Postgraduate research students

The collection of Andrew Henderson Bishop (1874 - 1957) accounts for about 22,000 mainly prehistoric objects from Scotland, rest of Britain and Continental Europe with some artefacts from Oceania, Asia, and the Americas donated to the Archaeology Collection of the Hunterian Museum in 1914 and 1951.

This project unpacks and reinvigorates the AH Bishop collection at the Hunterian Museum through object itinerary theory and carries out research on the objects within the collection, on Bishop as a collector, on his network of accumulation to answer the following research questions:

1. What information types can be retrieved about the social and material nature of the AH Bishop collection using itinerary analysis?
2. How does the collection composition reflect collector and collecting practices, biases and archaeological realities in comparison with other late-19th and early-20th century personal and institutional collecting practices?
3. In what ways can a theoretical itinerary analysis serve not only as methodology to understand historical and spatial movements but promote ethical responsibilities for understanding (museum) collections and their modern relevance?

By doing so, the project explores Bishop’s personal collecting practices, the late 19th and early 20th century Scottish (British) collector networks and practices, the historical development of Scottish archaeology as well the collection’s significance in the institutional history of the Hunterian Museum and the University of Glasgow. Moreover, by conducting research on Bishop as a defining example of the Victorian-Edwardian collector in Scotland and his networks of accumulation the project can serve as a new model for understanding archaeological collecting practices in that period and will establish Bishop’s role in the development of Scottish archaeology amongst his better-known contemporaries and collaborators such as J. Graham Callander, Mungo Buchanan and Ludovic MacLellan Mann.

Research interests: archaeological theory, material culture, object itineraries, collections research

• Dr Nyree Finlay
• Dr Andrew Mills

University of Glasgow College of Arts Research Support Awards (2023)

The Annie Dunlop Endowment (2023)

Dr Dahlia Porter, Dr Lola Sanchez-Jauregui, Wu Yunong, & Arianna Magyaricsová, ‘Spring into Methods: Working with Objects’ Workshop, SGSAH, Glasgow, 23-24 May 2023.

Arianna Magyaricsová, ‘The Inchtuthil Nails in Motion’ Talk, Collections Lab Showcase, Glasgow, 9 December 2022.

Qualifications:

Archaeology MA, University of Glasgow, Grade 1:1, Dissertation title: ‘The Inchtuthil Nails in Motion: Object Itineraries in Theory and Practice’ 

Affiliations:

Fellow, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland