Date of document publication: 2024-01-30

‘It is time to make available the bulk of the written material on African history in Africa itself. In the past, the study of African history has been held up by the quite remarkable dispersal all over the world of the relevant source material. This material includes important African works taken out of the continent by colonial rulers and other visitors. The centralisation of this material, in Africa, will relieve scholars of the enormous trouble and expense involved in so many unnecessary journeys from one end of the world to the other in quest of material for the study of our own land. Fortunately, we now live in the age of the microfilm and the xerox process, and what I am suggesting is therefore practicable. But it will require an enormous effort of organisation and expense.’ (Dike, 1962, p.6-7)

Introduction

From the outset, the Digital Benin project aimed not only to bring together data about objects from the Kingdom of Benin but also to provide greater accessibility to the rich documentation about these royal treasures and cultural objects. In November 2022, the metadata of 131 museums with 5,246 objects went online, and the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung awarded Digital Benin funding for a one-year extension, one of the specific aims of which was to bring digitised material from dispersed archives and photographic collections, as highlighted by Professor Kenneth Dike over sixty years ago, onto the platform. Godfrey Osaisonor Ekhator and Elioghosa Obobaifo brought the concept of the royal treasures as an archive of the history of the royal court and Benin Kingdom to the interactive oral-history contributions. The project team has been working to achieve this goal since November 2022. Beyond providing additional context for data already collected, the intention is to create a research tool that will make it possible to develop a more Benin-centred perspective by establishing the objects themselves as a displaced and dispersed archive of Benin history. This history and meaning may also, but only in part, be informed by the additional documents that have been produced mainly by Euro-American actors and have been collected over the last year. This documentation will outline the process through which this material was identified, researched and then acquired by the project team for Digital Benin.

Guiding Parameters

The Digital Benin project team had already begun to acquire archival and photographic data from institutions during the first phase of the project, between 2021 and 2022, when object data was acquired (for more information, see the Object Review and Research Documentation). In the first set of ‘Guiding Parameters’, Digital Benin requested museums to share ‘associated archival and/or historic materials such as photographs, postcards, newspapers, field notes, etc., particularly within the same aforementioned time period.’

The project initially aimed to include this material within the platform that was launched in November 2022. We rapidly recognised the complexity of the archival and photographic material and understood that more time was needed to sensitively integrate this material into an online space (see our previous ). In September 2022, the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung awarded Digital Benin funding for a one-year extension dedicated to bringing archival and photographic collections onto the platform. With this extension, the project team was able to broaden the initial request for material to new institutions and a wider range of associated material.

Between October and December 2022, the Digital Benin team developed another set of guiding parameters. The process of drafting these parameters was crucial for identifying the different kinds of archives and photographic collections which could be considered relevant for the project. Although the museums that hold Benin collections usually also hold material relating to their provenance, and some also hold photograph albums and documentation associated with the British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897, there are other institutions which hold other very relevant archival and photographic collections.

In these guiding parameters, the team set out four thematic areas for documents which we would consider for inclusion on the platform:

1. Historical Context and Provenance: Archival materials which provide a context for events in the 1890s and thereafter, particularly during the time of the British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897. These include archival materials that give context for the looting and documentation recorded at the time about the function(s), interpretation and cultural value of the historical objects as well as the movement and acquisitions of objects (e.g., sales receipts, auction catalogues and correspondence).
2. Historical Photography: Before, during and after the expedition, photographs were taken (and a limited number of drawings made) that give visual evidence to the events that led to the dispersal of the objects and their life after 1897. The photographs not only show evidence of the violence, propaganda and context of the events but also they are the only visual documents of the pre-colonial architecture and important sites and portray important personalities in Benin history, such as Ọba Ovonramwen.
3. Notes and Papers by scholars who conducted research in Benin City and on Benin objects (mainly in the first half of the twentieth century).
4. Documentation on Restitution and Repatriation efforts throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Just like with the object catalogue, the team recognised that knowing where material is held is often crucial yet hard to ascertain. The team therefore developed a source guide which could collate this information and enable greater accessibility to these archival and photographic collections. The team recognised that within the short one-year timeline of the extension, institutions might not have the capacity to digitise material and share it with Digital Benin in time for inclusion on the platform. Therefore, a plan was developed which allows for the inclusion of material on different levels within the source guide:

1. Where available, digitised material with descriptions and appropriate reference codes or titles can be included.
2. A description of material with appropriate reference codes or titles and URL links to where material is digitised and available elsewhere online or to the appropriate webpage where there is more information about an item.
3. For those items which are not digitised, or have no online ‘presence’, a description with appropriate reference codes or titles was included.

