A mini exhibition at Newark’s National Civil War Centre is now on display, offering an insight into food and drink preparation through the decades.
Celebrating the display’s location, in the foyer between the museum and Café Nineteen20, the objects all have a catering theme and evoke memories and images of kitchens over the past 100 years.
The exhibition has been a collaborative project, as members of the Café team were invited to tour the museum stores with Collections and Exhibitions colleagues to help curate the objects featured.
Joanne Brooks, Catering Supervisor at Café Nineteen20, who chose many of the exhibits, said: “Coming from a long line of homemakers and women passionate about producing home baking in their daily lives, many of the items in the display have fond memories for me.
“I recall helping both my Granny and my mum in the kitchen using many similar items, some of which have been passed down to me or which I have bought modern versions of over the years.”
Objects featured include tea infusers and caddies, sugar nippers, enamel tea containers, an icing set, and a rotating cake decorating stand. The exhibition gives a real insight into how cooking equipment has evolved and how much more strenuous the tasks we take for granted today used to be, with a hand-driven coffee grinder, a rotary whisk, and a handheld pastry blender being among the items included.
Some visitors may even recognise some of the objects on display, such as a Camp Coffee bottle and a ‘gas-proof’ Mazawattee tea container, while others open our eyes to the changes in cooking habits during wartime, with a tin of powdered egg reminding us how celebration cakes were made during WW2.
A number of the objects tell unique and personal stories too, with a striking silver-plated teapot with a bone handle, given as a wedding present, alongside a Women’s Institute Golden Anniversary teapot stand. There is even a Newark cookbook dating from the 1920s to ’30s featuring recipes sent in from the community, including Christmas pudding instructions from Palace Theatre founder Emily Blagg.
Glyn Hughes, Collections and Exhibitions Manager, said: “It’s really wonderful to see the collection through other people’s eyes and hear the personal stories which these objects evoke. Seeing the enthusiasm people have for these exhibits reminds us how privileged we are to do what we do and inspires us to go on to curate more exhibitions from the collection. Some of the objects you can enjoy in this display haven’t been on public view in over 10 years, and it’s fantastic that we are enjoying more opportunities to share these.”
Councillor Rowan Cozens, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Heritage, Culture, and the Arts at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “This is such a relatable insight into daily life over the decades, and exhibitions like these make history so accessible; we’ve all whipped up a cake and taken our electric whisks and mixers for granted, but seeing the journey these utensils have been on is really eye-opening and helps us to identify with our predecessors. I am delighted that we are creating more and more opportunities to get a wider range of objects out on display from our museum store and encourage residents to come out and enjoy a slice of local history, perhaps alongside a slice of cake from the Café too!”
The exhibition is open now until March and is free for everyone to enjoy. Residents of Newark and Sherwood can also take advantage of free admission to all of the National Civil War Centre’s exhibitions, open from 10 am to 4 pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
