Stella Mitchell is on a mission to make sure that the nation’s archive of popular culture is never lost or forgotten. Her museum ‘The Land of Lost Content’ holds the world’s largest collection of 20th Century pop culture Memorabilia. Along with the king of kitsch, Wayne Hemingway, they have come together to present an exhibition of their most treasured artifacts as well as the launch of a website where thousands of items are being archived to bring together fashion, graphics, architecture and beauty from all over the globe.
Can you tell us about the concept of 'Land of Lost Content'?
I chose the name 'Land of Lost Content' for my museum from the poem ‘A Shropshire Lad’ by AE Housman. His ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ are alluding to a past when we were more content. My collection of artifacts also alludes to similar days. The title is often misconstrued to mean lost 'contents' as in the contents of a forgotten attic.
The new Land of Lost Content website is a virtual museum of images that was inspired by my collection. I like to say I have spent all my life following a passing show picking up the trinkets and trash left in its wake. I hold up the mirror for life to examine its warts and beauty spots.
How did you and Wayne come together to collaborate?
Wayne Hemingway knew of my collection from about 1991 when he found my first museum by chance near where he and his family reside in West Sussex. He and I share an appreciation of the commonplace. He wears his designer hat back to front from time to time. I am an old pop artist in the Peter Blake mould. Wayne approached my husband Dave and I with the concept of an online archive at the end of 2005. It was an idea we had toyed with ourselves but we did not have the wherewithal to put it in to operation.
The exhibition feels like a personal journey through both your and Wayne's lives - how did you collaborate on what pieces to include to compliment each other?
We didn't exactly collaborate - we don't meet all that often. I knew what he was likely to choose as he is so predictable (only joking Wayne) and avoided his 'big ones' (mass market art, straw donkeys and flight bags). The things I chose (Biba, Shoes, Plastic Hong Kong Toys, etc) are specific to my own life anyway.
There are many different sections to 'Land of Lost Content' what is your favourite era, item or section?
I really don't have a favourite that is why I have so much stuff. I have as much affection for a lawn mower as for an Ossie Clark dress. But don't get me on Biba. That does have a special place in my heart. I visited just the once and have never got over it.
Would you call yourself a hoarder or a collector?
I call myself a COLLECTOR. That's what I am. Hoarders are a different animal entirely. Hoarders and the people Collectors feed from. Without Hoarders all would have been lost. I love them all. We get some amazing carloads of stuff donated from time to time. Hoarded by Hoarders.
What would you say is your most unusual piece?
My most unusual piece is possibly a 40-year-old Christmas cake that I bought at an auction. Or the shooting script from George Formby's film 'Let George Do It'. Or a pair of men’s shoes with Iron Leg callipers attached. Or a copy of ‘School Kids’ OZ which I go last month for £12 (cheap). See? It's so eclectic.
What is the most valuable piece in the collection?
Possibly the poster for the 1936 (Hitler's) Olympic Games. Who knows? Values are entirely fueled by the whims of other collectors.
As it is the Land of Lost Content what is the most unusual place that a piece has
been found?
I get things from skips, dustbins and burnt-out buildings. I bought a complete card of CHIPS Sunglasses (California Highway Patrol - 70's TV show) intended for 1970's children from a newsagent in Malta on holiday in 1998. I was thrilled to bits. It was difficult explaining why I wanted all the glasses plus the card they were mounted on. But money talks all over the world.
Are there any new items that you find as collectable as some of the ones in the exhibition?
There are many new items I consider collectable as some of the old ones in the museum. My collection has no cut-off date. The lolc.co.uk website has a 1987 cut-off date - that's Wayne's idea. I said to him; "what about my Spice Girls stuff and my Teletubbies?" He was unmoved. At the time of writing I have just bought the 90th Anniversary Vogue, which I shall place in the 'vaults' (magazine store room). It won't be for years yet that it is collectable - or will it?