As the extension had a tight timeline, it was clear from the outset that this source guide could not be exhaustive but would represent what it was possible to bring together in the space of less than a year. The source guide was developed over a six-month period. An initial phase of outreach to institutions in early 2023 was followed by research visits to a small number of institutions who held a large amount of material (i.e., Pitt Rivers Museum, British Museum, Cadbury Research Library, Royal Anthropological Institute).

Data Acquisition Process and Review

The data acquisition process began in 2021; however, most of the data was acquired in 2023. As with object data, the team acquired data in a variety of formats to facilitate what was best and easiest for the institution in question. Metadata, when available, was also included in the transfer.

Several institutions were able to quickly share digitised material with Digital Benin, as it was already digitised. Often this digitisation was associated with ongoing or completed research projects within institutions, particularly those focusing on provenance research (e.g., Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen and Wereldmuseum in the Netherlands, the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne, MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum in Hamburg and the institutions which participated in the Swiss Benin Initiative), which involved and possibly even required the digitisation of correspondence, invoices, receipts and more. After receiving the material, the team and project investigators reviewed the material to ensure it fit the guiding parameters.

In other cases, a more consultative approach was required, particularly where material was not already digitised, or where there was a large amount of material. In these cases, the team conferred with staff at the institution to identify priorities for digitisation and inclusion. Typically, this was done online via email and Zoom calls. In a small number of cases (e.g., the Pitt Rivers Museum, British Museum, Cadbury Research Library and Royal Anthropological Institute), in-person research visits were made by the project researcher, Imogen Coulson, and project investigator, Felicity Bodenstein. During these visits, a range of material was reviewed and priorities for digitisation and inclusion were identified. In cases where items were recognised as relevant but not a priority, descriptions of the material were written and the appropriate URL links for online records of the material were brought into the Digital Benin database to make users aware of their existence.

For more information on our engagement with specific institutions, please see the Institutions sections below.

As institutions began to share more data with the project, the team increasingly recognised that many items contained sensitive content (e.g., racist language and imagery). This was found both within the contents of the digitised material itself and, to a lesser extent, in the accompanying metadata. Within the short time frame of the project, it was therefore important to assess which strategies were feasible. For over fifty years, access to archival and photographic materials for researchers and community members across Africa and in Nigeria has been limited due to the costs of research and prohibitive visa regimes. The possibilities afforded by including these materials, and providing access to them in one location – on Digital Benin – was therefore seen as an important step.

Photographic Material

Data relating to photographic collections was acquired in much the same way as for archival material. However, the team rapidly recognised that the images often contained sensitive content (e.g., human remains, violent scenes) that was considered much more impactful and potentially harmful than written archival material. For this material, the review process needed to be more complex. The team was keen to discuss the photographic material with community members and experts in order to develop guidance on what to include (if anything) and how to present it on the platform.

In June 2023, Digital Benin hosted a hybrid workshop with community members and experts to initiate a working group in Benin City for the creation of guiding parameters for photographic material specific to the history of the Benin objects as well as photographs taken in colonial contexts. Prof. Dr Temi Odumosu produced a text as the starting point for a conversation that will lead to tangible interactions about the access and display of photographs that Digital Benin received. The expert group in Benin City will work with Dr Odumosu in the upcoming year. Her text that initiated the working group is available here.

Conclusion

Within the scope of the one-year extension, the team continued to develop Digital Benin as a platform to enable and stimulate future research and knowledge production. In much the same way that the royal treasures from Benin Kingdom are dispersed across collections globally, archival material and photographic collections are also dispersed. By bringing together digitised material and data about these holdings, Digital Benin seeks to help researchers overcome some of the barriers placed on research and knowledge production. Within the time frame of just one year, the team was able to bring together information on the holdings of sixty-nine institutions globally. The possibilities for expanding this batch within the framework of longer-term research endeavours are therefore manifold.

Institutions

British Museum, London

In March 2023, the Digital Benin researchers Dr Felicity Bodenstein and Imogen Coulson visited the British Museum to identify materials held at the institution. With the support of staff at the museum, we were able to identify the materials described in the source guide. We were also able to identify which material to prioritise for digitisation. It should be noted that detailed institutional data on the acquisition of individual objects in the very large collections held by the museum could not be collected within the scope of this project. But the source guide provides indications of the documents that might be consulted in this regard (i.e., collection files, trustees’ minutes, acquisition registers) as part of provenance research. The materials that were prioritised were those which relate most to other museum collections and therefore may be helpful for provenance research (e.g., the Webster Album, Fate of the Plaques, Stevens Auction Catalogues). Additionally archival and photographic materials were prioritised which relate to the history of the colonial military campaign on Benin as well as images of Benin in the twentieth century.

