Powis Castle: The Clive Collection re-examined
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Archaeology
Abstract
The forthcoming 75th anniversary of the Partition of India in 2022 has presented a much-needed opportunity to focus on Powis Castle's Clive Collection, carry out new research to better understand its origins and meanings historically and in the present, to open up its untold stories and to building new partnerships with global stakeholders to support its future display and care.
By examining the broad theme of Legacies of Colonialism, we will seek to link Powis' stories with those of other NT places with related histories, such as Kedleston, Osterley and Basildon. as well as building on existing partnerships with the V&A (which holds a substantial south Asian collection), Birmingham and Leicester Universities and the National Library of Wales, (which holds the Clive archive), and to seek new relationships both at home and beyond our shores.
Most importantly, the project seeks to set the Clive Collection on a new path to find its place in the context of international collections long-term, to use it as a portal to conversations with its source communities, as well as the diaspora of cultural objects displaced from their places of origin by colonial activity and conflict.
By examining the broad theme of Legacies of Colonialism, we will seek to link Powis' stories with those of other NT places with related histories, such as Kedleston, Osterley and Basildon. as well as building on existing partnerships with the V&A (which holds a substantial south Asian collection), Birmingham and Leicester Universities and the National Library of Wales, (which holds the Clive archive), and to seek new relationships both at home and beyond our shores.
Most importantly, the project seeks to set the Clive Collection on a new path to find its place in the context of international collections long-term, to use it as a portal to conversations with its source communities, as well as the diaspora of cultural objects displaced from their places of origin by colonial activity and conflict.
