Skip to main content
Kingsland Road, London, E2 8EA; Tel: 020 7739 9893
My East End is an exciting new photography initiative which invites Londoners to document and celebrate the rich heritage of London’s East End: its people, cultures, domestic and built environments, and open spaces.
The centrepiece of the project is a high-profile, open photography competition which will be judged by a number of experts in their fields, including: Martin Parr, renowned Magnum photographer; Kate Edwards, Picture Editor at Guardian Weekend Magazine; Steven Berkoff, actor, writer and director; and Gilda O’Neill, much-loved East End author.
Related events will include workshops, exhibitions, history study days, school sessions, a talks programme and free places on photography courses.
My East End launches on 1 February 2010 and runs through to summer 2010. It is led by Bishopsgate Institute, Geffrye Museum, Four Corners and Birkbeck College and is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. For more information, please check the My East End website or download the press release here.
1 February 2010
The Geffrye has made the long list of 20 museums nominated for the Guardian Kids in Museum Award. This is a national award and it is a big achievement to have been selected for the long list.Our family programme at the museum is well rounded and includes everything from our Kids Zone on the Geffrye website and our new audio tours and backpacks, to Nursery Rhyme Time sessions for the under 5s, 7 weeks of holiday activities, family days at weekends, workshops for teens and outreach sessions to family learning groups and of course the quiz desk, feely box and Sam the Dog trail. We would like to thank our Education team for all their hard work in creating, delivering and supporting our extensive programme for children and families. Click here to read more about the award and see the full list of nominated museums.
27 November 2009
The museum was awarded Investors in People on 24 July 2009. The key points of the report are summarized below:
Vision and mission
"The Geffrye Museum has a clear mission and vision, aims and objectives, underpinned by a robust plan for the future. This has been effectively communicated throughout the museum.
Culture
The museum has a friendly, warm and caring atmosphere, referred to by many as a 'family'. There is a strong supportive culture and people at all levels appear passionate about the museum.
Empowerment
People and volunteers are empowered to do their job. They are encouraged to take on responsibilities, and they are trusted to deliver. They are allowed to own their work and to make decisions appropriate to their role. The result is motivated teams and increased performance.
Communication
The museum has very open communication channels and between all levels of staff. This has built trust and enhanced team working across the museum.
Training and development
The senior team are very committed to developing their people and help them progress their careers. They have strategies in place to ensure everyone within the museum has fair and equal opportunity to access training and development. There is an impressive range of development activities that are tailored to individual needs."
15 October 2009
We are very pleased to announce the launch of our new Under 5s Sam backpack during the half term week, Tuesday 27 – Friday 30 October.
The backpacks have been specially created to look like Sam, the Geffrye Museum mascot. The backpack focuses on the specially chosen theme of Chairs and aims to provide a range of activities for our youngest visitors to have fun with and engage with the museum collection.
Accompanied by parents/carers, children will be able to borrow a pack from a Quiz Desk Assistant and go into the 20th Century Gallery area to play with the activities. These include a ‘Sam the dog’ jigsaw, a large picture dice for children to roll, a 1990s room magnetic ‘chairs’ game and an interactive reading book. We really hope you have fun using the new backpacks!
19 October 2009
Margaret Hodge, Minister for Culture, has announced today that Penny Egan has been appointed as Chair of the Geffrye Museum, replacing Richard Hunting who will step down after 10 years as Chair and 5 years as Vice Chair. The term will be for four years, from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2013.
Penny Egan has been the Executive Director of the US-UK Fulbright Commission since February 2007. Prior to this, she was the first woman to lead the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) in its 250-year history; she was appointed to the post in 1998 and stepped down in 2006. Before this, Penny was RSA Programme Development Director (1994 – 1998) and RSA Lecture Secretary (1984 – 1994). Her early career includes the posts of Press and Publicity Officer at the Crafts Council (1978 – 1982); Press Officer at No 10 Downing Street (1975 – 1978), and Press Officer at the Victoria & Albert Museum (1972 – 1975). Penny was a member of the Design Council for nine years, stepping down in December 2008. She is a Trustee of Sing London and the think-tank DEMOS, and began her first term of office as a lay member of the Warwick University Council in 2007.
