Use of volunteering

Question 1

Thatcher foundation funding

Answer 1

Substantial, allowed the building of a new archive block

Questionable as to whether records would have been kept without so much funding

Question 2

Thatcher record management

Answer 2

Records managed (some removed) by a team at Downing Street before arriving at the archives

Gives some scope for omitting unflattering documents

Question 3

Anthropology example

Answer 3

Interesting ethnographic items relating to the Northwest Coast Native Americans

Examples include a drum, a figurine/spiritual helper for shamanistic rituals

Seeing the items themselves helps us to understand the religions of the Native Americans, and therefore the effect of white impositions upon them better than through a secular, anachronistic lens

Question 4

Archaeology example

Answer 4

Spectacular gold and garnet cross found in Trumpington, burried with a girl 1400 years ago

Dramatically demonstrates that the people of this small 7th century Anglo-Saxon village were connected to trade networks far beyond Cambridgeshire

Work of a talented jeweller, containing garnets which are likely from Asia

Question 5

Uneven relationship between anthropologist and people

Answer 5

Ethnographic objects were not neutral gifts - given as tributes, often out of fear

Von Jugel was a key collector, often using tobacco and alcohol to acquire objects

Question 6

Luristan bronzes

Answer 6

Acquired through illegal arts trade - taken without context (e.g. testing the soil) so almost impossible to use

Question 7

Question in postcolonial discourse

Answer 7

Natural question is when will all the items be returned to the country they originated in?