Lewis Ryder, "Connoisseurs and conmen: The contest for cultural authority in early twentieth-century Britain" (Manchester UP, 2026)

About this episode

Dr. Lewis Ryder discusses his book on John Hilditch and the contest for cultural authority in early twentieth-century Britain.

⁠Connoisseurs and conmen: The contest for cultural authority in early twentieth-century Britain⁠ (Manchester University Press, 2026) by Dr. Lewis Ryder examines John Hilditch (1872-1930), a notorious collector of Chinese art who lied, hoaxed and manipulated in his struggle against museum experts to become a cultural authority. Previously overlooked as a pest with a dubious collection, this book uses Hilditch to interrogate how far the monumental social, cultural and political changes of the early twentieth century unsettled social and cultural hierarchies and how these hierarchies were remade. It shows how the cultural elites were forced to engage with the public and re-draw the boundaries of citizenship, expertise and high and low culture in response to unprecedented social mobility, the democratisation of culture and politics, as well as the effects of British imperialism which brought ordinary Britons access to antiquities as well as confidence to claim expertise over foreign cultures. The book will interest social and cultural historians of Modern Britain, museum scholars and art historians. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose ⁠book⁠ focuses on…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher

Guest: Dr. Lewis Ryder

Topics covered

• cultural authority
• museum studies
• Chinese art
• social mobility
• British imperialism
• cultural hierarchies

Keywords

• cultural authority
• John Hilditch
• Chinese art
• museum experts
• social change
• cultural elites
• democratisation
• British imperialism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Manchester University Press

More episodes of New Books in Museum Studies

• David Cunningham on Contesting Confederate Monuments (JP) · June 4, 2026 · 51 min
• Homes of the Past · June 1, 2026
• “You Sound So Australian”: From Being Read to Rewriting the Room with guest Zindzi Okenyo · May 30, 2026
• Kanika Singh, "The Story of a Sikh Museum: Heritage, Politics, Popular Culture" (Cambridge UP, 2025) · May 27, 2026 · 40 min
• Kristin LaFollette, "Rehumanizing People of the Past: Bioarchaeology, Medical Museums and Archives, and the Human Remains Trade" (SUNY Press, 2026) · May 20, 2026 · 55 min
• Angela I. Fritz, "AI and Digital Leadership: Transforming Libraries, Archives, and Museums for the Future" (Bloomsbury, 2026) · May 15, 2026 · 54 min