Isabella: Discoveries in the Oldman-Gordon Correspondences

For today, I was able to work through all of the correspondences between G.B. Gordon and W.O. Oldman in the Director's Office boxes. As I shifted through Oldman's inquiries about the different collections he attempted to sell, I was able to discover several stories linking the Benin Collections to the British Punitive Expedition of 1897. In one letter to Oldman, Gordon writes that he wishes to know more about how the Oldman obtained the objects as he is interested in "tracing the specimens backwards." This is lucky for us, as Team Archives can trace the specimens backwards through their correspondences.

 Oldman comes in possession of Benin tusks and Benin bronzes and manages to sell this collection to Gordon. Gordon inquires about how these artifacts were collected and Oldman replies, "The Benin Bronzes were collected by Colonel Maximilian John De Barthe while he was attached to or had something to with the 1897 Expedition. I meet (?) some time ago to try to get any further information but I could not. I have heard indirectly Col. DeBarthe died but of this I am not sure--His house at Reading and all his effects were sold up some years ago."And in a separate paragraph, "The Benin Tusks were not collected by Col. DeBarthe but by the late M. Henry Lyne of Park Crescent. He had also to do with the Expedition at some time at Col. DeBarthe I believe.” Here again, is an explicit connection between the Benin objects and the British punitive expedition. Later on, this reveal becomes even more interesting as Oldman writes, "“The Benin altar must look fine with all those fine tusks and bronze pieces. I should think that your collection of tusks must be by far the finest in America.” Gordon responds by sending along a photograph, and I believe it is this one:
Is this the story of the Benin altar that we spoke about in the brainstorming session? I intend to do further research on Col. DeBarthe is, although what I found so far is limited besides the mention of his connection to the Expedition. Perhaps I can find his correspondences in other archive collections.

Continually, One mention that I am interested in exploring further comes from a letter from Oldman in 1914. He is listing off the many items in Walter L. Behren's Benin collection that he has and includes, "Juju Rattle Staff with figures at intervals, exceedingly old. Covered with blood." What does he mean by covered with blood? I checked the collections for rattles covered with bloodstains and I think it might be an interesting thread to pull. Were these bloodstains also evidence of the punitive expedition or part of a previous practice?

 Overall, I am looking forward to discussing these developments as a group and figuring out where to turn to next.


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