In 1753, the physician and collector Sir Hans Sloane bequeathed his collection to the British nation, and it was a catalyst for the creation of the British Museum. Today, that collection is dispersed across three national institutions. As part of UKRI’s Towards a National Collection programme, the ‘Sloane Lab: Looking back to build future shared collections’ (led by University College London in partnership with the British Museum and Natural History Museum) sought to digitally reconnect this fragmented collection and address the global entangled historical contexts in which it was formed.
In this talk, Dr Alicia Hughes will explore new provenance and collecting histories that have emerged from the project. These range from high-level study of data absences, including contributions by Indigenous actors, to object-centred provenance work that questions how we approach objects that have limited or fragmented historical documentation. The talk will share new findings on the complex provenance of an Akan drum—one of the oldest African-American objects extant. It will address critical gaps in understanding the drum’s acquisition history in North America by an unidentified man and challenge existing narratives of early colonial collecting practices.
For additional information, visit: www.vam.ac.uk/event/xYE1Enz1Y0/v-a-provenance-research-seminar-sloane-lab
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