Research & Public History Annual Report 2018–2019
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RESEARCH & PUBLIC HISTORY ANNUAL REPORT 2018–2019 FOREWORD FOREWORD JULIA KNIGHTS Deputy Director, Science Museum Welcome to our fifth Research Annual Group’s reserve collection at our Report, covering the academic year National Collections Centre near 2018–19, a remarkable year for the Swindon in a vast new building. As Science Museum Group. I write, dozens of skilled staff are researching, photographing, labelling, Across the Group we have opened documenting and packing the ground-breaking galleries and contents of our Blythe House store exhibitions. At the Science Museum in West London ready for transfer London, we opened Medicine: The ahead of our opening in 2023. This Wellcome Galleries celebrating the consolidation of our stored greatest medical collection in the collections and linked digitisation world in 3000 objects across 3000m2. programme will increase access to We also opened Science City 1550– staff, researchers and the public. 1800: The Linbury Gallery, a journey through London as it became a Ensuring that the Group’s research is globally important hub of trade, relevant to government agendas on exploration and science. The Art of research, STEM and the industrial Innovation: From Enlightenment to strategy, via the funding streams of Dark Matter exhibition also opened in UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is September, accompanied by a key. Towards a National Collection: ABOVE: handsome book and 20-part BBC4 Opening UK Heritage to the World was Dr Julia Knights radio series. At the National Science recently launched by the Arts and Deputy Director, Science Museum, and Media Museum in Bradford we Humanities Research Council (AHRC). South Kensington opened Above the Noise, whilst at the It recognises that heritage National Railway Museum in York, organisations are major national project, where Leeds University Brass, Steel and Fire was launched. assets, playing a central role in the UK’s researchers have involved Bradford’s The success of this new generation of heritage and research economies, and communities in the life and displays rests on the formal training contributing significantly to the UK’s programme of the National Science and experience of our curators, global influence and soft power. and Media Museum. including forms of research familiar This fund is a positive step towards in universities, and types specific Our collections will always be the creating a unified virtual national to museums, such as provenance- centre of our research, activities and collection, building digital search tools, hunting, object-contextualisation programme, and collaboration with improving research capability and and audience evaluation. other institutions is essential to our public engagement. The Group hopes to success; The Art of Innovation, for Having spent 12 years of my career in play a major role, alongside other example, proudly displayed Turner’s the diplomatic service living and heritage organisations and universities, ‘Rain, Steam and Speed’ from the working in China, Russia and Latin in achieving these ambitions. National Gallery. New funding for America fostering joint science Many further examples of research research infrastructure, as it becomes partnerships with the UK, I am thrilled activity from across the Group can be available, will allow us to make that international research is found throughout this report. At the connections between the UK’s increasing across the Group. One Science and Industry Museum in collections and think about their role example is our research collaboration in Manchester, research underpins on a global scale. We stand on the FRONT COVER IMAGE: China with Beijing’s Palace Museum and development of the Power Hall. In York threshold of an exciting new age for Atmosphonia (2019), by a raft of universities, which has and Shildon, curatorial-academic collaboration across the world’s Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, contributed to Zimingzhong, our partnerships support the Vision 2025 museums and galleries. Our aim is for for Atmospheric Memory, upcoming exhibition on Chinese clocks. Manchester International transformation. And in Bradford, 2020 the Science Museum Group to be a Festival 2019, at the Science Meanwhile, our amazing One Collection will see the conclusion of the AHRC- leader in research on our collections and Industry Museum. project is uniting the Science Museum funded Bradford’s National Museum and to continue to inspire futures. Credit: Mariana Yáñez ANNUAL REPORT 2018–19 OUR WORK Collections, Collaboration Tim Boon 1–4 and Research Infrastructure National Science and Media Museum Geoff Belknap 5–6 Research Highlights National Railway Museum Oli Betts 7–8 Research Highlights Ed Bartholomew Science and Industry Museum Georgina Young 9–10 1 