The 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition: objects, questions, repercussions

Between May and November 1886, over 5.5 million people (1/5 of the population of England) flocked to London’s Colonial and Indian Exhibition. The exhibition was a key moment in attempts to present to a mass ‘home’ audience a cohesive, commercial and artistic vision of the British Empire. It presented a dazzling array of objects from 34 colonial territories. Visitors could sample the cuisine of Empire, watch artisans from India, Cyprus, South Africa at work, and even buy a ticket to a new life in colonies in the ‘Emigration Office’. Each ‘Court’ was organised by a combination of colonial and local officials, displaying art, design and manufacture, musical instruments, plants, animals, raw materials, architecture, and people (living displays and models).

The museological impact of the exhibition was enormous, and global. In Britain, objects displayed became part of founding collections of art and design in regional museums and art galleries (many examples can be found in Birmingham); at the V&A, the British Museum and the natural historical collections of the Horniman Museum.

This one-day workshop - with keynote from artist Mahtab Hussain - invites museum professionals, academics, and artists to explore the potential of further, collaborative research into the 1886 exhibition. The papers primarily explore the exhibition’s Indian department, but group discussion in the afternoon will aim to discuss a wider range of exhibiting territories. Questions we will explore include:

1. What visions of the British empire and colonised peoples did the 1886 Colonial and Indian exhibition aim to present to its visitors? What are the ongoing repercussions of these displays?

2. What was the impact of the 1886 Colonial and Indian exhibition on British museums’ collections of art and design made in colonised territories? How did these collections display these objects in the nineteenth century, and what ideas about empire did they convey to their audiences?

3. What curatorial and educational strategies might museums today use to explore these objects and their complex histories?

The conference is funded by St Hugh's College Oxford's Belcher Fellowship in Victorian Studies. It is free to attend, but registration is essential. It will take in person in Oxford, and online on zoom.

Host or Publisher Kate Nichols