British Optical Association Museum

Appointment-only museums are a breed of their own.  Having to make an appointment automatically puts up barriers to entry that public spaces do not.  People can question whether they are qualified to visit, and it is not always easy to tell in advance why a museum is appointment-only.  While there is a range of reasons for it, the most common reasons are down to security and manpower. 

I recently visited the British Optical Association Museum that is appointment only because their display spaces are within the private offices of the College of Optometrists on Craven Street, very close to Charing Cross.  Having to book an appointment can be off-putting, particularly for a non-medical specialist, but I would urge readers to go ahead and do it.  Museum staff are always delighted to share their collections and knowledge, and the tours here are led by the curator, Neil Handley.  What’s more, the College of Optometrists seem to have enormously friendly and welcoming staff across the board so I didn’t feel like an intruder at any time during my visit.

The British Optical Association (BOA) Museum is named for an organisation that no longer exists, having been absorbed into what is now the College of Optometrists in 1980.  The BOA was founded in 1895 and the museum was set up in 1901 as a form of marketing for the profession.  At this time, members of the medical profession argued that the work that opticians do should be the preserve of medical doctors, and the BOA was organised to professionalise the workforce.  Their quest for legitimacy came to fruition with the 1958 Opticians Act, and now opticians and ophthalmologists work together amicably.

The display heavily emphasises the social history of eyewear, eye health, and optometry.  There is a display in the entryway of the building of the glasses of notable people, including Dr. Samuel Johnson, writer C. P. Snow, and Matthew Bellamy of Muse.  The bulk of the exhibitions are in the basement (accessible via lift) and the curator guides all visitors through the displays, giving narrative and additional background information tailored to his audience. 

The first item of the collection that Handley drew my attention to is a drawing of Hermann von Helmholtz undertaking the first non-invasive eye test on a young woman.  Handley explains that this was a sea change for eye health as it made it socially acceptable for women to have eye checks.  This is part of the ongoing story of the development of eyewear charted in the collections.  Glasses and contact lenses have steadily increased in popularity in modern times.  Probably invented in the 13^th century, the oldest pair of spectacles in the BOA collection dates to the 16^th century.  They were used by members of religious orders, the only sector of society that were both literate and had the funds available for eyewear. 

Glasses were an external sign of disability, and evidence of reduced stigma is evident in the 20^th century, particularly with the explosion of fashion eyewear from the 1960s onward.  Of the c. 1000 visitors per year, the museum is increasingly visited by design students looking for inspiration.  A portion of the display is dedicated to fashionable, outrageous, and innovative eyewear that ties directly to the book “Cult Eyewear” by the curator (available from a range of stockists).  A most curious fact is that sunglasses were originally invented in the 18^th century in Venice to help people deal with the glare off the water, but somehow this invention was forgotten until the 20^th century when sunglasses were reinvented by Hollywood stars shielding their eyes from the bright lights of the film studios.  Original Venetian sunglasses are on display with green tinted glass made in Murano.

There are loads of fascinating items on display, including the original 1949 range of NHS glasses.  There were initially 18 different designs on offer, but this was soon cut down as it proved to be too much choice for patients.  One of the highlights is a collection of gruesome glass eyes.  The museum founder, John Sutcliffe, was also the founder of the Army Spectacle Depot where false eyes were made during the First World War.  Many items in the collection have come from opticians closing their shops and offering old stock, display models, and optometry equipment to the museum. 

In total the collection numbers approximately 20,000 items, all of which are able to be stored on-site.  There is little space for many of the larger items, so these are mainly stored in dismantled condition.  When Handley arrived at the museum 15 years ago, there was no display space, so the BOA Museum was an early adopter of on-line exhibitions.  All of the collections are digitised and available to view through their website.  Interesting areas of the collection include eye-protection pieces, one of the first ever set of contact lenses made in Britain, some surprisingly beautiful eyebaths, opera glasses, and even cockade brisé fans with small lenses at the centre so that Georgian ladies could peep through them without appearing too nosy.

The College of Optometrists is the professional body for opticians in the UK and the museum reflects the role that the College plays in public health.  The museum has been involved in campaigns to raise awareness of the impact of smoking on eye health, as well as the dangers of using expired eye makeup.  Eye checks that opticians undertake are not just for corrective prescriptions, but can test for a range of other maladies such as diabetes.  The museum also collects items that document disability and show attitudes towards blind people.

One potential issue with tour-led museum visits is there is often no opportunity for lone exploration of displays.  Handley accommodates this by allowing visitors to look around after his tour is complete, which is thoughtful.  I spent most of this time trying on the many historic pairs of glasses in the handling drawers and watching the generally hilarious fashion films from the Pathé archive of women modelling glasses in the 1950s and ‘60s (one of them features all the women emerging from behind a small potted plant, for no narrative reason).  There’s also some very interesting archival footage of the museum in the 1930s and 1960s in its previous location in Earls Court.

Because display space in the museum is limited, much of it is designed to be flexible so that items can be rotated in and out.  I was particularly taken with the creative use of the street-facing windows as display cases.  The museum is in the basement of the building, but has windows and light wells which have been protected with UV-filters and converted to a secure case.  This cleverly creates display space while respecting the fabric of the Grade II* listed building.

While an opticians’ museum may sound a bit too specialist for most people, it is actually an interesting and valuable resource for anyone interested in social history, fashion, or disability history in addition to medical history.  Definitely do not be put off by its status as appointment-only, as staff are friendly and knowledgeable.  The museum is free to visit, but donations are encouraged.