Things: Material Cultures of the Long Eighteenth Century

Alternate Tuesdays, 12.30-14.30 during term time
CRASSH
From January 2012 at  Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, CB3 9DP

Conveners

Katy Barrett       Co-Secretary  (Department of History and Philosophy of Science)
Sophie Waring   Co-Secretary (Department of History and Philosophy of Science)
Adrian Leonard  Treasurer  (Affiliate Research Student, Winton Centre for Financial History)
Susannah Brooke  (Faculty of History)
Molly Dorkin  (Department of History of Art)
Simon Layton  (Faculty of History)
Eoin Phillips  (Department of History and Philosophy of Science)
Jonathan Yarker  (Department of History of Art)

Faculty Advisors

Dr Melisssa Calaresu (Faculty of History)
Dr Patricia Fara ( Director of Studies, Dept of History and Philosophy of Science)
Dr Mark Goldie (Chairman and Reader in British Intellectual History, Fac of History)
Dr William O'Reilly (Associate Director, Centre for History and Economics)
Professor Simon Schaffer (Professor of History of Science, HPS)
Professor Liba Taub (Director and Curator of the Whipple Museum, HPS)
Professor Nick Thomas (Prof of Historical Anthropology, Director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology)
Dr Richard Dunn (Curator of the History of Navigation, National Maritime Museum)
Dr Catherine Eagleton (Curator of Modern Money, British Museum)
Dr Kim Sloan (Francis Finlay Curator of the Enlightenment Galleries and Curator of British Watercolours and Drawings before 1880, British Museum)

 

The eighteenth century was the century of ‘stuff.’ Public production, collection, display and consumption of objects grew in influence, popularity, and scale. The form, function, and use of objects, ranging from scientific and musical instruments to weaponry and furnishings were influenced by distinct features of the time. Eighteenth-century knowledge was not divided into strict disciplines, in fact practice across what we now see as academic boundaries was essential to material creation. This seminar series will use an approach based on objects to encourage us to consider the unity of ideas of the long-eighteenth century, to emphasise the lived human experience of technology and art, and the global dimension of material culture. We will re-discover the interdisciplinary thinking through which eighteenth-century material culture was conceived, gaining new perspectives on the period through its artefacts.

 

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In addition to the CRASSH-webpage, you can find more information about  the group from their external blog Things C18th  
(CRASSH is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)


 
 

Administrative contact Esther Lamb (Grad/Fac Programme Manager)