Notices

The Late Shows 2012 - Saturday 19th May 7-11pm

The Mining Institute will again be open to the public as part of Tyneside’s fantastic Late Shows. This year the fascinating space of the Library and Lecture Theatre will host some amazing works by three highly talented artists in the Library, Lecture Theatre and stairwells of the building. These are The Felling, by Dawn Felicia Knox; and Geological Etiquette by Mair Hughes and Bridget Kennedy.

STRATA

Geological Etiquette’ is an exhibition of specially tailored artworks by Mair Hughes and Bridget Kennedy, created in response to the extraordinary library and lecture theatre at the Mining Institute in Newcastle. Hughes has chosen to re-imagine the ornate Victorian lamps that were originally in the library as a series of suspended sculptures. The work by Kennedy takes the form of text as sculpture, integrating biographical references with the history of Geology in the Mining Institute.
The artists have been investigating rural Utopias, Victorian ideology and industrial heritage in the North East of England and Mid Wales. The artworks presented here, as part of the 2012 Late Shows, are the creative manifestations of their journey.
Sculptures by Mair Hughes and Bridget Kennedy respond to the decor and symbolism of the building, exploring the iconography of geological resources. A large free standing sculptural piece the word Strata in an elaborate Victorian font sculpted out of clay, placed in the middle of one of the large library tables.
Hanging works in the main space based on the original “Pineapple” lamps:
- one sculpture inspired by cathedral incense censors, with a charred wood appearance and specially created ‘coal’ incense
- one sculpture based on the idea of a hanging canary cage, with cast elements and brass sheeting  and feather decoration.
The sculptures will be hung from the ceiling using the original fittings in the roof space.

Posters in the library space, hung from balcony: a selection of the large photographic posters (130 x 100cm approx)
Works in the Lecture Theatre will feature:
Animated spar box, small sculptural work with sound and animation, 40 X 50 X 40 cm. Two or three still-life object photos in lecture theatre in some of the empty frames (if possible). Gouache and ink drawings of still life objects. 

THE FELLING

The exhibition by Dawn Felicia Knox will incorporate archival images and documentation with new images of the former John pit with mine geology and paleobotany specimens collected by William Hutton and given by the Mining Institute to the Hancock brothers Natural History Museum, now Great North Museum Hancock. The specimens have inspired new writings, drawings and photography, these will be projected onto locations at the former felling Colliery and photographed in-situ to form a multi-media piece that is to be projected onto crafted structures created from papers reclaimed from conservation work undertaken on the Institute’s book collection. The structures will be installed in and around the central stairwell of the Institute forming a spectacular visual memorial to the 92 men and boys killed at the John Pit in 1812. This disaster led to the formation of the Sunderland Committee and inspired Stephenson, Wood and Davy to develop the miner’s safety lamp – the logo of the Institute.

This work will be complemented by an exhibition about the Felling Disaster in the Library comprising parts of the Institute’s own collection.
On May 25th 1812 an explosion rocked the Felling Mine sending a plume of ash into the sky, turning the light of midmorning dark as twilight. 92 men and boys were killed when the fire damp deep down below ignited. The bedrock of an entire community was shaken. Those tremors were felt throughout the country and led to the call for a safer way to light the deep. From that call came two safety lamps – the Davy and the Geordie. Artist Dawn Felicia Knox set out to create a visual memorial to mark the bicentenary of the tragedy and the urgent spirit of invention that resulted.

The Felling pit now stands an abandoned waste ground given way to fly-tipping and tyre burning. The footprints of the old industry are just visible – graffitied buildings, a crumbling chimney and a copse of trees crooked atop an old slag heap. Dawn Felicia Knox began by photographing the remnants. She then researched history and legacy of the mine focusing on the geological formations and the paleobotany specimens retrieved from the depths by the miners for William Hutton. The fossils, many type specimens, were vital in determining the age of earth and setting the stage for scientific understanding to come. She photographed the specimens which are housed in the stores of the Great North Museum. Knox further collected archival photographs of the working pit, documentation and ephemera relating to the accident include maps, first-hand accounts and expert analysis which she photographed. She brought the images back to the site of the Felling Pit and projected them across the abandoned structures. The prints of the projections will form the core of her installation from which the further layered prints and projections will move out. The photographs she made of the site will be projected in the Mining Institute falling across the centre elevator shaft and sculptures constructed from materials salvaged from the pithead as well as book covers and spines recovered from the Mining Institute Library.
The Felling exhibition will span time showing images made of the three hundred and twenty million year old fossils brought up from six hundred feet below ground, archival images of the working pit from a hundred years ago projected onto the derelict site as it stands today. The images, threaded together with the narrative of the tragedy, will stand as an elegant elegy to the 92 men and boys killed.

Presented as part of The Late Shows 2012. www.thelateshows.org.uk

The Late Showsmarks the international event ‘Museums at Night’, which takes place across Europe. For further information visit www.culture24.org.uk/museumsatnight.

