sound. Low lighting and eerie sounds made for a perfect atmosphere as listeners also explored the unique displays of rocks, fossils and minerals of the Sedgwick, many for the first time.

While the gamelan played in the Sedgwick various live bands and electronic compositions were to be heard at the University Museum of Zoology, Fitzwilliam Museum, Scott Polar Museum and Whipple Museum. During the night hundreds of visitors enjoyed exploring the sights and sounds of these museums, and the Sedgwick was pleased to be a part of it.

Special thanks go to Robert Campion and his colleagues from Cambridge and London for bringing the gamelan to the Sedgwick, and also to Ruth Hardie, the tireless organiser of the Access All Archives event as a whole. A big thank you also to the Sedgwick staff and Simon Crowhurst and Verena Dietrich-Bischoff who worked as volunteers throughout the evening, looking after instruments and visitors alike.

The Sedgwick Museum has certainly been inspired to host more musical events in the galleries. Watch this space and our Facebook page for news on such events in the months ahead!

Dr Lyall Anderson will be presenting new insights into the famous petrologist Alfred Harker (1859 – 1939) on Tuesday 25th October, at the Bullard Laboratories in Cambridge.

Dr Anderson’s work has been generously funded by the Friends of the Sedgwick Museum and his presentation on Alfred Harker  is a Friends event, with refreshments at 6.15pm and an engaging talk at 7pm entitled:

Detecting Harker’s Times and Travels: New Insights from the Sedgwick Museum Archive

What are these new insights about? Using thew documents held in the Sedgwick Museum Archive at the Bullard Laboratories in West Cambridge, fresh discoveries about the life and work of renowned petrologist Alfred Harker have been made. His meticulously kept notebooks chart his development as a geologist from undergraduate days at St. John’s College Cambridge. He subsequently worked as a Demonstrator to the Woodwardian Professor Thomas McKenny-Highes, did part-time mapping work on Skye for the Geological Survey of Scotland and during his retirement enjoyed pleasure cruises around the West coast of Scotland in the 1920′s and 30′s.

We are delighted to welcome Cambridge Storytellers’ Marion Leeper back to the Sedgwick Museum this October half-term! She will be running two wonderful storytelling sessions on Thursday 27th October for children age 6 and under. Read on for more details about the stories and how to book your free place today.

“Boy” – 10:15 to 11:15

Our first storytelling is a magical tale of a boy in prehistoric times who goes on an adventure trying to find a place to keep warm and safe from dangerous animals!

“The Amazing Mr Darwin” – 11:45 – 12:45

Charles Darwin

This exciting storytelling is a chance to travel the world with Charles Darwin, helping him to collect and investigate fossils, rocks and minerals that he finds on his voyages.

Places are limited for both of these special storytelling events. To book your free place please email Dr Chloë Cyrus-Kent at cc307@cam.ac.uk, phone 01223 766079 or call the main Sedgwick Museum office on 01223 333446. Thank you!

During the October half-term school holidays, the Sedgwick Museum will be running FREE “Amazing Ammonites Drawing Days” for budding artists and geologists on four separate dates. Come along to design your own ammonite, draw fabulous fossils in your special Explorer’s Notebook and other fun activities…

Amazing Ammonites Drawing Days will be happening on the following dates:

• Saturday 22nd October from 11:00 – 15:00
• Monday 24th October from 10:00 – 13:00
• Wednesday 26th October from 10:00 – 13:00
• Friday 28th October from 10:00 – 13:00

Watch our Blog and Facebook page for updates…

We look forward to welcoming you to an Amazing Ammonites Drawing Day soon!

On Saturday 24^th September the Sedgwick Museum will be celebrating Mary Anning Day. Mary Anning (1799 – 1847) was a pivotally important fossil collector in the 19^th century, and Mary Anning Day marks 200 years since her famous discovery of the first ichthyosaur fossil in Dorset. Come along to the Sedgwick between 10:00 and 16:00 on the 24^th September for special events, exhibits of key specimens discovered by the remarkable Mary Anning and correspondence and sketches relating to her legendary findings.

She Shells Sea Shells: Mary Anning storytelling for children at 11:00

From 11:00 to 12:30 we have an event called “She Sells Shells on the Seashore” with Cambridge Storytellers’ Marion Leeper. This event is a wonderful opportunity to meet Mary Anning, the dinosaur hunter, and help her look for fossils from the bottom of the Jurassic sea. It is most suitable for children aged 6 to 11. Please contact Chloe on cc307@cam.ac.uk or phone the Sedgwick Museum office on 01223 333446 to book your child a place! There is a charge of £2 per child and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Mary Anning Day tours at 13:00, 14:00 and 15:00

At 13:00, 14:00 or 15:00 on Saturday 24th September, join us for an informal tour around the Mary Anning specimens on show at the Sedgwick Museum and hear a little about her extraordinary life as a fossil collector in the 1800s. The Museum is honoured to house several notable fossils discovered by Mary, including both original material and casts of ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and beautiful sea lilies. Tours last approximately 15 minutes and are suitable for older children and adults.