My first London Musical!

After our tour of the National Maritime Museum, I had to rush across the city to pick up my ticket to see Les Miserables.  I had to figure out how to get clear across town in a fairly short amount of time. My friend Sarah and I took the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) under the river to meet up with the underground. The stairs down to the train felt as if they just ket going and going. We got lost figuring out where the underground station was in Canary Wharf because it turned out to be different than the DLR station.  Sarah got off a few stops before I had to change lines again, so I was left on my own to navigate this big city.

As I walked out of my train, the intercom started blaring about someone trying to go through the Emergency Exit door and that they were trapped until the police came. It was crazy, and I wish I could have seen the results of that mishap, but I had places to be!

I finally made it to Liecester Square and just had to wander a bit until I found Shaftsbury Avenue and the Queen's Theatre.  Thankfully my wandering only lasted for a few minutes, because the Les Miserables sign was big enough that I could have seen it from miles away. It was like a beacon guiding me home! Wow, that was cheesy.

After all of my hurrying, I ended up at the theatre an hour before the show, and they weren't letting people in yet. I decided to run across the street to a little cafe and get a bottle of water since I hadn't eaten anything for lunch.  By this time I was just so giddy about figuring out how to use the tube by myself and with confidence! I am only sad that I missed out on seeing more of Greenwich, because by that evening, everyone that stayed said it was a really neat place.

The musical was magnificent. I have seen it many times in the states, but there's just something about seeing a musical where the first English production was performed--granted, not in the same theatre...but in the same city at least!  The cast was amazing and, though I could only see the bottom half of the set, it also seemed just magnificent!  I was in tears at the end, mostly because I can never see Les Mis without crying. All in all, a wonderful performance, and I won't ever regret seeing it in LONDON! Eep :)

A Tall Ship and a Star...

This morning we took the Thames Clipper boat along the River Thames to Greenwich. I didn't get a picture of the boat or on the boat, because I have horrid motion sickness, but thankfully I made it without incident and all was well!  Here's a picture of the boat I found online:

We had a tour of the National Maritime Museum Archives and the Caird Library.  The guides split us into two groups, and while one went on a tour of the actual library and archive, the other stayed behind and got to view some of the treasures they pulled out of the archives to show us; then we switched places.

The library was a really neat space to see. They had technology available for researchers to view ship plans that had been digitized. Our guide pulled up a couple ship plans for us to see how it worked, and it was really neat to see how digitization and touch screen technology can be utilized in all types of libraries and archives. 

I took a picture of the library stats that they had displayed on the wall; firstly because I found it interesting to see what they highlight as important parts of their collection (and these parts definitely are important), and secondly because I found it fascinating and wonderful that they share this information with the public.  

The library's reading and ordering system is very similar to the British Library, in that you need a readers ticket so you can pre-order items to view when you visit.  The Caird Library offers a one day ticket and a three year ticket, depending on what users need to access.

One thing I have continually been amazed by when visiting libraries and archives in London is the fact that most of these libraries have been completely modernized and forward-thinking in their technology, while still holding on to the history of the building and the location they are in. The Maritime Museum library and archive was no different. I was very impressed by the technology they had in the way of security, digitization, and access for researchers.

Next, we switched places with the second group and sat down to look at some of the specific archival pieces they pulled.  Many of these were very interesting to look at, but I found myself most fascinated by the signal book of the U.S. Frigate Chesapeake from 1813. We were told that these signal books typically had a weighted spine so that if attacked, these books could be thrown overboard to protect the secrets.  This one was taken instead of destroyed, and the entire fleet had to change their signals.  Here is the catalog record of this book, if you want to see more information!

I almost forgot!  If you were curious about the title of this post, here's a picture of a quote on the wall in the National Maritime Museum. I thought it was just so moving! If you have time, you should definitely look up the whole poem.

"Sea Fever" by John Masefield, 1902

St Paul's Cathedral Library

The library at St. Paul's was one of the visits I was most looking forward to on this trip. I had read many of the blogs from last years' students and they all mentioned how amazing St. Paul's Cathedral library was.  This was our afternoon visit, after the Barbican. We met on the steps of St. Paul's for a group picture, then headed inside to meet with Joseph Wisdom, the librarian. Mr. Wisdom was a wonderful guide, and we could all tell how much he loved his job and how much he loved working in such a beautiful and historic place.  He took us up a long flight of stairs to the floor above the main part of the cathedral. It definitely felt as if we were in an attic of some sort, but the treasures that Mr. Wisdom had stored up there were just amazing.

We were told that the cathedral was meant to have had two libraries when it was first built, and before he took us to the actual library, Mr. Wisdom showed us the room where the other library was to have been built. In this room was a large model of what Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, envisioned for the cathedral.

