3 SEPTEMBER 1999
VISITOR RESPONSE: OBJECTS OF COMMEMORATION
PROTOTYPING RESEARCH REPORT 6
Date of interviews : 29 July 1999
Dates of observation : 20, 23 & 30 July 1999
Period during which exhibit in place for the collection of visitor comments : 9 July to 5 August 1999
Brief for evaluation
The Museum needs to assess how the nature of the Visitor Response question changes the nature of the response in this type of activity, in order to develop guidelines for the wording of this type of question.
This piece of research is about the content rather than the design. We may prototype the housing at a later stage.
Description of prototype and testing situation
Objects commemorating Nelson were displayed in a small case next to the activity in the Best of British Gallery. The objects were two jugs and a snuff box. Labels describing the objects, and one introducing the notion of commemoration, were placed in the case.
Initially a lectern with the response sheets, a pencil, and a binder containing previous responses was positioned next to the case. A box for collecting responses was provided on a small trolley next to the lectern. The visitor response sheet was headed ‘Objects of commemoration’, followed by a question asking visitors what commemorative items they collected.
Because of a low response rate, the set-up was changed to a table with stools, on which the collecting box, pencil, response sheets, and binder of previous responses were placed. Visitors could not view the objects in the case when seated. The response sheet was also changed so that there was more information about why the objects in the case were commemorative, as well as the invitation to do the activity. A label asking ‘Do you have any commemorative items?’ was added to the posting box.
At first the responses from visitors were typed up before placing in the binder but as the response rate was slow it was decided to photocopy responses so that the binder contained copies of the hand-written contributions of visitors. This was done because experience elsewhere has indicated that hand-written contributions are more likely to arouse visitor interest and thus further contributions.
A small sample was interviewed with regard to their preference for three alternative titles: ‘Objects of commemoration’, ‘What commemorative items do you own?’ and ‘Do you collect memorabilia?’. They were asked ‘Which title would be most likely to encourage you to write a contribution to our visitor file about our visitors’ own objects of commemoration or memorabilia?’.
The activity was observed for three hours in order to assess interest in the activity.
The content of visitors’ written responses was analysed to ascertain whether the objectives of the activity were fulfilled.
Description of interview sample
Number of people
/ 21Gender / Male = 5
Female = 16
Age / Under 25 yrs = 5
25-34 yrs = 2
35-44 yrs = 4
45-54 yrs = 5
55 plus yrs = 5
English as first language / Yes = 15
No = 6
Visitors were from: UK (8), USA (4), France (3), Ireland (2) and one each from Canada, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Poland. Four visitors were interviewed as couples, six in a group of three and four in a group of four.
Findings from the interviews
• Nine visitors said that they would be more likely to respond to the title ‘Objects of commemoration’.
• Nine visitors said that they would be more likely to respond to the title ‘ Do you collect memorabilia?’.
• Three visitors said that they would respond to the title ‘What commemorative items do you own?’.
It should be noted that the format least liked by visitors (‘What commemorative items do you own?’) was the longest, taking up two lines on the prompt card rather than one.
Findings from the observation
Observers, placed in full view of the Visitor Response Activity over a three-hour period, recorded visitors who passed through the Best of British gallery. They were classified according to whether they were striders (walking rapidly through the gallery), browsers (looking at the objects in the gallery), attenders (looking at the Objects of Commemoration activity), or users (those who wrote responses).
Ninety-seven visitors were observed. The number in each category is shown in the table below.
Striders
/ 46Browsers / 38
Lookers / 13
Users / 0
TOTAL / 97
It is discouraging that no visitors were seen to contribute a response during the observation period. However, it is encouraging to note that 25% of the potential audience for the activity (eliminating the striders) participated in the activity by viewing the objects in the case and/or looking at the file of visitor responses.
Content analysis of responses
Eighteen responses were received along with five inappropriate ones (e.g. some one commenting that they would like a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet in the Museum).
The objects mentioned in the eighteen responses were: RAF hat, book, photographs, champagne glasses, books of stamps, medals, cricket ball, cup, spoon, tea tray, mugs, prize medals, antique desks, postcards, picture frame and a plastic hat.
