The Society for the History of Collecting
Diversifying the History of Collecting

We are delighted to announce the second round of events in our 2020/21 series designed to diversify research into the history of collecting. This round will be dedicated to the question of religious artefacts and religious motivations in the history of collecting, a topic of growing scholarly interest and public importance in recent years.  Organised by Tom Stammers (Durham University), Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth (V&A), John Chu (National Trust) and Isobel Macdonald (British Museum).

Tuesday, 16^th February 2021 at 6pm (GMT)
SESSION 2: Collecting the Sacred: Art, Belief and Identity

Roundtable Discussion

Online Event

This roundtable discussion will address the presence of the sacred within public galleries and private collections. Curators and scholars will reflect on histories of collecting religious artefacts from Māori, Jewish, Islamic, Sikh, and African faiths and cultures. They will consider the particular condition of such objects when separated from their original contexts and look at the factors that inform their treatment and future. The panel of speakers includes Christo Kefalas (National Trust), Laura Leibman (Reed College), Emily Hannam (Royal Collection Trust), Davinder Toor (The Toor Collection of Sikh Art) and Chris Wingfield (University of East Anglia).  The discussion will be moderated by Alexandra Green (Curator of Southeast Asia, British Museum).

To register please write to events@societyhistorycollecting.org You will be sent the link to the event closer to the date.