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Henry Pierrepont, Grace Pierrepont, and the Dorchester Library
Doctoral researcher and artist Catherine James explores the Dorchester family's role in the history of the RCP's library.
Why are the books blue?
This text is based on the talk I gave at the opening event for the A Body of Knowledge exhibition on 11th September 2025. It explains some of the background of my research project, as well as the context for the Making Visible installation.
The Making Visible installation is one way in which I am sharing the findings of my research project, Women’s Ownership of Tudor and Stuart Medical Knowledge, with the Royal College of Physicians and with the public. Strict emphasis on verifiable biographical records as necessary components of the provenance field in library catalogues has rendered women’s activities as owners and users of medical knowledge invisible. Material examination of the books in the library (that is, taking them off the shelves one by one, looking at each page) means that we can now populate the provenance field in the catalogue – but those details will not be seen by the majority of the people who use this space.
The Dorchester Library in the 1960s set up for a ceremony.
The books that line the Dorchester Library were used by Denys Lasdun as visible building blocks to create the core space of the Royal College of Physician’s corporate identity. Individual researchers may request access to individual books – but the RCP as an organisation use this room as both a backdrop for ceremonial events, and as an important source of revenue (because it is a popular event venue). The visual impact of the room is critical to its use for both purposes. As I have stood and worked in this room, I have seen people come in and react to it. Staff members showing visitors around are excited to show them the space. People want to linger there. The story that is told is that the library is named for the Marquis of Dorchester because he gave his book collection to the college after the library was destroyed by the Great Fire of London. But that is not quite what happened; Lord Dorchester gave his books to his daughter, Grace Pierrepont. I have written briefly about Grace Pierrepont here.
Installation view of Making Visible.
The scale of Grace Pierrepont’s donation is what gives this intervention in the way the library is presented its impact. The original objective of my project was to make space in the archive for the contributions of unknown women, but as Grace Pierrepont’s role became clear, I wanted to tell her story as well – and I wanted to use the visual language of the library to do that. The blue books make the scale of Grace Pierrepont’s contribution to this collection immediately visible.
One reason for communicating the findings in this way is that it is an efficient way for the institutional archive to re-establish the story (because the exhibition documentation will be taken up by the archive). But the main reason is to share some of the findings of my project with the people who work in and use this space in a way that is interesting and accessible. This work has been funded as a collaborative effort between researchers and the host organisation. This means that ownership of the work is also shared between these parties, and this includes sharing access to the findings. The visual impact of the room is what most people remember, so making an intervention that disrupts that visual impact is a way of engaging this audience.
Sketch of the Dorchester Library Gallery (2020, ink)
Library Trolley (2021, silkscreen)
Preliminary design for a silkscreen print based on Making Visible (2025)
Artist-led interventions in museum spaces are not new, but it is unusual for individual objects to be the site(s) of the intervention as they are here. Using heritage collection objects as the material for a creative intervention is far more restrictive than making work from scratch using new materials and a white box gallery space. The books have dictated the materials that I could use, and the limits to how I use them. These restrictions have effectively imposed a visual simplicity on the finished work. And in the same way that I have added a layer of material to make this section of the library stand out, the room itself is adding another visual layer that hints at the hidden interiors of the books – although you have to look closely to see it, in the same way that I have had to look closely at each book to find the evidence of women’s ownership. (If you look closely at the patterns thrown onto the blue paper by the grille of the bookcase and the overhead lights, they resemble the marble end papers in many of the books.)
Finally, London Arts and Humanities Partnership funds projects that are either arts focused, or humanities focused. My project is humanities focused, but this installation blurs the boundaries a between using a data visualisation technique to communicate research findings, and creative practice-based methods.
Catherine James
Artist and doctoral researcher
Acknowledgements
Funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council via London Arts and Humanities Partnership
I am grateful to all the volunteers who gave up their time to help wrap books in July and August 2025: Ruth Andrew, Katie Birkwood, Catrina Brizzi, Ella Boucht, Natalia Clark, Cristina Dario, Kathryn Davies, Annabel Dorling, Liz Douglas, Felix Lancashire, Yvonne Lewis, Finn Manders, Anita Simonds, Holly Wilkins, Katherine Willis.