"To no one Nation has been given the Monopoly of Genius" : Multiple Nationalisms at the National Museum of Scotland, a Director’s View

In 1857, George Wilson, Regius Professor of Science and Technology at the University of Edinburgh,laid out a vision for a new museum under his directorship, the Industrial Museum (today the National Museum) of Scotland.Though formed in the context of Britain’s imperial ambitions, the institution Wilson envisaged also seemed to speak against them, in a double bind that perhaps expresses Scotland’s unique place in the complex history of colonialism and culture:

The Museum which I have been commending to you, is not a Museum of Scottish history, but a Museum of the world in relation to Scotland. It cannot be less than this [...]. There is not a single invention or discovery [...] which we as a people can claim more than the lion’s share; and seeing that in our veins runs the mingled blood of I know not how many unlike races, it would be very strange if it were otherwise. To no one nation has been given the monopoly of genius, constructive skill or practical sagacity.2