Final Reflections on London’s Urban Jungle @ The Horniman Museum and Gardens

I just wanted to round off quickly on London’s Urban Jungle which finished back in February by saying what a fantastic experience it was and how grateful I am to those who went and offered such positive feedback.

London's Urban Jungle © Elle Larsson

When I decided that I wanted to pursue an exhibition for my final MA project it soon dawned on me what a difficult process this would be. But there was a ray of hope and I am so grateful to the team at the Horniman Museum and Gardens for seeing potential in the idea and for scheduling it into their temporary exhibition programme for 2015/16.

London's Urban Jungle © Elle Larsson

I learnt a great deal throughout the process but most of all, achieved what I always hope to in doing research, and that’s inviting public engagement.  I am after all a public historian!

As a final farewell on this subject I offer you a link to a final piece I produced for the Horniman Museum website which can be found here, alongside some great pictures, hopefully showing how the exhibition tied in which the Horniman’s natural history collections - http://www.horniman.ac.uk/collections/stories/jamrachs-animal-legacy

It was a fantastic way to conclude my MA work, but this is not the end for my research on Jamrach so watch this space! 

London's Urban Jungle - A Blog

Check out the blog I wrote to promote London's Urban Jungle, on now at the Horniman Museum and Gardens - http://horniman.ac.uk/get_involved/blog/londons-urban-jungle

More to come in the next few weeks so watch this space!

Thank you to those who have been already/tweeted/given feedback it really means a lot! 

London’s Urban Jungle @ The Horniman Museum & Gardens

I am so pleased to be able to say that this past weekend London’s Urban Jungle, an exhibition I’ve curated together with the Horniman Museum & Gardens, opened.

The idea for the project began two years ago and was closely tied up with the work I did for my MA, and one thing led to another and here we are - it’s now open for you all to go and see.

My hope is that it will introduce people to a side of history we don’t often think about – the history of the exotic animal trade – where it began, who was involved and what impact it had on Victorian society. It will also, I hope, bring Charles Jamrach to a new audience. He’s a fascinating character in London’s history and there are some interesting stories to be told about his business, some of which feature in the exhibition.

It’s on until the 21^st February 2016 so please go if you can – here’s a link to the exhibits webpage and do keep an eye on it as we’re hoping to add a few bits and pieces over the coming weeks.

http://www.horniman.ac.uk/visit/current-exhibitions

And please tweet – it would be great to hear what you think about it! What questions has it prompted? What stories have you heard? It would be great to get a conversation going if we can.

I hope you find it as interesting to view as I did researching it! The Horniman Museum is a great place to spend an afternoon!