Fossils, ships and Victorian entrancements: A trip to Whitby Museum.

Whitby Museum and Art Gallery, Pannett Park, Whitby YO21 1RE

On the 3rd of August 2019, my American friend from university and I took a trip with my family to Whitby. As Museum Students who were just completing their Dissertations, it would seem a missed opportunity not to visit the Museum. Although I have been to Whitby several times, this was a first for the museum. It was certainly not a disappointment.

For those of you who have read my blog post on being a Museum Student Educator for the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow, you will know that there is also quite a display of fossils and minerals in the Hunterian. Therefore, this museum proved a useful site for research into the different types of fossils and other geological artefacts that were commonly found in Britain. Below you can see the fossilized remains of a Plesiosaur, Ichthyosaur and Amonites.

Else where in the museum they had shipping artefacts dedicated to Captain James Cook, the world famous explorer who started his merchant navy career in Whitby. They also had harpoons on display telling the tale of wale hunting. Below you can see pictures of a model of Cook's ship the Endeavour, the ship he took on an expedition where Cook and his crew became the first recorded Europeans to have recorded the Eastern Coastline of Australia. The Moccasins are from Native North America. These would have been made of deer skin or other soft leather and would have been richly decorated with furs and brightly coloured beads. Some types of Moccasin would only have been worn for special occasions, tribal ceremonies, however, they were also the foot wear of hunters, traders and European Settlers. It is possible, that these were given to Cook as a gift.

Perhaps the most remembered object in this small museum though, is the Hand of Glory. The Hand of Glory was a hand taken from a hanged man and cured by a witch or burglar. It came with a candle which was made out of the fat from the corpse with wax and lapland seasame. A burglar would then use the hand, lighting the candle and reciting "Let those who rest more deeply sleep; Let those awake their vigils keep; Oh, Hand of Glory, shed thy light, Direct us to our spoil tonight," when out burgling in the hope that when the candle was lit, the people in the house would not wake up. It would then be put out with milk or blood.

The Hand of Glory

As you can probably tell just by reading this blog post, the Whitby Museum has a multitude of artefacts on display. This is a rather old fashioned way of curating a museum, particularly Victorian museums which were well known for their crammed display cabinets and lengthy texts. This was certainly the feel I got walking around. I would suggest having a good hour or more to fully appreciate everything. Further to this, I could also deduce from the museum typology that I developed whilst writing my Dissertation on public museums that this would come under the category of a public, civic museum. The exhibits were very much designed to celebrate Whitby's history from the prehistoric age, to Cook's exhibitions and the other trades that Whitby was well known for. Whilst it could be argued that Cook is well known internationally, with many of the artefacts from his exhibitions being displayed in museums globally, it is important to note that Whitby also has a museum memorialized to Cook and is a better tourist attraction than the small Yorkshire village of Marton where Cook came from.

Like many of my posts, I would urge those reading to visit the museum for themselves as the purpose of museums today are to allow for individual interpretation. There is so much more that could be added to this blog post, but I would like my readers to post their thoughts!