New exhibit will showcase rarely-seen Tennyson items

Opening at the museum on January 8, 2022, the exhibition is the result of a four-year project studying the unexplored depths of the Alfred Tennyson archives.

Artists Sarah Bennett, Andrew Bracey and Danica Maier have put together the exhibition, called ‘Bummock’ – a term used to describe the large part of an iceberg hidden below the water – and hope to bring these hidden aspects of the Tennyson Research Centre’s archive into public view; for the ‘bummock’ to become the ‘tip’.

The Tennyson Research Centre is considered the most significant collection in the world relating to famous Lincolnshire-born poet Lord Alfred Tennyson.

The three artists have created new artworks motivated by their research into the unseen and often undervalued parts of the archive, which are shown alongside the objects and related stories from the archive that inspired them.

Jenny Gleadell, exhibitions and interpretation officer at The Collection, said: “This exhibition offers a new insight not only into the life and work of Alfred Tennyson, but also the wider Tennyson family and the lives of others in the period.

“Without a project like this, many of these objects and stories would have remained hidden deep within the Tennyson archives. This is an opportunity to see them alongside the unique artworks they have influenced.”

Sarah Bennett’s research focused on accounts of various illness suffered by Tennyson’s immediate family, and the medications and therapies used as treatments during the 19 century, while the catalyst for Andrew Bracey’s artworks were the jottings and drawings in the miniature notebooks of Tennyson’s eldest son, Hallam, and Danica Maier has created a variety of drawings, embroidery, live readings and other works inspired by Alfred Tennyson’s great niece Fryn Tennyson Jesse.

l ‘Bummock: Tennyson Research Centre’ is on until Sunday February 20, 2022, and more information can be found at www.thecollectionmuseum.com