From the British Museum’s global History of the World in 100 objects to the recent gorgeous local publication Te Hao Nui The Great Catch: Object stories from Te Manawa Museum, it is clear that there is renewed interest and excitement in material culture. Antiques, vintage and retro, as well as museum collections and would be collectors are everywhere. What does this mean for the history we research, write, display and put online?
Te Papa and Massey University have joined together to host ‘Material Histories: Antipodean Perspectives’. This symposium brings together historians, curators, artists and designers, plus postgraduate students. International speakers will put research conducted locally into an international perspective. As well, there will be exhibitions and behind the scenes tours of Te Papa. Please join us to hear fascinating accounts from scholars at the cutting edge, see what is being done in print, on display and online, and be part of moving this exciting research area forward!
Date: 15-16 November 2012
Venues: Te Ara Hihiko, Creative Arts Building, Block 12, Massey University, Wellington and Te Papa, on the Wellington Waterfront
Registration and programme – download here.
Enquiries: Bronwyn Labrum B.J.Labrum@massey.ac.nz
Keynote Speaker: Professor Beverly Lemire, Professor & Henry Marshall Tory Chair, Department of History & Classics and Department of Human Ecology, Director of the Material Culture Institute, University of Alberta, Canada
A member of the Royal Society of Canada, her publications include Fashion’s Favourite: The Cotton Trade and the Consumer in Britain, 1660-1800, (1991) Dress, Culture and Commerce, (1997), and The Business of Everyday Life: Gender, Practice and Social Politics in England, c. 1600-1900 (2005). Beverly has worked with collections at major museums in Canada, the US, Portugal, Spain, India and Britain. She has recently completed the book Cotton (2011) for Berg Publishers, in the series entitled ‘Textiles that Changed the World’. With Lesley Miller she co-edited Textile History (2002-2007), the longest-established international journal on the production, consumption, meanings and conservation of textiles and dress. The history of material culture remains one of her long-standing and continuing interests.
Other confirmed speakers include Dr Louise Purbrick (University of Brighton); Dr Graeme Were (University of Queensland); artist Areta Wilkinson; Dr Bronwyn Dalley (independent scholar); Dr Kate Hunter (Victoria University of Wellington); Kirstie Ross (Te Papa); Dr Kerry Taylor (Massey University); Fiona McKergow (independent scholar), Douglas lloyd-Jenkins and Georgina White(Hawke’s Bay Museum) plus a postgraduate panel of current students engaged in material culture studies research.