Mary’s connection with the Guild of St George was revealed on our visit to Sheffield to see her nature diaries which are held in the Ruskin Collection. Apparently Mary introduced herself to the Guild in the early 1930’s (the first letter from her to the Guild held in the Sheffield archive is dated 1935) keen […]
Just as Melanie told me she had unearthed a Herkomer drawing of Mary in the archive I came across a reference to it in the letters. On Sept 11th, 1941 Mary writes about more things she is sending to the Art Gallery including …”a portrait in pencil – or chalk – of myself by H. […]
Whilst researching horn books I came across an article by W.S. Churchill, ‘Nuremburg Alphabetical Tokens’ in Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, (vol.20, 1902). Churchill talks about traders who worked at the mint in Nuremburg around the mid 16th century. They would make metal counters, usually out of copper or brass with each letter of the […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about value. It’s a common thread of discussion every time we meet. The value of the collection to Mary and the lack of value (or perceived lack of value) the collection has within the Art Gallery currently. I wondered if this was always the case. The letters certainly reveal that […]
This might seem a little trivial but I thought of Mary yesterday whilst shopping. I saw a necklace with lots of miss- matched keys as pendants. One even says Hope on the side of it. Something about it reminded me of her chatelaines too. I wonder what she’d think of her collection used as bling!
Melanie
As part of ongoing work to extend the reach of the Mary Greg collection, students from Manchester Metropolitan University 3Dimensional Design course visited the gallery stores to undertake research for an open ended six week design brief. This video captures the student’s enthusiasm as the wealth of the collection is revealed to them.
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A big thanks to Dr Stuart Eagle who got in touch following the Guild of St George post. Our subsequent email correspondence has revealed some new leads for our research and provided us with some fantastic contacts with The Guild and The Ruskin Review who we hope will help publicise our project. Stuart is about to publish his doctoral thesis “After Ruskin: the social and political legacies of a Victorian Prophet” and was kind enough to forward us his chapter on Ruskin and the Companions of the Guild of St George. He also brought to our attention an article by Mary B Rose “Diversification of Investment by the Greg Family 1800 – 1914” which provides us with background information on the Greg family’s finances. This gives us some insight into Mary’s financial status which of course provided the means to fund her collecting.
Stuart has also recently been to Westmill and forwarded me some images of the church and Mary’s tombstone and memorial tablet which I post here for you to see. This wonderful sharing of knoiwledge is what the project is all about, so if anybody else out there has anything to contribute please do get in touch. Sharon
The church at Westmill, Buntingford, Hertfordshire
Mary and Thomas Tylston Greg Tombstone
Mary and Thomas Tylston Greg Memorial Tablet
John Ruskin, Founder of the Guild of St George
Mary’s connection with the Guild of St George was revealed on our visit to Sheffield to see her nature diaries which are held in the Ruskin Collection. Apparently Mary introduced herself to the Guild in the early 1930’s (the first letter from her to the Guild held in the Sheffield archive is dated 1935) keen to support their causes which she identified as being close to her heart.
The Guild of St George was founded by John Ruskin in the 1870’s as a non-profit making body to “promote the advancement of education and training in the field of rural economy, industrial design and craftsmanship and appreciation of the arts”. Ruskin appealed for donations of land and property which were held in trust and rented out at affordable rents on long leases in order to implement and support his utopian, social ideals. In addition to this he established the St George’s Museum in Sheffield (now part of the Millennium Galleries). He amassed a collection which was intended to be available to the working class to assist “the liberal education of the artisan”, making works of art accessible to the people.
It is clear from reading Mary’s letters to William Batho that she identified strongly with these ideals, but her commitment to this cause was all the more reinforced in the reading of her Will which reveals that she bequeathed a significant number of properties in Westmill (the village in which she lived for many years and location of the family residence, Coles) to the Guild. Her generosity was acknowledged in her Guild status of ‘Companion Extraordinaire’. Mary wrote to the Guild regularly from 1935 till the mid 1940’s and the letters are held in the Sheffield archive, Box GSG21, box 18. She also donated a number of objects to the Guild “…a little portrait and an Italian casket … a circular revolving table with drawers, all sound…”. On the 30th November, 1941 she writes “..I have come to the end of my treasures”.
Her last letter to them dated June 20th, 1945 details her great interest in Ruskin’s influence and the various papers and speeches she has enjoyed on the subject. She was in her 96th year, demonstrating the energy, passion and sharp intellect she maintained throughout her life. An amazing woman! Sharon
Test print next to type.
