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Lecture
Costume Society of America Roundtable: Tackling Tokenism and Diversity in our Museum Collections
Collecting and exhibiting fashion in Western museums has traditionally centered around wealthy, able-bodied, mainstream, Eurocentric ideals. Likewise, those working with costume collections have often fit this same mold. As we know, this is not representative of the diverse communities and cultures that these museums serve. The panelists spoke about how...Sklar, Monica ; Way, Elizabeth ; Lisby, Darnell-Jamal ; Neill, Susan ; Ripley, Georgina …
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Lecture
Design in Postnormal Times
Design in Postnormal Times is live streamed from the City Observatory on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill, today home to the visual arts organisation, Collective. Alice & Chris will talk for around 45 minutes, we will then invite questions and comments. Please type your questions and / or remarks in the box...Tremlow, Alison ; Breward, Christopher
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Lecture
Chip shops and drain cleaners: the weird world of the Triassic
The Triassic is notorious for some of the strangest vertebrates ever to have lived. Fossil assemblages around the world exhibit incredibly different types of fauna both in the terrestrial and marine realms. What brought about this remarkable diversity and why is it particularly relevant to our understanding of today’s terrestrial...Fraser, Nicholas C
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Conference paper (unpublished)
The Storrar Coverlet: uncovering a story of Baltic trade
This beautiful double-weave coverlet, dated 1729, was recently acquired by National Museums Scotland from the collection of a family from Fife in the east of Scotland. In the family’s possession for generations, the coverlet has been passed down, tradition has it, from mother to daughter. The double-weave technique was used...Wyld, Helen
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Uncovering objects: the importance of context for the textiles of Tyninghame House, Scotland, circa 1700-1800
In 1977 the Earl of Haddington approached museums in Edinburgh, Scotland, with an offer of textiles and dress stored at Tyninghame House, East Lothian, south of the city. After consultation, the resulting sale saw a large collection of pieces split between the Royal Scottish Museum and the Museum of Antiquities....Taylor, Emily
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Lecture
Neolithic Scotland: changing perceptions, new approaches, plethora of data, and contested narratives
Our narrative of the past has been, and continues to be, the subject of intense debate, not least in regard to when, how and why the novel way of life appeared and became established in Scotland, and what happened to Scotland’s hunter-fisher-forager communities. This first lecture reviews our understanding, and...Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
The big picture and regional narratives
Understanding what happened across the Scottish landscape between c.4,000-2,500 BC requires us to adopt multiple scales of enquiry, from the international to the local. This lecture explores the main developments and highlights the diversity in the regional trajectories of social and economic change by focusing on two contrasting and often...Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
An everyday story of country folk?
What was the nature of the farming way of life, and how did it vary over time and space? How well do we understand the range of resources that were being used and the changing environment in which people lived their lives? How did society operate, and where did people...Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
Making sense of funerary monuments and funerary practices
Megalithic chamber tombs – of widely varying shape and size – loom large in the visible traces of Scotland’s Neolithic, but they formed just one element in a diverse range of practices concerned with dealing with, relating to, and commemorating the dead. This lecture explores this diversity and draws out...Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
Not just a load of old balls: Late Neolithic developments and the creation of a new world order in Orkney
The remarkable complex of large structures at Ness of Brodgar in Orkney has justly attracted worldwide attention, and has led to some contentious claims on popular TV programmes. This lecture investigates the emergence of the competitive, adventurous, innovative elite in Orkney who were responsible for building Ness of Brodgar and...Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
All change around 2500/2400 BC? The end of the ‘Scottish Neolithic’, and the future of Scottish Neolithic studies
The ‘boom’ period in Late Neolithic Orkney seems to have come to a fairly dramatic end, although the timing and tempo of this collapse continue to be debated. From the 25th century BC, signs of new people, new objects and new practices appeared in parts of Scotland from the Continent,...Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
An Egyptian Luxury in Roman Scotland
Discover how research and collecting at National Museums Scotland is reshaping understandings of Scotland's past as we take a closer look at a very special Roman object with surprising Egyptian origins.Hughes, Bettany ; Hunter, Fraser ; Potter, Dan
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Lecture
Collecting Covid-19 part 2: Exploring the methodological approaches and practices to collecting objects and how they changed in 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic continues, but it wasn’t the only event of 2020 that has impacted and shaped our view of the world as movements like Black Lives Matter gained traction and statues of slave owners were toppled. Over two seminars we will look at the ways museums have been recording...Miles, Ellie ; West, Rosamund Lily ; Laurenson, Sarah ; Goggins, Sophie
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Lecture
Dr Fraser Hunter: War and Diplomacy on Rome's Northern Frontier
The story of Roman Scotland often gets told from the Roman point of view, with a focus on the army and its actions. But the legions did not simply march into an empty landscape. The Iron Age peoples of Scotland reacted to this invasion in many different ways, from outright...Hunter, Fraser
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Lecture
The Galloway Hoard: Dr Martin Goldberg in conversation with Michael Hirst
Curator Dr Martin Goldberg joins Vikings writer and producer Michael Hirst to delve into the mysteries of the incredible Galloway Hoard.Goldberg, D Martin ; Hirst, Michael
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Lecture
Edinburgh to Hawai’i – the short astronomical career of John Walter Nichol
Talk by Dr Rebekah Higgitt, Historian of science, Principal Curator of Science, National Museums Scotland “The name John Walter Nichol enters the history of astronomy for his participation as an observer in one of the British expeditions to observe the transit of Venus in 1874. He was said to have...Higgitt, Rebekah
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Lecture
An evening with Mary Queen of Scots
History Scotland welcomed Dr Anna Groundwater for a special event focusing on Mary Queen of Scots treasures at National Museum of Scotland. Read on for a link to the video, plus Dr Groundwater's suggestions for further reading and study. On 8 December, the evening of Mary Queen of Scots' birthday,...Groundwater, Anna
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Lecture
Archie Brennan, Tapestry Goes Pop!
