[Regia-NA] Fwd: [Midlaurel] Be part of the success of an amazing museum!]

[rmhowe]

If you feel the need to be immortilized and be part of a
Living History Museum in almost daily action:
Barley Hall is attached [sorta] to York Archaeological
Trust and the Jorvik Viking Center in York, England.
It's been in existence since the early 1990's.

I've taken the liberty of forwarding this to organizations
outside of the SCA, which isn't all that well known in
England [Regardless of a former Windmaster having been
King of Drachenwald - the SCA kingdom of Europe]. :)
I mean, there's no reason the effort should be solely
up the the SCA. We could make it competitive. Surely
Europe has some serious reenactors - tongue firmly in
cheek. ;)

Master Magnus, OL, Great Barony of Windmasters' Hill,
theManx, Regia.org, GDH.

--- constancefairfax at itasca.net wrote:
 > Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 01:09:03 -0600 From:
 > constancefairfax at itasca.net To: midlaurel at minstrel.com Subject:
 > [Midlaurel] Be part of the success of an amazing museum!
 >
 > We have the opportunity of an SCA lifetime to have our creations
 > used, sold, or put on permanent display by a museum.
 >
 > Barley Hall is a recently re-discovered fourteenth century
 > timberframe home in York which is in the process of being restored
 > and furnished to reflect what a merchant class home would have looked
 > like in 1485 and thus it is not really a museum, it is a period home.
 > Visitors can touch the wall hangings, smell the spices in the
 > kitchen, sit in the chairs, pick up the hand-woven table linens, hear
 > the rain through the linen-waxed windows, and see the home lit by
 > tallow candles and what sunlight made it through a horn-paned window.
 > It was for me the most 'the dream' place that we visited while we
 > were overseas it was fascinating to be able to touch replicas of
 > pieces I had seen in the Yorkshire Museum just hours before.   For
 > the time that I was there, time stood still, and all of my imaginings
 > finally found a home.
 >
 > Barley Hall is in serious need of financial and in-kind assistance.
 > They need the kinds of things that we make!  We have an opportunity
 > to collaborate with the curators of a  historical site who want to
 > fully immerse their visitors in history.
 >
 > There are three particular ways by which we can assist the curators
 > of Barley Hall:
 >
 > 1) They are especially interested in contributions to their
 > educational collection and have suggested items representative of the
 > fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, such as: -    Clothing and
 > accessories to fit children ages 6-13 -    Equipment for spinning,
 > weaving, dying and embroidery -    Finished work, especially
 > embroidery, tapestry -    period tools for woodwork, leatherwork,
 > pottery etc -    authentic candles and other lighting -    anything
 > to do with literacy and other forms of communication -printing,
 > painting, writing and calligraphy
 >
 > 2) They are very interested in the possibility of being given masters
 > of booklets for sale in their gift shop they'd be interested in just
 > about anything we'd write a TI article CA about.  As well, they sell
 > this-and-that in the shop (from pewter buttons to ceramic beakers)
 > and would be happy to take donations of saleable items such as kits,
 > patterns, booklets, and reproductions.  These donations would ensure
 > that they have the money to stay open and fund acquisitions of large
 > pieces and additional staff.
 >
 > 3) The trustees are also actively pursuing the completion of the
 > furnishings to the very highest standards of authenticity for items
 > available to a merchant class family in York in 1485.  They agree
 > that some amazing work is being done by reenactors, but emphasize
 > that the trustees require detailed authentication of any work for
 > permanent display.  I will be asking for a list of items they will be
 > aiming to acquire for the Chambers, but first, if there is something
 > you would like to offer, please let me know and I will get you in
 > touch with them.
 >
 > As you may be aware, the US dollar has tanked in the past year or so
 > a monetary contribution by an American is worth almost half of what
 > it used to be but I thought of a way to make my donation work.

It's not quite that bad. Maybe 20% but hey, a war will do that to
you (and so will the current and last administrations apparently).
Compare the dollar values now to the Euro/Pound/Peso/Canadian Peso/
Norwegian kronor/Danish kronor/Swedish kronor/Chinese Yuan or
Japanese Yen of only a year ago.  I should point out that all
the above should vacation -here- for the forseeable future. :)

In fact we might ought to consider joining Canada - at least their
currency is appreciating... I will say that the English pound
has gone from $1.45 to $1.85 in the last four years or so and
I haven't checked the last two weeks. Invest in their postage
stamps - you wouldn't believe the cost of cross-pond postage
these days.

 > Instead of sending them a check, I WILL PAY for the shipping of your
 > donated educational/saleable item (for large and/or heavy items,
 > please contact me first!).  I will collect items at RUM (May 1),
 > Coronation (May 15), and Swine and Roses (July 4 weekend).  Please
 > provide some documentation as well as your contact information. If
 > you are providing masters, please note that British paper is a
 > different size than ours (contact me if you need help with getting
 > your booklet laid out).
 >
 > It would be such an honor to have a piece on display at Barley Hall
 > an incredible encouragement to say to our colleagues and dependents
 > that their work belongs in a museum and a fulfillment to complete a
 > project and send it off.
 >
 > In service to the dream (which, I have discovered, lives on in Barley
 > Hall),
 >
 > Constance Fairfax
 >
 > (Please feel free to forward my note as you see fit)