nationalmuseumsscotland: Recent Episodes
nationalmuseumsscotland
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The family of Ann Paludan has generously shared an audio recording of Ann talking about her interests and life experiences. Ann was interviewed by her friend and neighbour Eric Griffiths for nearly 15 hours about her life and work between October 2012 to January 2013. This oral history section has distilled these recordings into 45 minutes of linked segments which showcase key moments in her life that inspired and drove her in the field of historical sculptures in China.
Ann had an international outlook from an early age and a proficiency in languages. While living in Beijing in the 1970s she was determined to learn Chinese and studied at the Beijing Languages Institute, which had just reopened after the Cultural Revolution. She was part of a small group of foreigners admitted to the Institute for the first time.
Ann and her husband Janus had a unique opportunity to travel throughout China when Janus was the Danish Ambassador in Beijing. They spent many happy times at the Ming Tombs just outside Beijing, picnicking and birdwatching, and these trips awakened Ann’s interest in researching the statuary there. This interest was further stimulated by frequent trips back to China after she left the country. In these recordings, Ann describes the Han and Tang tombs around Xi’an and she talks about the extraordinary experience of encountering tomb statuary standing silently in fields, unheeded for decades.
When stationed at their next diplomatic post in Cairo, Ann started to write her first book, The Imperial Ming Tombs. She had difficulty living in Cairo due to the dust and the Danish Foreign Office suggested she lived apart from Janus. Ann quotes Janus’ loving words “Ann is like a bird with a broken wing, where she cannot fly I cannot live”. At their final diplomatic posting in Reykjavik Ann proofread The Imperial Ming Tombs (1981).
On Janus’ retirement, Ann and Janus settled in Cumbria, northwest England and Ann continued to write; The Chinese Spirit Road was published in 1991. Ann’s final book, Chinese Sculpture (2006) encompassed “everything she knew” about Chinese statuary and sculpture. This keynote book presented a different perspective on Chinese sculpture from previous accounts in that it went beyond sculpture’s associations with Buddhism. Finally, Ann talks about the daunting adventures of lecturing at SOAS and in the United States.
Credit line: Audio courtesy of the family of Ann Paludan.
This is the recording of a panel discussion in which guests discuss the legacies of British archaeological practices in Egypt. The discussion was chaired by journalist, writer and broadcaster Samira Ahmed and featured curator Margaret Maitland and Egypt’s dispersed Heritage project researchers Heba Abd el Gawad and Alice Stevenson. This was recorded at National Museum of Scotland on 22 February 2020.
Broadcaster Win Scutt interviews geochemist Dr Chris Standish about gold and the issues surrounding the sourcing of archaeological gold artefacts. He discusses results from the analysis of Early Bronze Age gold artefacts from Ireland and Scotland, and how Cornish gold was exported to Ireland from around 2200 BC to be made into magnificent collars called lunulae.
Dr Chris Standish is a Research Fellow in Archaeology at the University of Southampton.
Win Scutt is a Properties Curator (West) for English Heritage curating sites from Cornwall to Cheshire.
https://www.nms.ac.uk/prehistoricgold #PrehistoricGold
During March 2018, British-Nigerian historian and BAFTA award-winning presenter and filmmaker David Olusoga visited the National Museum of Scotland as part of the BBC’s Civilisations Festival.
Inspired by Kenneth Clark’s ground-breaking BBC series Civilisation from 1969, BBC Two’s nine-part series Civilisations introduces a new generation to great masterworks of beauty and ingenuity.
In this talk, David Olusoga, one of the three presenters of the new series, asks ‘can TV still do that magical thing of bringing people to a place where they believe history and art is for them?’
Jean Jenkins singing The Cold Coast of Greenland. Zelfana, Algeria. 1970. by nationalmuseumsscotland
Hear Diana Gabaldon, author of the best-selling Outlander books, in conversation with thriller writer Lin Anderson. Visiting the National Museum of Scotland in advance of the opening of our major exhibition, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites, Diana discusses the origins of Outlander, which revolves around the Jacobite challenges. She also talks about her process, the Starz television series of Outlander, and how she brings historical characters to life.
Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites runs at the National Museum of Scotland from 23 June - 12 November 2017. Find out more about the exhibition and download a transcript of this recording at www.nms.ac.uk/jacobites.
These music samples come from the archive of the music collector and museum curator Jean Jenkins (1922-1990). During her career, Jean travelled from Bali to Mongolia, from Pakistan to Ghana, learning about musical traditions, collecting musical instruments and recording musicians.
