Amgueddfa Cymru (AC) and its Natural Science collections, comprising botanical, zoological and geological specimens, carry within them echoes of the British Empire. Although the Museum itself was not established until the twentieth century, several collections predate its foundation and reflect the collecting practices and erasure of the labour of indigenous and other non-privileged workers characteristic of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century natural history. Some collections came from overseas in the 1920s and 1930s, as part of efforts to gather the material resources of the empire, to understand them, to better exploit them, and display imperial power and wealth. Colonial associations came in many guises. Certain museum officials had direct commercial or personal links to the colonies. Others were indirectly linked through inherited family wealth, acquired via trade with the colonies, which they used to build extensive collections subsequently donated to the Museum.

Individual collectors closely linked to the colonies include George Henry Douglas Pennant (1876-1915) who donated several African trophy heads, and whose inherited wealth derived from Jamaican sugar plantations and exploitation of the enslaved. David Davies (1880-1944), Welsh politician, also gifted African hunting trophies. J. C. Melvill (1845-1929), grandson of the last secretary of the East India Company, and director of a firm of East India and China cotton merchants, collected molluscs and vascular plants. Some collectors were involved during the nascent years of the Museum, as trustees, council members, or patrons. T. W. Proger (1860-1947), museum council member and naturalist, had business interests in the Falkland Islands, and collected there and in other European colonies in the Americas. Proger’s specimens are found across the Natural Science collections.

The Echoes of Empire project will develop a fuller understanding of the colonial histories of Natural Science collections at AC, and use participatory heritage practices to engage with and interpret those difficult legacies. The key research questions are:

• How did individuals associated with British colonies shape the early development of AC and its Natural Science collections?
• What evidence of these entanglements remains in the collections and associated documentation?
• How can Community Action Research methods develop new perspectives on these ‘echoes of empire’, which can be reflected in collections documentation and interpretation?
• Can Natural Science collections help diasporic or migrant communities and refugees (DMCRs), recognise and safeguard their Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)?
• Can new and strengthened partnerships with museums in former colonies contribute to a deeper understanding of the cultural significance of specimens held by AC, provide new insights into collecting practices, and promote collaborative curatorial projects?
• Can this engagement with DMCRs and source communities make the Museum more attractive to, and inclusive of, diverse audiences, and inform wider practice and policy?

The student will play an active part in shaping the project in terms of their disciplinary or trans-disciplinary perspectives, materials and historical themes within the collection, and geographic and temporal range.

Funding

Covers full tuition, £21,805 stipend (2026/27), plus up to £750 yearly for research costs.