An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr Mark Rhodes (American Philosophical Society Fellow, 2025-26)
Writing the Nation: Literary Geographies of National Museums Scotland Publications
Museums mediate national identity, but what of their published materials? Aimed across the curator, tourist, educator, and collector, the bound materials published by National Museums Scotland’s various publishing offices offer a unique glimpse into both Scottish nation-building and the museological bureacracy of the past two centuries of Scotland. This Work-in-Progress highlights the results thusfar of intensive archival research into 800 books published by National Museums Scotland and its predecessors. I also tug upon five emerging threads to illustrate some initial findings and many developing questions unraveling within this national literature: the role of dedications, cartography, tourism, industrial heritage, and national identity. In the past year National Museums Scotland has shuttered the remains of their publishing department. The wake left behind by this once global leader in the industry offers a lens into absences and presenses of National Museums Scotland's impacts upon the the past, present, and future of Scotland.
Please join in-person, or click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81113670095
Passcode: 38bakW8E