Monthly Archives: July 2021

Public History Project: First Marquis, Charles Cornwallis

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In our undergraduate second year module Public History Project, we were given the exciting opportunity to work with the Kresen Kernow archive of Cornwall to complete a project which helped us to develop our understanding of historical events and diversified our skills as historians. Our task was to transcribe fifty letters from the archive’s collection on First Marquis, Charles Cornwallis, from his time as the Governor General of India in the late eighteenth century. The project taught us both practical skills through our analysis of Cornwallis’ letters to his son, Charles Brome, and a better understanding of what contributes, affects and moulds Public History itself.

The core goal of the project was to transcribe and digitise Kresen Kernow’s physical documents. Through this, we learnt much about the key role that digitisation plays in preserving history. Digitalisation allows for sources to survive tests of time because digital documents are not affected by decomposition or fading and do not require the same scale of physical infrastructure for preservation. Even though digital documents do not give the same feeling of ‘connecting with the past’ that original sources do, by preserving their content, accuracy as well as reliability of historical memory can be ensured. The digitalisation of physical sources also increases their accessibility; in a society which relies more heavily upon the internet, having these documents present online allows for wider audience engagement to utilise Kresen Kernow’s collections. What is particularly admirable is that there is no paywall to limit access to their information so anyone can access Cornish history.

However, we soon identified a limitation to the practice of digitalisation in the amount of information that was being produced and the inability to select or edit this in fear of losing a record that could be of significance. We later discerned that the issue of profusion may eventually arise in regard to capacity but, as digitised documents require less upkeep than physical sources, they provide a less costly option for a field already struggling for funding. Profusion, even though it can become a contention when capacity is full, is a key way of identifying the diversity of documents as well as their individual importance which is not always evident on first appearance. Either for genealogical research, investigating Cornwallis as a military figure or identifying narratives that impacted eighteenth century India, digitalisation has shown us a progression within Public History bodies which is vital for the preservation of our past.

An element of the project which lingered throughout was Charles Cornwallis as an agent of colonialism. Cornwallis had been employed as Governor General of India and worked within the East India Trading Company, who at that time were assuming control over India and subjugating Indian resistance forces. Cornwallis led the campaign against Tipu Sultan, an accomplished Indian general, in the Third Anglo-Mysore War and described the Sultan to his son as a “restless and ambitious Tyrant”. Colonialism’s effects are tangible within global society today, recently seen in Britain when protestors in Bristol tore down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston. As historians, we believe that digitising Cornwallis’ personal letters can be of value to historical discourse for they provide rare insight into the perspective of one of Britain’s most prolific agents of colonialism. However, engaging with such sensitive material required us to remain impartial within our research and transcriptions, which, despite some concerns, will ultimately aid us in our understanding and study of history.

Throughout the process we developed transferrable skills which will aid us in both historical studies and the world beyond. Alongside skills in digitisation, the project compelled us to utilise research techniques with which we were either unfamiliar or unskilled. For example, we used family trees to develop our understanding of the Cornwallis’ family and its influence within British society, which was a first for us. The most important, and transferrable, skill the project taught us was how to collaborate remotely on projects by using the internet and technology. As the project took place during the COVID-19 pandemic we were unable to meet our sponsor or interact with the documents first hand, yet through the use of online meetings and scans of Cornwallis’ letters we were able to complete the project without much difficulty. In a world that is increasingly dependent upon the online sphere it was reassuring that practising history can survive and flourish digitally.

History, not just with a public oriented focus, is in an extremely exciting position to expand into digital spaces. This project, thanks to Kresen Kernow and the University of Exeter, has helped us develop our skills as historians in a first-hand manner. For those of you with an interest in Cornish history, we greatly recommend exploring the archives.

By Alice Lentern and Nick Watts

In the age of virtual heritage, do museums still need objects?

