Addressing the Histories and Legacies of Colonialism in Romantic-period Literary House Museums: Dove Cottage and Beyond

该网络将汇集学者、博物馆人员、顾问、利益相关者和社区团体，调查浪漫时期文学房屋博物馆的殖民联系，并考虑如何最好地为更广泛的公众解释这些联系。关于遗产遗址和博物馆如何才能最好地理解和展示它们所保护的地点和物品的复杂历史，目前存在着激烈的公众辩论。这场辩论为研究和策划浪漫主义时期（约1780-1830年）的文学博物馆创造了一个特别的挑战，在这个时代，“殖民主义以探索倡议、商业企业和公民移民定居的形式，促进了英国领土的大规模扩张”（卡罗尔·博尔顿，“浪漫主义文学和殖民主义”，文学指南针，5/3(2008)：第541页）。这一时期的文学博物馆在很多方面都与殖民主义有关，但这些历史往往没有被探索或不为人知。此外，由于文学人物激发了人们的崇敬和广泛的公众尊重，对相关殖民遗产的严肃和严格的接触通常会面临公众和媒体的敌意。该网络将应对这一挑战，并考虑如何最好地对所涉及的敏感问题作出战略反应。该网络将首先考虑一个具体的案例研究，华兹华斯格拉斯米尔，其中包括鸽子小屋，多洛西和威廉华兹华斯在1799年至1808年的住所，以及托马斯德昆西在1809年至1820年的住所。华兹华斯格拉斯米尔由华兹华斯信托基金会（网络合作伙伴）维护了一个多世纪，是一处重要的遗产和重要的文学博物馆，在新冠疫情前，每年接待4万名游客。它的藏品被指定为英国“国家文化和艺术遗产”的“重要组成部分”。然而，自从华兹华斯和德昆西的住所以来，直到现在，还没有协调一致或持续的尝试来探索鸽子小屋的多重奴隶制和东印度公司的历史。该网络将从解决沉默和不作为的遗留问题开始。然后，该网络将超越华兹华斯·格拉斯米尔，考虑殖民主义的复杂问题和遗产，以及参与该网络的其他浪漫主义时期的文学博物馆，包括：阿伯茨福德（沃尔特·斯科特）；简·奥斯汀在查顿的故居；罗伯特·彭斯出生地博物馆；柯勒律治小屋;济慈的房子;纽斯特德庄园（拜伦）；华兹华斯故居（科克茅斯）。该网络将是学术上跨学科的，包括英国文学、历史、博物馆研究和旅游研究的学者。它将涉及几个相关组织和社区团体的参与，包括：美国作家博物馆；安妮弗兰克信托；反种族主义坎布里亚；Brontë牧师博物馆；博物馆;国家的信任。它将学习相关领域其他专家和项目的专业知识，并听取包括雷切尔·米诺特（博物馆协会非殖民化指导工作组主席）和莱拉·桑普顿（领导“诗歌与殖民主义”）在内的顾问的意见。它将纳入其他利益相关者的声音，包括访客、工作人员、志愿者、受托人、社区和学校团体。该网络将创建一系列资源，以支持文学博物馆研究它们与殖民主义的联系，并向更广泛的公众解释它们。它将通过组织三个研讨会来实现这一目标，首先关注华兹华斯·格拉斯米尔的殖民地联系，然后扩大到与更广泛的文学博物馆分享研究问题和发现。通过合作、比较和对比这些不同的案例研究，该网络将使这些文学博物馆能够进一步研究和展示它们所维护的遗址和这些遗址所纪念的作家的复杂历史。

This network will bring together academics, museum personnel, consultants, stakeholders and community groups to investigate the colonial links of Romantic-period literary house museums and consider how best to interpret these links for a wider public. There is currently fierce public debate about how heritage sites and museums can best understand and represent the complex histories of the locations and objects they preserve. This debate creates a particular challenge for researching and curating literary house museums of the Romantic period (c. 1780-1830), an era when 'colonialism, in the form of exploratory initiatives, commercial enterprises and migratory settlement on the part of its citizens, contributed to a massive expansion in Britain's territorial possessions' (Carol Bolton, 'Romantic Literature and Colonialism', Literature Compass, 5/3 (2008): p. 541). The period's literary house museums bear to colonialism in numerous ways, but these histories frequently remain unexplored or untold. Moreover, because literary figures inspire reverence and widespread public respect, serious and rigorous engagements with relevant colonial legacies commonly face public and media hostility. The network will address this challenge and consider how best to respond strategically to the sensitivities involved. The network will begin by considering a specific case study, Wordsworth Grasmere, a site that includes Dove Cottage, the residence from 1799-1808 of Dorothy and William Wordsworth and from 1809-1820 of Thomas De Quincey. Maintained by the Wordsworth Trust (the network partner) for over a century, Wordsworth Grasmere has been a major heritage site and a leading literary house museum, receiving 40,000 visitors annually prior to the Covid pandemic. Its collection has Designated status as a 'vital part' of the England's 'national cultural and artistic heritage'. However, since the Wordsworths' and De Quincey's residence, and until now, there has been no concerted or sustained attempt to explore the multiple slavery and East India Company histories of Dove Cottage. The network will begin by addressing this legacy of silence and inaction.The network will then look beyond Wordsworth Grasmere to consider colonialism's complex issues and legacies in relation to the other Romantic-period literary house museums participating in the network, including: Abbotsford (Walter Scott); Jane Austen's House at Chawton; Robert Burns Birthplace Museum; Coleridge Cottage; Keats House; Newstead Abbey (Byron); and Wordsworth House (Cockermouth). The network will be academically interdisciplinary, including scholars of English Literature, History, Museum Studies and Tourism Studies. It will involve the participation of several related organisations and community groups with related concerns, including: American Writers Museum; Anne Frank Trust; Anti Racist Cumbria; Brontë Parsonage Museum; Museums&; National Trust. It will learn from the expertise of other specialists and projects in related areas, with input from consultants including Rachael Minott (chair of the Museums Association's Decolonising Guidance Working Group) and Laila Sumpton (who led 'Poetry versus Colonialism'). It will incorporate the voices of other stakeholders, including visitors, staff, volunteers, trustees, community and school groups.The network will create a set of resources to support literary house museums in researching their links with colonialism and interpreting them for a wider public. It will do so by organising three workshops, focusing initially on Wordsworth Grasmere's colonial links before expanding to share research questions and findings with a wider range of literary house museums. By collaborating on, comparing and contrasting these different cases studies, the network will enable these literary house museums to further research and represent the complex histories both of the sites they maintain and the writers those sites memorialise.