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.
- Project title
Imagining the Pacific in Scotland in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries: Collectors and Collections, Museums and Universities
- Student
Melissa Shiress
- Project active
2020 - present
- Funder
AHRC Scottish Cultural Heritage Consortium (SCHC) – Collaborative Doctoral Partnership
- University Supervisors
Professor Steven Hooper and Dr Karen Jacobs - University of East Anglia Sainsbury Research Unit
- National Museums Scotland Supervisor
Dr Alison Clark and Dr John Giblin - Global Arts, Cultures and Design
- Research theme
Scotland's Material Heritage, Identities and Cultural Contacts
Project contact
Contact list of staff members
Dr Ali Clark
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