YLM Database

Glasgow Museums – Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life & Art, and Glasgow Museums Resource Centre

Argyle Street
Glasgow
G3 8AG
Scotland

01412769556
Website: http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/
Additional web links: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/collections-research/policies-guidelines/Documents/Acquisitions%20and%20Disposal%20Policy%202008-2013%20%208%20Jan%202009.pdf
Parent Organisation:

Culture and Sport Glasgow

Funded by:

Glasgow Museums are part of Glasgow Life, a sub-brand of Culture and Sport Glasgow Ltd., an independent cultural trust which delivers cultural and leisure services on behalf of Glasgow City Council. NB Glasgow Museums’ buildings and collections are owned by Glasgow City Council, although it should be noted that under Scots law human remains cannot be owned by anyone.

YLM Entry Submitted: Yes
Comments:

Glasgow Museums include:
* Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
* Burrell Collection
* Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA)
* Museum of Transport
* Open Museum
* Provand’s Lordship
* People’s Palace
* St Mungo Museum
* Glasgow Museums Resource Centre (GMRC)
* Scotland Street School Museum

Glasgow Museums – Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life & Art have human remains on display, and Glasgow Museums Resource Centre holds human remains in store, as at October 2015.

How many human remains are in its collection, and how many of those are of ancient British provenance, pre-Christian or in other way Pagan?:

Glasgow museums have 303 collections that contain human remains. Of these, 44 collections contain human remains of ancient British provenance and another 8 collections contain human remains that may come from a British preChristian context.

Archaeology Collections (British & European Archaeology):
No. of collections containing human remains: (here, collections = sites) 106 sites
No. of these collections containing ancient British/pre-Christian/Pagan human remains: 46 of these sites contain human remains that are definitely ancient British/pre-Christian/Pagan, and 1 site contains human remains that are definitely non-British European/pre-Christian/Pagan. 24 of the sites have no location or date, so some of these may also be ancient British/pre-Christian/Pagan. 23 sites have a location, but the remains have not been dated, so some of these may also be pre-Christian/Pagan. The remaining 12 sites containing human remains are definitely from a Christian context.

World Cultures Collections (Non-European):
No. of human remains in collection: 58
No. of these collections containing pre-Christian/Pagan human remains: Probably not Christian, although no evidence either way as some of the individuals may have been converted Christians at time of death. However many non-Christian belief systems not necessarily defined by source communities as being ‘pagan’. 11 objects associated with Tibetan Buddhism. If Paganism defined as belief in non-Christian god or gods, Buddhism not concerned with god or gods, but with Dharma, truth/reality.

Ancient Civilisations Collections (Ancient Egypt, Lipari, Canary Islands):
No. of collections containing human remains: 55
No. of these collections containing pre-Christian/Pagan human remains: 55

Jewellery Collections:
No. of collections containing human remains: 71 items, possibly (it is not clear from the documentation whether some of the items are made from animal or human hair)
No. of these collections containing pre-Christian/Pagan human remains: 0, probably (all 19th century European)

Natural Sciences Collections:
No. of collections containing human remains: 20. Some of these were of ‘medical’ origin.
No. of these collections containing pre-Christian/Pagan human remains: 0.

Other Medical Collections currently not falling under any of the above headings:
No. of collections containing human remains: 66 records.
No. of these collections containing ancient British/pre-Christian/Pagan human remains: 0.

Total 376. Of these 376, 102 of the ‘entries’ are definitely pagan (47 are ancient British and 55 are from Ancient Egypt/Lipari/the Canary Islands).

Total: 376

How many of these human remains are well documented, with clear context of date and place of exhumation?:

Archaeology Collections – Out of the 106 sites containing human remains, 24 have no specific site or period listed, 23 have a location but no period, and 4 are noted as being prehistoric, but have no location. The remainder have a location and period. The general level of documentation is variable, but is being addressed as we undertake cataloguing work on the Collections.

World Cultures Collections – Documentation levels are good overall. Provenance is mostly at country-level.

Ancient Civilisations Collections – There is 1 record for Lipari, 1 record for the Canary Islands, and 53 records for Egypt as provenance. Out of the 53 Egyptian records, only three have site names. The level of documentation is variable.

Natural Sciences Collections – Generally poorly documented, with only two having associated location data.

Other Medical Collections – Well-documented, but with a variable level of provenance information.

Jewellery Collections – well-documented, but provenance information with regard to the hair used in mourning brooches, etc is mostly not available.

Where there are ancestors in store, is there a history of use?:

Archaeology Collections
(a): Yes, mainly by academic researchers.
(b): Display – possibly; education – would not be used for handling in workshops, but information about the human remains in store could be drawn upon for educational purposes; scientific analysis – yes.

World Cultures Collections
(a): Yes
(b): The World Cultures collections in Glasgow Museums are housed in a separate store for secret and sacred material. The provenanced remains have been repatriated. There is limited access and generally priority would be given to descendants of the people. In most cases it is culturally inappropriate for them to seen or spoken of. In Scottish Law nobody “owns” human remains, therefore Glasgow Museums does not “own” the skeletal material or mummy. There is a history of research and analysis relating to the repatriation cases. Artefacts made from human body parts, where culturally appropriate may be displayed, as in historic Tibetan Buddhist material, but only one such artefact is on display at present and generally the policy is not to display World Cultures human remains.

Ancient Civilisations Collections
(a): Yes.
(b): As for Archaeology Collections.