"Wren's Great Model, 1673-74, in the Trophy Room"

 After we saw the room that was supposed to have been another library, Mr. Wisdom took us to see the actual library.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Here's another picture from the St. Paul's library, as we weren't allowed to take pictures inside:

St. Paul's Cathedral Library

According to the library's website, most of the original materials in the library were destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and in order to replenish the library, the commissioners for rebuilding the cathedral bought individual books, collections, and sometimes even entire libraries from widows of deceased clergy.  Most of the books that we saw in the library are original to the library's replenishing.

Mr Wisdom told us that the library has about 150 users a year, as it is technically the private library of the Dean of Chapter. However, as Mr. Wisdom told us, it is open to anyone who has a good reason to use it.  

Barbican Library

Our first visit on Tuesday was the Barbican Library, the City of London's "leading public lending library."  After our visit on Thursday to the British Library, it was a surprise to visit such a large public library, where the materials are freely available for patrons to browse.

Within the Barbican complex, the library has the main library, a music library, and a children's library.  During our tour, we were able to talk to the librarians for each of these sections.  Geraldine, the Adult Lending Librarian and our guide, took us first to visit the children's library.  I have never worked in a public library, but I have worked in an elementary school, so I was very interested in seeing how both public libraries and UK children's libraries organized their collections and provided activities and programs for the children who visited.   

Amanda, the children's services librarian, spoke with us about the services the library offers for children.  The children's library is a separate library for children aged 0-14 years. They can borrow up to 12 items free of charge.  They organize their fiction materials by age group: 5-9, 10-12, and Teen.  Their nonfiction is arranged by the Dewey system, and they also have graphic novel and audiobooks sections.

The children's library serves 6-7 schools within the City of London area, by setting up class visits, reading groups, and reading mentoring.  The library also works with the teachers in these schools by providing a lending arrangement, where the teachers can borrow a section of books on certain subjects for a semester for their students to use for projects and assignments.

The next area we visited was the Music Library.  According to Richard, the Music Librarian, "London is the most musical city in the world."  The music library was opened in 1983 and is one of 2 remaining music libraries in London, with the other being at Westminster.  In their collection, they have DVDs for visual musicals, operas, and concerts, two keyboards with headphones that patrons can book free of charge for 1 hour.

The music library has about 9000 books that cover all styles of music. They provide patrons with study carrels and listening booths. We weren't allowed to take pictures of patrons using the library, and there was one in the listening booths as we passed. He was practicing conducting while listening to a piece of music. It was really interesting to see that these services are being used as they are meant to be!

My favorite part of the music library was the huge collection of scores.  They had scores for every genre and almost every artist you could think of.  While we were listening to Richard, I noticed right next to me was the musical section! See if you can recognize some of these musicals! 

For any of my lovely readers who are a little confused about what I mean when I say "City of London" versus "London," please watch this video! It is explained easily and with funny drawings.

London Archaeological Archives and Research Center

Museum of London Archaeology

Monday was our next class period.  We visited the London Archaeological Archives and Research Center (LAARC) to see how they archive and process artifacts, and to see their archive rooms.  The LAARC is the third building of the Museum of London group, and is mainly a storage area for the artifacts that will eventually end up being displayed in the Museum.  There are 10 kilometers of shelving in the building, and millions of individual artifacts being stored. There is a total of over 200,000 boxes which each will have 50-100 individual bits of archaeology within them.

The LAARC does not organize its artifacts by a certain system, but rather stores it by the year of the archaeology project. We walked through the storage area and the shelves just keep going and going.

What I found most interesting about the archaeology projects was that every time a new building is going to be erected in London, archaeologists are called in to excavate the area for any finds. They have to sample the soil and look for any artifacts in the area. It can cause the building process to take quite a bit longer, but the results can be truly fascinating. 

Our guide showed us a few artifacts to give us a glimpse into what might be found on an excavation. Many of the objects he showed us were very old and our guide told us that most of the time the archaeologists and archivists don't actually know the use for much of the things they find.  They can guess and interpret by looking at the time period and the things found with each object, but most interpretations are just that.  Our guide also told us how they can determine diet, wealth, culture, and industry just by examining bones. 

After he showed us some specific artifacts, our guide took us into a few storage rooms to show just how many objects they have stored in the LAARC. We had a peek inside the ceramics and pottery store room, as well as the toys and household store room. We were able to take pictures inside the ceramics and pottery room, as you will see below, but not in the toy room. 

Our guide definitely saved the best for last. The toy and house room was just amazing. They had one of what seemed liked every game ever made. We were able to see games and toys that we had when we were kids, as well as some that were much much older than all of us.  They also had household objects from historic and non-historic houses in the room, including toilets, sinks, televisions, and almost any other object you could think of related to a house.  The best object in the room was the old switchboard from Buckingham Palace. Here's a picture I found online:

Buckingham Palace Switchboard - Flickr