Model Lives: the Changing Meanings of Miniature Ethnographic Models from Acquisition to Interpretation at the Horniman Free Museum 1894-1898

Model Lives: The Changing Meanings of Miniature Ethnographic Models from Acquisition to Interpretation at the Horniman Free Museum 1894-1898

Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester

Ryan Nutting School of Museum Studies

June 2017

Model Lives: The Changing Meanings of Miniature Ethnographic Models from Acquisition to Interpretation at the Horniman Free Museum 1894-1898

Ryan Nutting

Although many contemporary museums possess collections of miniature ethnographic models, few scholars have explored how these objects emphasize ideas of intellectual control. This thesis examines the use and interpretation of miniature ethnographic models in the late nineteenth century. I demonstrate how the interpretation of these objects reinforced British intellectual control over the peoples of India and Burma during this period by focusing on four sets of miniature ethnographic models purchased by Frederick Horniman in the mid-1890s and displayed in the Horniman Free Museum until it closed in January 1898.

Building on the theories of miniature objects developed by Susan Stewart and others, scholarship on the development of tourist art, late nineteenth-century museum education theories, and postcolonial theories the thesis examines the biography of these objects between 1894 and 1898. By drawing on archival documents from the museum, articles about Horniman and the museum from this period, and newspaper articles chronicling Horniman’s journal of his travels between 1894 and 1896, this thesis traces the interpretation of these miniature models from their purchase through their display within the museum to the description of these models by visitors to the museum, and in each case shows how these models embodied notions of intellectual control over the peoples of India and Burma.

Where previous studies have focused on only one or two of these phases of objects’ lives this thesis demonstrates that all three phases of these models’ lives (collection, display, and visitor interpretations) within the period reveal aspects of colonial control. Consequently, this thesis provides a basis for further work on investigating how late nineteenth-century collectors and museums utilized objects to both construct knowledge and implicitly highlight aspects of colonial control.

2 Acknowledgements

I am extremely grateful to the staff of the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies and Victorian Studies Centre as well as the staff of the Horniman Museum and Gardens for all of their help and guidance on this project. I would especially like to thank my supervisors Dr Dudley and Dr North, as well as Dr Unwin, Dr Sandell, Dr Watson, Prof. MacLeod, Prof. Pearce, Barbara Lloyd, Bob Ahluwalia, and Christine Cheesman at the University of Leicester. I would also like to thank Dr Kerlogue, Adrian Murphy, Katherine Doyle, Helen Williamson at the Horniman Museum and Gardens and the staff of the Lewisham Local History and Archives Centre for the assistance they provided to me over the course of this project.

I would also like to thank my family and friends for their support and for encouraging this project, including Bayard and Alice Haugen, Brian and Trudy Haugen and family, Brenda and Todd Nutting, John, Laura and Alissa Nutting, and Shelby, Joe, Petra, Gretta, Leo, and Marta Veliz. I also thank my friends including Dr Amy Barnes, Dr Will Buckingham, Irene Campolmi, Lauren Fensterstock and Aaron T. Stephen, Dr Petrina Foti, JT Framsted, Heather Hauptli, Dr Amy Hetherington, Dr Ching-Yueh Hsieh, Dr Elee Kirk, Dr Cintia Velazquez Marroni, Rachael and Enoch Marshall, Dr Gudrun Whitehead and, of course, Dr Stephanie Bowry, as well as numerous teachers and museum volunteers for all of their support and encouragement. Finally, I thank Viv, David and Tim for their kindness and hospitality.

Dedicated to everyone who helped me on this journey

4 Table of Conte