Natural Sciences Collections
(a): Wet-preserved specimens were examined for medical research in 1989. Skulls and skeletons have been used for drawing classes in the past.
(b): Nothing proposed at present.

Other Medical Collections
(a): Information not available.
(b): Information not available.

Jewellery Collections
(a): Yes.
(b): Some are currently on display at Kelvingrove Museum in a Costume exhibition. There is an education potential, but it is doubtful whether they would be used in scientific analysis, since they are incorporated into jewellery or form the bulk of the jewellery themselves (eg woven hair necklaces and bracelets).

Where there are ancestors in store, is there potential for use, in display, education or scientific analysis?

Yes.

Does the museum have a disposal policy, and is it including HR with negligible potential in its discussions about disposal?:Yes

https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/collections-research/policies-guidelines/Documents/Acquisitions%20and%20Disposal%20Policy%202008-2013%20%208%20Jan%202009.pdf

Archaeology Collections – human remains are only disposed of by transfer to another Accredited museum, e.g. where an excavation assemblage has been split up in the past and the human remains have been reunited with the rest of the assemblage in another museum.

World Cultures Collections – Where requests for repatriation of ancestral remains are received, Glasgow City council Repatriation Working Group willingly cooperates and assists with their return, on a case by case basis.

Human remains are not viewed as having ‘negligible potential’ in the context of any of the collections areas they are held in.

What sources of information about these human remains are in the public domain and where?:

Scots Law is separate from that of England and Wales, and so Scotland has its own guidelines developed in response to the Human Tissue Act (Scotland) 2006, published online by Museums Galleries Scotland, and entitled ‘Guidelines to the Care of Human Remains in Scottish Museum Collections’:

http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/research-and-resources/resources/publications/publication/378/guidelines-for-the-care-of-human-remains-in-scottish-museum-collections

Archaeology Collections – some of the human remains are mentioned within Canmore, the online National Monuments Record of Scotland, and also in published excavation and research reports. We are always open to enquiries about the Archaeology Collections, including about human remains.

World Cultures Collections – These are not in the Public Domain, out of respect to the ancestors themselves and their descendants – information can be provided directly from Glasgow Museums. No photographs are ever released.

Ancient Civilisations Collections – Glasgow Museums Collections Navigator website has information and images (under the Ancient Egypt entries).

Natural Sciences Collections – Glasgow Museums Collections Navigator states that we hold some human material (skeletal specimens and some in spirit), but no details are given. http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/cld.html?cid=534305

Other Medical Collections – None, as far as is known.

Jewellery Collectons – Glasgow Museums Collections Navigator states that we hold mourning and memento jewellery, but no details are given.

Does the museum have ancestors (human remains) on display?:Yes

Archaeology Collections – There are human remains on display in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, in the History Discovery Centre and the Scotland’s First Peoples Gallery. The human remains in the History Discovery Centre are in the context of learning how Archaeologists study human skeletal material, and what we can learn from this. The displays in the Scotland’s First Peoples Gallery relate to Bronze Age burial, and the human remains are displayed inside Early Bronze Age pottery vessels.

As part of a wider visitor studies survey this month, two adults who were in First Peoples Gallery were asked for their views on human remains being displayed in a museum. Their responses are below:
• “Displaying human remains of a person who did not agree in life for this to be done seems immoral – but similarly displaying objects removed from graves feels incorrect. Perhaps mostly because we do not know for sure whether they were ‘right’ in their religious beliefs, or ‘we’ are in our deciding it doesn’t matter to contradict their rights after death.”
• “It would be immoral if it is displaying human remains and it is known to contradict the religious beliefs of the human concerned. We should question just what the educational benefit of having human remains is – if we are in doubt, do not have them displayed.”

World Cultures Collections – No ancestors, unworked bodies or body parts are on display. One Tibetan Buddhist artefact incorporating human bone is on display at St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life & Art in the Gallery of World Religion, to illustrate different religious beliefs, and the ritual associated with them.

Ancient Civilisations Collections – A mummy is on display in the Gallery of World Religion at St Mungo Museum of Religious Life & Art, and a mummified head, foot, hand, and skeletal remains are on display in the Ancient Egypt Gallery at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, in the context of Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs and burial traditions.
Natural Sciences Collections – One skull is on display in the Conflict and Consequence Gallery at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum to illustrate the type of damage which could be inflicted on people by being struck by a bladed weapon.

Other Medical Collections – None of these human remains are on display.

Jewellery – Four items are currently on display in ‘A Century of Style’ Exhibition at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum.

Does the museum hold any iconic ancestors, ie. complete skeletons with a well documented story, or those considered of national or local importance, and are these on display?:

Archaeology Collections – Cambusnethan bog body. Modern (late 18th century / early 19th century, so not Ancient British or pagan. Not on display.

World Cultures Collections – Chilean mummy . Not on display.

Has the museum used or considered using replicas in displays? If not, why not and what would you find useful in moving to these? If you have, what response did these receive?:

Documents:
https://www.honour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/formidable/25d4781587183fc191c3dcdbcde0bbcf.pdf, https://www.honour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/formidable/Acquisitions-and-Disposal-Policy-2008-2013-8-Jan-2009.pdf
https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/collections-research/policies-guidelines/Documents/Acquisitions%20and%20Disposal%20Policy%202008-2013%20%208%20Jan%202009.pdf

29 October, 2015