Things: Material Cultures of the Long 18th Century
Alternate Tuesdays, 12.30-14.30 during term time
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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Programme 2011-12
For further information click the individual event title.
Easter Term 2012
Dr Melissa Calaresu (University of Cambridge) and Dr Emma Spary (University of Cambridge)
Dr Mary Brooks (York Museums Trust) and Dr Tara Hamling (University of Birmingham)
Dr James Davey, Dr John McAleer and Dr Quintin Colville (all National Maritime Museum)
Dr Sam Alberti (Royal College of Surgeons) and Faramerz Dabhoiwala (Exeter College, Oxford).
Lent Term 2012
Prof John Styles (University of Hertfordshire) and Amy Miller (National Maritime Museum)
Dr Philippa Hubbard (Adam Matthew Digital) and Jenny Basford (University of York)
Dame Rosalind Savill (Wallace Collection) and Dr Anne Gerritsen (University of Warwick)
Dr Katie Scott (Courtauld Institute of Art) and Dr Hannah Williams (University of Oxford)
Michaelmas Term 2011
Each seminar will feature two talks each considering the same type of object from different perspectivesProfessor Simon Schaffer (HPS, Cambridge) and Professor Nick Thomas (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge)
Dr Kim Sloan (British Museum) and Dr Charlie Jarvis (Natural History Museum)
Dr Richard Dunn (National Maritime Museum) and Dr Alexi Baker (HPS, Cambridge)
Dr Catherine Eagleton (British Museum) and Dr Martin Allen (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)
