Curatorial Practice and Public History: Reflections on the ‘World Within Walls’ Exhibition

Abstract

This essay explores the potential for curatorial practice in a public history context to be engaged as a research practice. It focuses on the development of an exhibition on the history of St Davnet’s Hospital in Monaghan, which first opened as the Monaghan District Lunatic Asylum in 1869. The essay traces the development of this exhibition, and the significance of its location in a local authority museum context. Positioning the exhibition in the context of similar or related public history projects on the subject of psychiatric history, the essay reflects on the processes and practice of curating as a way of generating new insights. In particular, it considers practices of engagement and shared authority that are at the heart of public history practice, as well as contemplating the significance of working with material objects and their associated narratives. This examination of the ‘World Within Walls’ case study identifies curating as a significant research practice that generates new knowledge, rather than as a means of demonstrating or showcasing the results of prior work, particularly in the public history context.