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As the coronavirus crisis wages on in the UK and around the world, museums, like many organisations, have found themselves forced to navigate this new reality. In particular, how to operate when physicality – interacting with original objects – remains at the heart of their endeavours. During the nationwide lockdown period especially, we witnessed how almost overnight, the material foundations of heritage were temporarily supplanted by online and virtual alternatives.

The changes in access brought on by the pandemic has only reignited tensions surrounding a shift away from objects within museums – a topic of current contention within heritage studies. Fears centre around the notion that museums are becoming more about the information they can provide, rather than their objects on display. With an increasing focus on digitisation, these anxieties have only inflated further – and to surprisingly existential proportions.

Indeed, current scholarship has perpetuated a narrative in which the “virtual” represents a threat to traditional heritage principles. In part fuelled by a desire to defend the object, detractorspropagate an almost dystopian-like future. A vision in which the digital “terrorist” will gradually and surreptitiously tear down the museum as a sanctuary for the authentic, the real and true. In this portrayal, virtual applications are reduced to nothing more than data-driven information dumps lacking the cultural essence of the objects they claim to emulate.

For my UG History Dissertation this research, this premise, elevated by the current climate, provided ample opportunity to explore this fractured relationship between the object and the virtual. The emergence of “virtual heritage” – a new field which emphasises the emotive, multi-sensory application of the digital, such as virtual reality –disrupts the leading narrative of hostility. Through this lens, the study set out to uncover a more comprehensive appraisal of the use of virtual heritage tools within museums.

Explorations of four virtual heritage experiences showed their potential to restore access to lost and inaccessible places. The wAVE Project’s plans to digitally restore an old harbour near St Agnes Museum, for example, holds purpose in injecting new life into what is “now no more than rubble on St Agnes beach.” The possibilities for immersion and interactivity within virtual spaces also offer unique opportunities to foster greater levels of engagement among visitors, not to mention affording them more agency and control as they participate more directly with these experiences.

Although, as a deeper dive into these experiences revealed, these prospects are not without their own caveats. The ambitions to extend cultural access can create more barriers to entry related to space; cost; malfunctions and technical proficiency. Meanwhile, the drive to promote visitor participation through the virtual realm also presents ethical considerations – such as whether it is appropriate to ask users to assume an active role in difficult histories – which has led to a reluctance to explore these interactive possibilities in practice.

Each of these factors, shadowed by underlying sacrifices, paint a complex picture for virtual heritage – certainly more so than its current portrayal as a threat. When the object is brought back into the conversation, this only provides further complications. Studies showing that digital engagement actually increases demand to access physical objects seem to dispel the myth of the virtual poised to usurp the real; clearly there is potential for both forms to unite in their shared endeavours.

Yet, among materialists, the continued demonisation of the digital dismisses any reasonable chances of this union at present. Some remain so caught up in guarding the object that they fail to see the double standards of their fears. For instance, many are quick to question the digital on grounds of authenticity but overlook how museum objects go through their own process of recontextualisation in their new role when placed on display.

Evidence of clouded judgments such as here suggests the more immediate implications of virtual heritage. It has further unearthed the deeply rooted materialist predilections present within museums. These principles remain embedded within the largely unproductive disputes over the status of the artefact and, alongside this, they can also contribute to an exclusionary culture of practice.

As a consequence, new or unconventional modes of visitor engagement, such as virtual heritage, seem to be roped into these debates when really, in a more practical view, their proponents would prefer to focus their energies elsewhere. Namely on establishing their field and honing their attempts to enrich museum activities. Indulging in such arguments ultimately detracts from finding out what virtual heritage can offer in its own right. In this new age, during a period of new mindsets and approaches in all walks of life, perhaps now the digital will get its chance.

By Matt Solomons

This post was adapted from Matt’s recently submitted undergraduate dissertation entitled “Do museums still need objects in the age of virtual heritage?”. Access to the full text is available here.

A virtual reality “pod” as part of a Tutankhamun exhibition last year. Could this image soon become the norm?