Unlocking the hidden stories, values, and lives of the HES Trinity House object collection

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Recent debates about decolonising heritage have led to a marked rise in projects focusing on the "hidden stories" of collections. Heritage organisations and museums are looking to uncover and address colonial connections, links to empire and slavery, and the lives of those whose identities (relating to race, gender, class, (dis)ability and sexuality) have been marginalised (Museums Association 2021: 21). Detailed provenance research, examining "how, why and when items were acquired" (ibid), sits at the heart of such initiatives and is considered "vital work" (Museums Association 2010). However, to date, provenance research focusing on built heritage collections and object collections respectively has largely taken place in discrete arenas, often associated with different organisations. Even in the case of built heritage organisations with extensive portable collections, there is a dearth of cross-cutting research examining how the hidden stories of historic properties and the portable objects intersect and shed light on each other. In particular, there is a pressing need to develop critically-informed provenance methods attentive to revealing such relationships by moving beyond a primary focus on 'acquisition' to exploring the subsequent 'lives' (including use, display, interpretation) of collections. Such research would contribute to the development of sustained and integrated approaches to collections and their relationships to built heritage generally, with important implications for the authenticity and significance of specific historic properties and collections. The aim of this CDP project is to use sustained provenance research to reveal the hidden stories, values and lives of Trinity House and its associated Collections. Through this detailed case study, an integrated, critical approach will be developed that can be applied to other built heritage sites with portable collections (within HES and beyond). In doing so, the project will address the following questions: - How can provenance research reveal the diverse hidden stories, values, and meanings of portable collections associated with historic properties? - What can such research tell us about the complex, intersecting biographies of objects, places, and communities from which significance and authenticity emerge? - How can these insights promote improved audience engagement through enhanced recognition of relations between objects and past and present communities of interest, attachment and place? Trinity House was the Headquarters of the Incorporation of Mariners and Shipmasters of Leith, one of three custom ports in Scotland with strong links to imperial mercantile trade and the slave economy. This property and its collection (2008 objects) have a rich range of potential stories linked to empire, slavery and gender waiting to be uncovered (based on a recent pilot review of the Collections). The research will establish how the Trinity House collections have been acquired and subsequently curated, interpreted, and displayed, as well as what they have meant to different communities and stakeholders over time. It will develop innovative approaches to hidden stories research using documentary, visual, ethnographic and creative methods to reveal new meanings, values, and significance. The project will build on and complement the 18-month baseline research project establishing links between HES Properties in Care and imperial and historic slavery connections (commissioned November 2021). It will also build on the Managing Imperial Legacies research network, a 2-year project with the University of Edinburgh and the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER), to explore how we can better include the Trans-Atlantic slave economy within the interpretation and management of Scotland's built environment.