This weeks work at Cotehele - May 30th 2012

This is my Third week of Volunteer Placement at Cotehele...

This week I have been continuing to act as a room guide, managing the Victorian Library. During todays session I have been cleaning and restoring parts of our mechanical hand exhibition. The mechanical hand is a replica from one of the suits of armour found in the great hall at Cotehele. The replica hand on display in the library was comissioned by one of our past volunteers in memory of her husband who had also been a volunteer at Cotehele and who had a keen interest in military history. The mechanical hand replica is an extremely popular peice and a demonstration of the moving fingers and wrist joints is often requested by visitors.

"The knights of the medieval days were anxious to replace limb loss with a prosthesis, not only to improve function but also to conceal their deformity and thus their weakness. It is only natural that prosthetic fabrication became a func- tion of the armorers of the day, who were skilled in the use of metal and wood.

In 1550 Pare designed an artificial hand called "le petit Lorrain" that had a fixed thumb but spring-loaded movable fingers. He also devised an above-knee prosthesis with a knee joint that could be released by a thong running to the hip. An upper-limb prosthesis using the trunk and shoulder-girdle muscles as a source of power for flexion and extension of the fingers was designed in 1818 by a German dentist, Peter Ballif. An above-elbow arm, using Ballif's principle to flex the elbow, was proposed by a Dutch sculptor in 1844."

 *http://www.acpoc.org/library/1976_05_015.asp

Also...

 

This week I have been taking a closer look at some of the 18th century books we currently hold in the Victorian library, many of them are beautifully bound and embossed with gold leaf similarly inside they are decorated in the most intricate designs. I have included a few arty images of the books for your enjoyment as I certainly enjoyed looking at them

I have also been given the dates this week for my promgramme of volunteering over the next 6 months. This will include;

* Look Sharp Exhibitions - Demonstrations and talks on the 18th Century swords and knives currently on display in the great hall

* Heritage Open Days - Talking to the Public about how Cotehele is run and maintained in terms of preservation and restoration

* Behind the Scenes events - Taking tours of visitors around areas of the house not usually open to the public, including the attic

* CSI Fridays - Leading torchlit tours around the house and educating visitors on the agents of deterioration and how we preserve and restore historical pieces.

* Haunted Cotehele - Tours of the house at night by torchlight, telling ghost stories and potted histories of each room



All of these events will be great additions to my CV and if anyone would like to book a place then please let me know :)