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

在一个科学创新和历史传统同等重要的世界里，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，那些常常与爱德华七世时代英国奢华但已不复存在的宏伟联系在一起的乡间别墅呢？比起电路板或试管，上层阶级更关心宏伟的枝形吊灯和丝绸家具，他们又该怎么办呢？令人惊讶的是，在科学和上流社会之间的“两种文化”鸿沟之间，有着深刻而丰富的联系，而科学技术史正是以这种独特的方式进行调解的。因此，该项目通过借鉴PI Graeme Gooday的AHRB/ ahrc资助的专著《驯化电力》的见解，将社会历史的资源与技术和设计的历史结合在一起，利用这些场所在维多利亚时代后期发明电灯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的家庭，当时的主人阿姆斯特朗勋爵（Lord Armstrong）支持他在纽卡斯尔的朋友约瑟夫•斯旺（Joseph Swan）进行白炽灯照明实验。稍晚些时候，利兹的洛瑟顿大厅和东格林斯特德的斯坦登仍保留着原始的早期电照明，标志着它们是20世纪之交高科技照明的先驱。本着这种精神，这些网站为成年人和年轻人提供了一种未被充分利用的资源，用于整合社会历史和自然科学的公共体验。拟议的项目“电气化乡村别墅”将与这些房屋合作开发通用资源，帮助游客了解电气照明的科学，以及这些（和其他）乡村房屋如何在将科学带入家庭方面发挥关键作用。与此同时，每个房子的特殊历史和环境将通过专门定制的电气照明历史资源得到珍惜，这是国民信托强调的“地方精神”的缩影。为了补充goodday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的工作，特别是与该时期的艺术和工艺美学有关，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关系的文章。在一年的时间里，该项目的博士后研究员将与这三所房子合作，共同制作每所房子所需的特定类型的游客资源。这些将包括家庭包和学校的关键阶段2资源，以去年Gooday和利兹大学的同事在Lotherton Hall进行的小规模试点项目为基础。除了培训员工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员工将参加一个研讨会，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的企业提出自己的想法。在国家信托基金的广泛支持下，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转变，使它们能够提高公众对科学的理解，并欣赏乡村房屋的社会历史，远远超出其传统的审美吸引力。此外，通过确保年轻人从一开始就熟悉科学、历史和艺术之间的深刻联系，该项目可以扭转中等教育中出现的一种非生产性的性别分化趋势，即理科为男生，文科为女生。

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.