Electrifying the country house: taking stories of innovation to new audiences

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For a world in which scientific innovation and historical tradition matter equally, a key resource for understanding both is the academic discipline of history of science and technology. But what of country houses, so often associated with the luxurious but extinct grandeur of Edwardian Britain? What of the upper classes who stereotypically cared more for the grandiose chandelier and silk furnishings than for the circuit-board or test tube? Surprisingly for some, there are deep and fertile connections that bridge the 'Two Cultures' divide between science and high society, in ways that history of science and technology is uniquely placed to mediate. Accordingly this project brings together the resources of social history with histories of technology and design, by drawing on the insights of PI Graeme Gooday's AHRB/AHRC-funded monograph Domesticating Electricity, to harness the role of such venues as key social laboratories in the late Victorian invention of electric lighting. After all it was at Cragside in Northumbria that electricity first lit the British home in 1881, with owner Lord Armstrong supporting the incandescent lighting experiments of his Newcastle friend Joseph Swan. Adopting the new illuminant slightly later, Lotherton Hall in Leeds and Standen in East Grinstead both still have original early electric lighting, marking them as pioneering sites of hi-tech illumination at the turn of the 20th century. Seen in this spirit, these sites offer an under-utilized resource for integrating public experience of social history and physical science for adults and young people alike. The proposed project 'Electrifying the Country House' will work with the houses to develop generic resources to help visitors understand both the science of electric lighting and how these (and other) country houses played a crucial role in bringing that science into the home. At the same time, the special history and circumstances of each house will be cherished with dedicated bespoke resources on electrical lighting history that epitomize what the National Trust highlight as 'The Spirit of Place'. To complement Gooday's expertise, Abigail Harrison-Moore brings a long-standing relationship with Standen, and the work of its designer, Philip Webb, especially in relation to the Arts and Crafts aesthetic of the period, as well as her experience in teaching about the country house. The two have recently co-published on the relationship between electricity and aesthetics, at Standen and elsewhere.Over the course of a year, the project's Postdoctoral researcher will work with the three houses to co-produce the specific kinds of visitor resources that each requires. These will include family packs and Key Stage 2 resources for schools, building upon a small-scale pilot project undertaken at Lotherton Hall with Gooday and University of Leeds colleagues last year. As well as training house staff how to deploy the resources supplied, the project will share activities and progress via Youtube, Twitter and a dedicated blog. Finally there will be a workshop for staff from other UK country houses to share best practice developed at Cragside, Lotherton and Standen, as well as contributing their own ideas on how this shared enterprise can continue after the project is completed. With the broader support of the National Trust to take this scheme forward nationally, and Leeds Museums and Galleries to pursue the project locally, we will facilitate a permanent shift in the overall roles of country houses as educational spaces, enabling them to enhance both the public understanding of science, and to appreciate the social history of country houses far beyond their traditional aesthetic appeal. Moreover, by ensuring that young people are familiar early on with the deep interconnections between science, history and art, the project can counter the tendency for secondary education to see an unproductive gender split into sciences for boys and arts for girls.