'This is my grandfather's workshop. It was part of a series of nooks found under my grandparents home and shared space with the garage (rarely used by cars) a storage space for lumber and other assorted stuff, and a bedroom used by my dad and his siblings. I remember the workshop smelling strongly of old used oil and the damp musty smell of dirt. I tried to give the impression of a workshop but in reality it would have taken hours to source, make or recondition the multitude of bits and pieces, oddments and junk that would have originally populated this tiny, dark room. It is a funny process building things based purely on a few unsubstantiated memories - everything ends up so clean and lifeless.'
Grandads Workshop - Selected Memories, 2009 (Courtesy of Chitham Family Collections)
Grandads Workshop - Selected Memories (detail), 2009 (Courtesy of Chitham Family Collections)
Grandads Workshop - Selected Memories (detail), 2009 (Courtesy of Chitham Family Collections)
The Museum of True History is pleased to show our first diorama from our Selected Memories collection. The contributor has supplied us with the following Selected Memories:
'Me and my little brother used to go and spend holidays with my fathers parents. I always looked forward to it and although they both died when I was quite young, I felt like I had spent a lot of time with them. Funnily enough it wasn't until I was invited to participate in this project that I realised how I could really only remember 2 or 3 rooms in there house in any detail. I chose to create my grandfathers bedroom (they had slept in seperate rooms for as long as I could remember). His room was always dark and smelled of tobacco. It was shades of yellow and brown in my memories but I have a sneaking suspicion that there was actually flowery bits here and there as well. I also have a recollection of piles of magazines and newspapers which gave the room a musty, moldy paper kinda smell. Im not sure why this room held such a significant place for me as I dont recall spending very much time in there. The large sash window looked out onto rampant bush which use to cover much of the Hillborough slopes that went down to the Manukau Harbour (now covered in sub divisions).'
Grandads Room - Selected Memories, 2009 (Courtesy of Chitham Family Collections)
Grandads Room - Selected Memories (detail), 2009 (Courtesy of Chitham Family Collections)
Grandads Room - Selected Memories (detail), 2009 (Courtesy of Chitham Family Collections)
We will be sure to update these collections as new examples are presented by our contributing collectors.
