Workshop and Call for Papers
Textiles and Dress from Below: Ordinary and Everyday Textiles and Dress in Museums and Historic Houses
Thursday 7 June 2018
University of Wolverhampton, UK
CHORD invites submissions for a workshop that explores mundane, functional and ‘ordinary’ textiles and dress in museum and historic house collections.
Papers focusing on any historical period or geographical area are welcome. We define ordinary and mundane broadly, including ‘everyday’ objects or collections that might be rare and valuable, or ‘ordinary’ items that might be carefully crafted and highly decorative. Both textiles and clothing are of interest, as are all aspects of their care, display, interpretation or conservation.
Museum professionals, conservators, students, academic scholars or anybody with an interest in the topic are warmly invited to submit a proposal. We welcome both experienced and new speakers, including speakers without an institutional affiliation.
Some of the themes that might be considered include (but are not limited to):
- Working-class clothing and domestic furnishings
- Mass-produced textiles and dress
- Collecting and displaying the mundane in museums
- Workwear, hard-wearing textiles, wear and tear.
- Ordinary dress and textiles and decorations, embellishments and design
- Functional and protective textiles: curtains, carpets, doilies, antimacassars…
- Recreating interiors and replacing historic textiles
- Re-used and recycled textiles and clothes
Individual papers are usually 20 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes for questions and discussion. We also welcome shorter, 10 minute ‘work in progress’ presentations, also followed by 10 minutes for discussion.
Small bursaries will be available for speakers to subsidise the cost of travel (within the UK) and the workshop fee.
To submit a proposal, please send title and abstract of c.300 to 400 words, specifying whether you are proposing a 10 or a 20 minute presentation to Laura Ugolini, at l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk by 9 March 2018.
If you are unsure whether to submit a proposal or would like to discuss your ideas before submission, you are encouraged to e-mail Laura Ugolini at l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk
The workshop will be held at Wolverhampton University City Campus, a short walk from Wolverhampton’s bus and train stations. Maps and directions are available HERE
For further information, please e-mail Laura Ugolini at: l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk
