I spent the day at the Durrell museum in Twillingate, Newfoundland, Canada. I saw these Tilley lamps (and one Coleman) in one of the displays. Newfoundland was a British colony before becoming a Canadian province in 1948 so Tilleys can often be found in antique shops and small town museums.
Someone should tell them about the 171 globe that its for a Tilley X246 and the gallery that's on a R1 fount, that it's actually a heater fount not a lamp. Otherwise great shot.
Just in passing, I’m a descendant of the chap who discovered Newfoundland back in 1497. So one day, COVID-19 willing, I would love to visit. Cheers Pete
Sometimes it makes little difference how helpful you are with information, people still fart you off if it means work or it’s not the answer they want to hear…
Hey @george of course that means if I get to Newfoundland I’m then coming over to your neck of the woods and have a conversation between the 3 of us, the third being Gentleman Jack
Museums are run by curators. I know a few. If it is a small "homespun" museum running on a shoestring it could go either way. More formal properly funded museums do react to suggested corrections but they generally tend to be far more acedemic in their approach. They will normally welcome a letter, with supporting data or references. So referring to the relevant page number in Jim Dick's book as well as copies of contemporary advertising material should be taken seriously by them. But don't expect an instant response or change as the displays are often managed by a team who will make changes all at once rather than reacting to each new bit of information. It is also handy to remember that the person selling entrance tickets or acting as a security guard may know (or even care) little about the displays.
@AussiePete that's cool you're a John Cabot descendant. There was (not sure if there still is) a full size replica of his ship Matthew in Bonavista, Newfoundland.
Now I thought it was Leif Eriksson in about 1000. Of course the viking colonies didn't last that long.
@newfie Yes, I’m a Cabot and traceable to John. My parents were invited to the launching of the Matthew replica many moons ago. @Nils Stephenson I guess modern history however I would like a bit of Norse blood. I wonder how that would mix with my ancestral traces of Italian and French blood.
Gene pool problem, @AussiePete ? After a good conversation with “Uncle Jack”, genes won’t matter! lol Everything starts to blend, even the genes! lol
Thinking about the wierd assemblage of parts in the museum, if they can f*#k up something so basic with extant examples and plenty of documented evidence, then how much of what we see in large municipal museums can we actually trust? It makes you wonder, each time you see a 'Reconstruction of daily life in ancient XXXX' is that really how it was or did the curators just fit stuff together because they seemed to fit!?
I agree @ColinG - It can be frustrating at best. The issue museums face is of course funding - and funding means time to do things properly. Most curators will recognise however that within private collections there will be far more examples of a particular item, as well as greater knowledge of the items and their production, mechanical properties, history etc. I do not think I would be wrong to say that just amongst the members of this forum there will be more lanterns owned ("curated") than in all the museums of the world put together. Similarily the level of knowledge demonstrated consistently by members here would outstrip that of any museum.
Why are you so cynical, @ColinG? Curators only work with the information they have. They do not promulgate “false information” unless they are politically affiliated. So why not help them out with some relevant knowledge? These small underfunded museums are our friends… Tony
@Tony Press , I've no particular beef with museums at all, it just made me wonder how much we find on display is more best-guess speculation. I was always in museums as a boy and as we lived close to London I'd go up regularly at weekends with Mum & Dad. By the age of about 10 or 11 I knew my way around The Science Museum, The Natural History Museum, The Victoria and Albert, The Geology Museum (not sure if that's still there actually) and any others Dad found that were a car ride away and free to enter! Looking back I guess it was cheap entertainment as we didn't have a lot of money back then... I thought it was brilliant though and spent many happy hours, particularly in the Science Museum. Brings back many happy memories!
The thread seems to have lost a bit of coherence at the beginning, Jean, but if by that you're referring to the blacksmith's shop on Orkney with the KL80 and misplaced globe on display, I did exactly the same thing. I even offered to put it in the correct place for them, under rather than on top of the gallery but that would have meant I'd have missed the coach back to the ship. The globe is probably still misplaced to this very day...
The museum I went to only cost me $3 to enter (£2) and was staffed by a lone high school graduate. I donated an extra $5 because I know these little community museums can use all the help they can get. I didn'toffer to fix the lamp. If I was a museum volunteer I would have. The lamps weren't the main focus of the museum. The fishing gear and polar bear were. The lamps were probably popped on the high shelf and put there as an afterthought. At least they were on display instead of shoved down in some dark basement or attic. I might as well show you a few pics of some other stuff on display. If any of you get a chance to visit Newfoundland I highly recommend this museum.
Well, you couldn't fit that globe to that gallery because they were never intended to be together. Well done.
No, not particularly. You have to realise that this was at one time a working blacksmith's shop but is now a museum i.e. no longer working and a KL80 was probably the only source of decent artificial light at that place and in those days. It wasn't something that had been bought recently via eBay and put up as part of the display or for use. There's now electricity in the village, whose name I can no longer remember. I will have taken photographs but it will take me a lifetime to find them...
The smiddy museum is in St. Margaret’s Hope, Orkney, that’ll be why we came across it so soon as we took the ferry across from the mainland and landed there.
@newfie If you hail from Victoria, and visiting this spot in Newfoundland, you just about covered the greatest distance possible within Canada. What is it, 5-6000 Km ? I remember taking an inland flight from Montréal to Vancouver in a 747, flying time about 5,5 hours. If you do not mind asking, what did bring you to Vancouver Island, the climate? Mike
@M.Meijer I actually lived in Alberta for 5 years before moving here to Vancouver Island. Like so many people in their late teens and early twenties, work was hard to come by in Newfoundland in the late 1990s. I moved to Alberta because I had friends who had already moved there from Newfoundland. I actually was offered a job transfer in Victoria by another Newfoundlander who lived here. At the time I was single and had nothing keeping me in Alberta. I figured it would be a fun adventure and it has been. Snowy weather doesn't bother me so moving to Vancouver Island for the climate wasn't a factor. I have no regrets about leaving Alberta but I get homesick for Newfoundland every single day. Aside from Covid travel restrictions preventing me from visiting Newfoundland in 2020, I go visit every single year for at least two weeks. I still have family and friends back there. And it's a fantastic place if you love the outdoors. My total one way flying time for this past trip from Victoria to Newfoundland was about 9 hours. That's just time in the air. That doesn't count the hours of layovers in between flight segments.
@newfie, Yes, Canada is vast, easy to disappear in. And while I really liked my time in Montréal despite the desperate economy of Québec in the early 90's, I count myself lucky to have held a commercial fishing license out of Tofino in the early 80's. To walk long distance on the beaches up north (often anchoring near the shore after a day of fishing, then a canoe to the beach), and not even a tiny bit of garbage to indicate man's 'civilisation' other than your footsteps behind you, was a unique experience for a Dutchman. Not to mention the sea mamals, for real. It counts as one of my most precious posessions. But even Vancouver Island has become a tourist attraction, and I for one do not want to go back there to see the darn restaurants they build into the harbour. Ucluelet same thing, or so I was told, and it makes me sad. I hope you will find ways to live in Newfoundland once more. Me, I decided I am too European to end my life there, despite many fond memories of Canada, so here I am looking for a place in the country in France. As sadly, overcrowded Holland is not the country anymore I grew up in, and your country showed me the way I tick. Go where your heart is telling you, my friend. Mike
