JTR Exhibition in Docklands

[Monty]

Neal,

Exactly.

I fail to understand how the victims and their lives have been all but missed when they represent a good fraction of life in the area, a fraction this exhibition is supposedly about.

Monty

[Chris George]

Again, I am speaking out of total ignorance, not having seen the exhibition, but isn't this just what I have been saying... that the curators seem to have more of a sociological focus than on the case itself? That's shocking that there is no real focus on the victims. So again it is what I am contending: that the curators are more interested in focusing on the rest of the East End than on the individual victims.

Chris

Then why call it Jack the Ripper at all, it seems to give away their intention to fill the tills rather than educate.

Hi Neal

I don't know the Docklands Museum and I have not, as I said, seen the exhibit, but I think we might begin to understand why the exhibition is the way it is.

I would agree with Stewart's remarks that the academic world at large and the museum community does not know that much about Jack the Ripper. The powers that be at the Docklands Museum probably thought this was a good idea for an exhibition, but given where they were coming from in terms of their own interests and orientation plus the scholarly research interests of most of the academics that they enlisted to talk (see my prior post giving the list of lunchtime talks), the exhibition ended up being as it is -- on the dry side.

But it is, I am certain, conceivably better than it might been if the curators had made other choices. For example, surely it is better than a London Dungeon or Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors style of presentation -- we might consider they could have gone for a more penny dreadful garish approach. The exhibit sounds solid even if the approach is not quite what as some of us, and you particularly, Neal, being focused as you are, commendably, on the victims, would have preferred.

Chris

[Chris George]

Then why call it Jack the Ripper at all, it seems to give away their intention to fill the tills rather than educate.

Neal,

Exactly.

I fail to understand how the victims and their lives have been all but missed when they represent a good fraction of life in the area, a fraction this exhibition is supposedly about.

Monty

Hi Monty and Neal

They are educating the public in their own way. They probably thought that with the tag of "Jack the Ripper" as the main draw to bring in the general public it was a good opportunity to inform the public on the realities of the East End of 1888 rather than simply to focus on the murders.

And at the same time, visitors do get to see the Dear Boss letter, Don Rumbelow's "Ripper" knife, and other artifacts that they might not otherwise have seen. Not perfect from our point of view, but could have been worse.

Also think of all the new Ripperologists they are going to make with an exhibition that runs from May to November. I hope Spry and the rest of us are ready for the stampede.

Chris

[Neal Shelden]

Again this might not please many, but i'll just say that was the Dear Boss letter proved to be by Jack the Ripper, or the alleged Ripper knife proved to be Jack the Ripper's, or the Maybrick diary, or other Ripper letters on show etc.. No!

Is the face of Annie Chapman on that picture, and do we know about the lives of the victims, Yes!

Depends on what you want to see fact or fiction.

[Monty]

Hey Chris,

Hi Monty and Neal

They are educating the public in their own way. They probably thought that with the tag of "Jack the Ripper" as the main draw to bring in the general public it was a good opportunity to inform the public on the realities of the East End of 1888 rather than simply to focus on the murders.

And at the same time, visitors do get to see the Dear Boss letter, Don Rumbelow's "Ripper" knife, and other artifacts that they might not otherwise have seen. Not perfect from our point of view, but could have been worse.

Also think of all the new Ripperologists they are going to make with an exhibition that runs from May to November. I hope Spry and the rest of us are ready for the stampede.

Chris

I understand what you are saying however, personally speaking (which is unfair I know), I would have found the victims side of things extremely interesting. I find them far more interesting than any suspect debate.

Monty

[caz]

Morning All,

No doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the Dear Boss letter on display was labelled as a facsimile of the original - just an observation. The red ink writing was quite hard to read, so my only criticism would be that it might have been better to include the text in the caption. And yes, there is a facsimile of the Lusk letter, as well as a selection of other ripper correspondence.

I really do think people who have not yet paid a visit should wait until they get a flavour of the whole exhibition before condemning it for its theme, or for what it may or may not have been able to include. The fictional aspects of the case have been a sort of reality in their own right from the beginning ("Jack the Ripper", anyone? ) and the public can work out for themselves from reading the captions how much the myths and realities have mingled ever since. They may not be as clued up as we are, but most museum goers are not total morons either.

Hi all,

Booking in advance seems to be inconvenient to do from Germany. Is it possible just to go there at the opening time in the morning, any queues?

From a rainy Italy

Christian

Hi Christian

I can't predict how busy it might get by July. The second week of July will be when many schools start winding down for the long summer holidays and day trips are often arranged. You may find lots of student groups booked in.

When I went on Sunday it was only the fourth day of the exhibition and I didn't bother to book. We arrived at about 10.15 and were the only ones at the desk when we bought our tickets. After about half an hour the place started filling up a bit, but not to any great extent. There was never a time when we had to wait more than a few moments to see a specific display, for instance.

