Abstract
This chapter explores the history and place of cultural participation through the case study of Peterborough Museum, founded in 1871 as the Peterborough Natural History Society and Field Club. Such local institutions, with their long histories, deserve to be examined in detail as clues to the legacies of cultural participation in specific places. The Minute Books of the Society give an insight into the construction of its values through the later nineteenth century: these are examined and then set in the context, first, of national debates on culture, particularly Matthew Arnold’s influential definitions of the term, and then of the rich history of local societies in the area. This specifically local perspective helps us look beyond our usual focus on nineteenth-century formulations of culture and instead take longer eighteenth-century practices of sociability and exchange into account when considering current arrangements. It also allows us to understand the complex ways in which local communities create narratives about themselves and their cultural practices over time.
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- 1.
Peterborough Museum Archives, Minute Book I: Peterborough Natural History Society and Field Club, ‘Peterborough Natural History Society […] Design, Objects, and Management’, 1872 [non-paginated]. Quoted by kind permission of the Peterborough Museum Society, with thanks for their help, especially Elizabeth St Hill Davies, and that of Museum staff, especially Glenys Wass.
- 2.
26 April 1876, Minute Book I: Peterborough Natural History Society and Field Club.
- 3.
President’s Report, 1872. Minute Book I: Peterborough Natural History Society and Field Club.
- 4.
From a report on ‘Conversazione’ 26 April 1876. Minute Book I: Peterborough Natural History Society and Field Club. Hereafter references in text as ‘Minute Book I’.
- 5.
See, for example, Mee (2011), and the Leverhulme project Networks of Improvement: Literary Clubs and Societies c.1760–c.1840. https://www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-century-studies/research/networksofimprovement/. Accessed 16 Aug 2015.
- 6.
From the opening page of the Minute Book 1730–1742, Peterborough Gentleman’s Society, fol. 1. Peterborough Archives Service, PGS/1/1, hereafter referenced in text. By kind permission of the Peterborough Archives Service.
- 7.
With particular thanks to Chris Porsz for his help, enthusiasm, and generous permission to use images. See also http://www.chrisporsz.com/. Accessed 11 May 2017.
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James, F. (2019). Cultural Participation and the Place of History: A Case Study of Peterborough Societies, Past and Present. In: Belfiore, E., Gibson, L. (eds) Histories of Cultural Participation, Values and Governance. New Directions in Cultural Policy Research. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55027-9_3
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