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Still dipping my way through great-great-aunt Annie's Glimpses of Maori Land. Interesting as it is on colonial New Zealand, the truth is of course that I'm more intent on finding biographical material, so my heart races a little when I encounter passages such as this one, describing a Wellington library:
So, her father, Thomas, used to knock off at 4pm? Were those the usual hours of work for nineteenth-century gentlemen? I've a feeling it may be so - some frail memory is whispering as much in my ear. I know he eventually became Assistant Secretary to the BM, but it seems unlikely he would have risen that high when Annie was a young child (he was born in 1809, she in 1841). Still these things are checkable, when I have the time. The idea of a private tour of any museum is of course highly appealing.
It's hard to justify the institution, of course, as James Acaster has pointed out very amusingly. If I were to make an inventory of items to be returned, I would put frankly looted things such as the Benin Bronzes at the top of my list, but no doubt the Parthenon marbles would have to go too.
On the other hand, it's often occurred to me that the space the marbles vacate could be used to house the Bayeaux tapestry - a work central to English history, made in England by Englishwomen - but still held by the former colonial power. What about a campaign to get that back?
So, her father, Thomas, used to knock off at 4pm? Were those the usual hours of work for nineteenth-century gentlemen? I've a feeling it may be so - some frail memory is whispering as much in my ear. I know he eventually became Assistant Secretary to the BM, but it seems unlikely he would have risen that high when Annie was a young child (he was born in 1809, she in 1841). Still these things are checkable, when I have the time. The idea of a private tour of any museum is of course highly appealing.
It's hard to justify the institution, of course, as James Acaster has pointed out very amusingly. If I were to make an inventory of items to be returned, I would put frankly looted things such as the Benin Bronzes at the top of my list, but no doubt the Parthenon marbles would have to go too.
On the other hand, it's often occurred to me that the space the marbles vacate could be used to house the Bayeaux tapestry - a work central to English history, made in England by Englishwomen - but still held by the former colonial power. What about a campaign to get that back?