Edith Durham - Explorer, Collector and Champion of the Balkans
Bankfield Museum in Calderdale has a small display that tells a big story. It is a reminder that you do not need a blockbuster exhibition to tell a blockbusting story. All you need is one object: one artefact that is part of the story of a particular moment in time, and which represents someone who has left their mark on the history and culture of a place. That person is Edith Durham - Explorer, Collector and Champion of the Balkans.
Edith Durham in the 1880's. Photo: courtesy of Jane Wales.
In my fantasy of making a personal History of the World in 100 Objects, Neil McGregor’s landmark book and radio programme, Bankfield Museum’s Durham Collection is always represented. This is an archetypal museum collection: a repository of textiles acquired by Edith Durham during her travels in the Balkans between 1900 -1914. Setting forth initially for health reasons, she grew to love the land, documenting its history and customs in a series of authoritative books, in paintings, drawings and photographs, and by collecting and contextualising the textiles worn by its people groups. During the Balkan wars of 1912-13, she distributed food and medicine and reported on the conflict for The Times. She was a formidable woman and is still a national hero in Albania for whom she advocated independence.
Roman Catholic married woman of Scutari. Watercolour sketch by M. Edith Durham.
And the one object for that speculative series? Here it is in this display: a black wool jelek (sleeveless waistcoat as seen in the lead image) encrusted in gold work and handmade in Berat, a centre for ecclesiastical embroidery. It is a presentation piece given to Edith Durham by the government of Albania as thanks for her petitioning the British authorities on behalf of the town of Korcha which was being ceded to Greece. She had ridden on horseback for three days, crossing the mountains to advocate its cause, subsequently writing that “Korcha remains Albanian to this day because of that desperate ride”. Collections don’t get more romantic – or enduringly relevant - than this.
-
Written by June Hill
-
Further Information:
-
Image Credits:
Lead: Jelek 1913, Gold embroidery on black cloth. © Calderdale Museums Collection, Halifax. Photography by Paul Tucker.
All other images as credited in photo captions.