POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Paper knife produced at Milan Institute of the Blind

Object No. 17595

This handmade wooden paper knife is part of a group of items made by students from the Milan Institute for the Blind, Italy, in the 1880s. Ranging from examples of lacemaking, knitting and needlework to carpentry, carpet making and basketry, the items reflect the significant role the institute played in providing education, support and training for vision-impaired children and adults. Founded in 1840 as an educational institution for disadvantaged, vision-impaired children, the institute later established workshops for students and adults, providing vocational training in various crafts with a view to building autonomy and financial independence. The napkin ring and craft items were acquired from the workshops by Chevalier Jervis and purchased by the Museum in 1887 along with items collected by Jervis from similar institutions in Lausanne and Paris, France. They are among the earliest objects to enter the collection and illustrate the network of local and international experts and agents that the Museum's founding committee members engaged to propose and procure objects for the newly established Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum (precursor to the Powerhouse Museum). Chevalier Jervis was Conservator at the Royal Italian Industrial Museum in Turin and had an important early association with the development of the Museum's collection. Correspondence with Curator Joseph Maiden reveals Jervis was purchasing items for the Museum right from its foundations in the Garden Palace, built in 1879 to house the Sydney International Exhibition. After the exhibition closed, one gallery of the building was dedicated to the new Museum until disaster struck in 1882, three months before its official opening. The Garden Palace burnt down, along with most of its 10,000 collection items. After the fire, Maiden immediately corresponded with Jervis, letting him know about the fire and seeking his help to procure new objects to rebuild the collection. Between 1883 and 1893 Jervis collected over 1700 objects for the Museum, including this group of objects from the Institute for the Blind, Milan. Rox De Luca, Curatorial Assistant and Glynis Jones, Curator. References. Graeme Davison and Kimberley Webber (eds), Yesterday's Tomorrows: The Powerhouse Museum and its Precursors 1880-2005, Powerhouse Publishing and UNSW Press, Sydney, 2005. Milan Institute for the Blind, 'Cultural Heritage', istciechimilano.it/index.php/patrimonio-culturale. Accessed 11 April 2020. J L Willis, From Palace to Powerhouse: The First 100 years of the Sydney Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, unpublished manuscript, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, 1982.