HEAR A RECORDING OF THIS LECTURE 

The Museum of Antiquities of the University and Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne opened its doors to the public in April 1960. On April 19^th, 2008, it will close them again as the collections are prepared for their transfer to the Great North Museum, due to open in Spring 2009. In the intervening years the Museum has acted as the county museum for Northumberland, covering every period from the earliest prehistory to the Tudor and Stuart period. It is acknowledged as the main museum for the World Heritage Site of Hadrian’s Wall and has become famous for its innovative computing and education work.

In this not always serious lecture, Lindsay Allason-Jones will recount the triumphs and occasional disasters of the Museum’s 50 year history. She will discuss the collections and the staff who have looked after them, the many projects and temporary exhibitions the Museum has mounted, and reveal some of the behind-the-scenes stories of a far from average university museum.

Lindsay Allason-Jones is Director of Archaeological Museums and Reader in Roman Material Culture at Newcastle University. She is the author of nine books and over 100 papers on the archaeology of Roman Britain, the Roman Empire and the Sudan. Her research interests lie particularly in the material culture and lives of ordinary people during the Roman period. As well as running the Museum of Antiquities and the Shefton Museum of Greek Art and Archaeology, she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules in archaeology and museum studies. She has appeared in or acted as academic advisor on a number of television and radio programmes and is active on many regional, national and international archaeological organizations.