Museum of London halfway through move plans

The Museum of London reports that its team is now halfway through moving its collection of more than 10,000 objects to its new premises in Smithfield. The new London Museum is due to open in 2026. [@MuseumofLondon]

Women’s Museum opens in Barking

The Women’s Museum is a new space celebrating the stories, heritage and role of women in Barking and Dagenham. Its first exhibition, An Idea of Life, looking at Barking Abbey through artefacts and modern artworks, opens from Thurs-Sat each week from 14 March. [@NewTownCulture_]

British Library explores the history of writing

Writing: Making Your Mark (26 April – 27 August 2019) is a landmark British Library exhibition, which spans 5,000 years across the globe, exploring one of humankind’s greatest achievements – the act of writing. Beginning with the origins of writing in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and the Americas, the exhibition will chart the evolution of writing … Read more

Dark tourism, darker history: exploring museums of crime

If you want to know more about your criminal ancestors, there are an increasing number of museums catering to your needs, as Nell Darby explores. Dark tourism is the act of travelling to sites that are associated with death, tragedy or crime. As such, dark tourism has been increasingly analysed by academics, drawing parallels between … Read more

New exhibition on the history of caring for older people

A new exhibition at the Royal College of Nursing shows how the way we care for older people has changed over the last 200 years, shifting from workhouses, institutions and care homes and into the 21st century. ‘Aspects of Age’ starts with the problematic history of admitting older people into workhouses, through to changes in hospital … Read more

The Bethnal Green tragedy

By Nell Darby. The construction of Bethnal Green tube station, as part of the Central Line extension, was still incomplete in March 1943, although the tunnels had been largely finished. Since 1940, the station had been used as an air raid shelter, after being requisitioned by the government. Particularly during the first Blitz in 1940, … Read more