Victorian visions

Step back in time and experience Victorian St Andrews this weekend with a series of events celebrating the era.

A new exhibition in the town’s Museum of the University of St Andrews (MUSA) coincides with a traditional Victorian Fayre to mark Scotland’s annual Festival of Museums.

Created by postgraduate students in the School of Art History, Victorian Visions at MUSA offers a variety of Victorian artefacts including golf balls and clothing worn by ladies of the time.

Visitors can glimpse the town’s streets and see how Victorians carried their golf clubs, thanks to a range of specially selected images, many from the University’s own Special Collections.

The exhibition is a partnership between the University of St Andrews and Historic Environment Scotland (HES) with the aim of educating visitors on the preservation, excavation, and discovery of the town of St Andrews during the Victorian period (1837 to 1901).

Victorian Visions also showcases items from the collections of Historic Environment Scotland, the British Golf Museum and the St Andrews Preservation Trust and includes architectural drawings, archaeological objects, golf clubs, prints and maps.

In addition the students have organised a traditional Victorian Fayre at St Andrews Town Hall on Saturday 20 May with storytelling, crafts, dressing up, and music to take visitors back to the reign of Queen Victoria.

The event, which takes place at St Andrews Town Hall from 12pm to 4pm, will feature a range of traditional games, including hopscotch and musical chairs. There will also be craft workshops, a hair dressing station and a photo booth.

Veronica Barbagallo, one of the student curators, said: “Creating this exhibition as part of our postgraduate programme in Museum and Gallery Studies has been a great learning experience. Researching items for the exhibition has been a fascinating step back in time to see what the town was like more than a century ago.”

Lynsey Haworth, Regional Collections Manager at Historic Environment Scotland, said: “We’re pleased to have partnered with the Museum of the University of St Andrews on this student-led exhibition, which will explore the St Andrews of the Victorian era.

“This exhibition has provided an exciting opportunity for us to reassess our knowledge of these collections and to display material which isn’t usually on public display. The exhibition is made doubly special as it helps mark Scotland’s Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology in 2017.”

The Festival of Museums is an annual event coordinated by Museums Galleries Scotland to showcase Scotland’s extensive cultural offering. This festival, which takes place from 19 to 21 May, is the biggest yet, with more than 120 exciting events being held across the country.

Victorian Fayre: Party Like a Victorian is on from 12pm to 4pm in St Andrews Town Hall. Admission is free. Full details of the Festival of Museums event and associated exhibition can be found online. Visit the Festival of Museums webpage for a full programme of events.

Image captions

Top: Group of golfers. Thomas Rodger, 1860. This photograph shows golfers on the Old Course. The group includes Willie Dunn, Mr Orb Campbell, Mr B de C Nixon, Mr SC Thomson, Major Boothby, Provost Major Hugh Lyon Playfair, Mr George Glenie, Colonel James Fairlie, Maitland Dougall Ogalvie, Tom Morris Senior and Mr Mitchell. Courtesy of the University of St Andrews Library, Special Collections, ALB-10-33

Bottom & news pages: St Andrews. Fife-shire. James Stewart & Joseph Swan, 1840. On loan from the Board of Historic Environment Scotland, DP110233 © Canmore, DP110233

About Museum and Gallery Studies

The School of Art History at the University of St Andrews offers full-time and part-time postgraduate courses in Museum and Gallery Studies.

Victorian Visions – Discovery and Restoration in St Andrews is a new exhibition in MUSA, the Museum of the University of St Andrews. The exhibition runs until 17 September 2017.

MUSA is open from Thursday to Sunday, from 12pm to 4pm until the end of March and then daily from 10am to 5pm (mid-day to 4pm on Sundays) until the end of October.

Issued by the University of St Andrews Communications Office, contactable on 01334 467310 or [email protected].