The Making of Museums in Nigeria

Amanda H. Hellman

doi:10.5771/9781666912685

Summary

In November 1927, Kenneth Crosthwaite Murray (1902-1972) left his family home in West Sussex, England, to develop the art program in the British colony of Nigeria. As he traveled the country, Murray saw the cultural practices and craft production of Nigerian visual material under threat and decided to collect these pieces in order to preserve, understand, and, perhaps, console during a period of great change. Murray and a few of his colleagues, including Edward H. Duckworth, Bernard E.B. Fagg, and Ekpo Eyo and the antiquities department that they founded, built seven museums before independence, established export policies, began calling for the return of cultural heritage, and developed excavation protocol. This book captures the life and legacy of Murray, whose efforts helped foster an understanding of Nigerian art and culture, and explores the tension that arose among the colonial government, officers, and Nigerians who sought to build these cultural institutions during the twilight years of the British Empire and the transition to a newly independent Nigeria.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2023
ISBN-Print: 978-1-6669-1267-8
ISBN-Online: 978-1-6669-1268-5
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 256
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. List of Figures No access
3. Preface No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
Introduction No access Pages 1 - 12
K. C. Murray and E. H. Duckworth Find Their Blue Ocean No access Pages 13 - 46
A Case for a Nigerian Antiquities Department No access Pages 47 - 78
Never Enough Surveys No access Pages 79 - 114
The Guiding Mission of the Antiquities Department No access Pages 115 - 142
Building National Museums No access Pages 143 - 178
Building Regional Museums No access Pages 179 - 202
The Independence Decade No access Pages 203 - 224
Conclusion No access Pages 225 - 230
Bibliography No access Pages 231 - 244
Index No access Pages 245 - 254
About the Author No access Pages 255 - 256