Unexpected legacies: The collections of classicist William J. Woodhouse (1866–1937), then and now

Abstract

Abstract William J. Woodhouse was honorary curator of the Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney, from 1904 until 1937. During his curatorship he undertook a significant acquisition of plaster casts to enhance the representation of Greek and Italian sculpture alongside the existing ceramics collection. At its height the collection included well over 250 plaster casts and reproductions. Today the majority of the cast collection has been deaccessioned and, instead, his personal collections of ceramic sherds and photography, donated after her father’s death by his daughter Liska Woodhouse, have become Woodhouse’s curatorial legacy. This paper introduces Woodhouse’s role as curator, and examines each of his unique collections to analyse how Woodhouse himself conceived of his legacy and the reality represented in the Nicholson collection today. Central to this paper is an exploration of how collecting priorities and the perception of authenticity and narrative value changed in museums of antiquities during the twentieth century.