28 September 2009
We have just announced the appointment of David Chipperfield Architects to begin work on a master plan leading to the preparation of outline designs for an extension to the museum. “This is an important step for the museum”, says the Geffrye’s director, David Dewing. “It is the beginning of an exciting and challenging journey. We are delighted to be able to appoint David Chipperfield and look forward to developing our ideas and ambitions for the museum with him”.
The new extension will enable the creation of a new library and additional learning and exhibition spaces whilst enhancing the Geffrye’s existing public areas. It will provide approximately 2,500 square meters on land owned by the museum, immediately adjacent to the existing buildings and fronting onto Cremer Street and Geffrye Street. The Geffrye aims to complete the project in 2015.
To read the full press release, please click here.
24 July 2009
This photo shows Deirdre Cohen and Eduardo Yepez at the London Museum of the Year Awards Ceremony 2009 with Alison Lightbown, the Geffrye's Head of Learning and Education and Janice Welch, Assistant Education Officer and Volunteer Co-ordinator.
The Ceremony, held at HMS Belfast on 2 June 2009, celebrates the work of London Museum Volunteers and the Geffrye was delighted that from more than 70 nominations, Eduardo Yepez, Young Tour Guide and Quiz desk volunteer, was highly commended in the special Youth Volunteering Award and Deirdre Cohen, Almshouse volunteer, Quiz desk volunteer and Marketing volunteer, was a runner up for the 'long service' category. Julie Davies, our Almshouse volunteer and Friends Committee, was also a runner up in the 'Going the Extra Mile' category. We congratulate and thank all three for their continued enthusiasm and commitment to the Geffrye.
Our major online programme, Search the Collections, is now live on our web-site.
You can Search the Collections for particular types of objects or by theme and you can also explore Life in the Living Room 1600-2000, which allows you to discover through pictures and objects the changing nature of living rooms over the past 400 years. Our third online programme, Walk through a Victorian House, which was launched last summer, is an innovative exploration of Victorian domestic life.
You can also join the Geffrye Facebook group to receive notices about forthcoming events.
We are very pleased to announce that Barbara Follett, Minister of Culture, has appointed Patricia Brown to the board of the Geffrye Museum. The term will be for a four-year period, from 26 January 2009.
Patricia Brown has considerable experience of working in urban affairs, centred mainly on urban management, city promotion and governance, with most of her work over the past twenty years focused on London. Patricia’s experience has centred on her experience of cross-sector networks to create teams and partnerships to deliver positive change for the capital. Patricia is Director of Central, which provides strategic advice to companies and organisations operating in, or responsible for, the built environment. She is also a Director of Central London 2012, a small not for profit company concerned with securing legacy for central London from the 2012 Olympic Games. Prior to this Patricia was Chief Executive Central London Partnership. Patricia has also worked as Director of Information at London’s inward investment agency (now Think London), and PR Manager at London Research Centre. She is a Trustee at the Borough Market, and Board Director of the London International Festival of Theatre. Patricia received the International Downtown Association for Outstanding Leadership, for the Business Improvement District (BID) programme, 2005.
Interior designer and popular TV personality, Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, was at the Geffrye on 14 November 2008 to open the special exhibition, Choosing the Chintz. Addressing a crowd of over 200 guests, Laurence Llewelyn Bowen gave a lively and entertaining speech that highlighted many of the exhibits, including the Museum of Childhood's Mrs Bryant's dolls house pictured above.
This beautifully-illustrated new guidebook has just been published and provides the perfect introduction to the Geffrye's period rooms, its collections, and its herb and period gardens. It is available from the museum bookshop.
The Geffrye's maiolica plate has been featured on the side of a London bus to help promote the cultural diversity of London's many independent museums. The London Museum Hub has wrapped the London bus to raise awareness of the capital's non-national museums.
The bus will travel across central London and the West End until March 2009, showcasing images of historic artefacts and reminding visitors of the richness of London's cultural heritage.
