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

最近关于非殖民化遗产的辩论导致了关注收藏品“隐藏故事”的项目显著增加。遗产组织和博物馆正在寻求发现和解决殖民联系、与帝国和奴隶制的联系，以及那些身份(涉及种族、性别、阶级、能力和性)被边缘化的人的生活(博物馆协会2021：21)。详细的来源研究，考察“物品是如何、为什么以及何时获得的”(同上)，是这类活动的核心，被认为是“至关重要的工作”(博物馆协会，2010年)。然而，到目前为止，分别关注建筑遗产收藏和文物收藏的起源研究主要是在不同的领域进行的，往往与不同的组织有关。即使是拥有大量便携式收藏品的建筑遗产组织，也缺乏交叉研究，研究历史财产的隐藏故事和便携式物品是如何相互交织和揭示的。特别是，迫切需要开发提供批判性信息的来源方法，注意揭示这种关系，从最初的“获取”转向探索藏品随后的“生活”(包括使用、展示、解释)。这种研究将有助于制定持续和综合的方法来处理收藏品及其与一般建筑遗产的关系，对具体历史财产和收藏品的真实性和重要性具有重要影响。这个CDP项目的目的是用持续的起源研究来揭示三一之家及其相关收藏品的隐藏故事、价值和生活。通过这一详细的案例研究，将制定一种综合的、关键的方法，该方法可以应用于其他具有便携式收藏品的已建成遗产遗址(在人类遗产研究所之内和之外)。在这样做的过程中，该项目将解决以下问题：-来源研究如何揭示与历史财产相关的便携式收藏品的各种隐藏故事、价值和意义？-这样的研究可以告诉我们关于物品、地点和社区的复杂、交叉的传记，从中显现出意义和真实性？-这些洞察力如何通过增强对物品与过去和现在的感兴趣、依恋和地点的社区之间关系的认识，来促进观众的参与度？三一之家是利思水手和船主协会的总部，利思是苏格兰与帝国商业贸易和奴隶经济有密切联系的三个海关港口之一。这一财产及其收藏(2008年的藏品)有一系列与帝国、奴隶制和性别有关的潜在故事等待发现(基于最近对收藏的试点审查)。这项研究将确定三一之家的藏品是如何被获取并随后进行策划、解释和展示的，以及它们随着时间的推移对不同社区和利益相关者意味着什么。它将开发创新的方法来研究隐藏的故事，使用纪录片、视觉、民族志和创造性的方法来揭示新的意义、价值和意义。该项目将在为期18个月的基线研究项目(2021年11月委托实施)的基础上进一步发展和补充，该项目建立了人类福利院看护财产与帝国奴隶制和历史奴隶制之间的联系。它还将建立在管理帝国遗产研究网络的基础上，这是与爱丁堡大学和种族平等与权利联盟(CRER)共同开展的一个为期两年的项目，以探索如何更好地将跨大西洋奴隶经济纳入苏格兰建筑环境的解释和管理。

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.