The Case of Joseph Merrick: Fictionalising Disability in the Museum Space

This chapter discusses how interdisciplinary methods might broaden the horizons of identity politics through revisiting material histories. The chapter addresses Joseph Merrick’s objects in the Royal London Hospital Museum alongside Frederick Treves’ memoir The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences (1923) and the play by Bernard Pomerance and film directed by David Lynch of the same name, The Elephant Man (1980). The chapter concerns how objects (including hats, veils, and dressing bags) associated with Merrick’s public image have defined him in potentially misleading ways, or at the very least, have closed considerations of alternative interpretations. It argues that fictionalising objects might have the capacity to flesh out redundant disability narratives, examining the Royal London Hospital Museum’s role in fashioning Merrick’s public image.