Maude delap’s domestic science: Island spaces and gendered fieldwork in irish natural history

This chapter explores the gendered practice and cultures of fieldwork through a critical examination of the life and work of the Irish Victorian natural scientist, Maude Delap (1866–1953). Drawing on previously unpublished primary sources such as field notebooks and other archival material from Delap’s scientific laboratory, the chapter offers a critical evaluation of the different registers of Delap’s ‘spaces’ in the study of natural history. In particular, it examines the interplay and crossover between private and public, between ‘inner’ spaces and the official spaces of the ‘built’ environment (from the domestic, laboratory, fieldwork, and international intellectual spheres), with regard to Delap’s contribution to Irish and European maritime cultures through her correspondence with various national and academic institutions, including the National Museum of Ireland, the Royal Irish Academy, and the University of London.