John Ruskin and the Idea of a Museum

An online, virtual reconstruction of the Walkley Museum and the collection of the Guild of St George using contemporary evidence (original photographs).

Now held at Sheffield’s ‘Ruskin Gallery’, the collection of the Guild of St George was originally established by Ruskin in Walkley, Sheffield, in the 1870s. This project developed an online, virtual reconstruction of the Walkley Museum using contemporary evidence (original photographs).ruskin

Users are able to interact with the museum and access high-quality images of the original exhibits alongside contextualising information. A small resource area was established to provide access to visitors of the physical Gallery. The project relied mainly upon exhibits already photographed; at later stages, it involved virtual reconstruction, digitisation and resource enhancement. The project should not be confused with schemes that create digitised catalogues of items already in existence. By exploring principles of display that can no longer be achieved physically, it turned virtual experience into a basis for research.

Website

Duration: January 2009 – June 2009

Project Team

  • Marcus Waithe (PI – School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, University of Sheffield)
  • Michael Pidd (The Digital Humanities Institute)
  • Ryan Bloor (Developer – The Digital Humanities Institute)