Men from the ministry : how Britain saved its heritage / Simon Thurley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thurley, Simon, 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain. Department of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings.

Historic buildings--Conservation and restoration--Great Britain--History.

Historic buildings.

Monuments--Conservation and restoration--Great Britain--History.

Monuments.

Historic sites--Conservation and restoration--Great Britain--History.

Historic sites.

Great Britain. Department of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings--History.

Great Britain.

Monuments--Conservation and restoration--Law and legislation.

Cultural policy.

Antiquities.

History.

Historic sites--Conservation and restoration.

Monuments--Conservation and restoration.

Historic buildings--Conservation and restoration.

Great Britain--Antiquities--Collection and preservation--History.

Great Britain--Officials and employees--Biography.

Great Britain--Cultural policy.

Monuments--Conservation and restoration--Law and legislation--Great Britain.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 294 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2013]

Summary:

Between 1900 and 1950 the British state amassed a huge collection of over 800 historic buildings, monuments and historic sites and opened them to the public. It was an enterprise without precedent. Governments elsewhere had of course assembled collections of paintings, sculptures and books. But Britain created what was effectively an outdoor museum of national history, overseen by a range of voluntary bodies including the Council for the Protection of Rural England, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and the National Trust. In this vivid and forcefully argued book Simon Thurley analyses this extraordinary collecting frenzy and places it in the context of an interwar period dominated by nostalgia, neo-romanticism and cultural protectionism. The establishment of a modern state based on deep historical and rural roots encapsulated the view of the former prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, that heritage was the rock out of which the nation's children would be hewn.

Contents:

Seeking the olden time: popular enthusiasm for history in the nineteenth century

The Office of Works

The "Monumentally Ancient" Act of 1882

The Office of Works takes control 1882-1909

The 1913 Ancient Monuments Act

The Ancient Monuments Branch in inter-war Britain

Creating a national collection 1913-1939

Stonehenge

Aesthetics and philosophy

Inventing the heritage industry

Protection in action 1913-39

Saving Hadrian's Wall: the 1931 act and town planning

Who saves country houses?

War and aftermath 1939-53

Industry and archaeology: the ministry branches out 1953-73

Boom and bust 1970-82.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780300195729

0300195729

OCLC:

828626855