As part of Pride +
Prejudice, the Windsors are Martha Ann Ricks
planning to commission a series of
exhibitions to be held in supermarkets and high
street stores. Several Nike stores have already agreed
to present exhibitions dedicated to Queen Victoria.
To commemorate the achievements of Ethiopian runner,
Abebe Bikila who at the Rome Olympic Games of 1960
became the first Black African to win an Olympic Gold Medal. A
leading supermarket will offer guided trails in its premises. They
will explore historical connections between England and Ethiopia
through a selection of products such as coffee, which was
discovered in the Ethiiopian province Kaffa in 850 A.D. by a goat
herder named Kaldi. Canopius, a scholar from Crete, who in
1637 resided in Oxford, was the first person to brew a cup of
coffee in England. This significant cultural event was
followed in 1688 by the opening of Edward Lloyds
coffee house. Frequented by the seafearing
community, between 1688 and 1807 it also
provided insurance cover to ships
engaged in the slave trade.
coffee beans
The Windsors are
conscious that throughout its
long history, their family has often
been considered as trend-setters.
(Queen Charlotte, grandmother of Queen
Victoria, introduced the tradition of the
Christmas tree to England from her native
Germany). By sharing their family history and
faciliting access to their private collections,
they are convinced that they can influence
cultural institutions and encourage the
development of new cultural
strategies to help the nation feel
more at home with its
diversity.
Pride + Prejudice is,
of course, a fictional outreach
project. However all items and
people referred to could easily feature
together in exhibitions exploring a wide
range of themes such as Englishness in
UK and abroad or in resources introducing
all audiences, regardless of background, to
English History and cultures. Through New
Object Lessons you are invited, dear
reader, to reflect on your vision of
both White History and Black
History.
(To be continued)
design by blocklevel text by dominique tessier
coca wine
kola nuts
coffee tree
From slavery to the
Olympics, the opening chapter of
New Object Lessons, particularly impressed
the Windsors. It shows how to develop cross-cultural
content focusing on the history of the Olympic Games,
using everyday objects such as a bottle of Coca-Cola. Before
it became one of the key ingredients contained in the most
popular drink around the world, the kola nut was widely used in
Africa not only as a stimulant but also as a currency to exchange
slaves. As it happens, the Windsors have inherited an interesting
collection of early Coca-Cola memorabilia, once owned by their
ancestor Queen Victoria who enjoyed Temperance drinks such as
Coca-Cola or the Vin Mariani, a highly popular French Coca Wine,
which contained 6.5 mg of cocaine in every ounce. The eldest son of
the Windsors thinks that this collection would provide the ideal
starting point for an exhibition on the Olympic Games and the use
of stimulants. To promote the exhibition, he also suggested the
inclusion, on the publicity material, of a reproduction of the
Liberian Coffee Tree Quilt, a gift from Martha Ann Ricks
to Queen Victoria. Martha Ann Ricks, a 76-year-old
ex-slave who had migrated with her family to
Liberia at the age of 13, was received at
Windsor Castle on 16 July
1892.
*Royals of African Descent
Meet the Windsors,
prominent members of the
R.A.D. * community, who
inspired by the recently published
curatorial guide, New Object Lessons:
Curating for 2012, have decided to
the Windsors launch their own community outreach
project called Pride + Prejudice.
Its main aim will be to address the
current national identity crisis felt
in England and promote a
wider understanding of
Englishness.
new object
lessons
 new object
lessons NEW OBJECT LESSONS: The Workshops
Facilitated by Dominique Tessier, the workshops will
present innovative ways of using Natural History
collections to develop sustainable cross-cultural
content. Find below the full list of workshops:

NEW OBJECT LESSONS: CURATING FOR 2012

updated version of From Slavery to the
NEW OBJECT LESSONS: The Concept Olympics
Inspired by 19th century educationalists,such as DIVERSITY SURVIVAL KIT
Johann Pestalozzi (17461827), Local Historian MOOR CULTURE IN BRITAIN
Dominique Tessier has developed a series of content BOMBAY MIX
development workshops exploring local museums COOKIES + COOLIES
and galleries collections. Using an interdisciplinary DARWIN IN THE COMMUNITY
approach, she will show how to easily develop GUNCHESTER
sustainable cross-cultural content and produce MANCHESTER BLUES
resources relevant to ALL audiences. As the Olympic
Games will be one of the main themes covered Throughout the programme, participants will access
throughout the programme, the workshops are a unique range of resources which will allow them to
highly recommended to anyone involved in the produce engaging cross-cultural narratives relevant
Cultural Olympiad. to their respective target audience(s).

NEW OBJECT LESSONS: The Poster NEW OBJECT LESSONS: Further Information
First presented at the New Professionals Conference Thoughout 2009, NEW OBJECT LESSONS workshops
held at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in October will take place in Manchester, Liverpool and London.
2008, this poster (see overleaf ) was designed to
make a visual impact; to be educational as well as If you would like further information on the full
entertaining. In keeping with universal storytelling training programme, please email:
traditions, it uses humour and fiction to challenge naturalcontent@googlemail.com
commonly held views and transmit information. Its
focus on the Royal family offers the ideal starting
point to generate cross-cultural content and, in the
process, reflect on cultural identity.

To order a copy of the next NEW OBJECT LESSONS

poster, please email:
naturalcontent@googlemail.com