Posted on 13th Jan
A mini exhibition at the National Civil War Centre, Newark, until March is offering an insight into food and drink preparation through the decades.
Celebrating the display’s location, in the foyer between the museum and Café Nineteen20, the objects all have a catering theme and evoke memories and images of kitchens over the past 100 years.
The exhibition has been a collaborative project as members of the café team were invited to tour the museum stores with Collections and Exhibitions colleagues to help curate the objects featured.
Joanne Brooks, catering supervisor at Café Nineteen20, who chose many of the exhibits, said: “Coming from a long line of homemakers and women passionate about producing home-baking in their daily lives, many of the items in the display have fond memories for me.
“I recall helping both my granny and my mum in the kitchen, using many similar items, some of which have been passed down to me or which I have bought modern versions of over the years.”
Objects featured include tea infusers and caddies, sugar nippers, enamel tea containers, an icing set, and a rotating cake decorating stand. The exhibition gives a real insight into how cooking equipment has evolved and how much more strenuous things we take for granted today used to be, with a hand-driven coffee grinder, a rotary whisk, and a handheld pastry blender among the items included.
There is also a Camp Coffee bottle and a ‘gas-proof’ Mazawattee tea container, while other objects show the changes in cooking habits during wartime such as a tin of powdered egg.
A number of the objects tell unique and personal stories too with a striking silver-plated teapot with a bone handle, given as a wedding present, alongside a Women’s Institute Golden Anniversary teapot stand. There is a Newark cookbook dating from the 1920s to 1930s, featuring recipes sent in from the community including Christmas pudding instructions from Palace Theatre founder Emily Blagg.
Glyn Hughes, Collections and Exhibitions manager, said: “It’s really wonderful to see the collection through other people’s eyes and hear the personal stories which these objects evoke.
“Seeing the enthusiasm people have for these exhibits reminds us how privileged we are to do what we do and inspires us to go on to curate more exhibitions from the collection.
“Some of the objects you can enjoy in this display haven’t been on public view in over 10 years and it’s fantastic that we are enjoying more opportunities to share these.”
The exhibition is open fom now until March.
