Exhibition 'Aberdonians in the Americas' in King's Museum
A new exhibition at the University of Aberdeen’s King’s Museum explores the lives of five local collectors who travelled to Latin America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They went to seek their fortunes for different reasons - as explorers, doctors, miners, or missionaries – and met cultures and experiences strikingly different from their lives at home.
Aberdonians in the Americas draws on the University of Aberdeen’s rich South American collections to explore the hidden stories behind the donations that these collectors made to the University of Aberdeen of material relating to their work and travels. It includes objects whose connections with local collectors were re-discovered during the course of the exhibition, from a stalactite from a Bolivian tin mine to a ‘diabolical’ mata mata turtle that was fished out of the River Amazon.
There will be two public lectures associated with the exhibition:
Aberdonians in early Bolivian industry: The Penny and Duncan mining company, Dr Maggie Bolton, University of Aberdeen. Tuesday 24th January 7.30pm, Regent Building Lecture Theatre
Adventuring Aberdonians: the lives, travels and collecting of James W. H. Trail and John McPherson, Professor Patience Schell, University of Aberdeen. Tuesday 14th March 7.30pm, Regent Building Lecture Theatre.
