Keeping their marbles how the treasures of the past ended up in museums...and why they should stay there

380 Pages·2018·60.935 MB·English

by  Jenkins, Tiffany

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KEEPING THEIR MARBLES
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,13/1/2016,SPi
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KEEPING THEIR
MARBLES
How the Treasures of the Past Ended Up in
Museums...and Why They Should Stay There
TIFFANY JENKINS
1
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is the result of many years of thinking about museums and
cultural artefacts. I am lucky to have had plenty of opportunities to
discussmythoughtswithcolleaguesandstudents.IhaveinmindTatiana
Flessas, Tom Freudenheim, Eva Silvén, Richard Williams, David
Lowenthal, Amy Clarke, Felicity Bodenstein Howard Williams, Annie
Malama, and Duncan Sayer. I have also been able to work through
related questions at length with Jonathan Williams, Ian Jenkins, Karl-
ErikNorrman,LesleyFitton,HannahBoulton,andKarlMagnusson,all
of whom gave their time—and criticism—generously. Jonathan Conlin’s
feedbackonadraftwasespeciallyhelpful.JennieBristowgaveinvaluable
editorial advice.
A number of organizations and projects granted me space to test out
my arguments, I wish to highlight and thank the Durham University
ArchaeologySociety.Someofthenecessarytravelwasmadepossiblebya
grant from the Society of Authors, for which I am grateful. Matthew
Cottonhelpedmefinishtheproject.AndrewGordonsawthepossibility.
Iain put up with my constant preoccupation and obsessive musings.
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CONTENTS
ListofIllustrations ix
Introduction 
PART I
. GreatExplorersandCuriousCollectors 
. TheBirthofthePublicMuseum 
. AntiquityFever 
. CasesofLoot 
PART II
. MuseumWars 
. WhoOwnsCulture? 
. TheRiseofIdentityMuseums 
. Atonement:MakingAmendsforPastWrongs 
. BuryingKnowledge:TheFateofHumanRemains 
ConcludingThoughts 
Notes 
FurtherReading 
Index 
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
. Hawaiian feather helmet, Polynesia, eighteenth century 
. A Maori bartering a crayfish with an English naval officer 
. Frontispiece of Ole Worm’s cabinet of curiosities from
Museum Wormianum by Ole Worm () 
. Colossal bust of Rameses II, the ‘Younger Memnon’ 
. ‘A view of the Eastern Portico of the Parthenon’ 
. Layard supervises the lowering of the Great Winged Bull,
removed from the Palace of Sennacherib () 
. Napoleon on his imperial throne () 
. Triumphal entry of monuments of science and art into
France in  
. Looty () 
. Enola Gay on display (c.) 
. Catalogue from the Stolen World exhibition () 
. Figureof Iris from the west pediment of the Parthenon in
the British Museum 
. View of the west pediment of the Parthenon in the
Acropolis Museum 
. George Gustav Heye with Foolish Bear and Drags
Wolf () 
. Portuguese rifleman, sixteenth century 
. Shrunken head of a South American headhunter () 
. Zayed National Museumarchitectural drawing () 
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