Between science and art: Irene Manton’s collection of antiquities

Abstract

Abstract Professor Irene Manton (1904–1988) was in the vanguard of technical advances in botany through the use of electron microscopy. As well as new techniques and discoveries communicated through a considerable body of scientific publications, she left behind a collection of antiquities spanning a broad range of cultures and dates. Through these objects, Manton investigated intellectual problems in the history of science and communicated her findings with a highly original and idiosyncratic approach. At first sight a disparate group of unprovenanced antiquities, through the lens of Manton’s archives this collection can be understood as a rich repository of material evidence. This critical examination of Manton’s collecting practices and the uses she made of her ancient objects provides new evidence for the variety of approaches to collecting and interpreting antiquities, spanning disciplinary boundaries, over the course of the twentieth century.