Looking forward to seeing you again in August.

Love,

Caz
X

[Stewart P Evans]

Ignored

I'm sorry, but I really cannot see how the victims have been ignored. There are several pages from the Eddowes inquest papers on display including the list of Eddowes' possessions.

There was an article in Time yesterday and the victim emphasis is shown there. It says of the exhibition "It also shows how the Ripper's 11 victims [sic] - all alcoholics who turned to prostitution - were brought down by slum life before falling prey to a murderer. A police list of Catherine Eddowes' clothing and possessions is both mundane and poignant: A gray petticoat, "a very old ragged blue skirt," and a pair of men's lace-up boots..."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1807923,00.html?=cnn

[Stewart P Evans]

Original

No doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the Dear Boss letter on display was labelled as a facsimile of the original - just an observation. The red ink writing was quite hard to read, so my only criticism would be that it might have been better to include the text in the caption. And yes, there is a facsimile of the Lusk letter, as well as a selection of other ripper correspondence.

I think you will find that the original 'Dear Boss' letter is on display, lying face up in the display box. The 'facsimile' label is below the reverse side of the letter, signed 'Jack the Ripper' which is, of course, a facsimile as it is written on the reverse side of the original. The original is arranged to show the first page and it is not possible to show both sides at the same time. The Lusk letter on dislay is the Royal London Hospital's 1888 original photograph of it. As we all know the original Lusk (or 'From hell') letter is missing.

[caz]

Thanks for that Stewart. I saw the facsimile label and made a false assumption. For some reason I had also assumed two sheets were used for the letter, although I can see now from another look at pages 16 and 17 of your Letters From Hell that it's one sheet with writing on both sides.

I agree that the victims were far from 'ignored', as I think the link you have provided demonstrates quite clearly.

Love,

Caz
X

[Neal Shelden]

I don't see how official papers mentioning the victims make up for a reasonable short history on each of the victims. I would have liked the thought even that someone who had come from Wolverhampton or Sweden might have left the exhibition wanting to know more about Eddowes or Stride because they never knew that that particular victim came from the same place they did. Or people might have asked the question about Annie coming from Knightsbridge a place that is very different today. The organisers didn't want to mention any of this because it's takes the focus away from the East End and none of these women were Eastenders as many weren't in the area.
Again, I just think the fact that this is still the most famous murders that have ever taken place in the world people walking away from this exhibition will be none the wiser about them, which is exactly what i've been fighting against now for 22 years.

[auspirograph]

Thank You

I'd just like to say thank you to all who have been able to see this exhibition in sharing your stories for people like me who are not able to get there. It certainly sounds like a lot of fun and educational too so the organisers got something right.

You are all very lucky to have such heritage and history so close and I for one think it's fascinating and appreciate the reports.

Caz, you tell a good story, the walk-throughs with hubby made me feel like I was there.

Enjoy, I do think that the women who died at the hands of Jack the Ripper would have wanted to be remembered that way...

[chrisjd]

Caz, thanks for finding the time to answer my question.
I'm looking forward to meeting you again!

Christian

[Natalie Severn]

I don't see how official papers mentioning the victims make up for a reasonable short history on each of the victims. I would have liked the thought even that someone who had come from Wolverhampton or Sweden might have left the exhibition wanting to know more about Eddowes or Stride because they never knew that that particular victim came from the same place they did. Or people might have asked the question about Annie coming from Knightsbridge a place that is very different today. The organisers didn't want to mention any of this because it's takes the focus away from the East End and none of these women were Eastenders as many weren't in the area.
Again, I just think the fact that this is still the most famous murders that have ever taken place in the world people walking away from this exhibition will be none the wiser about them, which is exactly what i've been fighting against now for 22 years.

Sad but true Neal.They have not attempted to fight the stereotyping thats pretty obvious-------so we all need to keep on fighting to restore their humanity to the Victims.
Cheers
Norma

[George Hutchinson]

I certainly share Neal's sentiments here, not just for the sake of the memory of the women who were murdered but also for the standing of historians. We're all thought to be a bunch of ghouls and sickos by most people and a concentration on the LIVES instead of the DEATHS of some of the women, even a little, would have gone some way to showing there is more to Ripper Studies than how big his weapon was (ahem). There has so far been no solid excuse for the omission of the Chapman 1860s image.

PHILIP

[Stewart P Evans]

Answer

There has so far been no solid excuse for the omission of the Chapman 1860s image.PHILIP

That is because the only ones who can answer that point do not post on these boards. Perhaps they should be asked? I do know that I was told that they were looking to exhibit originals only and not copies of key items. But I really cannot give a definitive answer to this one.