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One of the key aims of the Polynesian Visual Arts project
was to survey museum collections in the UK, to establish the extent and
nature of these early Polynesian collections, and to compile a dossier of
information about them which can serve as a source for research on
perspectives, histories and meanings of Polynesian objects. This has now
been completed and the results are being written up.
Objectives and products
Dossier
The project aimed is to publish collection-level
descriptions, based on information which was gathered by project staff about
museum collections, both remotely, and on museum visits. Each description is
essentially a report on information learnt from the curator(s) at each
museum, and on information gathered by looking at documentation,
publications and objects. The descriptions have been written with the approval
of the curator(s) at the museums. These ‘reports’ or ‘collection-level’
descriptions have been published on the Polynesian Visual Arts project
website, and / or in separate publications, such as journals or the museums’
own forums, with the full approval of the museums’ curator(s) at every
stage.
Database
There is an electronic database in which these
collection-level descriptions have been pasted. The database will also evolve
as a way of recording information about individual objects which have been
seen by members of the Polynesian project while on museum visits. It should
be noted that the database:
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will not be
comprehensive, but will act as a tool to record information about objects,
collectors and museums which is gathered during museum visits and surveys
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will act as
a tool for recording images taken by the project team of objects while on
museum visits. Images taken by the Polynesia project staff while on museum
visits will be sent to the museums
Any future proposals to make the information in the
database publicly accessible will be fully negotiated with the museums whose
information is held on the database.
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Scope
Geographical scope
The project and its survey of collections places main
emphasis on objects and groups of objects that have come from central and
western Polynesian islands (Society Islands, including Tahiti; Austral
Islands; Cook Islands; Marquesas Islands; Tuamotu Islands; Tokelau; Tonga;
Samoa; Niue; Futuna; Uvea; Fiji). Objects from Hawaii, Easter Island and New
Zealand are also of interest, especially if they have important or unusual
histories, meanings or associated collectors.
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Temporal scope
Objects which were made in or collected from Polynesia in
the period 1760-1850 formed the focus of the Polynesia project and its
survey of collections. Work focussed on objects which are known, or
estimated, to have been made or collected during this period. This can be
estimated by asking the curators, examining the objects, and also by looking
at the museum records and learning about the collectors or previous owners
of the objects. Indeed, these collectors may be worthy of study in
themselves, effectively expanding the temporal scope to periods beyond 1850
(as collectors often owned, exchanged and sold objects many decades and
centuries after their collection).
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Museums to be surveyed
Museums in the UK formed the focus of the Polynesian
project survey. Museums which have been listed in previous surveys such as Gathercole and Clarke (1979) or Kwasnik
(1994) as containing Polynesian collections were contacted for more
detailed information about their collections. Some of these may be of
particular interest to the Polynesian project team and some of the museums
were invited to become more involved in the
project, by allowing a member of the team to survey the collections, or
perhaps to lend an object / some objects for the project’s major
exhibition. Some other European museums
will be surveyed insofar as time allows.
References
Gathercole, Peter, and Clarke, Alison. 1979. Survey of
Oceanic collections in museums in the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic. UNESCO, 1979.
Kwasnik, Elizabeth (ed.). 1994. A wider world
:collections of foreign ethnography in Scotland. Edinburgh: National
Museums of Scotland in association with Scottish Museums Council, 1994.
Starkey, Janet C. M. 1998. Myths and Mirrors: a report
on ethnographic collections in the north east of England. North East
Museums
Pole, Len. 2000. World connections: world cultures
collections in the south west of England. Taunton: South West Museums
Council
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Progress
We have had many surveys returned and we do appreciate
the time and effort that has gone into these.
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