Please find below information about the forthcoming workshop which will take place at the Peoples' History Museum, Manchester on 11th December.

We very much hope that you will be interested in this project, and that you will be able to attend the Workshop.

We would be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt of this email and, if you do not wish to receive any more information about the Network, let us know and we will take your name off our mailing list.

If you would like more information, please contact us on [log in to unmask], or log onto  www.freemasonry.london.museum/news.

Mark Dennis
Curator

Martin Cherry
Librarian

26th October 2006		
								
Facets of Fraternity
A Free Workshop Presented by the Subject Specialist Network for Fraternal and Friendly Societies and Association

This is for: anyone with a social history collection or holding artefacts including archival material, decorative and folk arts, commemorative items or regalia.  

Friendly and fraternal societies provided mutual support in hard times, sociability and moral leadership for their members of all ages, men and women alike, from the 1700s. By the end of the nineteenth century their membership numbered several millions and they were part of a family of voluntary associations that included co-operatives, trades unions and building societies. The flamboyant aprons and badges, mottoes and commemorative objects of groups such as the Sisters of the Phoenix, the Ancient Order of Foresters, the Free Gardeners and the Oddfellows were once familiar in every town and city in the country. Many of these objects now lie, largely forgotten, in local museums. One of the aims of the network will be to uncover these hidden collections, help other museums, libraries and archives make more effective use of them and attract new audiences. 

A free one-day workshop at the People's History Museum in Manchester has been organised on Monday 11th December which will provide an introduction to this type of collection and look at how interpretation strategies have developed to date.  Contact [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> for further details of this event and the Subject Specialist Network.

Confirmed speakers so far include, Andy Durr of Brighton Fishing Museum, Mark Dennis of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, Professor Andrew Prescott of Sheffield University, Victoria Solt Dennis the author of the book 'Friendly and Fraternal Societies their Badges and Regalia' There will also be an opportunity to discuss the development of this new network and to show images or objects for identification by the speakers.

This is supported by an initial grant from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council to explore the establishment of a Subject Specialist Network on Fraternal and Friendly Societies and Association. It is one of thirteen networks to have been awarded a grant recently.  MLA Renaissance Manager Alison Hems has described Subject Specialist Networks as mechanisms for sharing scholarship, collections and collections expertise, research and interpretation skills, in order to improve the way museums understand and use collections, for the benefit of their audiences -  precisely the aims of this project.

Further details are available on www.freemasonry.london.museum/news <http://www.freemasonry.london.museum/news>
Images available on www.freemasonry.london.museum/press/index.htm


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