Guided Tours

What's on

Identity, Taste and Power: Colonial Histories of Everyday Objects

Fridays at 11am

What can a porcelain tea set, a silver sugar spoon and a mahogany table tell us about upper-middle class lifestyles in 18th century Britain?

Join Visitor Experience Host Marcia O'Connor on an exploration of the colonial histories of everyday objects. Visitors are encouraged to consider relationships between the violence and injustice perpetrated by the British Empire overseas and the projection of civility and gentility that arises when taking tea 'at home'. 

What can prints, paintings and textiles reveal to us about the lives of women? Join Visitor Experience Host Elizabeth King to explore stories of women’s agency and self-expression from the 17^th to 19^th centuries. Elizabeth's research poses the question why some histories have been relegated, and what we can learn from looking closely at individual lives of women from the past.

Fashion & Clothing Through Time

Temporarily paused

What do clothes and grooming habits say about us and the world we live in?

Join Visitor Experience Host Ethan Chinyere on an illustrated journey through time to learn how fashion can help us learn about the inner thoughts, feelings and experiences of people of the past. Over the past year, Ethan has delved into our archives and collections to discover what clothes the inhabitants of our Rooms Through Time would have worn, and what their fashions and grooming practices say about the world they lived in.