Arts Lab

10:30am to 12pm, Wednesday May 12th 2021, via Zoom

ABSTRACT: In the course of researching and writing my 2020 book The Ephemeral Eighteenth Century: Print, Sociability and the Cultures of Collecting, I have been encouraged by and learnt from a new ‘ephemera studies’ that has emerged as a sub-field in eighteenth-century and Romantic period studies in the last ten years or so. New work is being produced on collectors of printed ephemera, most notably Sarah Sophia Banks, on ephemera in relation to the codex-form book and literary cultures, and on genres such as the playbill. The development of this interest is closely linked with digitisation that has made collections of ephemera accessible and generally more visible, in databases such as the John Johnson Collection and the British Library playbills project. It has also been influenced by the broader context of the ephemerality of electronic communication in the 21st century, the rapidity and evanescence of messaging and the manageability of the information that we daily absorb and forget. In this paper I’d like to reflect broadly on the category of printed ephemera and the new ‘ephemera studies’ in relation to some key conceptual issues, mainly how we define the category of printed ephemera itself in relation to some influential paradigms in literary and social history. The latter part of the paper will focus on a particular example of printed ephemera of the period – the poster or placard -- with reference to radical print culture post 1815, particularly the ‘Radical War’ in Scotland.

BIOGRAPHY: Gillian Russell is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature in the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York and Director of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies. She is author of, most recently, The Ephemeral Eighteenth Century: Print, Sociability, and the Cultures of Collecting (CUP, 2020) and has book chapters forthcoming on melodrama and ‘true crime’ in the 1820s, Charles Lamb in the British Museum library, and visual representations of the Regency theatre.

Sign up here for the link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-can-we-do-with-ephemera-studies-professor-gillian-russell-tickets-149751140693.

Wednesday 20 January 2021 at 2pm

This book launch and discussion celebrates the work of Collections Lab member Dr Minna Törmä, who has recently published her new monograph, Nordic Private Collections of Chinese Objects.  

This is a free online event, please register on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-nordic-private-collections-of-chinese-objects-tickets-135721579899 

Nordic Private Collections of Chinese Objects has been published by Routledge in the series The Histories of Material Culture and Collecting, 1700-1950. 

Dr Minna Törmä explores in this book the ways in which Nordic private collectors displayed their collections of Chinese objects in their homes. This leads to a reconsideration of how to define collecting and display by analysing the difference between objects serving as decorative or collectible items, while tracing collecting and display trends of the twentieth century. She examines four Scandinavian collections as case studies: Kustaa Hiekka, Sophus Black, Osvald Sirén and Marie-Louise and Gunnar Didrichsen, all of whom had professional backgrounds (a jeweller, two businessmen and a scholar) and for whom collecting became a passion and an educational endeavour.  

Minna Törmä will be joined for a discussion on the homes of private collectors and their displays of objects by Dr Stacey Pierson (Reader, SOAS) and Dr Helen Glaister (Course Director, V&A Arts of Asia Year Course and Senior Teaching Fellow, SOAS). 

The event is supported by Collections Lab at the University of Glasgow and China Art Research Network (CARN; https://carnuk.wordpress.com) 

When: Friday 10 January 2020, 1pm to 5pm

Where: Kelvin Hall Lecture Theatre

Description: Showcase event to highlight the range and diversity of collections-related research going on across the university.  This event will follow the five-minute presentation format of the successful 'Collections, Then and Now' event held in October 2017 in order to allow as many people as possible to introduce their interests.  Collections Lab Showcase Programme

When: 2 July 2019

Where: Kelvin Hall Teaching Lab 

Description:

Our aim with the Collections Residency is to build community between key stakeholders across the university whose work has close ties to the Lab's mission, and to plan the Lab's future directions for the coming year and beyond. The residency--a day of working together with materials from various kinds of collections--provides an opportunity to explore our diverse approaches to collections through conversation and collaboration. 

10:00 - 12:10 Welcome & Workshop with objects in museum collections, led by Dahlia Porter and Lola Sanchez-Jauregui  
12:10  - 12:45 Tour of the Stores at Kelvin Hall, led by Mungo Campbell
14:00 - 15:00 Book objects and book collections, led by Matt Sangster and Dahlia Porter
15:00 - 16:15 Digital collections and digitization projects, led by Lorna Hughes and Maria Economou
16:30 - 17:30 Collections Lab future directions
17:30 - 18:30 Wine reception

Lecture and Discussion: Thursday 21 March, 17:15, Kelvin Hall Lecture Theatre
With Dr. Giovanna Vitelli, the former Director of the University Engagement Programme at the Ashmolean Museum.

Workshop With Objects: Friday 22 March, 10:00-12:00, Kelvin Hall Teaching Lab

These events are open to academic staff, post grads, curators, and collections management staff. Whether you are curious about how to integrate a collections-based session into an existing course, or want to know more about collaborating on a new course, these events will give you practical strategies and ideas for teaching with collections. In the lecture, Dr. Vitelli will discuss her work with the grant-supported University Engagement Programme at the Ashmolean; the workshop will engage participants with sample exercises.

Monday 26 November, 2018, 14:00-15:00, Hunterian Art Gallery

Tour and discussion of 'William Hunter and the Anatomy of the Modern Museum' exhibition, led by curator with curator Lola Sanchez-Jauregui, followed by tea and a discussion of collections-related research at Glasgow, which will feed into Collections Lab events in 2019.

Thursday 17 May - Friday 18 May 2018, Hunterian Art Gallery lecture theatre and Henry Heaney room, 12th floor library

Public program of lectures and roundtables focused on building partnerships and collaborations between museum, library and academic staff to advance collections-related research at University of Glasgow.

Keynote lectures by:

Jane Pickering, Director of Harvard University Museums of Science and Culture
‘Handle with care: glass flowers, partnerships, and diverse museum cultures at Harvard’

Kim Sloan, Curator of British Drawings and Watercolours before 1880 and Francis Finlay Curator of the Enlightenment Gallery, British Museum
‘Displaying, teaching and researching Enlightenment collections in the British Museum’

Monday 12 February 2018, 12:45-17:00, Kelvin Hall Lecture Theatre and Teaching Labs

Join us for a series of object-based workshops, methods sessions, and research discussion clusters led by staff and curators from across the university. Object-based workshops will focus on material drawn from the Hunterian collections, providing an opportunity to investigate practical and theoretical questions about how we study and work with collections. Methods-based sessions will focus on practical and technical methods of analyzing objects in collections. Discussion sessions are designed to be informal and allow a group to explore issues around teaching with objects and foment potential research collaborations around shared interests. 

Tuesday 23 October 2017, 11.45-17.30, Kelvin Hall lecture theatre 

A program of 40 five-minute presentations by University of Glasgow curatorial and academic staff and graduate students will showcase the diverse and innovative collections-related research being undertaken across the University.