Skip to main content
  • Visit
  • What's on
  • Collections
  • Discover
  • Schools
  • Our impact
  • Support us
  • Your account
  • Basket
  • Shop
  • Search
  • Become a Member

Site Menu.

  • Search
  • Become a Member
  • What's on
  • Discover
  • Your account
  • Basket
  • Shop
  • Become a Member
Research Associate

Dr Nicole Hartwell

You are here:

  1. Home
  2. Dr Nicole Hartwell

Research interest / expertise: Colonial military history, provenance research, memorialisation.

Nicole has particular interest in the history and material culture of colonial military campaigns fought by British and imperial forces in Africa and India, c. 1750 -1900. Alongside her role at National Museums Scotland she is a Junior Research Fellow at Selwyn College, Cambridge researching the history of the British Indian Army. Her most recent publications include, ‘Framing colonial war loot: The “captured” spolia opima of Kunwar Singh’ published in the Journal of the History of Collections, and a co-written chapter with Henrietta Lidchi in the edited volume, Museums, Societies and the Creation of Value. She co-curated the Legacies of Empire exhibition currently held at the National War Museum, Edinburgh Castle, and has spoken to varied audiences on research topics including provenance research, colonial collections in UK military museums, military material culture, and South Asian military history, arms and armour. 

Selected publications

Hartwell, Nicole M., 'Framing colonial war loot: The "captured" spolia opima of Kunwar Singh', Journal of the History of Collections, online advance article, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhc/fhab042

Lidchi, Henrietta and Nicole M. Hartwell, ‘Colonial collections in British military museums: Of objects, materiality and sentiment’, in Robyn McKenzie and Howard Morphy (eds), Museums, Societies and the Creation of Value (London: Routledge, 2021), chapter three.

Email address
n.hartwell@nms.ac.uk

Visit

  • National Museum of Scotland
  • National Museum of Flight
  • National Museum of Rural Life
  • National War Museum
  • National Museums Collection Centre

Useful links

  • About us
  • Jobs and volunteering
  • Press
  • Venue hire
  • Picture library
  • Contact us

Connect with us

  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up here
Back to topTop

Secondary links

  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Website accessibility
  • Terms of use
  • Ticketing terms and conditions
  • Website carbon management

Small Print

National Museums Scotland ©2025. Charity Number: SC011130.

Website by Supercool.