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

在今天的英国，宠物通常是家庭生活的核心，但我们对它们在过去的家庭中所扮演的角色知之甚少。这个项目将是英国历史上第一个系统研究家庭与他们的猫、狗和其他伴侣动物之间关系的项目。我们的目标是追踪动物在家庭中的位置变化，以及家庭生活中更广泛的变化，包括19世纪到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扮演着强大的情感角色，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次要的，但它们能告诉我们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，涉及到权力结构、等级和关系的变化，以及建筑环境和家庭惯例的变化。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时代的社会中越来越多的存在，以及对待动物的更广泛的社会和伦理意义。但我们对她们在家庭生活中的作用知之甚少。该项目的研究包括一项重要的新档案调查，重点关注宠物和家庭的文化表现，宠物相关产品的消费和不断增长的市场，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和插图、小说和流行的印刷文化来追踪它们不断变化的文化表现，从而考虑宠物在当代想象中的形象。其次，我们将调查宠物是如何买卖的，以及为它们创造的新东西，查看建议文献和现存的实物，检查食品、项圈和玩具等专业产品的扩张。最后，我们将对包括日记、信件和照片在内的个人文件进行大规模调查，以了解他们在家庭日常生活中的作用。我们的资料来源还将包括口述历史和法庭记录，使我们能够从不同的社会背景中建立一个家庭养宠物的画面。为了全面了解全国宠物饲养实践的差异，我们的研究重点是英格兰和威尔士的关键地区，卡迪夫、利物浦和伦敦的城市中心，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，大大推进这一领域的知识，并改变社会和文化史上对家庭和家庭生活的解释。该项目的一个重要部分将涉及与学术界以外的观众接触，并推动公共历史议程。与毕晓普斯盖特研究所和国民信托哈德曼之家合作，这些机构拥有重要但不发达的宠物摄影收藏，我们将创建实体和数字展览以及一系列活动，使我们能够与公众密切互动。我们还将与宠物治疗合作，当代从业者在宠物扮演的情感角色方面有着重要的利益。

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.