Please note this is NOT a ZOOM Lecture but an in person lecture. Tickets include a complimentary glass of Devil’s Botany Chocolate Absinthe.
Doors open at 6:30pm and talk starts at 7pm
‘ A warehouse of homicide’ with these words Orson Welles introduced the radio show Tales from the Back Museum. The radio show brought stories of murder and detection directly into people’s living rooms so they too could experience ‘the Black Museum’.
Dating from 1875 the Crime Museum was given the nickname ‘The Black Museum’ in the nineteenth century by a journalist disgruntled at not being allowed to visit the museum. The museum is a closed training collection and contains objects connected to crimes dating back to the nineteenth century. The collection includes death masks, poisons, evidence from crimes of Dr Crippen, the Krays, Neville Heath, Thomas Cream and John Christie.
Alongside weapons and poisons everyday items such as a monopoly board, a lipstick, a tin of talcum powder and a silk scarf take on a macabre aspect as their role in crime is revealed. Located in New Scotland Yard the museum is iconic and known but unknown. While closed to the public the museum has a place in popular culture, featuring in films, novels and the Orson Welles radio series. In the early twentieth century special guest visitors included Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini and one visitor who would later feature in the museum’s collection…
The museum shows the ways in which crimes have been committed and investigated including developments in forensics and technology. From the first conviction to murder using a fingerprint in 1905 to a recreation of a crime scene in miniature.
In this talk Dr Clare Smith will talk about the founding and purpose of the museum, look at a selection of the infamous cases that are part of the collection and consider how the museum has appeared in popular culture. This talk will also look at how the collection is curated and cared for, the challenges of interpreting and caring for a collection that can include everything from weapons to a violin.
Dr Clare Smith is the Curator of the Metropolitan Police Museum. Clare has over twenty years of museum experience. Her PhD examined the cinematic depiction of Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel murders. Clare has published on masculinity and gender in cinema and depictions of victims and detectives on screen.
Devil’s Botany is the UK’s first absinthe distillery, founded by Directors of The Last Tuesday Society’s Absinthe Parlour. Celebrating spirit’s connection to art, literature, magic & mixology, Devil’s Botany is unleashing the future of absinthe with bold expressions for the adventurous drinkers of today.
The venue opens at 18:30. Doors will close at 19:00 to avoid disrupting the speaker. We kindly ask that all guests arrive before 19:00. Refunds are not possible for in person events with less than seven days notice in any circumstances.
