Enlightenment! Derbyshire Setting the Pace in the Eighteenth Century

Yesterday saw me return to Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, where I had undertaken an internship with the Enlightenment Derbyshire Project in the spring of 2011, undertaking a research project into Ephemera Collections. It was the first time that I had been back since completing my internship and so the first time I got to see the plaque they won at the 2011 Derbyshire Heritage awards on the back of my piece of research.

 

 

My visit also coincided with an exhibition marking the end of the Enlightenment project. The exhibition provides an excellent opportunity to view the new acquisitions made as part of the project, funded by the Heritage Lottery fund's Collecting Cultures Project. The exhibition contained a number of interesting pieces, all of which had a connection to Derbyshire, either having been manufactured there, or been by inhabitants of the county. The exhibition runs in Buxton until Sunday 14 April when it moves on to Strutt's Belper North Mill (Sunday 20 April to Monday 27 May) and then on to Derby Museum and Art Gallery (Sunday 22 June to Sunday 25 August). Further news on the project and information on items purchased as part of the Enlightenment! project can be found on their blog:  www.enlightenmentderbyshire.wordpress.com

BSECS 2013

I recently attended the 42nd Annual Conference of the British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies at St. Hugh's College, Oxford (3-5 January 2013).

This year's theme was 'Credit, Money and the Market' with key note addresses from Professor Robert D. Hulme (Evan Pugh Professor of English Literature, Penn State University) and Professor Julian Hoppit (Astor Professor of British History, University College London). Both papers were interesting and challenging, provoking much discussion as well as causing many of us to re-think aspects of eighteenth-century life.

I heard a number of interesting on a range of topics from Sermons to Art History, The Reign of Queen Anne and the Financial Development of Britain.

In my own field of Caricature, James W. Baker (Paul Mellon Centre for British Art) gave a fascinating paper outlining his present work on the business networks behind the production of prints during the Eighteenth Century. Whilst my own paper, 'The 1797 Invasion Crisis in Caricature' appeared to be well received and sparked a number of questions.