Ex Libris

The Museum Of Drugs Paraphernalia And Related Antiquities is very proud to showcase The Hutchinson Collection, compiled from the library of Mike Hutchinson, Guest Exhibitor.

We are extremely grateful to Mike Hutchinson for the loan of these items and look forward to exhibiting further items from his growing collection. If you would like to comment on any of these items or contribute to the information on their historical background, please join us on the Museum Blog, Twitter or Facebook.

Exhibit 1

A chlorodyne leaflet, date unknown (early 20th Century)

The flyer pictured on the left advertises the virtues of Chlorodyne.  This item on loan to the  Museum Of Drugs Paraphernalia And Related Antiquities advertises a popular medicinal 'cure all' remedy from the 19th Century. The medicine was invented by a British army surgeon serving in India, Dr. J. Collis Browne, who had been looking for a remedy for cholera-infected patients. This preparation apparently contained opium, chloroform and Indian hemp. Collis Browne's mixture is still on sale today although the formula has been changed.

Exhibit 2

China's past and future, Holcombe, C (c1903) London. Morgan & Scott . Britain's sin and folly, Broomhall,B (c1903) London. Morgan & Scott

This book looks at China's history and the Opium trade, the cover of this book, explains that between 1838 - 1900, 284,582 tons of opium were shipped from India to China, this averages out at half a ton of opium for every hour day and night of all of those 62 years. One of the authors Broomhall, was also editor of the National Righteousness, ( price 1 penny) the organ of the Christian Union for the Severance of the Connection of the British Empire with the Opium Traffic.

Exhibit 3

The item to the left is a schools temperance reading book.

'Temperance Science lessons, Band of Hope Manual. Fight the drink, Chandos Wilson, W (c1912) London, Partridge & Co.'  

The booklet was designed for School teachers, Temperance Speakers, Science Classes and meetings. Nowadays we have PSHE in schools in the early 1900's alcohol awareness with a temperance message was introduced onto the school curriculum.

'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.'

Exhibit 4

The certificate of merit pictured above left dates from 1915. This item on loan to the Museum Of Drugs Paraphernalia And Related Antiquities was issued by the Schools Scientific Temperance Teaching Scheme. Temperance instruction in schools was widely supported by the temperance movement who placed great emphasis on education and information, being anxious to bring children up to understand and withstand the dangers as they saw them, of alcohol.

Exhibit 5

The Band of Hope, was the children's arm of the temperance movement. Their activities revolved around outings, as in the stereo slide featured here, and attending lectures where they were taught the dangers of alcohol .

Members were enrolled from the age of six years old and just like adult members of the temperance society's movement, Band of Hope members took a pledge of abstinence. The legend inscribed on the back of a Band of Hope medal in my collection reads, 'Pledged to resist our countries greatest foe'.