These music samples come from the archive of the music collector and museum curator Jean Jenkins (1922-1990). During her career, Jean travelled from Bali to Mongolia, from Pakistan to Ghana, learning about musical traditions, collecting musical instruments and recording musicians.
These music samples come from the archive of the music collector and museum curator Jean Jenkins (1922-1990). During her career, Jean travelled from Bali to Mongolia, from Pakistan to Ghana, learning about musical traditions, collecting musical instruments and recording musicians.
Our Next of Kin exhibition, which is open at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle until March 2015, reveals profound personal stories of the separation and loss experienced by Scottish families and by communities with loved ones fighting abroad during the First World War. Find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/nextofkin.
Our Next of Kin exhibition, which is open at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle until March 2015, reveals profound personal stories of the separation and loss experienced by Scottish families and by communities with loved ones fighting abroad during the First World War. Find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/nextofkin.
Our Next of Kin exhibition, which is open at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle until March 2015, reveals profound personal stories of the separation and loss experienced by Scottish families and by communities with loved ones fighting abroad during the First World War. Find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/nextofkin.
Our Next of Kin exhibition, which is open at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle until March 2015, reveals profound personal stories of the separation and loss experienced by Scottish families and by communities with loved ones fighting abroad during the First World War. Find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/nextofkin.
Our Next of Kin exhibition, which is open at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle until March 2015, reveals profound personal stories of the separation and loss experienced by Scottish families and by communities with loved ones fighting abroad during the First World War. Find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/nextofkin.
Our Next of Kin exhibition, which is open at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle until March 2015, reveals profound personal stories of the separation and loss experienced by Scottish families and by communities with loved ones fighting abroad during the First World War. Find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/nextofkin.
Our Next of Kin exhibition, which is open at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle until March 2015, reveals profound personal stories of the separation and loss experienced by Scottish families and by communities with loved ones fighting abroad during the First World War. Find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/nextofkin.
Curator Dr Nick Fraser talks about the Mammoths of the Ice Age exhibition, showing at National Museum of Scotland from 24 January - 20 April 2014. Find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/mammoths
Lee Randall talks to Maureen Barrie, Exhibition Officer and David Forsyth, Senior Curator of Scottish Social History and the Diaspora, about the Mary, Queen of Scots exhibition, which runs at National Museum of Scotland from 28 June - 17 November 2013. Find out why Mary's name resounds through history, and discover what's in store in this dramatic new exhibition. For more information on the exhibition visit www.nms.ac.uk/mary.
This audio recording is a first-hand account from Ken Reith, a Royal Navy veteran who served in the Arctic convoys. The recording was made for the Arctic Convoys exhibition at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle. The exhibition, which sheds new light on the convoy campaign and celebrates the courage of those who took part, runs from May 2013-March 2013. You can find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/arcticconvoys.
This audio recording is a first-hand account from 'Spud' Campbell, a United States Navy veteran who served in the Arctic convoys. The recording was made for the Arctic Convoys exhibition at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle. The exhibition, which sheds new light on the convoy campaign and celebrates the courage of those who took part, runs from May 2013-March 2013. You can find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/arcticconvoys.
This audio recording is a first-hand account from 'Jock' Dempster, a Merchant Navy veteran who served in the Arctic convoys. The recording was made for the Arctic Convoys exhibition at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle. The exhibition, which sheds new light on the convoy campaign and celebrates the courage of those who took part, runs from May 2013-March 2013. You can find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/arcticconvoys.
Journalist Lee Randall talks to Lovemore Mazibuko, Acting Director at Museums of Chichiri, Malawi, and Dr Sarah Worden, Curator of African Collections at National Museums Scotland, about the life and legacy of David Livingstone. The free exhibition Dr Livingstone, I presume? which examines the achievements of and myths surrounding the famous Scottish missionary and explorer, runs at National Museum of Scotland until 7 April 2013. Find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/livingstone
Journalist Lee Randall talks to Godfrey Evans, Principle Curator of European Applied Art at National Museums Scotland, about the fabulous collections amassed by Catherine the Great during her reign, superlative examples of which can be seen in the exhibition Catherine the Great: An Enlightened Empress at National Museum of Scotland. Presented in partnership with the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, this unique exhibition is showing only in Edinburgh, from 13 July - 21 October 2012. To find out more, visit www.nms.ac.uk/catherine.
Journalist Lee Randall talks to Exhibition Officer Maureen Barrie, the driving force behind Catherine the Great: An Enlightened Empress, about Catherine's origins as an obscure German princess, her rise to power and her life and lovers as Empress of all the Russias. Presented in partnership with the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, this unique exhibition is showing only at National Museum of Scotland, from 13 July - 21 October 2012. To find out more, visit www.nms.ac.uk/catherine