18 Point Baskerville Type
As I have said before, this project has allowed/encouraged me to try other things.
The hand printed books in the Mary Greg collection enticed me to try out the letterpress room at MMU. The room was “downsized” recently but there is still a good selection of different sized and styles of letters. A wonderful technician called David has lovingly sorted all the type and keeps it all in order.
Setting type is harder than you imagine, to begin with you have to try and work out which way to set it so it doesn’t come out backwards, and the 18 point type I chose is quite tiny to keep in place..I tried to do the number 10..but it was beyond me in the time I had. The letters are kept in place by strips of metal held in place by long magnets
The trays are all set out, with a plan were each letter and space is, so that bit is easy (Thank you David). I decided to put a gap between each number to make the list easier to write on.
All I need to do now is try and finish the metal cannisters that these lists will be stored in.
Hazel
Some test prints of the LIST strips for the list capsules.
I spent my lunch time in the letterpress room trying to print a thin strip of numbers to put inside the list capsules I am making. I used 18 point letters, Baskerville type, and they proved very hard to set.Ideally I would have liked to put gaps between the numbers, but that proved beyond my skill.
I love the lists of objects Mary includes in her letters and the letterpress printed books in the collection. I still hope to print some cards on the printing press of one of Mary Greg’s lists. I think that might take me a while to set up.
Hazel
Over the weekend I did a bit of tidying up on the blog regarding categories and tags, which meant I had to read every post. It was so lovely to read them all and see how the project has developed and grown. It was so interesting and made me think about Mary Greg again (I have missed her!) It was lovely to read how Sharon and Hazel are developing their work and to see the photos from workshops, as well as new users that have left comments on the site. If you have a spare few hours I strongly suggest reading it all. It was brilliant reading about excitement when someone discovered something new about Mary, the objects or those amazing Crompton threads. Jolly good fun.
Melanie
As ever with this project, each visit to the stores reveals a new conundrum! This time it is to do with the sewing box.
sewing box
I have looked at this box before and in some detail but never noticed the small slip of paper concealed in one of the trays.
tray with note
Alex picked it out on this occasion, unfurled it and read
January 21st, 1948
the curious note
Nothing unusual at first glance but increasingly curious when you remember that the box was accessioned in 1922 when it came into the collection. The note couldn’t have been there prior to this date. So presumably the note was put there once the box was in the collection . But who put it there? A curator (is this normal curatorial practice)? There are some initials written after the date, but it’s impossible to make them out. And even more curious, why? What prompted the placing of a note in the box on this particular day? And why has it been left there all these years? Is this another example of curatorial angst, in that once placed in the box the note cannot now be removed because of some unknown, potential narrative? Oh, somebody has to make up a story for the note – it’s a gift!!
To start you off, January 21st, 1948 was a Wednesday, Dinah Shore’s “Buttons and Bows” might have been playing on the radio and George Foreman’s mother was probably in labour! Sharon .
Sarah and Liz exploring the collection with the students
All morning, between the hawking of the crows on the roof and the digital shutterclicks of half a dozen cameras, there have been repeated breathy outbursts of “Ooooh” and “Wow, look at this” and “That’s just beautiful”. The Mary Greg Collection continues to cast its magic on the unsuspecting.
Throughout today and Thursday, students from Manchester Metropolitan University 3D Design course are visiting the gallery stores to begin research for an open ended six week design brief. Along with Sharon, the course tutor, Liz and Alex have given a brief background to the objects before taking the students on a tour of the treasure trove. As each new cupboard is opened or drawer slid out there have been gasps and intakes of breath.
It’s not always easy to fully understand why there’s such genuine wonder expressed as the collection is unfolded but its context surely plays an important part. Housed in steely grey cabinets in a squeaky floored Victorian gallery and surrounded by a mute audience of portraits from the collection hanging on the walls, the objects seem almost magically shrouded from the present, as if locked in some frozen indeterminate past. This is not the modern clinical climate controlled storage facility you might expect, it’s shadowy, mysterious and not somewhere you’d like to find yourself alone at midnight.
Sarah Rainbow, a gallery conservator, guides the students through common sense object handling requirements, the donning of gloves and perching of precious objects on miniature pillows. This all adds to the reverential mystique that the objects seem to accrue.
For the first time in many cases, these objects are being given a level of rapt attention, are being drawn, photographed and written about, being un-shrouded. It will be fascinating to see how each student moves on with their research and what their eventual outcomes will be.
There’s more images from the morning on our flickr pages.
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