Excursion Report - Sedgwick Museum Saturday May 17th 2003

The annual Section C museum visit was inaugurated in 1997 with a visit to the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge, and here we were, six years later, back at the same place. In the intervening years we have visited all the major centres with geological collections open to the public, and the circle was now complete. But no apologies were necessary for coming back to the Sedgwick. Only recently the venerable old museum had seen the commission of one revamped gallery, and plans are afoot for converting the other, so there were new things to see. And for sheer quality and quantity of material, the mueum takes some beating. Thankfully, the new gallery has maintained the Sedgwick’s policy of showing large numbers of specimens in traditional cases. Flashing lights, walk-through dioramas and ‘virtual experiences’ have mercifully made few inroads (n.b. Chairman’s personal prejudices!), although I have no doubt these type of exhibits have their place elsewhere

 

The traditional display cabinets in the Sedgwick Museum

   We got a good turn out of members, 17 in all, and it was pleasing to see some new faces. As in 1997, curator Mike Dorling hosted our party. An added bonus of visiting the Sedgwick is that after a tour of the museum, one can explore the myriad delights of Cambridge, as did many of the party.

Andrew Swift