Join Lisa Mason, National Museums Scotland’s Assistant Curator in Modern and Contemporary Fashion and Textiles, and Kate Grenyer, Exhibitions Curator at Dovecot Studios, for a behind the scenes look at Dovecot’s upcoming exhibition co-curated by National Museums Scotland, Archie Brennan: Tapestry Goes Pop! Enjoy an exclusive preview into the world...Mason, Lisa ; Grenyer, Kate
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Lecture
David Stewart of Garth, Scott’s “Highlander of the Old Stamp”
Stuart’s title features David Stewart of Garth as Scott’s ‘Highlander of the Old Stamp’, which I believe is a quotation from a letter of Scott’s to J. G. Lockhart of 14 July 1828. The name rings a particularly sharp bell for me personally, since later that year Stewart, on the...Allan, Stuart
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Presentation
From recreation to inspiration: Glenmorangie craft commissons at National Museums Scotland 2008-2020
Organic items rarely survive and the evidence for these lost objects is often secondary from metal fittings or artistic depictions. To understand how these objects would have been experienced and the skills used to make them, the Glenmorangie Research Project has commissioned artists to recreate Early Medieval artefacts that rarely...Maldonado, Adrián
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Investigating textiles in metal corrosion products of the Galloway Hoard, c. AD 700-900
Harris, Susanna ; Davis, Mary
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Lecture
Insectageddon: is global insect extinction real?
News headlines in recent years have proclaimed that over 40% of all insect species are in decline, and many approach extinction. But are these numbers correct? Is the reality better, or even much worse, than we think? Entomologist, broadcaster, and author Professor Adam Hart leads a panel debate of international...Hart, Adam ; Isaac, Nick ; Whiffin, Ashleigh ; Saunders, Manu
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Lecture
CryoArks: Animal biobanking for research and conservation
Join curator Andrew Kitchener and conservation geneticists Gill Murray-Dickson and Helen Senn to discuss how museums and zoos are coming together to share their research and help conserve endangered species around the world.Kitchener, Andrew C ; Murray-Dickson, Gill ; Senn, Helen
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Giants and dwarfs at the Ordnance Office in the Tower of London
Higgitt, Rebekah
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Lecture
The Viking Age in the Borders: an archaeology of the 9-11th centuries
A recent reconsideration of old and new finds in the collections of National Museums Scotland has revealed an important seam of evidence for the Viking Age (9-11th centuries) from the Scottish borderlands. The Tweed may seem a world away from the boat burials of the Northern and Western Isles, but...Maldonado , Adrián
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Lecture
Rediscovering Viking-age Scotland with Michael Wood
Acclaimed historian and broadcaster Michael Wood joins Dr Adrián Maldonado, Glenmorangie Research Fellow, to discuss Adrián’s new book, Crucible of Nations: Viking Age to Medieval Scotland. The book reassesses the museum’s 9—12th century collections, uncovering an exciting new vision of Scotland’s diverse and creative past. Join Adrián and Michael as...Wood, Michael ; Maldonado , Adrián
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Lecture
What’s Next for Period Drama?
This virtual conference will take place on 9th July 2021 and is organised by Anthony Delaney (History, University of Exeter) and Dr Madeleine Pelling (Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies, University of York). Hosted via Zoom, the day will bring together academics, journalists and professionals from the TV industry to ask ‘What’s...Montgomery, Grant ; Waine, Rosie
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Royal Jewels and Relics in the National Collections panel: Renaissance Jewels, a Scottish style?
