Researching the museum: The Spedden’s, RMS Titanic and The History of Toys

During my time at the museum, I’ve found specific items in the collection that I’ve begun to research and have investigated where they are from and who might have owned them. I’ve also had the feeling you sometimes get in museums –  of the many items on display, there are some from the 1950’s that evoke a sense of a preserved time capsule. In particular, a children’s play size melamine set of dishes and a miniature stove.  Other items include the red Grand piano in the doll’s house and a silver ornate baby’s whistle, which I am informed, is the oldest item in the collection. 

I’ve also been looking through the reference library, one book in particular which stood out was Antonia Fraser’s A History of Toys. It detailed the historical record of artefacts and antiques from ancient civilisations to present day. I also read the museum copy of Polar the Titanic bear, which tells the story of the Spedden family’s international travels through the eyes of their son’s Steiff polar bear, named Polar. There are few of these bears in the world and one is in the collection here. The story was written by Daisy Spedden, in light of the unexpected end that their journey had and to help her son manage the trauma of the events that ensued.

Douglas Spedden playing with a spinning top on board RMS Titanic

In April 1912, the Spedden family arrived in the French port of Cherbourg, having travelled widely, from France to Egypt with their young son and having seen some of the wonders of the world. They boarded RMS Titanic, who had left England days before, on her maiden voyage. The family were returning to their home in New York. We are all familiar with the tragedy that ensued. In a few days’ time, on 14 April, it will be the 105th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Of the thousands aboard relatively few made it onto the limited number of lifeboats; the Spedden family was one of the only families that all survived. Douglas, their son, also clung to Polar in the bitter Atlantic air, under the pitch of a star-filled sky. I’ve been developing a story based on what the experience might have been like and will be continuing to draw on the collection pieces as inspiration over the coming weeks.

Biography
Louise Clement is a MA Creative writing student at University of Brighton. She is a poet and writer. She has run events in the Brighton Fringe, had her work displayed in a local gallery and published in avant-garde magazine Rag n Rock.

RMS Titanic, temporary display

We've now assembled a display based on the doomed luxury ocean liner RMS Titanic, in Area 25.

In case you've missed the slew of centenary TV programmes, April 2012 is the one-hundred-year anniversary of both the ship's maiden voyage, and it's sinking. Titanic set sail from Portsmouth on 10th April 1912, and sank with the loss of over fifteen hundred lives on 15th April 1912.

As well as an array of memorabilia (including some White Star crockery and glassware), modellers might be interested to know that we have two large Titanic models on display, based on the largest commonly available kits and sets of plans – a ~thirty-inch 1:350-scale version that has been produced over the years by a number of different manufacturers (recently reissued as a special centenary edition by Minicraft), and an even larger ~forty-three-inch, 1:250-scale model, based on the Hachette/Amati plans.

Also on display is a copy of Daisy Spedden's "Polar the Titanic Bear" book, written by a Titanic survivor for her son, which recounts the events through the eyes of the child's Steiff polar bear. Alongside the book is an original ~1910 Steiff polar bear from the Museum's soft toys collection – this is the only original Steiff polar that we know of that is on public show, and one of the very few originals that still exists. There's rumoured to be another bear (in better condition) in a bank vault somewhere, but that's the only other surviving original that we know of.

The Titanic display will be on view until this autumn.