Collaboration is key to learning how African and Caribbean objects ended up in Scotland

Conversations with Scottish sector colleagues about how organisations like National Museums Scotland might best support the work of regional museums frequently focus on the need for curatorial support around international collections.

Museum collections reflect the experiences, motivations and interactions of people and cultures, but information about how international objects entered collections, often centuries ago, can be sparse.

In response, over the past 12 years we have supported a series of national reviews of international collections held in Scottish museums, including Oceania, East Asia and ancient Egypt.

In 2019, a new sector consultation highlighted a desire for a review of African and Caribbean collections, looking at both their provenance and relevance for descendent and diaspora communities today.

Reveal and Connect is a collaborative project, which has seen the recent publication of a national review of African and Caribbean collections in 32 Scottish museum organisations.

This review goes a step further than previous ones by connecting these collections with descendent and diaspora communities.

Funded by Museums Galleries Scotland, the project has been led by National Museums Scotland, Glasgow Life Museums, the Hunterian, University of Glasgow and University of Aberdeen Collections. 

The group has worked in partnership with a steering group representing African and Caribbean museums, diaspora organisations in Scotland, focus groups of African, Caribbean and Scottish heritage and community representatives, as well as a curatorial network group responsible for these collections in Scottish museums. 

“Given the mobility of imperial networks, the movement of Caribbean material cultural items, archives and flora and fauna was unrestricted as they accompanied people who returned to Europe from the region,” says Shani Roper, curator at the University of the West Indies Museum, a member of the steering group.

“As a consequence, it is difficult to identify when Caribbean collections moved, with whom they moved and where they ended up. This project is really the first major step to opening up museum collections so that it is possible to identify where collections are, the countries of origin and potentially who these items travelled with, thus providing opportunities for research as well as the building of networks for museum programming.”

“Projects such as these not only allow the museological fraternity to become aware of objects housed in specific museums, but they also give communities the opportunity to have access to this information through engagement with museums from the places of origin,” adds Annelize Kotze, curator of social history collections at Iziko Museums of South Africa.

“Reveal and Connect presents an occasion for museums to become co-curators with communities about the future and narrative of their objects.” 

Material made in Africa and the Caribbean was identified in museums right across the country, from Dumfries Museum to Shetland Museum and Archives. The review located 23,263 African objects in 32 collections and 1,013 Caribbean objects in 16 collections. 

Formally accessioned from the early 19th century to the present day, and in some cases dating back to museums founded in the late 1600s, these collections inevitably reflect Scotland’s relationship with colonialism, the British Empire and transatlantic slavery.  

By mapping material identified across the country, we can begin to understand how these collections have been shaped by imperial networks.

For example, some collections in central Scotland correspond with recruiting grounds of Scottish military regiments that fought in key imperial campaigns in Africa. 

Reviewing these collections is just the beginning of this work.

For example, Caribbean representatives expressed a desire for the review to include natural science collections, which will now be included in a new phase funded by the John Ellerman Foundation; while Scottish and African museum representatives prioritised developing descendent community consultation and collaborative research methods, identifying a skills gap in smaller museums in Scotland.

This will be addressed in the next phase of the project through a new grant from Museums Galleries Scotland, which, in collaboration with Iziko Museums, will connect collection holders in Scotland with curators and communities in South Africa through scalable remote, digital and in-person methods.  

Reveal and Connect is already deepening our knowledge of how and why African and Caribbean objects crossed continents to end up in museums all over Scotland and the often-difficult but shared histories that these collections reflect.

We hope that the creation of a collaborative network to connect these objects with people and museums in African and Caribbean countries, as well as with diaspora communities in Scotland, will encourage greater access to, understanding of and engagement with, these collections leading to new, more inclusive and impactful storytelling in Scottish museums.

Visit the National Museums Scotland website for more details.