Collecting people: Bluestocking sociability and the assembling of knowledge

Abstract

This essay explores the relationship between knowledge and sociability in eighteenth-century England through a discussion of two female collectors and their collections. The friendship between Elizabeth Montagu (1718-1800) and Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (1715-1785) was founded upon a shared enthusiasm for the art of conversation and the ambition to create communities of learning in which both sexes could flourish. The duchess's natural history collection at Bulstrode Park and Montagu's London salon, adorned with its own combination of nature and art, are compared as parallel sites that attracted visitors from a diverse range of professions, nationalities and political persuasions. For elite women, sociability and the assembling of people were integral to the pursuit and display of knowledge. The work of Mrs Montagu and the duchess as collectors reveals the complex relationship between science, sociability and aesthetics that characterizes the history of collections.