Imagining the Pacific in Scotland in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries: Collectors and Collections, Museums and Universities

Last updated: 8 February 2022

About the research

Scotland, within a wider British context, has a long history of collecting Pacific material culture through links with Scottish soldiers, missionaries, traders, explorers and emigrants. This includes some of the earliest museum collections from the Hawaiian Islands collected during Captain James Cook’s third voyage (1776-80), early and rare objects from Hawaii and the Pitcairn Islands compiled by Captain Frederick Beechey’s voyage on HMS Blossom (1825-28), and significant material from the Austral Islands donated through Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales (1821-5). 

Focusing on National Museums Scotland’s late 18th and early 19th century Pacific collections, this PhD will investigate the intellectual networks and connections between Scotland and the Pacific that led to the formation of these collections, and demonstrate their past and current relevance to a variety of stakeholders. In doing so it will explore the roles that these collections play now in the developing relationships between Scottish museums and museums in countries of origin.