Artist Maxine Sutton recently exhibited new embroidered textiles inspired by the Geffrye Museum that make a fascinating study on domestic rituals, narratives and historic home-crafts.
The work was on display from 7 - 31 May 2008 at Craft Central, 33-35 St John's Square, London EC1 4DS.
A group of London Mayors visited the Geffrye on 22 April as part of a day's event hosted by the Speaker of Hackney, Cllr Faizullah Khan. The Director, David Dewing, welcomed the group and provided an introductory talk about the museum and its history. Following a walk through the museum and period gardens they were taken on a tour of the restored historic almshouse before enjoying lunch in the museum restaurant. The photograph shows the Mayors, Director, David Dewing, the Speaker of Hackney, and pupils from West Green Primary School.
The Geffrye Education team are delighted to have been awarded a Sandford Award from the Heritage Education Trust, who made the following assessment:
‘At the Geffrye Museum each recreated living space has its own theatricality, resembling a set on which the audience's imagination casts an eye on the past. The education team enables children to break down the 'fourth wall' of each set studied, by allowing children to deduce for themselves how the English middle-classes live and used to live. Embedded within the Geffrye Museum's education programme is the responsibility of staying true to an ethos that dates back to the 1930s. A highly skilled and dedicated education team perform the role of custodians of this ethos, whilst also being willing to adapt, to listen and to lead. The Geffrye Museum appears not to reach out to its community, it achieves more than that, being an integral, vital, quintessentially English institution within the rich and diverse community it dutifully serves.’
Follow this link for more information on Learning at the Geffrye Museum.
The Geffrye Museum's catalogue, Home and Garden: Paintings and Drawings of English, Middle Class, Urban Domestic Spaces 1914-60, was short-listed along side twenty-four other exhibition catalogues, for The Art Newspaper & AXA Art Exhibition Catalogue Award 2007. Following the awards ceremony on 22 November at the Tate, we are delighted to announce that we were awarded joint runner-up. For more information about this important award please follow this link:
Axa Award 2007
Please click on this link to find out more about Axa Art.
Beacon Press with parent company Pureprint Group, (the print company behind our Home and Garden: Paintings and Drawings of English, Middle Class, Urban Domestic Spaces 1914-60), have won, for the second time, the Fine Art Printer of the Year Award at the 2007 PrintWeek Awards. The books which made up their winning entry were:
Beacon Press were also recognised with a Commendation for their entries in the Book category, which included the two-volume set Gilbert & George Complete Pictures and the Elizabeth Peyton book.
The London Green Corners 2007 Award was presented to the Geffrye Museum Gardens on 20 November for brightening London life and enriching the city's biodiversity.
The Geffrye Musem received Full Accreditation in May 2007. Awarded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, (MLA), Full Accreditation demonstrates that the museum meets the minimum standards in museum management, visitor facilities, user services and collections care. The Accreditation scheme, originally established as Museum Registration in 1988, has helped museums raise standards throughout the UK. As public expectations of museums grows, the scheme ensures that accredited museums reach or surpass these standards and remain accessible and accountable to present and future generations of visitors.
On Thursday 23 November, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell, officially opened the At Home project in front of an invited crowd of 250 guests, including representatives from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the London museums sector. The refurbished period rooms and new interpretive galleries were well received by those attending.
The project has also attracted positive comments from both new and regular visitors.
For more information about the At Home project, please read Press Release - At Home in London, 1600 - 1800.
To commemorate the bicentenary of this 1805 watercolour of the buildings that now house the Geffrye Museum, the Friends of the Geffrye offer for sale a lithographic print from the original in a limited edition of 100. The print is made by kind permission of the Ironmongers' Company. Proceeds from the sale will be donated to the museum to help fund its exhibition and education programme.
Edition: 100, numbered and stamped
Size: 41 x 69.5cm
Printed in 8 colours on 300gsm Somerset Velvet by Curwen Chilford Prints, Linton, nr Cambridge.
Price: £120.00 postage and packing
Special price to Friends of the Geffrye Museum: £100.00 postage and packing
If you have any queries about the print please ring: Brenda Herbert on 020 7254 4379.
