Highlights of the British Collection: East Oxford Archaeology & History
Object Biographies : Introduction
by Angela Edward and Senta German
Like every person, every object has a story. Where was it made, of what, how was it used, for how long, what was its meaning and how did that change, who owned it first and then afterwards? What one might ask of an object is limitless, but the answers are all strung together by the narrative of the term of its existence - its biography.
An object biography is a very personal creation. We cannot know with absolute certainty how and why an object was made, used, lost, found and entered a museum collection. We can carry out research and make educated guesses. Some documentation may survive that throws light on some of these aspects, or individuals may remember what was given and why. Ultimately we won’t know for certain what the stories about and behind them may be.
In a museum objects can be described, classified, interpreted, labelled and displayed together with similar objects in a scholarly or 'entertaining' manner.
What these object biographies aim to do is to tell some very personal stories. For example the stories of the objects themselves and any associations with East Oxford, the wider stories about the possibilities of why and how they came into existence, what else was going on at the time, how they connect to other items in the Ashmolean and the local, and sometimes national, context.
Collared urn from Long Wittenham
Related Story: Collared Urn - A Story
Find out more about:
- Oxfordshire's Historic Archives
- British Collections Online - searchable database of the collection
July 2014