The National Archives Kew, London

The National Archives in Kew is one of the key institutions that do not themselves hold objects from Benin but which have important historical material related to the 1897 military campaign on Benin as well as the history of requests for return and restitution. In early 2023, the Digital Benin team had online meetings with staff from the National Archives to discuss priorities for digitisation and sharing of digitised material. These priorities were based on previous research carried out by Dr Felicity Bodenstein in 2018 and 2019.

Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham

In March 2023, the Digital Benin researcher Imogen Coulson visited the Cadbury Research Library to view the papers of Robert Elwyn Bradbury, a British anthropologist who conducted extensive research in Benin City from the 1950s to early 1960s. Much of this research was part of the ‘Benin Historical Research Scheme’ led by Dr Kenneth Onwuka Dike at the University of Ibadan. These papers represent much of the notes taken by Bradbury and his assistants during the ten-year period, including a number written in the Edo language.

During this visit, alongside staff at the library the collection was assessed and priorities were identified for digitisation. Due to the size of the papers, it was not possible to digitise the entire collection or all the material directly related to the guiding parameters of the project. Additionally, we found that some interviews and notes were duplicated in different series within the collection. Therefore, we decided to focus on the series which are (a) relevant to Digital Benin’s guiding parameters and (b) would minimise repetition of the same information. Four series were digitised in full (BS series, OB series, A series and U series) and two parts of the R series were digitised (R67).

Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Considering the diversity and broad range of materials available at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, in February 2023 the Digital Benin researcher Imogen Coulson visited the museum to view photographic and archival material held by the museum. With the support of staff at the museum, it was possible to identify priorities for digitisation of the material and write descriptions.

Museum Rietberg, Zurich

The Museum Rietberg in Zurich is one of the member institutions of the Swiss Benin Initiative (SBI). The files shown here were shared with Digital Benin as a consequence of the research conducted between 2021 and 2023 by the SBI and relate to the provenance of the cultural objects in the collection of the museum.

For further information, see A. Hertzog & E. Uzebu-Imarhiagbe (2023), ‘Collaborative Provenance Research in Swiss Public Collections from the Kingdom of Benin’, https://rietberg.ch/files/Forschung/Benin-Initiative/Bios-Statements-Photos_Nigeria-Delegation_Feb2023/20230202_BIS_report_def.pdf .

Museum der Kulturen, Basel

The Museum der Kulturen in Basel is one of the member institutions of the Swiss Benin Initiative (SBI). The files shown here were shared with Digital Benin as a consequence of the research conducted between 2021 and 2023 by the SBI and relate to the provenance of the cultural objects in the collection of the museum.

For further information, see A. Hertzog & E. Uzebu-Imarhiagbe (2023), ‘Collaborative Provenance Research in Swiss Public Collections from the Kingdom of Benin’, https://rietberg.ch/files/Forschung/Benin-Initiative/Bios-Statements-Photos_Nigeria-Delegation_Feb2023/20230202_BIS_report_def.pdf

Bernisches Historisches Museum

The Bernisches Historisches Museum is one of the member institutions of the Swiss Benin Initiative (SBI). The files shown here were shared with Digital Benin as a consequence of the research conducted between 2021 and 2023 by the SBI and relate to the provenance of the cultural objects in the collection of the museum.

For further information, see A. Hertzog & E. Uzebu-Imarhiagbe (2023), ‘Collaborative Provenance Research in Swiss Public Collections from the Kingdom of Benin’, https://rietberg.ch/files/Forschung/Benin-Initiative/Bios-Statements-Photos_Nigeria-Delegation_Feb2023/20230202_BIS_report_def.pdf

Musée d’ethnographie de Genève

The Musée d’ethnographie de Genève is one of the member institutions of the Swiss Benin Initiative (SBI). The files shown here were shared with Digital Benin as a consequence of the research conducted between 2021 and 2023 by the SBI and relate to the provenance of the cultural objects in the collection of the museum.

For further information, see A. Hertzog & E. Uzebu-Imarhiagbe (2023), ‘Collaborative Provenance Research in Swiss Public Collections from the Kingdom of Benin’, https://rietberg.ch/files/Forschung/Benin-Initiative/Bios-Statements-Photos_Nigeria-Delegation_Feb2023/20230202_BIS_report_def.pdf

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

With the assistance of funding from Digital Benin, it was possible for the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa to digitise stock books which had previously belonged to William Downing Webster.

musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Paris

The archival references provided here were gathered during a provenance research project dedicated to establishing the history of the museum’s current collection of pieces from the royal court of Benin. The selection of these references was made by the Digital Benin researcher Dr Felicity Bodenstein in 2022.