Lunchtime Lectures: Provenance research: understanding how objects have come to be in the V&A's collections

Since 1852, objects have come into the V&A’s collection in many different ways, and via a wide range of individuals and institutions. For some objects, their journeys have involved known histories of violence, coercion or injustice, while for others there remains uncertainty over exactly how they came to be here. Provenance research is the process through which we actively seek to better understand, share and communicate the histories of all our collections.

 

This talk will present an overview of some of the V&A’s current efforts in researching and communicating the ownership histories of its collections, including those of the National Art Library. It will explore the importance and benefits of museums and libraries conducting such research, and also share some of the challenges involved.

Dr Richard Espley is Acting Director of the V&A Research Institute, National Art Library and Archives. He has provided leadership for the National Art Library since 2023, following his work in several remarkable libraries over the past twenty years including the National Maritime Museum and Senate House Library, University of London. Through this work he has developed an interest in the ways that such collections are built up, especially how they are augmented or distorted by donors and private collectors, and how this is a fascinating reflection of fundamental cultural forces. He is actively researching issues of provenance and the ways in which libraries control issues of cultural value.

Dr Alexandra Watson Jones is the V&A’s Provenance Research Curator. She works with colleagues across the museum on researching the ownership histories of objects in our collections, and thinking about how those histories are communicated with the public. Her work particularly centres around objects with contested or challenging provenance, including histories of looting and dispossession in the Nazi era and during Britain’s colonial and imperial activities across the world. She is actively engaged in sector-wide discussion and debate about the presence of looted and appropriated cultural property in the UK’s museum collections, and how cultural institutions should approach such material.