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Press releases
- The Museum of London celebrates city's sporting hero with new display on Harry Kane
- The Museum of London presents 'Grime Stories: from the corner to the mainstream', opening 17 June 2022
- Statue of Robert Milligan joins Museum of London collection
- 300 year old love message embroidered in human hair to go on display at the Museum of London Docklands
- Museum of London begins countdown to West Smithfield relocation
- Douglas Gilmore appointed Managing Director of Museum of London Docklands
- The Prince of Wales becomes Museum of London Patron
- The Clash’s Paul Simonon’s famous Fender Precision bass to go on display
- Stanton Williams and Asif Khan to design new Museum of London at West Smithfield
- Museum of London acquires ensemble inspired by the creativity of the Windrush generation
- Feeding Black: Community, Power & Place opening 16 July at Museum of London Docklands
- Museum of London acquires NHS sign from ZSL London Zoo’s Giraffe House as part of Collecting COVID
- Museum of London sites set to reopen 19 May with extensions of Dub London: Bassline of a City and Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery
- Museum of London acquires Mayor of Lambeth’s homemade ceremonial chain as part of Collecting COVID project
- Museum of London acquires ‘viral’ Tweets for Collecting COVID
- Weavers’ Company donate £100,000 to the Museum of London’s move to Smithfield
- Museum of London receives Trump Baby blimp ahead of the Presidential Inauguration
- Museum of London to collect COVID dreams
- Arsenal’s captain donates Black Lives Matter shirt to the Museum of London
- Dub London: Bassline of a City opening 2 October at the Museum of London
- Public statement October 2020
- London Sugar & Slavery gallery
- New major exhibition Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery opens 11 September at the Museum of London Docklands
- Robert Milligan statue statement
- Museum of London sites to reopen 6 August with four-week extension of The Clash: London Calling display
- Public statement
- Museum of London releases first ever recorded soundscapes of London alongside new recordings of London in lockdown as part of Collecting COVID project
- Design concepts for new museum at West Smithfield revealed
- The Museum of London collects shared experiences of Ramadan in lockdown as part of Collecting COVID project
- Unheard oral histories are released by the Museum of London to mark Windrush Day
- Collecting Covid: the Museum of London seeks to mark unprecedented pandemic for the future
- Millicent Fawcett’s ‘Steadfastness and Courage’ brooch to go on permanent display for the first time
- Museum of London submits plans to create a new world-class cultural destination in West Smithfield
- King Charles I’s execution vest to go on display in new major exhibition
- Museum of London to celebrate Dub Reggae and its influence on the capital
- East End bastion Syd’s coffee stall to be donated to the Museum of London
- Free exhibit celebrating the making of The Clash’s ground-breaking album ‘London Calling’ now open
- Museum of London acquires extremely rare plate that belonged to Samuel Pepys
- The story of the Krios of Sierra Leone to be told in the Museum of London Docklands’ latest display
- Museum of London to host The Clash: London Calling exclusive free exhibit of over 100 personal items
- The largest ever Bronze Age hoard in London has been discovered
- Designs for Museum of London’s new West Smithfield home revealed
- Smithfield Street Party
- Museum of London hopes to acquire both the Trump Baby Blimp and the Sadiq Khan Blimp as part of their permanent collection
- Secret Rivers
- Beasts of London
- Recently acquired panorama goes on display for the first time at the Museum of London
- Museum of London appoints leading names to Board of Governors
- Earliest skull ever mudlarked from the Thames to go on display at the Museum of London
- Museum of London acquires beautiful panorama of lost Houses of Parliament
- Bengali arts and culture on show at the Museum of London Docklands family festival.
- Young Londoners to take over Museum of London this March
- Treasured children’s author Jacqueline Wilson’s latest book Wave Me Goodbye inspires family day at the Museum of London Docklands
- Adventures in Peter Pan’s Neverland at Museum of London Docklands
- Photography of Londoners and their pastimes on show at Museum of London
- Museum of London Docklands celebrates Chinese New Year this February half term
- Museum of London Docklands to showcase rare Roman sarcophagus in first public display
- “Reputational whitewashing” investigated in latest display at the Museum of London Docklands.
- Taste not waste: Be inspired by unique recipes using your leftover food for a more sustainable future London
- Whitechapel’s famous monster fatberg is coming to the Museum of London
- An Idea for a Future London open call winner announced
- London Visions: Hypothetical scenarios of a future London
- Rare George Cross medal goes on display at the Museum of London Docklands
- Smithfield street party: Museum of London celebrates 150 years of Smithfield markets
- Technology replacing jobs won’t halt our working spirit
- Learn how to code like a pro and celebrate digital technology at the Museum of London’s free family festival
- Votes for Women programme
- All aboard for the Maritime music festival
- New display reveals complex history of British Army’s West India Regiments
- Paddington returns to Museum of London
- Bonus Levels: Artist Lawrence Lek invites viewers to re-imagine future London
- The Museum of London hopes to acquire Whitechapel 'fatberg'
- The City is Ours: A Tale of New Cities
- Tracking London’s most talked about topics and emojis
- London Nights: Museum of London unveils the city at night in major photography exhibition
- Statement on 20 May 2017
- Malcolm Reading Consultants appointed to run West Smithfield International Design Competition
- What does the future hold for London and cities around the world?
