Wednesday, 4 September 2019

A recent acquisition

We were very saddened to hear of the recent death of a long-standing friend and supporter of MoDiP, Jen Cruse.  Jen was the author of ‘The Comb: Its history and development’, copies of which can be found in the MoDiP library collection. 


It is a beautifully illustrated and thorough investigation into the history, design and production of the comb, some examples of which are in the MoDiP collection.  
It is now my ‘go -to’ resource, and as well as being the best reference source I have come across, it is a fascinating read.   Some of the combs featured in it were acquired by MoDiP in 2014 and have been used by a number of students in support of their research and studies.




Before her death, Jen spent some time ensuring that combs from her own collection went to recipients and institutions where they would be appreciated and we in MoDiP were very honoured to accept a collection of 25 combs, mostly dating from the early 1900s.  They came to us complete with copies of Jen’s detailed catalogue records, together with hand drawn illustrations, making my job much easier. 
We first met Jen when she arranged a visit to our museum for the Plastics Historical Society. That was in 2002 and it marked the beginning of a long-standing relationship between MoDiP and the PHS. We now care for their collection here at MoDiP and have benefited from their considerable support and knowledge over the years.  Jen will be greatly missed but through her generous donations to MoDiP she will be remembered in perpetuity.
I am still working on cataloguing these most recent acquisitions, and their full records will appear on our catalogue soon, but meanwhile here are a few images to whet your appetite.




Pam Langdown, Documentation Officer.

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