Just What Do People Expect From a Jack the Ripper Exhibition?

[Stewart P Evans]

Further to comments raised on another thread (about the Museum in Docklands Exhibition) I am beginning to wonder exactly what people expect from such an exhibition.

I have been reading and researching the case for 47 years and have seen enormous changes in this area of interest. Once an enthusiast would have travelled across half the country merely to see the actual 'Dear Boss' letter and would have been more than satisfied just seeing that. Now it would seem not. Perhaps people today are spoilt and have been subjected to 'Ripper overkill' for too many years now. It really does leave me baffled. It is a sad reflection on the state of modern thinking and expectations. I am truly disappointed to see disparaging remarks and negative comments about this exhibition into which a lot of hard work has been put.

I don't have a complete list of all that is on display at the Museum in Docklands, but amongst the items are many original documents and letters, including the 'Dear Boss' letter and the relevant suspect page of the 'Macnaghten Memoranda.' Also the original Eddowes inquest drawings and plans, Abberline's walking stick, Eddowes inquest statements, rare Ripper books (some from Ted Ball's excellent collection which I hadn't seen before), Openshaw's Masonic regalia, and so on. For goodness sake - what do people want? Embalmed bodies and newly found written Ripper confessions perhaps.

The fact that the East End and social conditions have been included is right and relevant. I should be interested to hear any sensible comments on this, and to hear if anyone feels the same way as me.

[revpetero]

I have to agree.

You have to include details of life and times in the East End as well as the fantastic exhibits relating to the crimes and individuals involved.

The exhibit primarily needs to be based on evidence and fact rather than theories and suspicions. I know that people are obviously interested in the ideas and arguements and hence guest speakers are a fabulous addition, but the museum exhibit needs, I feel, to steer clear of this and show the evidence untainted and raw, so that anybody entering without prior knowledge can view as it is and without the pollution (sorry maybe harsh) of 120 years of arguements.

If anybody feels I am way off line then I apologise. Other thoughts are always taken on board.

Peter

[Jenni Shelden]

Hiya Stewart,

well - I guess you are right in one way - in that I don't know what I was expecting. I just came away from the experience feeling that (and this is something I have had trouble explaining even to Neal!) something was missing from the experience.

I think I felt that we know things already, but if we did not know things already, maybe we would still not know things, for example - i found PC Long's medals to be very interesting, but there didnt seem to be any details as to why they were conected. Then again maybe I missed it - as I seem to have missed several things and they were definately there. Maybe a second go round would make me appreciate it more. I know we were in a bit of a rush so as not to miss the talks.

I do like social history (as you might expect) and there were many interesting things in that regard. But that at first glance the exibition was not sold on those grounds, and while I can see that this is relevant and important and should be included - so should information about the victims and the killer, I felt both information boards were lacking something.

Also, I genuinely felt that the informtation I would have expected about the murders, was not very detailed. Or was missing.

I think I feel that they are almost apologising for having an exibition about JtR at all, and that narks me.

Then again, it was not terrible in itself, it just could have been better, and from what was said in October i was expecting something better.

I don't however, expect everything on JtR to be done how I would do it or to suit my specific tastes and wants and therefore I wish the exibtion luck, and will definately try to get down to see some more of the talks.

I would definately like ot go back with someone who knows nothnig about the case and see what they learn from it thoguh , because i don't know how much they could have taken away from it had they known nothing at all. this is something that is hard to judge thoguh - especailly when I am as anal about the subject as i am!

I doubt this makes sense as i wrote it at work

Jenni

[The Good Michael]

I think there is such a glut of information in all the books from A-Z, to The Facts, to the respectable suspect books, and to the more narrowly focused books such as Letters from Hell and the victim books. This means that people are now more informed (or misinformed) than ever about things JTR. It is natural that they would want to see everything they can at one time. When I go to a pub and there are only two choices of beer, Budweiser and Miller, I am very disappointed and will never return. If I have at least a minor selection of ales from which to choose, I am satsified. The question is: is the exhibit an insignificant choice of two lousy beers, or a decent, if smallish selection of British, Belgian, and microbrew style ales? If the latter, there is no need to gripe. If the former, I wouldn't want to visit.

I must apologize for the ale analogy, but I am in a land where the only decent beer is Guinness, and that is $9 for a bottle (when it can be found), or $12 for a proper pint of it a 2 hour train ride away.

I would agree that people are generally spoiled, and I never realized it until I came to Korea and have had to settle for no variety in food or drink. I was spoiled as well. I would love to be able to get to the Docklands exhibit. I would love to be able to see anything JTR, even a book.

Mike

[Lord Lucan]

I'd have to agree with you Stewart. I'd give and arm and a leg (not literally) to see some of these remarkable items that (let's face it) are the reason some of us are all here 130 years later discussing.