The topics covered within the responses are ranked below according to their frequency of occurrence. Thirty-one mentions of topics were considered.
1. The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana (6 mentions)
2. The Queen’s jubilee (4 mentions)
2. Reminders of ‘ancestors’: fathers, grand fathers and mothers, connections (4 mentions)
4. Antique commemorative items collected as antiques (3 mentions)
4. Objects packed carefully away (3 mentions)
6. Tangible reminders of past experiences (2 mentions)
6. Gifts from ‘ancestors’ (2 mentions)
6. Items related to events (2 mentions)
Topics receiving one mention, at Rank 9, were: priceless-ness, nostalgia, sentimental items, souvenirs and objects having a life of their own.
Clearly, visitors were responding within the framework set down by the activity. However, it should be noted that thirteen of the thirty-one mentions (less than half) were made about truly commemorative items, either connected with the royal family or antique commemorative objects. The remainder of the mentions made (eighteen) could be said to refer more closely to the notion of ‘memorabilia’ and this finding should be taken into account when choosing a title for the activity.
Text of visitors’ responses
I have 2 finely cut champagne glasses (from a set of 12) left from my grandmother’s dowry. She married in 1911. With 2 World Wars (this all happened in Germany) only 2 glasses survived. Even my grandmother died from bomb wounds in 1945. I look at the glasses and remember a lovely, gracious, impish lady with a love of life and for me, her 1st grandchild.
Elisabeth Mangerian, Fairport, New York, USA
(the 39th anniversary of my wedding) July 9, 1999
______
July 16, 1999
Yes, I’ve got a medal commemorating the 100 years of Elisiu de Moura. Elisiu de Moura was a doctor who lived in Coimbra in Portugal. He was my grandmother’s close cousin.
I’m visiting London for the second time and I’m from Portugal.
Sofia Moura
______
I have a silver jubilee mug of Queen Elizabeth. It was given to me by my Nan. My brother has one as well. It is never on show but lives in a case in the top of a wardrobe. It has never been used because when I first got it I though it was precious and rare. Now my regard to the mug is special because of who gave it to me, not because of what it is. As she has since died (my Nan) such gifts cannot be replaced. So it stays safely in the suitcase.
______
Objects of ‘commemoration’ are important way above their monetary value. In my case they’re commemorative of past family members; my Dad’s RAF hat; a ‘pseudo’ Egyptian book which my granddad gave me more than 40 years ago; photographs of other family members.
S Would, Rolston, Hornsea
______
Bought 2 books of commemorative stamps when Charles & Diana married. Bought as investment.
______
My Great Great Uncle’s cricket ball, some letters he sent home and a letter from the King offering his condolences after my Great Uncle’s death during the First World War. These are sentimental items.
Everybody must have something which commemorates Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981. We have a cup, spoon and a tea tray.
Sad to think that all that excitement and hope was for nothing – people will remember Diana long after the rest of the Royal Family.
Simone Gordon
______
Most every object, expecially if it is tooken during a travel brings with him a commemoration of something. That’s why I can never through out anything. I came in London with a ticket I win with my painting ‘Memories of Sardinia’. It’s the commemoration of a voyage.
I think that every object has its own life and for this reason it is in some way a commemorative object.
(sorry for bad english)
Silvia Caula, Italy
13 July 1999
______
Yes
Queen’s birthday cup/mug.
Princess Diana’s wedding mug
______
Large bronze medallions in the form of coins, which were prizes at various 19th-century gardening events.
______
July 12, 1999
I am visiting London & my son, who attends the London School of Economics.
I collect American furniture – Southern. One man in particular. His name was John Shearer. He came over from Edinburgh, Scotland about 1775 with parents?? He lived in Virginia where he became a great joiner and was bright enough to sign his furniture many times. (Contact – MESDA – Museum of Southern Decorative Arts in Winster Salem, North Carolina.)
Mr Shearer was a Tory sympathizer. He did inlay suggesting stories and pictures of Admirals. I have several of his pieces. The one great piece dates 1805-1806 – walnut with a large tambour that locks and a secret document box. It was made if not for him (Admiral Nelson) then for the love of him. It is signed inside a drawer ‘Made for Adm. NELSON’. (It came out of Rhode Island.)
