Anne Nielsen

I am a museum curator and researcher with a specialism in provenance research, collecting histories and documentation practices. I am currently a doctoral researcher (Techne AHRC funded) based between University of Brighton and the British Museum (partner organisation). I am skilled in conducting complex, large scale archival research in museum settings and have comprehensive work experience in the museum sector, ranging from local and regional museums to a national institution. I have handled a wide variety of collections including world cultures collections, social history objects, textiles, photography collections, and historical plaster casts.

I have been involved in three museum storage moves projects over the course of my career. In my previous role as a Project Curator at the British Museum, I led two major research and documentation work packages on the Blythe House Decant Project, a significant moves project. I was responsible for due diligence and provenance research of unaccessioned and poorly documented objects. Replicas and duplicates emerged as intellectual and practical challenges in this work, igniting my passion for undertaking a PhD on the latter.

I was a co-leader for the British Museum's Research Group Collecting Histories and Museums and am currently a co-leader for the Museums, Exhibitions and Archives research strand of the Centre for Design History. My research practice is interdisciplinary with an academic foundation in anthropology, museum studies and visual culture. I am also a polyglot thanks to my multicultural upbringing (Danish citizen born in Luxembourg).

My doctoral research project examines duplicates, disposal and dispersal in museums.

It is commonly assumed that objects entering a museum become part of its permanent collection, forever unique, irreplaceable and accessioned. Yet the widespread accumulation of ‘duplicates’ or ‘reserves’ by museums across the world throughout their history challenges this assumption. In the 1880s, for example, the British Museum (BM) compiled a list of over 900 so-called duplicates in its collections. Recent research has uncovered many more objects described as such since the mid-nineteenth century. In principle and in practice, these objects were available for exchange with other museums and disposed of in other ways. What does this mean for the status of museums as custodians of permanent collections? How can the study of duplicates over time shape our understanding of museum practice today?

Emerging research on dispersal and exchanges focuses on singular case studies of individual collections. We lack a holistic examination through a wider lens spanning periods and collections to identify larger trends and practices. This type of research requires a relational, historical institution with extensive and interdisciplinary collections to provide a productive basis for comparative analysis. As a national institution at empire’s heart, the BM was enmeshed in the flow of objects between museums across the country and the world. An investigation of the role of duplicates in the BM enables tracing of shifting attitudes and perceptions in British and European
museums.

Research questions:

• What is a ‘duplicate’? How has the definition changed?
• How does the existence of a duplicates ‘economy’ change our understanding of the BM's collecting history and
  wider 19th-21st century museum practices?
• What role did duplicates play in establishing and maintaining institutional and colonial networks?
• How can an analysis of historical duplicate practices inform contemporary debates surrounding restitution and
  disposal?