Maeva O'Brien -- Bristol, England

This exhibit explores the world of Bristol, England, in the decades leading up to the American Revolution—what contemporaries would have called civil war or the American Rebellion. A seaport deeply embedded in transatlantic trade networks as well as English manufacturing and trade, Bristol's economic growth throughout the eighteenth century often relied on stimulus from Britain's North American colonies. This exhibit examines the relationship between Bristol's economy and culture, seeking to understand how its investments and perceived centrality in global culture and contemporary political discourse shaped its reactions to American independence.