McGill, Lyndsay
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Our friends in the north: Stanwick, Traprain Law, and the encroaching Roman world
Over his career, Colin has worked on and around two of the major Iron Age centres of central Britain – Stanwick in North Yorkshire and Traprain Law in East Lothian. Both are unusual within their regional contexts in scale, activities, and their extensive contacts with the Roman world. In comparing...Hunter, Fraser
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Lecture
The Minch torc and its place in Bronze Age Britain and Ireland
In 1991, fishermen pulled up a Bronze Age gold torc while dredging for scallops in the Minch, off the Shiant Isles in the Hebrides. Matt Knight, Senior Curator of Prehistory at National Museums Scotland, explores the significance of the Minch torc and sets it in the wider context of other...Knight, Matthew
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Feasting with Latinus: Whithorn as the seat of a Late Antique regulus
The excavations led by the late Peter Hill at Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway are widely understood as revealing one of the earliest monasteries in Britain. While the early Christian site is undoubtedly significant, new analysis and dating evidence is forcing a rethink of the earliest phases of the sequence. A...Maldonado, Adrián
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Lecture
National Museums Scotland Roundtable: “Images of the Buddha: Collecting Histories and the Displays of Buddhist Material in Public Museums”
Research into the nature and the building of public and private collections has been an area of study for scholars and museum professionals for several decades. More recently, the collecting of objects from non-European and indigenous cultures in the context of national imperial histories has come to the front of...Martin, Emma ; Voigt, Friederike ; De Raat, Marjolein ; Cheung, Karwin
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Collecting and displaying Buddhist objects from South Asia at National Museums Scotland
he multidisciplinary displays at Scotland’s national museum in Chambers Street feature a substantial number of Buddhist objects, and particularly, small and larger-scale images of the Buddha. Although in different thematic galleries, they are primarily presented as objects of art with a religious connotation, an interpretative approach that was established in...Voigt, Friederike
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Taking the Buddha out of Buddhism: provenance of two Japanese Buddhist statues
National Museums Scotland have two large Buddhist sculptures in their collections: a statue of Amida Buddha that is on display in the Grand Gallery, and a statue of Sho-Kannon in the East Asia Gallery. Provenance research on these statues has shown that both were imported into the UK at the...De Raat, Marjolein
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Yellow flag with dragon patterns – a Buddhist object with imperial associations in the National Museum of Scotland
Yuanmingyuan, also known as the Old Summer Palace, is infamous for its destruction by Anglo-French military forces in 1860. Numerous imperial objects were looted and subsequently dispersed throughout various public, private and royal collections outside China. These imperial Chinese collections had a significant impact on the perception of Chinese art...Cao, Qin
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Lecture
Celebrating Black Fashion
How are progressive changes within the fashion industry being documented through exhibitions and contemporary collecting? Join model and broadcaster Eunice Olumide as she shares her experience of a transforming industry with museum curator Georgina Ripley. Eunice and Georgina will also discuss Eunice’s recent book How To Get Into Fashion, focussing...Olumide , Eunice ; Ripley, Georgina ; Burkinshaw, Mal
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Lecture
The Storrar Coverlet: a double weave tradition in Scotland and Scandinavia
Coverlet in red and yellow wool, woven in a double weave with a geometric design of birds, a chequered band and the date 1729 at each end. Formerly in the possession of the Storrar family of Nether Urquhart, Fife: probably made in Sweden.Wyld, Helen
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Material constructions: making, outré and taste in late 19th century dress
Late nineteenth-century Europe and North America experienced some of the most accelerated wealth gains the modern industrial age has known. Overtly and purposefully expressed through access to and making of material culture, this paper will consider how this wealth and the luxurious transience of fashionable dress expressed the leisure, social...Taylor, Emily
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Lecture
Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton and Hamilton Palace: the awe inspiring demonstration of exalted status of the premier peer of Scotland and some final additions from the Beckford bequest
This year’s Beckford Lecture ‘Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton and Hamilton Palace: the awe inspiring demonstration of exalted status of the premier peer of Scotland and some final additions from the Beckford bequest’ will be given by Dr Godfrey Evans. Dr Evans is Principal Curator of Decorative Arts, National Museums...Evans, Godfrey
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Lecture
Post-Palissian Ceramics: moving beyond the master
French lead-glazed moulded ceramics are present in many museum collections today but their dating and attribution is often uncertain. This talk will use the collections of the British Museum and National Museums Scotland as its starting point, to summarise past scholarship and to look to the future for these objects....Blakey, Claire ; King, Rachel
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Lecture
The Renaissance Reimagined: Minton, Majolica and Maiolica
From about 1850 the Renaissance Revival inspired the design of both architecture and the decorative arts in Britain, prompting Minton & Co. to bring the arts of the period to the Staffordshire potteries. The lecture will focus on a subgroup of revivalist ware inspired by Italian Renaissance maiolica through the...Blakey, Claire
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Conference paper (unpublished)
IGCP 735 (2021-2025): rocks and the rise of Ordovician life: filling knowledge gaps in the Early Palaeozoic biodiversification (Rocks n'ROL)
Deciphering the complex interactions between climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem structuration is a major societal issue for future generations. The geological record offers the unique opportunity to document the impact of environmental changes in the biosphere in the past, and thus to provide some clues for the future. In this...Lefebvre, Bertrand ; Candela, Yves ; Hariri , Khadija ; Ghobadi Pour , Mansoureh ; Raevskaya, Elena …
stratigraphy , biodiversity, IGCP project , palaeobiogeography, Ordovician , and databases
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Poster (unpublished)
Battling Booklice
Jackson, Joseph ; Jeanne , Robinson ; Whiffin , Ashleigh L