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Marcus Waithe has carried out research that has resulted in a web-based `reconstruction' of the St George's Museum, a gallery and library for artisans founded in Sheffield in 1875 by the art and social critic, John Ruskin. Impact can be demonstrated in four areas:
The history of exploration is central to public understanding of the purpose and making of geographical knowledge. It is often imagined as the work of exceptional individuals in extraordinary circumstances. Popular portrayals of exploration have long been cast as heroic individual dramas, in which the explorer is the central character. Historical geography research at Royal Holloway has challenged this way of thinking. It has emphasised exploration's wider cultural, economic and social significance, showing it to be a fundamentally collective experience, and making visible the vital roles played by local people and intermediaries. It has demonstrated too how the collections of major UK scientific societies and museums are shaped by and can communicate these histories of exploration. The key impacts of the research are therefore on: (1) the cultural understanding of geography and exploration, especially through public exhibitions and their secondary reach; (2) the development of heritage collections strategy in major institutions, notably at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (hereafter RGS-IBG).
The Conservatoire Collection is a commercially distributed software library of ten fully workable sampler instruments for digital audio workstations (DAWs), based on instruments from the Conservatoire's Historical Instrument Collection. The software library was developed and implemented through collaborative research between specialists in historical organology, historical performance practice and music technology, in further collaboration with the commercial partner Soniccouture. This package has been successfully adopted by composers, producers and musical artists across a wide spectrum of the music industry as a highly innovative means of incorporating a range of historical musical instrumental sounds within a digital environment, to the highest professional standards.
The History Department at York has a long-standing commitment (embodied in the work of James Walvin, Simon Smith, Douglas Hamilton, Henrice Altink and Geoff Cubitt) to path-breaking research into the history and memory of transatlantic slavery. Our researchers have worked closely with museums and educational practitioners to establish a `virtuous circle' in which research: (i) influences the content of heritage and educational presentations; (ii) reflects on those presentations, gauging public response and prompting stakeholder debate; (iii) provides constructive feedback to museums and others. This impact case study shows how research by members of the Department has contributed to each stage of this process. Professor James Walvin's research publications from 1993 until his retirement in 2005 revealed how slavery has shaped the nature of contemporary British society, a body of work that significantly contributed to the slave trade's inclusion in the National Curriculum in 2008. In addition to his on-going record as an exhibition curator, historical advisor and commentator on slavery, he advised and helped create the York AHRC-funded `1807 Commemorated' project (2007-9), principle investigator Laurajane Smith (Archaeology) and co-investigator Geoff Cubitt; Data Management Group Walvin. This project helped heritage professionals and other stakeholders understand and analyse the extensive museum activity on slavery generated by the 2007 Bicentenary of the Act Abolishing the Slave Trade, and led to innovations in museum practice and new collaborative relationships within the sector.
Beyond Macbeth: Shakespeare Collections in Scotland, an AHRC-funded research project into Scottish receptions of Shakespeare, culminated in a major exhibition at the National Library of Scotland (NLS) in 2011. The project contributed to economic prosperity, education, and cultural life. It brought direct financial benefits to the NLS, in the form of £88k to mount the exhibition and media coverage with an advertising-value equivalent to £19k. The exhibition received over 26k visitors, a 30% increase on the previous winter exhibition. The project also shaped the way in which the NLS presents important elements of the cultural heritage in its custody, and influenced the development of its learning activities and online learning resources for UK schools. Visitors were led to examine their assumptions about Shakespeare, the history of his reception, and his significance for Scotland, and the exhibition was cited in the Scottish Parliament as an example of how the NLS meets its remit.
Research led by Paul Basu at UCL has explored cultural heritage in post-conflict development in Sierra Leone. The 2009-12 Reanimating Cultural Heritage project (RCH) has engaged in a sustained programme of outreach, advocacy, and capacity building in Sierra Leone's cultural and educational sectors. With partners in the UK and Sierra Leone, it has developed an innovative digital resource connecting diasporas of museum objects, images and sounds with diasporas of people, and provides new access to collections. RCH has contributed to the reanimation of Sierra Leone's National Museum and has mobilised cultural heritage as a wider social resource.
Research on the significance of prehistoric clay figures of human beings (the first self-conscious expressions of human identity) was presented to the public, through two major exhibitions with associated programming attracting over 200,000 visitors, generating an estimated £5 million of economic activity. The Power of Dogu (British Museum, 10.09.09 - 22.11.09: over 78,000 visitors; Tokyo National Museum, 15.2.09 - 21.02.10: around 120,000 visitors) was followed by Unearthed (UEA, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, 22.06.10 - 29.08.10). The project attracted funding from AHRC (£282,000) the Mitsubishi Corporation (£100,000), Japan Foundation (£15,000); Hitachi funded a new online resource in English about Japanese archaeology (£120,000).