News - Promoting Cornish History
University of Exeter press release
Two bastions of Cornish history are teaming up to present Cornwall's development in a fresh way. The Institute of Cornish Studies, a research institute located at the University of Exeter's Tremough campus in Penryn, will be working with the Royal Cornwall Museum for the next two years. The Arts and Humanities Research Council has awarded £121,000 to support the sharing of knowledge between academics and museum staff.
The project aims to enhance the displays at the Royal Cornwall Museum with the latest research on Cornish issues provided by staff at the Institute of Cornish Studies, as well as use archive interviews with Cornish people held in the Institute's Cornish Audio Visual Archive. Cornish identity and politics, mining, emigration and religious history are all potential themes that can combine the research of the Institute with the expertise and collections of the Museum.
Consultation will take place to decide on suitable themes for future displays. A Research Assistant from the Institute of Cornish studies will work at the Museum and academics will provide input into the Museum's website, information panels and interactive audio-visual material. A joint lecture programme at the museum and on campus, publications and teaching resources will be produced.
Bernard Deacon, senior lecturer in Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter says: "This project will translate academic research expertise to give a fresh look to Cornish history. We are excited about the possibilities this brings to give our research a wider impact and we are keen to learn from the Museum's subject specialists. There is currently a considerable popular interest in Cornwall's heritage and its historic identity, and this project reflects the growing role of the cultural industries in Cornwall's regeneration."
Sara Chambers, Head of Collections at the Royal Cornwall Museum says: "This is a fabulous opportunity to work in partnership with the Institute of Cornish Studies - it will be very much a two way process. We will be able to embrace current research on Cornish history and ensure our redisplay and learning programmes are right up to date, and the ICS will benefit from the collections-based knowledge here at the Museum. We will be able to communicate this combined knowledge to a much wider audience - between us we can make Cornish history really accessible."