Research Highlights Learning and Audience Research Karen Davies 11–14 Jayne Rayner Archives: Acquisitions and Research Nick Wyatt 15–16 Rare Books and Their Provenance Nick Wyatt 17–18 COLLABORATIONS AND NETWORKS Annual Research Conference Highlights Abigail Wilson 19–20 Science Museum Group Journal Michael Flynn 21–24 Report and Reflections 2 25–28 Events RESEARCH PROJECTS The Art of Innovation Tilly Blyth 29–32 Audiences of the future: Gabriella Giannachi 33–36 Robots mixed-reality experience Dave Patten Bethan Ross Andi Smart John Stack Désirée Vaccarini Samuel Vine Time, Culture and Identity Carol Chung 37–38 3 Communicating Energy to the Public Hiroki Shin 39–40 Bradford’s National Museum Helen Graham 41–44 Metropolitan Science Project Update Dr Rebekah Higgitt 45–46 Culture Space Doug Millard 47–48 Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries Sarah Wade 49–56 and Research DOCTORAL PROGRAMME The Collaborative Doctoral Sarah Wade 57–60 Partnership Scheme Our Current Students 61–64 4 65–66 New Students Starting in 2019 ABOUT US Science Museum Group Publications 67–76 and Presentations Opportunities to Study Tim Boon 77–78 5 and Research with Us Our Team 79–80 COLLECTIONS, COLLABORATION AND RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE COLLECTIONS, COLLABORATION AND RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE LEFT AND RIGHT: Gallery view of Top Secret: From Ciphers to Cyber Security an COLLECTIONS, exhibition exploring over a century’s worth of communications intelligence through hand-written documents, declassified files and previously unseen artefacts from COLLABORATION the Science Museum Group’s and AND RESEARCH GCHQ’s historic collections Introducing this annual report in previous years, I have stressed how INFRASTRUCTURE museum research is necessarily both long-term and collaborative. Each of these facets was dramatically TIM BOON reflected in an October 2019 government press release announcing Head of Research and Public History, Science Museum a major funding initiative entitled: ‘Towards a National Collection: Opening UK Heritage to the World’. In many ways, this £19-million fund may itself be seen as the result of long-term collaborative discussions between research-active heritage organisations and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). There is no reason why the long-term friendly collaboration in matters of research in the ‘GLAM’ (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) sector should be known outside the organisations themselves, but it has been a major factor in the development of our work. We owe a great deal to the AHRC who, in 2007, initiated the Independent Research Organisations (IROs) scheme. Under this, research-active organisations are Technology strand, which has research. Out of conversations between enabled to apply for a status that attracted several grants. Alongside funder and funded there is beginning confers the right to apply for research the specific projects, however, has to emerge a shared appreciation of the grants from AHRC in exactly the same developed something just as precious: kinds of research that are specific to way that universities have been able to a continuing, collaborative, discussion heritage organisations, which do since the foundation of the between the IROs about the place of anthropology museum curator Nick research councils. A dozen years on, research within our organisations and Thomas has called ‘museum as method’. AHRC lists 22 heritage IROs, including its potency to enable our organisations This term describes the kinds of most of the prominent museums, to do what they were established to do, everyday research that museum and galleries and libraries, including the only better. The IRO Heads of Research gallery staff undertake, for example to British Museum, Tate and – of course meet at least quarterly, and there is understand potential new acquisitions, – the Science Museum Group. To say always an exciting agenda of ideas and to catalogue existing collections more that this status has been initiatives to share and debate. At the precisely, to conceive exhibition transformative for the IROs would be same time, AHRC has wanted to work schemas and to furnish the text that an understatement, as across the still more closely with the IROs, where will feature; or to understand the sector it has enabled substantial the benefit of arts and humanities motivation and enjoyment of visitors or research to support many exhibitions; research is evident in the enjoyment of enhance it via new interventions, has unlocked little-understood all the millions of visitors to our including harnessing the power of collections; and enabled new research world-famous venues who respond to digital media; or, again, to conserve directions to take flight, including our displays and events built on a museum objects in the most very own Public History