Baggage and Belonging: Military Collections and the British Empire (1750-1900)

英国130多家军事博物馆保存着英国军团、军团和军种的历史收藏品。他们的收藏品包括英国军人在殖民战争中和在全球各地执行帝国驻军任务时获得的文物，作为战利品、奖品、纪念品、古董和标本获得的各种形式。这些文物在军事史学界之外鲜为人知，在他们目前的机构内，很少有人参照他们复杂的跨文化传记进行研究。该项目以1750年至1900年印度和非洲的军事行动为重点，将对军事收藏品进行跨学科的重新评估。通过通过档案证据追踪收藏品历史，它将调查非欧洲文物在军事组织文化中的意义，以及它们作为非欧洲民族与帝国军队遭遇的物质证人的价值。研究问题包括：1.获取、记录和修改物品的模式告诉我们在殖民和帝国战争背景下英国军事收藏品的特征是什么？2.对战争中物品的转移进行更微妙的分析如何修改我们对殖民和后殖民关系的理解？3.军事管理、文化制裁和应急工作如何围绕物品的获取和处置建立界限？4.我们如何解决这些军事收藏品最初的公共角色与它们在公共军事博物馆中的当代功能之间的矛盾？军事和非军事博物馆中非欧洲军事行动的物质遗产广泛存在，然而，在分析和历史文献中，几乎没有对这一遗产的系统理解。军事收藏品为批判性地重新评估博物馆收藏品与后殖民时期帝国历史之间的联系提供了一个不发达的来源。非洲和印度殖民运动(估计占非欧洲收藏品总数的60%-70%)将通过多个军事博物馆收藏品进行跟踪，同时检查机构记录、档案、登记册以及与个人收藏家有关的传记、日记和照片。对实物和文件的深入审查将使人们对军事治理、共同军事文化和个别机构有更多方面的了解。该项目将突出隐藏的夺取和保留历史，超越了对所有军事文物的简单化看法，如战利品。这种修正主义的做法将允许前欧洲帝国就一个复杂而有争议的话题进行比较。它将使人们能够对这些收集做法和物质遗产在今天的相关性进行严格的重新评估。苏格兰国家博物馆(NMS)的多学科项目组将得到一个学术和博物馆咨询委员会的支持，咨询委员会来自视觉和博物馆人类学、军事史、军事人类学和考古学领域。比较分析将借鉴以前在西藏、中国、新西兰和北美开展的运动试点项目的研究。项目合作伙伴国家陆军博物馆(NAM)也拥有大量藏品，并拥有更广泛的网络(包括陆军博物馆奥吉尔比信托基金)，以协助举办知识交流讲习班和组织国际研讨会。产出将包括两个知识交流讲习班，一个国际研讨会，一个特别展览(国家战争博物馆，苏格兰国家博物馆，爱丁堡)，加强画廊口译(国家军队博物馆，伦敦；苏格兰国家博物馆和国家战争博物馆，爱丁堡)，社区参与，在线特写和pdf目录信息，以及3-4份出版物(除了非推荐文章外，还有一篇文章和一本书)。

Over 130 military museums in the UK preserve the historical collections of British regiments, corps and services. Their collections contain artefacts acquired by British servicemen in colonial warfare and on imperial garrison duties across the globe, variously acquired as trophies, prize, souvenirs, curios and specimens. These artefacts are little known outside the constituency of military history and within their current institutions rarely researched in reference to their complex intercultural biographies. Focussing on military campaigns in India and Africa from 1750 to 1900, this project will undertake an interdisciplinary reappraisal of military collections. By tracing collections histories through archival evidence it will both investigate the meaning of non-European artefacts in military organisational culture and their value as material witnesses of encounters between non-European peoples and imperial forces. Research questions include: 1. What does the pattern of taking, recording and modification of objects tell us about the characteristics of British military collecting in the context of colonial and imperial warfare?2. How does a more nuanced analysis of the transference of objects in war revise our understanding of colonial and post-colonial relationships? 3. How did military governance, cultural sanction and contingency work to establish boundaries around the taking and disposal of objects? 4. How can we address the tensions between the original communal role of these military collections and their contemporary function in public military museums?The material legacy of non-European military campaigns in military and non-military museums is widespread, yet the systematic understanding of this legacy is virtually absent from the analytical and historical literature. Military collecting offers an under-developed source for critically reappraising the linkages between museum collections and imperial history in the post-colonial period. Colonial African and Indian campaigns (estimated as 60-70% of total non-European collections) will be tracked through multiple military museum collections examined in tandem with institutional records, archives, registers, as well as biographies, diaries and photographs related to individual collectors. An in-depth examination of objects and documents will deliver a more multifaceted understanding of military governance, communal military culture and individual agency. The project will highlight hidden histories of taking and retention, going beyond the simplistic view of all such military artefacts as 'loot'. This revisionist approach will allow comparisons across former European imperial powers of a complex and controversial topic. It will enable a critical reassessment of the relevance of these collecting practices and material legacies today. The multidisciplinary project team at National Museums Scotland (NMS) will be supported by an academic and museum-based Advisory Board drawn from the fields of visual and museum anthropology, military history, military anthropology and archaeology. Comparative analysis will draw on research from previous pilot projects undertaken on campaigns in Tibet, China, New Zealand and North America. The National Army Museum (NAM), the project partner, also holds extensive collections and has the wider networks (including the Army Museums Ogilby Trust) to assist with the delivery of knowledge exchange workshops and the organisation of the international seminar. Outputs will include two knowledge exchange workshops, an international seminar, a special exhibition (National War Museum, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh), enhanced gallery interpretation (National Army Museum, London; National Museum of Scotland and National War Museum, Edinburgh), community engagement, online features and pdf catalogue information, and 3-4 publications (articles and a book in addition to non-refereed articles).