Visual Arts

Visitors to Abbey House Museum in Kirkstall have the chance to find out what life was like before satellite television, the internet, games consoles and DVD players with the start of a new exhibition.

19th century serpent bass-horn

Now on show at the council-managed museum, the exhibition entitled 'Before Television' gives an insight into how people were entertained before all the trappings of modern technology came into being.

Displaying over 200 objects held in the Leeds Museums and Galleries collections, the exhibition shows off a range of leisure items from wind-up gramophones to building sets and puppets which date back to the 18th century.

Alongside jigsaw puzzles and Meccano sets from around 1935, the collection also contains a Triumph toy gramophone from the 1930s and a radio kit from the 1960s. There are also some more unusual items, such as a musical instrument in the shape of a serpent from the 1830s, a basket ornament made of pine cones and acorns collected from woodland in Kirkstall, and a marionette puppet with its original clothing which dates back to the early 1750s.

Marionette puppet, circa 1750

Leeds City Council Executive Member for Leisure, Councillor John Procter said: "It is fascinating to see the items in this collection. Given how nowadays we take for granted things like satellite television, DVDs, video games, mobile phones and music players, it is like seeing another world when you find out how people used to entertain themselves in the past. Not only does it show just how much technology has changed our hobbies and pastimes, it is also a wonderful way of looking back at how people used to live.”

'Before Television' is open for the whole of 2009 at Abbey House Museum, Abbey Walk in Kirkstall. Opening times are:
Tuesday to Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 12noon - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm.
Last admission is at 4pm each day, and the museum is closed every Monday except Bank Holidays (when it will be open 10am - 5pm).

For ticket information visit the Museum's homepage: