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Modelling innovation and ‘improvement’: the histories and geographies of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland’s models collection

Supervised by Professor Simon Naylor and Dr Cheryl McGeachan at the University of Glasgow and Dr Rebekah Higgitt at National Museums Scotland.

This project reanimates an under-researched collection of over 300 models of agricultural tools, machines and infrastructure that was created and displayed by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland in the first half of the 19th century, before being transferred to what later became National Museums Scotland. The collection connected the Society with many other actors and communities, from urban engineers to landowners, agriculturalists, workers, artisans and innovators in rural Lowlands and Highlands and beyond. The project will reveal and follow these networks and explore the history of the collection over two centuries.