Digitising the Montague Collection
In March, the team from The University of Exeter’s Digital Humanities Lab digitised objects from the Leopold Montague collection of of antiquities from Greece, Rome, Egypt and the Near East.
Portrait of a Man in a Red Suit
Senior Collections Officer Julien Parsons explains why RAMM has decided to give the painting formerly known as ‘Portrait of an African’ the new title of ‘Portrait of a Man in a Red Suit’.
A collection of Maya clothes
In April 2023, RAMM commissioned a film about the colourful clothing made by Indigenous Maya weavers. Three women from the town of Santa Catarina Palopó talk about the importance of preserving their weaving practices, their heritage and their identity. The film reflects a Guatemala connection of traditional Maya clothing within the museum’s ethnographic collection. Examples of these clothes can be seen by visitors in the new World Cultures displays. The Ancestral Voices project was supported by the Designation Development Fund, Arts Council England.
Gerald Durrell – A Zoo In My Luggage
Simon Tonge blogs about discovering a specimen at RAMM collected by world-renowned naturalist Gerald Durrell.
What can portraits tell us about black history?
This guest blog from Melissa Percival, Associate Dean of Global, and Professor of French, Art History and Visual Culture at the University of Exeter accompanies RAMM’s ‘In Plain Sight’ exhibition.
Collections review: hummingbirds
Museum volunteer Simon Tonge spent December and January working on RAMM’s hummingbird collection. RAMM has almost 500 tiny specimens, some of which are very special. He has checked every specimen against our records as well as checking their current scientific identification. Simon shares his findings in this blog.
Important chequered skipper butterfly records at RAMM
Jamie Wildman blogs about his work on the chequered skipper butterfly and the discovery of very significant specimens at RAMM.
Charles Tucker: Poverty and Charity in 1920s Exeter
Guest blog by Julia Neville, of the ‘West Quarter in the 1920s Research Project’. Julia investigates the poor conditions of Exeter’s slums in the twentieth century.
Seeing Double: ‘A Devonshire Valley’ Versions 1 and 2 by Robert Polhill Bevan
In this guest blog, Dr Andrew Jackson compares Robert Polhill Bevan’s two version of ‘A Devonshire Valley’ at RAMM and Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.
Quagga hoof – not as simple as it seems
RAMM’s collection includes a hoof possibly from a Quagga. Is this really a Quagga hoof and is it really extinct? Simon Tonge explains.