History of cotton - Merseyside Maritime Museum 24 Sept '05 – 4 June '06

30 Jul '05

4 min read

Cultivation: a large map shows where cotton is grown and the different ways it is cultivated around the world. Both preserved herbarium specimens and live growing plants are in this section.

A computer game called Cotton Pickin' Bugs challenges visitors to “kill” as many bugs as they can!
Screens show cotton being grown in many different regions. Text panels focus on cultivating plants, cotton pests, cotton picking and what happens after harvesting. There are moving accounts of the slave era

A laboratory area has microscopes so visitors can study cotton fibres and creatures such as boll-weevils. Large images and panels illustrate varying cotton fibres and there is a section on genetically-modified (GM) crops.

Trading: A model of a cotton ship helps, underline the maritime links with cotton while a hand-cart shows how the crop was once transported. The original trading ring from the former Liverpool Cotton Exchange was once the centre of world trading.

An audio visual display shows a merchant talking to a cotton broker in a format resembling a painting on the wall of one of Liverpool's mansions. Archive footage shows the Liverpool Cotton Exchange as part of a display illustrating trading through the ages.

A children's area features a small play house based on a merchant's residence with small costumes resembling 19th century merchant and servant clothing. A board game, inspired by the Futures market, features cotton cropsbeing destroyed by pests. Another exhibit is a plank from a ship used to transport cotton.

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