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A Study of the Richard Dennett Collection in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter

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A Study of the Richard Dennett Collection in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2012 Hidden Histories and Multiple Meanings: The Richard Dennett Collection at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter. Ayres, Sara Craig http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/1039 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author’s prior consent. ii HIDDEN HISTORIES AND MULTIPLE MEANINGS: THE RICHARD DENNETT COLLECTION AT THE ROYAL ALBERT MEMORIAL MUSEUM, EXETER. by SARA CRAIG AYRES A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Humanities Faculty of Arts In collaboration with the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter September 2011 iii iv Sara Craig Ayres Hidden Histories and Multiple Meanings: A Study of the Richard Dennett Collection in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter. Abstract Ethnographic collections in western museums such as the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) carry many meanings, but by definition, they represent an intercultural encounter. This history of this encounter is often lost, overlooked, or obscured, and yet it has bearing on how the objects in the collection have been interpreted and understood. This thesis uncovers the hidden history of one particular collection in the RAMM and examines the multiple meanings that have been attributed to the objects in the collection over time. The Richard Dennett Collection was made in Africa in the years when European powers began to colonise the Congo basin. Richard Edward Dennett (1857-1921) worked as a trader in the Lower Congo between 1879 and 1902. The collection was accessioned by the RAMM in 1889. The research contextualises the collection by making a close analysis of primary source material which was produced by the collector and by his contemporaries, and includes v publications, correspondence, photographs and illustrations which have been studied in museums and archives in Europe and North America. Dennett was personally involved with key events in the colonial history of this part of Africa but he also studied the indigenous BaKongo community, recording his observations about their political and material culture. As a result he became involved in the institutions of anthropology and folklore in Britain which were attempting to explain, classify and interpret such cultures. Through examining Dennett’s history this research has been able to explore the Congo context, the indigenous society, and those European institutions which collected and interpreted BaKongo collections. The research has added considerably to the museum’s knowledge about this collection and its collector, and the study responds to the practical imperative implicit in a Collaborative Doctoral Project, by proposing a small temporary exhibition in the RAMM to explore these histories and meanings. In making this proposal the research considers the current curatorial debate concerning responsible approaches to colonial collections, and assesses some of the strategies that are being employed in museums today. vi Contents. List of Figures ........................................................................................................ ix Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ xv Author’s Declaration. Chapter One. Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 Chapter Two. Dennett and the Colonial Context .................................................... 51 Chapter Three. Dennett and BaKongo Powers........................................................ 95 Chapter Four. Dennett and BaKongo Material Culture ........................................... 141 Chapter Five. Dennett and Museum Collecting ...................................................... 203 Chapter Six. Invisible Powers ................................................................................ 259 Chapter Seven ........................................................................................................ 299 Figures ................................................................................................................... 319 Appendix One. Richard Edward Dennett: A Brief Biography ................................. 377 Appendix Two. Timeline of Events ........................................................................ 381 Appendix Three. Enlarged Maps ............................................................................ 387 Appendix Four. Dennett Collection: List of Objects ............................................... 391 References ............................................................................................................. 395 vii viii List of Figures. Fig. 1. Dennett Collection, lantern slide, Royal Anthropological Institute, c. 1886-1887 .......................................................................................................... 319 Fig. 2. Map of the Congo region ............................................................................ 319 Fig. 3. ‘Map of Central Africa’, by Henri Mager, 1884 .......................................... 320 Fig. 4. ‘Map of Trade Routes’, from Seven Years Among the Fjort, 1887 ............... 320 Fig. 5. Display from the Manchester Gallery, University of Manchester Museum, 2010 ....................................................................................................... 321 Fig. 6. ‘Kinsembo’, from Seven Years Among the Fjort, 1887 ................................ 321 Fig. 7. ‘Cabenda Factory’, from Seven Years Among the Fjort, 1887...................... 322 Fig. 8. ‘Manimacosso measures his trade’, from Seven Years Among the Fjort, 1887....................................................................................................................... 322 Fig. 9. ‘Manimacosso measures his palm oil’, from Seven Years Among the Fjort, 1887 ............................................................................................................. 323 Fig. 10. ‘Fabrication de huile de palme chez les Bavili’, Congo postcard, no date .. 323 Fig. 11. ‘Manimacosso takes his pay’, from Seven Years Among the Fjort, 1887 .... 324 Fig. 12. Group of Mr Stanley’s followers at Kabinda’, from Through the Dark Continent, 1878 ..................................................................................................... 324 Fig. 13. ‘At rest: my quarters at Kabinda’, from Through the Dark Continent, 1878....................................................................................................................... 325 Fig. 14. Manchester Athenaeum, designed by Charles Barry, built 1824-1835 ....... 325 Fig. 15. ‘Maxim Automatic Gun’, from In Darkest Africa, 1890 ............................ 326 Fig. 16. Map of French Congo showing French concessionaire system, 1902 ......... 326 Fig. 17. Mother and child, lantern slide, Royal Anthropological Institute, no date 327 Fig. 18. Two unnamed women, lantern slide, Royal Anthropological Institute, no date ................................................................................................................... 327 Fig. 19. Unnamed woman and toddler, lantern slide, Royal Anthropological Institute, no date .................................................................................................... 328 ix Fig. 20. Unnamed schoolgirls, lantern slide, Royal Anthropological Institute, no date ................................................................................................................... 328 Fig. 21. ‘At Olokmeji’ from E. D. Morel’s photograph album, 1911 ...................... 329 Fig. 22. ‘Map of African Literature’ from African Sketchbook, 1873 ...................... 329 Fig. 23. ‘Badoongoo or Pegasario’ from Seven Years Among the Fjort, 1887 ........ 330 Fig. 24. ‘Surf’ from Seven Years Among the Fjort, 1887 ........................................ 330 Fig. 25. ‘The Coffin containing the body on view just before burial’ from At the Back of the Black Man’s Mind, 1906 ............................................................ 331 Fig. 26. ‘Consulting Mpumbu’ from Bavili Notes, 1905.......................................... 331 Fig. 27. ‘Prince Xicaia by the funeral car of his brother’ from The Folklore of the Fjort, 1898 ....................................................................................................... 332 Fig. 28. ‘Maniluemba’ from At the Back of the Black Man’s Mind, 1906 ................ 332 Fig. 29. ‘Maniluemba’, lantern slide, Royal Anthropological Institute, no date ....... 333 Fig. 30. ‘The Philosophy in table form’ from At the Back of the Black Man’s Mind, 1906 ............................................................................................................. 333 Fig. 31. ‘Feteiches and Curios’ from Seven Years Among the Fjort, 1887 ............... 334 Fig.
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