History of Collecting

Dr Lucia Patrizio Gunning Lucia Patrizio Gunning is a Lecturer (Teaching) at UCL History. Lucia is a Modern Historian specialising in cultural heritage, with a particular focus on the history of collecting for European museums. Her research interests cover social, cultural and diplomatic history. She specialises in museum formation, state involvement in the collection of antiquities in the 19th century and its implications on contemporary issues of collecting and restitution. She has experience on the protection of heritage at risk, especially post-earthquake, including the use of information technology to empower communities and reconnect them to their cultural heritage. Her areas of interest, research and expertise also cover the ethics of collecting and the position and nature of museums in today's globalised society. She has written and researched on: the wider nineteenth-century cultural and social scene, the grand tour and British perceptions of the Mediterranean, British travellers in the Abruzzi, Lord Byron and the fight for Greek independence, and Italian immigration in the UK from the nineteenth century to the present day. Her PhD thesis (UCL) examined the British diplomatic presence in the eastern Mediterranean in the late nineteenth century. Its central topic was the basis for her publication The British Consular Service in the Aegean and the Collection of Antiquities for the British Museum (Ashgate 2009). Lucia holds a Laurea in Foreign Languages (MA first class) from the Università degli Studi dell'Aquila, in Italy. She teaches Latin and has extensive experience in teaching languages at all levels. She has a PhD in History from University College London. Major publications 'An advantageous proposition', Museum History Journal 10.2 (June 2017). The British Consular Service in the Aegean and the Collection of Antiquities for the British Museum (Basingstoke: Ashgate, 2009) Teaching Latin for Research (MA course for Medieval and Renaissance Studies students) Collecting for the Nation: Amateurs, Collectors and Diplomats: A History of Museum Formation (advanced seminar module for undergraduates)