New Case Study: Fanny Parks: her ‘Grand Moving Diorama of Hindostan’, her Museum, and her Cabinet of Curiosities

Studies of collecting as a phenomenon, from the age of the ‘cabinet of curiosity’ to the present, have focused overwhelmingly on male collectors – men whose adventures, professional lives and wealth gave them privileged access to exotic plants, animals, artwork and objects. There is a much more detailed understanding of the Company men whose collecting helped to furnish the British country house and later many British museums. In contrast, by focusing on Fanny Parks and the museum she created, this case study illustrates the way in which one Company woman took advantage of her colonial experiences to collect, describe and display Indian material culture.

To read ‘Fanny Parks (1794-1875): her ‘Grand Moving Diorama of Hindostan’, her Museum, and her Cabinet of Curiosities’, click here.