Felling Colliery Disaster - lecture by Dr Eric Wade

Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne Glass Plate Negatives

In 2011 the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne relocated from the Black Gate to the Great North Museum: Hancock. In doing so they kindly donated some items of furniture to the Mining Institute that were no longer required and loaned some other items. Included amongst the loan were a box of glass plate negatives which caught the attention of Aaron Guy, the Mining Institute’s photo archivist.
The box had been left in a hidden corner and had lain undisturbed for a long time. The glass plates had become covered with dust and the images were impossible to see. Aaron offered to clean the plates to see what they contained which forms the basis of the loan of the collection to the mining Institute.
In all there are around 240 glass plate negatives and so far a third of these have been cleaned and carefully scanned.

The quality of the glass plates varies, some have been badly damaged, others are in very good condition. After careful cleaning and preparation for scanning the images to preserve them, the results have revealed some astonishing pictures of life in and around Newcastle upon Tyne in the latter half of the Victorian era.
The photographer is presently unknown and the collection may contain the work of more than one photographer. Most are of an exceptional documentary style showing street scenes and events such as the Town Moor Temperance Festival and the Hoppings. Others capture children playing, various markets and scenes of shop frontages and a ship launch. The quality of the images captured is outstanding.
The images have struck a chord with hundreds of people and formed the basis of a mini-exhibition at the Mining Institute as part of BBC Britain’s First Photo Album in Mid-March. The Newcastle Journal and Evening Chronicle have featured a selection of images thanks to Tony Henderson who immediately saw the public interest the photographs would create.

More recently, the photos have also captured the interest of The Guardian, which compiled a centre page spread and the story is featuring in a Channel 4 news item and the Daily Mail on-line.
Work will continue to clean the remaining items in the collection and prepare them for scanning. Meanwhile, a digital display of more of the items will be on display in the Mining Institute’s Library.
It is hoped that a photographic display of the printed images curated by the Mining Institute and Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne will form part of the celebrations planned for the Bi-centenary of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne in 2013 and that if there is sufficient interest that the collection may be published.

New book: "Still the Sea Rolls On"

A new book about the Hartley calamity 'Still the Sea Rolls on' edited by Keith Armstrong is now available in the library. It is published by Northern Voices Community Projects with the support of North Tyneside Council and is priced at £7.99.

Minerals Collection online

A new section has been added to the site with an online exhibition of different minerals complete with detailed illustrative photos.  The minerals were all collected by one of our trustees, Dr. Colin Laidler, who kindly worked on this project with artist Adrian Moule to create this online exhibition.

New paper online

A new paper by Les Turnbull has been added to the website about the Montagu family.

UK Online Centre

Why not come down to the Institute and try out the Go On training courses? There's something for everyone from the very beginning of how to use a mouse and keyboard. Computers are available Monday-Friday 10am-5pm and we can give you one-to-one help to get started. And best of all, all courses are completely free!  Drop in on a Friday or make an appointment for other days of the week.

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Duplicate maps

The Institute has a large number of duplicate maps available for sale. The list is available to download here. More duplicate maps and sections (Ordnance Survey and Geological Survey) will be available for sale in the future, please contact the librarian if you wish to be added to the mailing list.

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New books for sale:

We have a range of new books available for sale from the library or by post. If you buy a copy from us then up to one third of the cover price goes to support the Institute and the library at no additional cost to you.

Titles include:

NEW - The Conside Trilogy by Garry o' Hagan- £12.95
NEW - George Townsend Andrews of York - The Railway Architect by Bill Fawcett - £26.95

A History of the Newcastle and Berwick Railway ed. John Addyman - £18.50
The Great Northern Miner by Ken and Jean Smith - £12.95
Coals from Newcastle by Les Turnbull £10.95
The Pitmen's Requiem by Peter Crookston £18.00
The Splendour of the Gala by Ken and Jean Smith - £9.99
Unfinished Business - The Miners' strike for jobs 1984-5 by Peter Arkell & Ray Rising - £7.99
History of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway - Bill Fawcett - £24.95
Collieries of Beamish - Garry O Hagan - £12.95
The Making of a prodigy - Robert Stephenson by Victoria Haworth - £9.95
Robert Stephenson: railway engineer by John Addyman and Victoria Haworth - £19.95
Thomas Elliot Harrison - £4.99
The Odyssey by Raymond Hicks £5

Please do call into the Institute Library for your copies or call Jennifer on 0191 2332459 for more information (P&P charged at cost).

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Volunteers wanted!

New volunteers are always welcomed at the Institute to help with our ongoing projects to improve access to the collections - our volunteer policy is available here. Some work can even be done at home via the internet so please do contact our librarian, Jennifer Kelly on 0191 2332459 or email her using the Contact Form if you have some time available.

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Annual Report:

Click Here to download the 2010-2011 Annual Report.

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Newsletter:

The latest newsletter is now available to download here

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The Institute is a registered charity incorporated by Royal Charter (Charity no: 220208).