Another piece I recently purchased is dated 1818 (a desk), the latest piece we know of Mr Shearer’s. On the fall board are felled anchors and an admiral’s face – also a thistle (perhaps ‘Knights of the Thistle’?). Inside are anchors. I also found period newspapers glued to the back of the tambour (interior of desk).
I am searching for more about John Shearer . . . but do know he loved this Admiral Nelson . . .
Our Mr Shearer, we don’t know where he ended up (1st piece known is dated 1798, many signed Edinburgh).
Linda Ross, Winchester, Virginia, USA
______
A faded, cracked commemorative mug from the 1982 Royal wedding
* An early example of mass media Royal attention !)
* Presented to me at Primary School when part of a class that danced for the Royal Wedding. I can remember the song we were drilled in : -
Hurrah for the Prince of Wales
Hurrah for the lady Di
They’re going to get married on the 29th July.
______
Photographs;
Souvenirs from past places and people that are tangible memories of past experiences.
______
I have a necklace which my boyfriend’s mother was given when she first came to England – to me it commemorates her, as she died about 2 years ago. – But is that what the question means?
To me the necklace is something precious that brings back memories.
______
1) Tin mug
2) Wedding mug
Wedding mug – Prince Charles and Lady Diana. I bought it in a whim, or perhaps thinking it might once day be valuable. It sits at the back of a cupboard in the kitchen, not used nor on display. I have never been a royalist, and have little reverence or respect for the royal couple picture.
As I write this, I begin to question the honesty of my response. If I believe what I have written, why did I buy it? Does the mug mean something I am now ashamed of having felt.
I know my Nana would be interested in an exhibit on memorabilia. She has a fine collection of jubilee items, Charles and Di etc., all proudly displayed on her mantle.
______
I usually collect items about 19th century famous French writers like Honore de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Guy de Maupassant and Gustave Flaubert : it can be stamps, postcards, mugs. About my travel, I am interested in Dickens, Wilde.
______
I have cheesy trinket items commemorating my high school proms and graduation. Example: picture frame, little plastic graduation hat. Of course, it all lives in a box in the back of my closet now as I am too much of a pack rat to ever throw anything away. Theresa, Chicago, Il, USA.
______
A mug commemorating the Queen’s silver jubilee. My son won it for a fancy dress competition at his prep school (Dulwich college). I had no trouble making the costume for ‘Alfred the Cake’ but unusually I had real trouble getting the cake to burn!!. Sheila M. Langford, Museum guide, 21/7/99
Evaluator’s conclusions and comments
• Taking into account the findings from interviews and the content analysis of responses it would seem to be appropriate to use the word ‘memorabilia’ in the title of the proposed activity. ‘Do you collect memorabilia?’ may therefore be a suitable title for the activity.
• Commemorative items mark public events whereas memorabilia appears to have a more personal connection. Those who collect commemorative items at the time of an event could be said to regard them also as personal memorabilia related to the time of the event. Many visitors bypassed the commemorative notion in their responses in favour of recording personal memorabilia. These considerations could be taken into account when preparing the labels for the objects to be placed on display and, perhaps, details of the original collectors, or the Museum’s reason for collecting the objects, or the act of collecting could be mentioned.
• The activity is of value and relevance as the content analysis of responses indicates. However, it is considered that the activity as trialed in the gallery was not presented to the best advantage with regard to attracting visitors and that this is very likely the reason for the rather low response rate and the failure to observe visitors using the activity. The display should be in view when visitors are writing responses and the labelling of the display should be congruent with the activity asked of them. Any opportunity for displaying the hand written responses of visitors, beyond holding them in a file, should be considered, as museum visitors are attracted by the personal nature of them.
Actions
• In spite of the low response rate the activity will be retained. Many of the responses collected indicate a high level of personal engagement that suggests that this is a very meaningful activity for some visitors. In addition, there is a significant number of visitors who will read other people’s responses without wishing to contribute their own.
• The activity will be tested again using the word memorabilia in the title to see what impact this has.