Vicky Barnecutt

Vicky’s research concentrates on the history of the expedition, the films themselves, and related collections, including photographs, objects and drawings. She works closely with the partner institutions in Papua New Guinea – the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies and the National Film Institute – to coordinate the project’s activities. She also liaises with the British Film Institute, the British Museum, and the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which are supporting the project in the UK.

Previously, Vicky worked on True Echoes, a reconnection project at the British Library that investigated early wax cylinder audio recordings from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Torres Strait Islands. She conducted historical and collections-based research on the expeditions and the colonial, missionary, and academic contexts that led to the creation of the recordings. For her doctoral thesis (University of Oxford, 2019) she undertook research on museum collections from New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, held in the UK, Australia, and Japan. She has also undertaken both archaeological and historical research in New Ireland.

Expertise details: 
Oceania; Melanesia; history; material culture; colonialism; cultural heritage; reconnection; museum studies; early history of anthropology; Pacific archaeology

Selected publications:

“The Kapsu Malagans” in L. Bolton, N. Thomas, E. Bonshek, J. Adams and B. Burt. 2013. Melanesia: Art and Encounter. University of Hawaii Press

“Thomas Farrell: Trading in New Guinea” in S. Cochrane and M. Quanchi (eds). 2011. Hunting the Collectors: Pacific Collections in Australian Museums, Art Galleries and Archives. Cambridge Scholars Publishing

“The history of collecting in New Ireland” in M. Gunn and P. Peltier. 2006. New Ireland: Art of the South Pacific. Paris 5Continents https://archive.org/details/8874393695