Pets and Family Life in England and Wales, 1837-1939

在今天的英国，宠物往往是家庭生活的核心，但我们对它们在过去的家庭中扮演的角色知之甚少。这个项目将是英国历史上第一次系统地研究家庭与他们的猫、狗和其他伴侣动物之间的关系。我们的目标是跟踪动物在家中位置的变化，与家庭生活中更广泛的变化有关，包括19世纪至20世纪中期发生的大小、关系、亲密关系、住房和生活条件的变化。宠物在个人和家庭的日常生活中发挥着强大的情感作用，它们的存在构成了家庭生活的重要组成部分。这些生物通常被认为是边缘生物，它们有很多关于家庭行为变化、新的情感配置和日常实践的信息。我们的项目旨在调查宠物在家庭中的地位，与改变权力结构、等级和关系以及改变建成环境和家庭惯例有关。到目前为止，宠物已经引起了学者们的注意，他们指出，宠物在维多利亚社会中的存在越来越多，以及对待动物的更广泛的社会和伦理意义。但我们对他们在家庭生活中的角色知之甚少。该项目的研究包括一项重要的新档案调查，重点是宠物和家庭的文化表现、消费和日益增长的宠物相关产品市场，以及它们的日常存在。档案研究将分为三个部分。首先，我们将通过观察艺术品、插图、小说和流行的印刷文化来追踪宠物在当代想象力中的形象，追踪它们不断变化的文化表现。其次，我们将调查宠物是如何买卖的，以及为它们创造的新事物，查看建议文献和幸存的实物，研究食品、项圈和玩具等专业产品的扩张。最后，我们将通过对包括日记、信件和照片在内的个人文件进行大规模调查，看看他们在家庭日常生活中的表现。我们的资料来源还将包括口述历史和法庭记录，使我们能够建立一幅来自不同社会背景的家庭饲养宠物的图片。为了了解全国各地宠物饲养习惯的差异，我们的研究重点放在英格兰和威尔士的关键地点，加的夫、利物浦和伦敦的市中心，以及西北部的农村地区。该项目将产生新的历史研究和解释，极大地促进这一领域的知识，并改变对社会和文化史中家庭和家庭生活的解释。该项目的一个重要部分将是与学术界以外的受众接触，并推进公共历史议程。我们将与Bishopsgate Institute和National Trust Hardman House合作，这两个机构拥有重要但不发达的宠物摄影收藏，我们将创建实物和数字展览以及一系列活动，让我们能够与公众密切互动。我们还将与宠物治疗合作，这是当代的实践者，对宠物所扮演的情感角色有着重大的利害关系。

In Britain today, pets are often at the heart of family life, but we know relatively little about the roles they played in families in the past. This project will be the first systematic study of the relationships between families and their cats, dogs and other companion animals in British history. Our aim is to track the changing position of animals in the home, in relation to broader shifts in family life, including transformations in size, relationships, intimacy, housing and living conditions that took place between the nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. Pets played a powerful emotional role in the everyday lives of individuals and families and their presence constituted an important part of domestic life. Often considered peripheral, these creatures have a great deal to tell us about the changing behaviours of families, new emotional configurations and everyday practices. Our project aims to investigate the position of pets in the family, in relation to shifting authority structures, hierarchies and relationships, and changing built environments and domestic routines. So far, pets have attracted the attention of scholars who point to their increasing presence in Victorian society, and the broader social and ethical significance of the treatment of animals. But we know much less about their role in family life. The research for the project comprises a major new archival survey, focusing on the cultural representation of pets and families, consumption and the growing market for pet-related products, and their everyday presence. The archival research will be divided into three sections. Firstly, we will consider how pets figured in the contemporary imagination, by tracking their changing cultural representation by looking at artwork and illustrations, novels, and popular print culture. Secondly, we will survey how pets were bought and sold and the new things that were created for them, looking at advice literature and surviving material objects, examining the expansion in specialist products such as food, collars and toys. Finally, we will look at how they figured in the everyday lives of families, carrying out a large-scale survey of personal documents including diaries, letters and photographs. Our sources will also include oral histories and court records, allowing us to build up a picture of pet keeping in families from a range of social backgrounds. To gain an overview of differences in pet-keeping practices across the nation, our research focuses on key locations in England and Wales, the urban centres of Cardiff, Liverpool and London, as well as the rural north west. The project will generate new historical research and interpretation, substantially advancing knowledge in this area and transforming interpretations of the family and domesticity in social and cultural history. A significant part of the project will be concerned with engaging with audiences beyond academia and taking forward a public history agenda. Working together with The Bishopsgate Institute and the National Trust Hardman House, institutions that hold signifcant but underdeveloped collections of pet photography, we will create physical and digital exhibitions and a series of events allowing us to interact closely with members of the public. We will also collaborate with Pets as Therapy, contemporary practioners with a significant stake in the emotional role played by pets.