A History of the Scientific Collections of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society's Museum in the Nineteenth Century
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A History of the Scientific Collections of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society's Museum in the Nineteenth Century: Acquiring, Interpreting & Presenting the Natural World in the English Industrial City Mark Steadman Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science 2019 1 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2019 The University of Leeds and Mark John Steadman The right of to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 2 I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1818. 3 Acknowledgements Firstly I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Dr Jon Topham and Professor Greg Radick whose judgement, experience, amity and care made the project possible and my journey both enlightening and enjoyable. I want to also express my debt of gratitude to Professor Graeme Gooday who has continued to extend to me a high level of pastoral care and intellectual support. I am exceedingly grateful for the time, experience and enthusiasm of Clare Brown (Curator of Natural Sciences at Leeds City Museum) who introduced me to the remarkable primary sources at the museum, alongside whom I would also like to thank Antonia Lovelace, Camilla Nichol, Jen Kaines from Leeds City Museum and former Curator of Natural Sciences at Leeds, Adrian Norris, for their part in the project and for making me feel at home. I wish also to thank the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society and The Leeds Assessment Centre at the University of Leeds for their support, without which the project would have been impossible. I would like to dedicate the thesis to Michèle Steadman whose support, patience and latitude throughout the project became vital to its completion. The Project would not have been possible without the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Collaborative Doctoral Award. 4 Abstract Nineteenth-century Britain witnessed an unparalleled growth of geographically discrete philosophical societies and purpose-built museums, above all, in the rapidly industrialising towns of Northern England. Making use of previously unexamined material connected to the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, its purpose-built Philosophical Hall, and the operation of the museum therein, this thesis offers an expansive analysis of an important nineteenth-century museum, its parent philosophical society, and their ever changing relationship with a growing industrial township and the emerging natural sciences. The thesis proceeds in three parts. Part One examines the emergence of the Society in 1818- 1819, Philosophical Hall, and the Museum in 1821. Part Two focuses on museum practice in the nineteenth century, and explores three main themes: collecting practices, curatorial practices and public-facing activities such as the displays, exhibitions, events, publicity and the lecture programme. Part Three explores the eventual transition from private society to civic institution by looking at a long period of self-reappraisal undertaken by Society and Museum from the 1860s. The changing institutional horizon of the town and its impact on collecting patterns, advancements within the practice of the natural sciences and shifting sensibilities of the public are all considered, ultimately providing the contextual backdrop to the final transferral of the Society’s museum to Leeds Corporation in 1921. 5 Table of Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................... 4 Abstract ................................................................................................................... 5 Table of Contents .................................................................................................... 6 List of Tables ......................................................................................................... 11 List of Illustrations ................................................................................................ 11 Appendix ................................................................................................................ 12 Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... 14 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 15 Part 1: Fostering Natural Knowledge in Late Georgian Leeds ..47 Chapter 1: Philosophical Hall and the Founding of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society ............................................................................................ 48 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Founders 1.3 Membership 1.4 The Spirit of Improvement: Philosophical Hall and Town Planning 1.5 The Museum within a Constitutional Framework 1.6 The Opening of Philosophical Hall: Introducing Lectures and Essays 1.7 A Note on the No Politics, No Religion Rule 6 1.8 The Museum within Philosophical Hall 1.9 Conclusion Part 2: Museum Practice in the Industrial Township ………76 Chapter 2: Acquiring and Preserving the Natural World .............................. 77 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Introducing the Collections 2.3 Collecting Networks: Local Collecting 2.4 National Collecting: The Irish Elk 2.5 International Collecting: Acquiring the Exotic, the Rare, the Extinct 2.6 Conclusion Chapter 3: Curatorial Ideology and Practice ............................................... 118 3.1 Introduction 3.2 John Atkinson, Curator 1820-1828: The Making of a Museum 3.3 Henry Denny, Curator 1828-1871: Curatorial Production between Worlds 3.4 Louis Miall, Curator 1871-1891: Professionalization and the Natural History Curator 3.5 Henry Crowther, Curator 1893-1928: The Path towards a Public Museum 3.6 Conclusion 7 Chapter 4: The Presentation of the Natural World ....................................... 150 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Exhibitions 4.3 Philosophical Hall Downstairs: An Overflowing Miscellany 4.4 The Changing Use of the Smaller Rooms Downstairs 4.5 The Stairs Area 4.6 The Society’s Library 4.7 Philosophical Hall Upstairs: Displays of Natural Science and the 1862 Extension 4.8 The Large Zoological Room 4.9 The Main Floor of the Large Zoology Room 4.10 The Wall-Mounted Cases of the Large Zoology Room 4.11 The Conversaziones 4.12 Who went to the Conversaziones? 4.13 A Typical Conversazione 4.14 The Last Conversaziones 4.15 Public Lectures 4.16 The Development of the Lecturing Programme across the Nineteenth Century 4.17 Themes and Speakers 8 4.18 Our Man in the Field: Museum Correspondence in the Press 4.19 Conclusion Part 3: From Private to Civic: Public Museums’ Long Dawn .. 205 Chapter 5: Self-reflection and Reappraisal in the Society and Museum, 1860-1904 ........................................................................................................... 209 5.1 Introduction 5.2 A Note on the Public 5.3 Precursors to the Period of Reappraisal 5.4 From Township to City: The Impact of an Evolving Industrial Town on Its Institutions 5.5 Emerging Discontent 5.6 The Yorkshire College of Science and Its Impact on the Society 5.7 Committee on Means of Extending the Usefulness of the Society 5.8 Conclusion Chapter 6: Transfer and the Creation of a Civic Museum ........................... 243 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The Society’s Committee as an Agent of Change 6.3 The Yorkshire College’s Takeover Bid 6.4 The Town Fights Back and the Bid for a Municipal Museum 6.5 Poor Public Identity and the Decline of Collecting Practices 9 6.6 Plotting Territorial Changes to the Scientific Landscape in Leeds 6.7 Conclusion Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 273 List of Tables ..................................................................................................... 290 Appendix ............................................................................................................. 291 I Photographic material including plan of Philosophical Hall and the locations from which the photographic material was taken Bibliography ...................................................................................................... 301 10 List of Tables Table Page 1.1 Religious, political and occupational status of founders who became Proprietary Members. ........................................................................................... 290 1.2 Political alliances among LPLS members as a percentage ......................... 290 5.1 Visitors to the Museum as a percentage of the town’s population ............. 212 List of Illustrations Figure Page 1.0 The advert for the plot that would become Philosophical Hall, including details of the owners .................................................................................... 58 2.0 Report of the LPLS for the sessions 1824-25 .............................................. 79 2.1 Photograph of the Irish Elk in the Large Zoology Room ............................ 88 2.2 A detail of the frontispiece to Richardson’s 1846 edition of Facts concerning the