Re-Collecting Empire
University of St Andrews
​St Andrews, Scotland
Closed 22 October 2022

An exhibition focusing on the legacies of colonial collecting through the University's collections.

Website: re-collecting-empire.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/the-exhibition/

Greece Re-Created: Classical Inspiration at Belsay Hall
Great North Museum: Hancock

An exhibition on the collector Charles Monck (1779-1867), who lived at Belsay Hall in Northumberland, featuring extracts from his diary of his honeymoon in Greece and artefacts from the Shefton Collection.

Exhibition Website: greece-recreated.com/
Great North Museum: Hancock Website: greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ 

The British Museum
Room 1 (Enlightenment Gallery), Case 14

The British Museum has recently created a new display on founder Sir Hans Sloane, slavery and empire in the Enlightenment Gallery.  This display reflects the history of Sloane's ties to Jamaica, through his marriage to Elizabeth Langley Rose (the heiress to sugar plantations on the island) and the investments Sloane made in a slave trading company. 

Further Reading
Bakare, Laura. 2020. British Museum defends moving bust of slave-owning founder. The Guardian [online]. 

The British Museum. 2020. The British Museum Story. The British Museum [online]. 

Delburgo, James. 2017. Collecting the World: the Life and Curiosity of Hans Sloane. Allen Lane.

Olusoga, David. 2020. It's not Hans Sloane that has been erased from history, but his slaves. The Guardian [online].

Listen to the British Museum Podcast Special episodes "International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade" (feat. Sushma Jansari and Hartwig Fisher with Olivette Otele and Bonnie Greer) and "Sir Hans Sloane" (feat. Sushma Jansari and Hartwig Fisher with Miranda Lowe and James Delburgo)

FINDING FRANKS: Augustus Wollaston Franks and the British Museum (1851-97) - Some lesser known sources
Marjorie Caygill
Thursday 27 February 2020
6-7 pm, UCL Institute of Archaeology Room 209

Chronicling the life of British Museum Keeper Augustus Wollaston Franks and his importance to the history of the Museum.

 'I took a man over, & began to dig': Catherine Downes' excavation of Roman Warminster, 1786
Madeleine Pelling (York)
19 February 2020
6-7 pm, UCL Institute of Archaeology Room 209

Exploring the history of this 18th century #trowelblazer's excavations which uncovered a Roman mosaic, and revealing the history of women in archaeology at this time. 

​Meira Gold (Cambridge) discusses the role of geology in early Egyptology through mid-19th century excavations at Memphis and Heliopolis.

Unlocking the Lawrence Collection
Society of Antiquaries Library
Burlington House
London
Open during Library hours, 10-5 Mon-Fri

A display of photographs taken by archaeologist Thomas Edward Lawrence, later "Lawrence of Arabia" from the Society's collections. The photographs cover Lawrence's cycling holidays in France, during his days as a student at Oxford University. 

Details here.

From skull measurements to ancient DNA: putting John Thurnam’s collection of antiquities in their prehistoric and archaeological context
24 April 2018, 6-7pm
Room 209, UCL Institute of Archaeology

Neil Wilkin (The British Museum) explores the life and intellectual context of 19th century antiquarian and physician John Thurnam, whose collection of artefacts relating to the prehistory of Britain was sold after his death to the British Museum. Through his interest in ancient human remains, he drew conclusions about race and identity; a history that reflects an enduring interest in the DNA of ancient peoples and how that interest ties into modern concerns.

Neil Wilkin's blog post discussing various strands of the talk can be found here.