- Museum of London releases third and final Great Fire 1666 Minecraft map
- Museum of London acquires 100 menswear items worn by townscape consultant Francis Golding
- 8,000 years of human history on display at the Museum of London Docklands
- Five Museum of London apprentices appointed
- Museum of London displays recently acquired Sutherland drawings in new exhibition of Blitz artwork
- Mayor of London and City of London Corporation pledge support for new Museum of London at West Smithfield
- Museum of London uses Minecraft to recreate the Great Fire of 1666
- Rare tools give insight into working lives of Roman Londoners at the Museum of London
- Museum of London opens most theatrical exhibition ever to mark 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London
- New display at the Museum of London traces the capital’s obsession with ice skating
- Historic vessels Knocker White and Varlet set sail to new home at Trinity Buoy Wharf
- Missing Bake Off? Take your taste buds back in time with 17th century gingerbread
- Rare Victoria Cross with mysterious story to go on display at the Museum of London
- Museum of London bolsters its art collections
- 17th century fire engine restored for Great Fire exhibition
- Museum of London boosts Great Fire collections with mysterious manuscript
- Major new gallery at Museum of London Docklands explores history of the world's largest docks
- Sir Edward Lister joins Museum of London Board of Governors
- West Smithfield Design Competition shortlist announced
- West Smithfield International Design Competition launched
- After dark at The Night Museum
- Another record-breaking year for the Museum of London
- New display about the life of ‘The Royal African’ and the slave trade
- Joe Corré, Jordan and Richard Boon to appear in an uncensored, live Punk.London debate
- People of Punk bring the year of celebration to an end
- Tunnel: the archaeology of Crossrail
- New research to shed fresh light on the impact of industrialisation
- Our statement on Fabric
- Behind the Scenes of the Museum of London
New research to shed fresh light on the impact of industrialisation
25 April 2015
The Museum of London today announced a ground-breaking research project to explore the effects of industrialisation on Londoners. The research hopes to uncover new clues about the very nature of disease and how it has affected people as Britain has moved into the age of industrialisation.
The research has been made possible by a City of London Archaeological Trust grant from a bequest made by the late Rosemary Green.
John Schofield, Secretary of the City of London Archaeological Trust, said:
“The City of London Archaeological Trust is very happy that the Rosemary Green bequest is used to gather this cutting-edge data on the signs of industrialisation in the skeletal collections on the Museum of London.”
Leading the project is Jelena Bekvalac, based at the Museum of London’s Centre for Human Bioarcheology, along with her research team, Gaynor Western and Mark Farmer.
Jelena Bekvalac, said:
“The most tangible evidence we have for the long-term consequences of the industrialisation process upon us is, quite simply, written in our bones. Using the very latest digital technology, we will examine the skeletal remains of over 1,000 adult men and women from industrial-era London in addition to a further 500 skeletons from the medieval metropolis. Modern health trends have seen a shift towards increasing life expectancy but we want to look again at what are often thought of as ‘man-made’ conditions like obesity and cancer. Given today’s more sedentary lifestyles, far removed from the physically active and natural existence of most of our forebears, there are some big questions about the origins of these diseases and how they relate to the modern environment.”
The research aims to address some of these questions by analysing diseases affecting the human skeleton. The museum will use the latest clinical techniques, including direct digital radiography, CT scanning and 3D modelling, to get a better understanding of what the bones tell us and to assess their change over time. The research aims to examine the influence of the industrial revolution, a pivotal catalyst in the formation of the modern age, on the changing nature of disease – from the medieval and post-medieval periods through to the present day.
The project offers an exciting opportunity to digitise some of London’s most important skeletal collections, while simultaneously telling a new story about the health of Londoners over time.
This work will culminate in the creation of an extensive new interactive digital resource that can be explored online. Jelena Bekvalac plans to make an immediate start on the digital scanning. She aims to publish her team’s findings as soon as possible and deliver a series of lectures about the work.
-ENDS-
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About The Museum of London
The Museum of London tells the ever-changing story of this great world city and its people, from 450,000 BC to the present day. Our galleries, exhibitions, displays and activities seek to inspire a passion for London and provide a sense of the vibrancy that makes the city such a unique place.
The museum is open daily 10am – 6pm and is FREE to all, and you can explore the Museum of London with collections online – home to 80,000 objects with more being added. www.museumoflondon.org.uk
About The City of London Archaeological Trust
The City of London Archaeological Trust (CoLAT) is a charity whose purpose is to support and initiate archaeological work in the City of London and its environs. CoLAT was formed on 25 July 1974. The Trust is administered by a Management Committee comprising four nominees of the Court of Common Council of the Corporation of the City of London, representatives of the Society of Antiquaries, UCL Institute of Archaeology and the Council for British Archaeology, and other invited academics, along with the Director of the Museum of London and the Chief Executive of Museum of London Archaeology.
The Trust supports all kinds of archaeological work and the exhibition of archaeological sites and concentrates on educational or research activities, within or in addition to existing research frameworks.