Confusion and Concern: The Troubled Histories of Named Collections Within the British Library
The article discusses the relationship between slavery and cultural history within institutional rare book collections. Beginning with an overview of the media controversy which was caused by the British Library’s publication of an internal document that noted Ted Hughes’ slave-owning ancestors, it...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Firenze University Press
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Early Modern Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/16518 |
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| author | Alice Wickenden |
| author_facet | Alice Wickenden |
| author_sort | Alice Wickenden |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The article discusses the relationship between slavery and cultural history within institutional rare book collections. Beginning with an overview of the media controversy which was caused by the British Library’s publication of an internal document that noted Ted Hughes’ slave-owning ancestors, it argues that the current approach to these questions which have been developed in museum studies are not sufficient when it comes to thinking about libraries. Taking the two examples of Hans Sloane and John Bellingham-Inglis from the British Library as primary case studies, it explores the institutional framing of their ownership of enslaved people. It then moves to an examination of some of the material impacts of provenance, particularly in Bellingham-Inglis’ physical dismantling of his books. By drawing on the twin ideas of ‘bookwork’ (Whitney Trettien) and ‘griefwork’ (Jennifer Scuro), the article argues that the future of provenance studies is an affective one. It argues for the benefits of a provenance research which actively considers ethical and political questions to be material forces with impact on our work. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-831e6d3fffbc49cc87487351db660759 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2279-7149 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Firenze University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Early Modern Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-831e6d3fffbc49cc87487351db6607592025-08-20T03:32:37ZengFirenze University PressJournal of Early Modern Studies2279-71492025-07-0114516910.36253/jems-2279-7149-1651815355Confusion and Concern: The Troubled Histories of Named Collections Within the British LibraryAlice WickendenThe article discusses the relationship between slavery and cultural history within institutional rare book collections. Beginning with an overview of the media controversy which was caused by the British Library’s publication of an internal document that noted Ted Hughes’ slave-owning ancestors, it argues that the current approach to these questions which have been developed in museum studies are not sufficient when it comes to thinking about libraries. Taking the two examples of Hans Sloane and John Bellingham-Inglis from the British Library as primary case studies, it explores the institutional framing of their ownership of enslaved people. It then moves to an examination of some of the material impacts of provenance, particularly in Bellingham-Inglis’ physical dismantling of his books. By drawing on the twin ideas of ‘bookwork’ (Whitney Trettien) and ‘griefwork’ (Jennifer Scuro), the article argues that the future of provenance studies is an affective one. It argues for the benefits of a provenance research which actively considers ethical and political questions to be material forces with impact on our work.https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/16518cultural historyinstitutional historylibrariesprovenanceslavery |
| spellingShingle | Alice Wickenden Confusion and Concern: The Troubled Histories of Named Collections Within the British Library Journal of Early Modern Studies cultural history institutional history libraries provenance slavery |
| title | Confusion and Concern: The Troubled Histories of Named Collections Within the British Library |
| title_full | Confusion and Concern: The Troubled Histories of Named Collections Within the British Library |
| title_fullStr | Confusion and Concern: The Troubled Histories of Named Collections Within the British Library |
| title_full_unstemmed | Confusion and Concern: The Troubled Histories of Named Collections Within the British Library |
| title_short | Confusion and Concern: The Troubled Histories of Named Collections Within the British Library |
| title_sort | confusion and concern the troubled histories of named collections within the british library |
| topic | cultural history institutional history libraries provenance slavery |
| url | https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/16518 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alicewickenden confusionandconcernthetroubledhistoriesofnamedcollectionswithinthebritishlibrary |