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

对于一个科学创新和历史传统同等重要的世界来说，理解这两者的一个关键资源是科学技术史的学术学科。但是，乡村别墅又如何呢？乡村别墅常常与爱德华七世时代的英国奢华但已不复存在的宏伟联系在一起。对于那些刻板地更关心宏伟的枝形吊灯和丝绸家具而不是电路板或试管的上层阶级来说，情况如何？令人惊讶的是，科学和上流社会之间存在着深刻而丰富的联系，弥合了“两种文化”的鸿沟，科学和技术史是唯一能够调解的方式。因此，该项目汇集了社会历史的资源与技术和设计的历史，通过借鉴PI Graeme Gooday的AHRB/AHRC资助的专着《驯化电力》的见解，利用这些场所作为维多利亚时代后期电力照明发明的关键社会实验室的作用。毕竟，1881年，正是在诺森比亚的克拉格赛德，电力首次照亮了英国人的家，主人阿姆斯特朗勋爵支持他的纽卡斯尔朋友约瑟夫·斯旺的白炽灯照明实验。利兹的洛瑟顿厅和东格尔斯特德的斯坦登采用新光源的时间稍晚，但它们仍然保留着原始的早期电气照明，标志着它们成为世纪之交高科技照明的先驱。本着这种精神，这些网站提供了一个未得到充分利用的资源，为成人和年轻人整合社会历史和自然科学的公共经验。拟议中的项目“电气化乡村别墅”将与房屋合作开发通用资源，以帮助游客了解电气照明的科学以及这些（和其他）乡村别墅如何在将科学带入家庭方面发挥关键作用。与此同时，每栋房子的特殊历史和环境都将得到珍惜，并提供专门的电气照明历史定制资源，这些资源集中体现了国民信托所强调的“场所精神”。为了补充Gooday的专业知识，Abigail Harrison-Moore带来了与Standen的长期合作关系，以及其设计师Philip Webb的作品，特别是与该时期的艺术和手工艺美学有关的作品，以及她在乡村别墅教学方面的经验。两人最近在斯坦登和其他地方共同发表了关于电与美学之间关系的论文。在一年的时间里，该项目的博士后研究员将与三家公司合作，共同制作各自所需的特定类型的游客资源。这些将包括家庭包和关键阶段2资源的学校，建立在一个小规模的试点项目在洛瑟顿大厅进行与古迪和利兹大学的同事去年。除了培训工作人员如何部署所提供的资源外，该项目还将通过Youtube、Twitter和一个专门的博客分享活动和进展。最后，来自英国其他乡村别墅的工作人员将参加一个研讨会，分享在Cragside，Lotherton和Standen开发的最佳实践，并就项目完成后如何继续这个共享企业提出自己的想法。在国家信托基金会的广泛支持下，该计划将在全国范围内推进，利兹博物馆和画廊将在当地开展该项目，我们将促进乡村房屋作为教育空间的整体角色的永久性转变，使其能够提高公众对科学的理解，并欣赏乡村房屋的社会历史，远远超出其传统的美学吸引力。此外，通过确保年轻人尽早熟悉科学、历史和艺术之间的深刻联系，该项目可以扭转中等教育中将无生产力的性别分为男孩科学和女孩艺术的趋势。

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.