Enriqueta Rylands: A Study of Private Collecting and Public Philanthropy, 1889-1908

我的项目将研究和分析Enriqueta Rylands在1889年至1908年(她去世时)收藏的书籍，包括她为John Rylands图书馆收藏的书籍。通过对文字记录和莱兰德收藏实践的物质证据的仔细审查，这位博士将揭示她获得了什么，如何获得，以及目的是什么--即私人享受，公共利益，有时两者兼而有之。该项目的核心是调查个人收藏家的品味、兴趣和实用资源与建立一个主要的教育和文化机构的雄心之间的关系。约翰·里兰兹图书馆是由莱兰兹创建的，以纪念她的丈夫约翰。她于1889年开始收藏书籍，并在1900年图书馆向公众开放后继续收藏。莱兰兹1908年去世后，她的大部分私人藏书和艺术作品被转移到图书馆。本项目将研究莱兰德的个人收藏实践与其公共表现和效果之间的关系。这项研究的一个关键背景是，莱兰和那个时期的女性艺术收藏家之间有没有相似之处，特别是在性别、收藏和慈善事业之间的相互作用方面。将收藏和慈善作为构建身份认同的场所的概念，将支持我对莱兰的私人和公共身份的重新评估，特别是考虑到她作为富有的寡妇、古巴白人和前夫人的伴侣的模糊社会地位。这个项目将对莱兰兹的收藏实践进行主题评估，重点关注她的收藏中代表的不同主题，包括神学、文学和视觉艺术。我将与档案记录一起评估这些藏品本身的物证，其中包括信件、财务账目和书目。我将在莱兰德的收藏和更广泛的书-历史和社会历史背景下探索这些物品的意义。Rylands的收藏将不仅被视为一个物理分组，还将被视为其中包含的对象的生命历史中的一个时期。通过这种方式，该项目将发展对莱兰收藏的实践和政治的批判性见解(皮尔斯，1995)。这项研究也将把批判性的注意力转向关于莱兰对她的收藏未来意图的不完整和相互竞争的叙述，以便更好地理解慈善事业和私人收购之间的相互作用。尽管莱兰德的声音出现在档案中--在信件、演讲报告和官方文件中--但它是柔和而零碎的。我将从她自己的作品、同时代人的作品以及传记作家和历史学家的作品中，对莱兰德的意图及其公共影响构建一个批判性的多层次叙事。

My project will research and analyse Enriqueta Rylands' book collecting between 1889 and 1908 (when she died), including her collecting for the John Rylands Library. Through close scrutiny of both textual records and the material evidence of Rylands' collecting practice, this PhD will reveal what she acquired, how and for what purpose - i.e. private enjoyment, public benefit or sometimes both. Central to the project is an investigation of the relationship between the tastes, interests and practical resources of the individual collector and the ambition to found a major educational and cultural institution.The John Rylands Library was founded by Rylands in memory of her husband John. She began book collecting in 1889 and continued after the Library was opened to the public in 1900. Much of Rylands' private collection of books and art was transferred to the Library after her death in 1908. This project will research the relationship between Rylands' personal collecting practice and its public manifestation and effect. One of the critical contexts for the study is the similarity (or not) between Rylands and women art collectors of the period, especially in terms of the interplay between gender, collecting and philanthropy. The concept of collecting and philanthropy as sites for the construction of identity will underpin my reassessment of Rylands' private and public identities, particularly in relation to her ambiguous social status as both wealthy widow, white Cuban and former lady's companion. This project will assess Rylands' collecting practice thematically, focusing on different subjects represented in her collections, including theology, literature and the visual arts. I will evaluate the material evidence of the collections themselves alongside the archival record, which includescorrespondence, financial accounts and booklists. I will explore the significance of objects both within Rylands' collection and in wider book-historical and socio-historical contexts. Rylands' collection will be considered not only as a physical grouping, but also as a period in the life histories of the objects contained within it. In this manner, the project will develop critical insights into the praxis and politics of Rylands' collecting (Pearce, 1995).This research will also turn critical attention to the incomplete and competing narratives concerning Rylands' intentions for the future of her collection, in order to better understand the interplay between philanthropy and private acquisition. Although Rylands' voice is represented in the archive - in letters, reports of speeches and official documents - it is muted and fragmentary. I will construct a critical multilayered narrative of Rylands' intentions and their public effect from her own writings, writings of contemporaries, and the writings of biographers and historians.