Tweet

Dan Hicks

28 Oct, 11 tweets, 7 min read

@HRP_palaces

We "have a responsibility to explore the complex ways in which colonialism & exploitation have played a part in palaces' histories" say @HRP_palaces

Any opportunity to understand historic buildings better is welcome.

But what about the @RCT objects displayed in them? THREAD👇👇

Just a few examples of what we do know about colonialism and the royal collection

My new book talks about the 2 ivory leopards, with spots of inlaid copper, specially reserved for Queen Victoria during the 1897 sacking of the royal palaces of Benin City rct.uk/collection/699…

My book also talks about this doubly-looted Bronze Head— taken in 1897, bought back by Nigeria in thee 1950s, then taken from Lagos National Museum by General Gowon as a gift for the Queen on his 1973 state visit.
The legality of that export may be unclear rct.uk/collection/725…

Then from Ghana, there's this Asante solid gold mask looted from the Palace of King Asantehene in the Ashanti Expedition of 1874. As with the Benin Bronzes, these return of the objects looted from Ghana has been demanded for decades rct.uk/collection/629…

This Asante "krobonkye" royal leather cap with gold decoration was also taken in the 1874 attack rct.uk/collection/sea…

And these Asante gold pectoral discs also taken in the 1874 Ashamti Expedition rct.uk/collection/sea…

There are also royal Asante objects looted during the the 1896 Ashanti War, including this stool rct.uk/collection/sea…

Elsewhere in Africa, this shield appears to be a trophy of war from the British massacre of 12,000 people at the Battle of Omdurman in Sudan in September 1898 - although it's mis-catalogued as late 20th-century in date rct.uk/collection/sea…

There's some archaeology too, includng this bronze amulet of Horus recorded as "Brought from the pyramids at Saqqara by HRH Prince Arthur, 1875" rct.uk/collection/sea…

@HRP_palaces

Clearly there's lots more African heritage—and more from the global south—held by the Queen and little understood.

Let's hope that as @HRP_palaces' project develops, questions will also be asked about @RCT objects taken as part of colonial dispossession—not just buildings.

@RCT

Oh and obviousy the @RCT also has a ghastly portrait of Queen Victoria's Pekingese dog named "Looty" — the poor animal having been actually looted itself by Captain John Hart Dunne of the 99th Regiment in the sacking of the Summer Palace in 1860 rct.uk/collection/sea…

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More from @profdanhicks

Dan Hicks

@profdanhicks

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All my retweets are endorsements.

How that cannot be the case for everyone is something I will never understand about what people say on this website.

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Dan Hicks

@profdanhicks

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@AveburyNT

Sounds like National Trust bosses are still seeking to push through cutting the two curatorial jobs at @AveburyNT—downgrading the curator role & cutting 2 FTE to 0.5. This’d be sheer vandalism at Britain’s best small archaeology museum, a collection gifted to the nation in 1966.

@StoneAveWHS

Letters sent by the leading @StoneAveWHS archaeologists last month—and the museum’s Advisory Board—haven’t yet led to action. The Trust has cared for the Keiller Museum for 26 years so far in its 82 years—it is a key element of the visits made by 250,000 people a year to Avebury.

Trust bosses seem committed to cuts in curatorship, archaeology & education—Apart from 'Treasure Houses' where they're creating new Property Curators due to the significance of the properties. World Heritage Site status clearly doesn’t tick this box—due to free public access?

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Dan Hicks

@profdanhicks

28 Sep

What strongly-expressed view about museums and galleries would’ve got you in this situation like five or six years ago, but in 2020 turns out to be just the normal mainstream view of a majority in this sector?

* Mine is “Remove all human remains from public display and return the Benin Bronzes” obvs

https://twitter.com/3rdchapterproj/status/1310672856838217728

Exhibit A

https://twitter.com/3rdchapterproj/status/1310672856838217728

Read 5 tweets

Dan Hicks

@profdanhicks

26 Sep

@HistoricEngland

The Sunday Telegraph reports a letter from the Minister claiming that @HistoricEngland believes "removing difficult and contentious parts of it risks harming our understanding of our collective past"
But wasn't this phrase that of the @DCMS Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State?

HE statement on Contested Heritage here 👉 historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/stat…

Sunday Telegraph piece here 👇

@OliverDowden

If we've reached the point that @OliverDowden is seeking to interfere with the normal operation of Listed Building Consent, in the misguided belief that the historic environment should never be altered, just wait till he hears about HS2.

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Dan Hicks

@profdanhicks

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University lecturers and tutors are the pedagogical experts here. If an academic wishes to plan and deliver their teaching online, to deliver the best possible student experience of teaching in their judgement then university managers shouldn't seek to prevent them from doing so.

I'm incredibly lucky to have the full support from my Head of Department for my personal wish to plan for teaching fully online for this academic year — in my case for certainty above anything. Many friends and colleagues across the HE sector, however, are not in that position.

I love teaching and I sorely miss lecturing to a live audience. But there's loads of innovation happening in online teaching, especially since March. I want to embrace that and properly plan for the best possible content - not expect to just repeat what I did in previous years.

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