This module studies the history of animals in Europe from 1650-1850. It explores the role of animals as subjects for exhibition, scientific specimens, household pets and objects of commerce or diplomatic exchange, examining how attitudes towards the animal world changed from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Taking a comparative transnational approach, the module addresses the ethics surrounding the treatment of animals and situates the history of animals within a wider context of social, imperial and cultural history. Key topics covered include farming, hunting, the exotic animal trade, zoological gardens and menageries, the creation and popularisation of zoological knowledge and pet-keeping. The provisional outline for the module is as follows:
- Animals as food: British beef to Victorian vegetarians
- Animals as domestic pets: companions, accessories, and pedigree pooches
- Conceptions of cruelty: blood sports, animal protection organisations and animal welfare legislation
- Exotic animals in Europe: elephants, education and entertainment, Part 1: Zoological gardens – origins, evolution and rationale
- Exotic animals in Europe, Part 2: Travelling menageries and circuses – animals as performers.
- Animals and Science, Part 1: Animals in the museum – collection, study and exhibition.
- Animals and Science, Part 2: Animals in the laboratory – the ethics of vivisection.
- Zoology for the masses: teaching natural history through texts, lectures and exhibitions.
Exotic animals have functioned ad different times as symbols of power, scientific specimens, items of commerce and sources of education and entertainment. This module explores the multiple roles of exotic animals in the period 1650-1850, considering how and why they were collected, where and to whom they were exhibited and what reactions they generated.
The module traces zoological collections from private princely menageries and wunderkammern to public zoological gardens and museums in the early nineteenth century. Knowledge about exotic animals was formed both in the field and in the museum or laboratory. This information was then disseminated through exhibitions, lectures and popular works of natural history. The module situates the study and exhibition of animals within a wider passion for collecting and learning about the natural world and it considers how advances in taxidermy, shifts in taxonomy and the discovery of new species like the platypus shaped elite and popular conceptions of zoology. Attention is also paid to travelling wild beast shows, whose extensive travels and affordable admission prices democratised the study of natural history and literally brought elephants to the doors of the masses. A variety of primary sources will be used to explore changing understandings and conceptions of exotic animals. These include contemporary newspaper accounts, zoological illustrations, guides to zoological collections and scientific texts. The likley seminar programme is as follows:
- Introduction
- Princely menageries and cabinets of curiosity: exoticism, luxury and power
- Travelling shows: animals in the fairground
- Zoological gardens: animals, community and imperial identity
- The natural history museum: animals as scientific specimens
- Sport, profit and science: collecting and studying exotic animals in the field
- Animals on the page: natural history literature and popular zoology
- Nature and art: representing animals
- Man and beast: ethnographic exhibits.