Science, Art and Magic: Watt’s Workshop 1819-2021
Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Russell, Ben
Date published
2022
Abstract
A treasure among the collections of the Science Museum is engineer James Watt’s workshop, acquired in its entirety in 1924 having in theory been left untouched since his death in 1819. The workshop is a complete physical record of Watt’s life and interests. This paper will outline a brief history of the workshop, consider how best to define the workshop in museum terms, and then examine how it has been displayed in three different forms in the museum from 1924 to the present. The wider historiography of Watt is voluminous; this paper will avoid re-treading old ground, and instead concentrate just on the workshop and two facets of its display history: how visitors have perceived the workshop, and the degree of physical fidelity with which it has been displayed. In conclusion, it is suggested that these two factors have a direct relationship
Contributor (person)
Hackmann, Willem
Journal title
Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society
Rights statement
In Copyright
Keywords