Lily Crowther

Research Topic

Teaching craft skills in the building trades: the Museum of Construction and Building Materials and its legacies

Supervisors: Professor William Whyte and Dr Simona Valeriani (V&A Research Institute)

The Museum of Construction and Building Materials was part of the South Kensington Museum complex in the 1850s-80s. It collected raw materials, building components, decorative elements, and architectural models and drawings; parts of the collection are now in the V&A, and others were built into the fabric of the museum buildings, but most were dispersed after 1888. My thesis explores what it collected and why, as well as how the collection was used. In particular, I am looking at how skills and technical knowledge can be transmitted through museums and their collections. My broader research interests are in 19th- and 20th-century architecture and craft.

I work part-time at Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum, where I am Curator (History). I am also a trustee of the Brooking Museum of Architectural Detail. My professional interests include the interpretation of craft and design collections, and the use of collections and object-focused methods in HE teaching. I previously worked as a curator and researcher at the V&A and I am an Associate Member of the Museums Association. In 2021 I was a Junior Teaching Fellow on the Krasis programme at the Ashmolean Museum, and I have taught on the 'Museums and Society' course at Oxford Brookes University.

I am funded by the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme. For information about my publications see https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7912-9795