RT Journal Article
T1 Chamber of noise horrors
A1 James Mansell
YR 2017
VO 7
IS Spring 2017
K1 Sound
K1  noise
K1  museums
K1  technology
K1  exhibition history
K1  Science Museum
AB This article examines the 1935 Science Museum temporary exhibition on Noise Abatement, situating it in the sound historical context of inter-war Britain, and making an argument that the ‘way of hearing’ it advanced was part of an attempt to shape auditory perception in the interests of a class-bound culture of acoustic civilization. Further, the article uses this exhibition to mount an argument that museum scholars should consider sound not simply as a medium of engagement, but also as a politically interested and socially active field.
NO In taking this approach the article deliberately leaves aside several important questions relating to the practicalities of using sound in museum spaces, including issues of hearing ability/disability.
NO Newspaper clipping, ‘Noise: By Lord Elton, In an Interview’, The Sunday Chronicle, 23 June 1935, National Archives, FD1/4048
NO Letter from Sir Henry Richards to Pelham, 9 October 1934, Science Museum, Nominal file 5134
NO File note, Proposed “Anti-Noise” Exhibition, Science Museum, Nominal file 5134
NO Typescript of a radio broadcast made by Lord Horder on behalf of the Anti-Noise League, 20 January 1935, Museum of English Rural Life, SR CPRE C/1/150/1
NO British Medical Journal, 10 August 1929, pp 267–268
NO Exhibit list, Science Museum, Nominal file 5134
NO Letter from R F Millard to members of the Anti-Noise League, 14 March 1935, National Archives, HLG/52/1210
NO Loan questionnaire, National Archives, HLG/52/1210
NO Daily Telegraph, 31 May 1935, p 21
NO Typeset description of demonstration house prepared by the buildings sub-committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, National Archives, HLG/52/1210
NO Typeset description of demonstration house prepared by the buildings sub-committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, National Archives, HLG/52/1210
NO Typeset description of demonstration house prepared by the buildings sub-committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, National Archives, HLG/52/1210
NO Description of silent lift exhibit, National Archives, HLG/52/1210
NO Minutes of the third meeting of the Buildings Sub-Committee of the Noise Abatement Exhibition, 6 February 1935, National Archives, HLG/52/1210
NO Draft of article ‘Noise and Housing’ by Hope Bagenal, National Archives, HLG/52/1210
NO ‘Noise: By Lord Elton, In an Interview’
PB The Science Museum Group
SN 2054-5770
LA eng
DO 10.15180/170704
UL http://journal.sciencemuseum.org.uk/browse/issue-07/chamber-of-noise-horrors/
CR Anti-Noise League, 1935a, Noise Abatement Exhibition (London: Anti-Noise League)
CR Anti-Noise League, 1935b, Silencing a Noisy World: Being a Brief Report of the Conference on the Abatement of Noise (London: Anti-Noise League)
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WT Science Museum Group Journal
OL 30