| StorageSite | UCL Institute of Education |
| AdminHistory | In 1974 the summer activities at the Geffrye Museum looked at the history and the architecture of the Spitalfields area to educate the local public and connect it historically in their minds to the Geffrye Museum which had formerly been an 18th century almshouse. The activities featured a history trail which was used to walk the children from the Museum to Christ Church, Spitalfields; an exhibition on the area including photographs taken by Margaret MacDonald; and a play 'The Profitable Strangers' performed by the children and written by David Young who had attended activities at the museum. A few scenes from the play were later recorded by the ILEA Educational Television Service Unit for an episode of their 'London Houses' series on the Spitalfields area (See GA/7/2/1/2). Adams' later revived the trail in 1991 for the Friends of the Geffrye Museum.
Gene Adams continued to promote the Spitalfields area and proposed the formation of a street museum in 1975. In 1977, Adams and others who worked at the Geffrye Museum formed the 'Save Old Spitalfields' (SOS) group to create 'The Story of Spitalfields' exhibition to promote the area using photographs taken by MacDonald and pictorial and physical items loaned by various local bodies, museums, businesses, and individuals. The exhibition was initially shown at the Christ Church, Spitalfields in 1979 during a music festival organised by the Friends of Christ Church. In 1980 a smaller version of the exhibition toured museums sponsored by the Area Museum Service Unit for South East England and it was finally on display in the Sudbury Local Museum in 1981. |