[Mike Covell]

The old saying "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" springs to mind.
There seems to be a lot of negative coverage of the event, but how long have we waited for it, and when it's finished, how long will we have to wait for another!

When the announcement was made I was quite excited about visiting, but on health grounds it, looks unwise to travel so I will have to miss it!

Maybe next time.....

[John Bennett]

Good point Stewart,

I noticed that the more negative comments regarding the exhibition came before it opened!

Indeed, we are spoilt to an extent, but I think the exhibition had plenty going for it. The fact that it included original artefacts and documents is its major plus-side - I for one was thrilled to see the Maybrick diary for the first time, for example.

As Jenni said, it would be good to go with somebody altogether less Rippery than ourselves - I'm taking my Dad soon and I'm sure he will love it, so I'm looking forward to some of his enthusiasm rubbing off.

Thinking back on it, as an educational tool, it serves its purpose rather well and considering this is the first of its kind on this subject (that I can remember anyway), those 'in the know' would do well to give it a chance.

It's a public exhibition, open to all, and was not created for the sole gratification of Ripperologists.

JB

[Jenni Shelden]

John,

I quote agree it is not for the gratification of ripperologists, I must confess to being a little bit concerned that the way I viewed the exibiton was shaped by my feelings as a Ripprologists. That said - I still liked plenty that was in it. My main concern is that ist did not work as an educational tool, then again - how uold I kbow - I already have been educated about it! hence my earlier comment

Jenni

[Monty]

Stewart,

I think you have made fair comment.

I, myself, have been spoilt. I have seen your fantastic collection.

Thats kinda hard to follow.

Monty

[caz]

I would definately like ot go back with someone who knows nothnig about the case and see what they learn from it thoguh , because i don't know how much they could have taken away from it had they known nothing at all. this is something that is hard to judge thoguh - especailly when I am as anal about the subject as i am!

Exactly so, Jen. It's something that you can't judge for yourself, since you do know about the case. I took hubby, who knows only the barest bones, and he enjoyed it thoroughly and said he learned a lot. His own interest lies more in the recent history of the Thames, and pioneers like Bazalgette. So the main Docklands Museum was more up his alley and included a nice group of poignant exhibits from the Princess Alice disaster. In this way, I was able to explain to him how exhibits such as these could be related tangentially to the ripper case.

Since the special JtR part of the museum has to be geared towards those who are not already ripper nuts, the time it takes to go round and absorb all the information is an important factor, especially for those who have to travel great distances and can't simply pop back another time. It's no good if it takes a whole day just to take in all the ripper stuff. So too much detail would not have been practical and might have been off-putting for non-specialists.

It took hubby and I around two hours to give all the JtR exhibits the attention we felt they deserved, and that's probably about right, since it gave us plenty of time for a good look at the other galleries as well as a hearty lunch.

Love,

Caz
X

[caz]

Hi John,

I took a copy of Shirley's book with me, just so I could compare the 1993 facsimile directly with how the same two pages of writing look today. I forgot to do so last time I saw it.

After 15 years and counting - same old same old.

Love,

Caz
X

PS Did I really just say that?

[Roy Corduroy]

The General Public

Hello,

If my wife and I were to travel to London from the U.S. by this November, we would absolutely go to the exhibit. To see the items, pictures, etc, in a modern climate controlled museum down by the river would be fantastic. Residents of the UK and other tourists would be interested, in other words, the general public.

The public might somehow find this website and get a negative impression of the exhibition. I would think everyone on this site would want to be a booster of it, to accommodate the public and spread the word.

Roy

[caz]

Hear hear, Roy! Nicely put.

Sometimes we must come across as a right load of nit-pickers.

It would be great if we could all just accentuate the positive for a change and eliminate the negative.

Love,

Caz
X

[Sam Flynn]

As a thought experiment, why not turn the whole situation on its head?

Imagine you were a member of the general public who happened to be in town when a Ripper Conference was going on, and obtained entry to the day's lectures/events by paying at the door. You might, I'm sure, find some of the proceedings interesting, but - overall - wouldn't you feel completely baffled by the sort of minutiae to which many of us find ourselves drawn? Wouldn't the drinks interval go something like this:

Sam Flynn [for it is he]: "Look you now, boyo, isn't it. Enjoy the morning, did you?"

Joe/Joanne Public: "Well, it was OK in parts - but strewth! How you can listen spellbound for the best part of an hour to a chap talking about the history of Victorian grafitti is beyond me!"

...that type of thing

[Limehouse]

We are going down to London for the weekend this Friday and are going to the Docklands Museum during the weekend because I have a huge interest in the area, my mother's family having strong connections to Docklands.

I am probably going to book to see the exhibition but I am slightly reluctant because I think it's so important to get things like this right if they are not to be seen as rather distasteful. From what Stewart has described, it seems the exhibition is far more sensitive towards the victims than the ghastly 'chamber of horrors' type approach.