Drama through Archaeology

My name is Stephen Jones. I am a theatre arts practitioner based in Fife, and since last spring I have had the privilege of working on the Through a Glass Darkly Project for the University of St Andrews. My role within the project has been to develop and deliver educational materials that use drama in …

Museums and Dementia

At the end of October, Alison Hadfield and Leah Neiman had the opportunity to climb on board the Virtual Dementia Tour bus which visited St Andrews to help raise awareness of the challenges faced by people living with dementia. Here Alison tells us about the experience and her own PhD research.   Over the past decade or more, museums, galleries and heritage attractions have begun …

The Collection Gets a Makeover

The Bridges Collection has a whole new look! Leah Neiman talks about The Bridges Collection case makeover. In April of 2019 the team began a campaign to re-design and enliven the display of the Collection. The Bridges Collection was donated to the University in 1994 for educational purposes. It now forms part of the University’s …

Cyprus Submerged

  Cypriot material culture is found all over the land of Mediterranean in a variety of contexts. They are also some of the oldest, as the copper mines from Cyprus were one of the only sources of the metal in the Mediterranean making it a highly lucrative place to live. However, Cypriot remains have not …

3D Digitisation: Access, Authenticity, Aura

In recent years, a number of museums worldwide have embraced the potential of digital media for their exhibition spaces, programming and collections: as a means to both document and democratise objects and experiences. This blog hopes to make the case for 3D digitisation for museums: highlighting the ways in which this process supplements and enhances …

From Pottery to Poetry – StAnza Festival 2019

This week Alison Hadfield explains how we are using the Bridges Collection to inspire creative writing at the annual StAnza poetry festival in St Andrews. Once again St Andrews is buzzing with the sound of poetry as Scottish and international poets, writers, performers and fans come together to celebrate poetry in all its forms. The …

The Female Figure – reading representations of women in the Bridges Collection

This week, Leah Neiman, a graduate student in the Museum and Gallery studies program, discusses the female figurines in the Bridges Collection, and what they can tell us about the female experience in antiquity. One of the first questions we must ask ourselves about any artifacts is “where did they come from?” i.e. what context …

Holiday Illuminations

This week, Dr Eleri Cousins of the School of Classics enlighten us about the lamps of the Bridges Collection. The days are almost at their shortest here in Scotland – the sun set at 3:34pm today! – so what better time of year to think about illumination in the ancient world?  The Bridges Collection contains …

Interview with James Bezjian

This week we are very excited to have Dr James Bezjian (Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship) visiting us from the Citadel Military College of South Carolina.  He is working with us to 3D scan artefacts in the Bridges Archaeology Collection and is also training students and staff at the University to use the latest equipment. Alison …

Implementing 3D Technology in Cultural and Ethnographic Collections: Implementation and Issues.

This week, Museum and Galleries Student Azam Caesar ruminates on his experience working at cultural and ethnographic museum and how 3D technologies could be implemented in such museums. Before coming to St Andrews to study for the MLitt in Museum and Gallery Studies I had gained experience volunteering as a guide at the National Museum …