Re-evaluating the Status of Prints at the British Library

The focus of this project is on identifying and researching the provenance, changing status and visibility of about 500 books of prints in the British Library. These were listed in an 1812 finding list written by then British Museum Keeper of Prints, William Alexander. The list was later marked up by his successor, J. T. Smith, when about 90% of the books were returned to the Library, where they remain. The recent discovery and sharing of this document has led to a rethinking of the history of the collection, overturning the previous broad assumption that all the prints considered of 'artistic' merit were transferred permanently to the new British Museum Print Room in 1808.
The project will investigate the implications of these works' categorisation, cataloguing and placing at the Museum, the Library and beyond. While based around a quantitative methodology which will involve a deep dive into the collection, it will explore larger questions around the role of visual materials in collecting history and scholarship, the emergence of expertise, disciplinary norms and museological frameworks in the nineteenth century, and the relative status of visual and textual knowledge.