The majority of historians and theorists, exclusively research either the Exhibition or the Festival. Rarely have both occasions been contrasted and interrogated in an academic context. However, some look at the cultural history between these key events of the mid 19th and 20th centuries. Jeffrey Auerbach reveals in The Great Exhibition of 1851 - A Nation on
Display that the Exhibition was a glorification of Empire but only mentions the Festival of Britain in terms of the Exhibition’s nostalgic legacy. Harriet Atkinson’s wonderfully descriptive book The Festival of Britain - A Land and
its People describes the Festival of Britain as an event that transformed a nation, but seldom compares the Festival to the Great Exhibition of 1851. This thesis, entitled Transforming national identity & legacy through
British expositions, explores the way these unparalleled nationwide events, provided a forum for experimentation and debate over what it meant to be British. My analysis of the ideas and rhetoric behind both events presents an opportunity to examine and compare the concept, structure and impact of their legacy. Textural readings through archival research and detailed analysis of architecture and exhibits. Along with promotional literature one can evaluate not only the legacy of these two pivotal events, but the reshaping of our understanding of national identity. The study proposes a tri-parte structure, the first section analyses the proposals of the Great Exhibition in 1851, from the organisers struggle to host such an audacious event, to its legacy and the birth of the Exhibition Road in South Kensington. The second chapter investigates the 1951 Festival, in a similar vein, exploring how successful the Festival was at rebuilding national pride and its physical inheritance. Finally in the interest of comparison chapter three, simultaneously evaluates the structure and design of both events. How does one investigate the phoenix of these events, from the opulence of the Great Exhibition with the British Empire at its zenith, to the Festival of Britain and aftermath of post-war Britain, with the Empire on its knees. How did the Great Exhibition and the Festival of Britain, reflect a nation’s hopes and aspirations in such contrasting times? How might London in the 21st century an age of great uncertainty provide us with a glimpse of the future?
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