Milk’in History: The Past Bottled
This exhibition focuses on the Post-war heyday of the milk industry, showcasing the delivery of milk and the changing role of the milkman.
By 1975, around 94% of milk was packaged in the recyclable glass bottles that form the mainstay of the exhibition. It reveals a rich collection of bottles, all adorned with advertisements for a wide and varied range of goods and services.
From classics such as orange juice and confectionary, to the more unusual, like newspapers, industries, and even ‘computerised’ horoscopes! These advertisements help uncover the importance of how milk was sold, delivered, and understood by people in Britain.
The exhibition also references the decline of doorstep milk delivery. In 1970, milkmen handled almost all milk sales in the UK, but by 2020, they handled less than 5%. Doorstep deliveries more or less stopped in the 1990s, although they are making something of a comeback in recent years, largely for ecological reasons.
Dates: 3 March – 4 June 2025
Open: Every day from 9.00am to 9.00pm apart from Bank Holidays
Location: Goldsmiths Library Foyer (Rutherford Building), London, SE14 6NW
Entry: you do not need a library card to access the foyer and the exhibition is free and open to the public