Kickstarter | Fashioning the New England Family
From the Massachusetts Historical Society via Kickstarter:
The Massachusetts Historical Society has spent the last two years delving into its collections to uncover stories as told by various examples of clothing, fabric, accoutrements, and associated manuscripts. Through this process, textiles that have largely been divorced from their familial ties have been reunited with family papers. Later this year, we hope to share them with the world through Fashioning the New England Family, a project encompassing a publication, exhibition, and online presentation. But we need your help to bring these stories to life.
What is Fashioning the New England Family?
This is a project that will make accessible the dynamics of fashion, textiles, and costume across the span of our history. The MHS will produce an exhibition and companion volume to fully explore the ways in which the multiple meanings of fashion and fashionable goods are reflected in patterns of consumption and refashioning, recycling, and retaining favorite family pieces.
This is a unique and significant endeavor. Many of the items that will be featured in the project have been out of sight, having never been exhibited for the public or seen in living memory. The publication and exhibition will give scholars, students, and professionals in fields such as fashion, material culture, and history the chance to see these items for the first time; encourage research; and, provide the possibility for new discoveries. For the public, it is an opportunity to view in detail painstaking craftsmanship, discover how examples of material culture relate to significant moments in our history, and learn how garments were used as political statements, projecting an individual’s religion, loyalties, and social status. It may allow some to recognize and appreciate family keepsakes but it will certainly help us all to better understand the messages we may have previously missed in American art and literature. The MHS is dedicated to producing the exhibition, but we need your help to create the companion volume. Our project page will be updated with fun facts, images, and video clips throughout the month of February.
Why Create a Companion Volume?
Planned as a high-quality, full-color publication, this volume will serve both as a record of the exhibition and as a testament to the importance of the textiles and garments it illustrates and describes. The themes and subject matter pursued in the exhibition also provide the frames of reference for the book, which will include a preface by Catherine Allgor, President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a foreword by Anne E. Bentley, MHS Curator of Art and Artifacts. The primary author of the publication and guest curator of the exhibition is Dr. Kimberly S. Alexander.
What’s in the Budget?
While the entire project will cost around $100,000, we have set a Kickstarter campaign goal of $15,000 to produce the companion volume. We want to provide as many people as possible the opportunity to be part of this project. The companion volume is a natural fit for both the Kickstarter community and our mission to make this project as widely accessible as possible. The companion volume will be a lasting resource, serving as both a record of the exhibition and as a testament to the importance of the textiles and garments it illustrates and describes. We are counting on you and other members of the Kickstarter community to make this publication a reality.
What are the Rewards?
First and foremost—our gratitude! The ability to produce a companion volume remains the primary goal of the Society’s Kickstarter campaign. A gift at any level will go towards helping us bring this project to life. All donations also come with an opportunity to be named and publicly thanked as a Kickstarter backer on the Society’s project page. Donations at $15 and more also receive a set of postcards, exclusive to Kickstarter. A successful campaign also means that backers of the project at $50 or more on Kickstarter will be the first to receive the Fashioning the New England Family companion volume.
Backers of the project at higher levels get even more opportunities to engage with and learn about our textile collection. Be sure to check out the special event invitations, tours, and behind-the-scenes opportunities different rewards offer for supporting this project. If our project is completed and the goal is met, you will be asked to fill out a survey so that we can send you your rewards. The MHS is unable to provide your rewards or recognize any gift you made unless the informational survey is completed. Once rewards are shipped, please allow an additional 4–6 weeks for your reward(s) to ship internationally. Note: we are not responsible for international custom fees.
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About the MHS
Founded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society is an invaluable resource for American history, life, and culture. Its extraordinary collections tell the story of America through millions of rare and unique documents, artifacts, and irreplaceable national treasures. As the nation’s first historical society, the MHS strives to enhance the understanding of our nation’s past and its connection to the present, demonstrating that history is not just a series of events that happened to individuals long ago but is integral to the fabric of our daily lives. Its collections are accessible to anyone with an interest in American history. Beyond research, the MHS offers many ways for the public to enjoy its collections including thought-provoking exhibitions, publications, engaging programs, seminars, and teacher workshops.
Call for Papers | The Architecture of James Gibbs
As noted in Salon, the newsletter of the Society of Antiquaries of London, issue 401 (20 February 2018) . . .
The Architecture of James Gibbs
Society of Antiquaries of London, 29 September 2018
Proposals due by 28 February 2018
The Georgian Group is organising a day-long symposium on James Gibbs (1682–1754), to be held at the Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House. The symposium will reassess the work of one of the most important, but still underestimated, British architects of the 18th century, responsible for the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London and the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford, many other commissions throughout the British Isles, and one of the most important 18th-century architectural pattern books. Proposals are invited for 20-minute papers based on original research on any aspect of Gibbs’s work, including his training, his practice, his patrons and clients, and his influence on contemporary and subsequent architecture and design (including urban, garden, and interior design) both in Britain and within the British diaspora. Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words and a CV to Geoffrey Tyack FSA (Kellogg College, Oxford, Editor of The Georgian Group Journal: geoffrey.tyack@kellogg.ox.ac.uk) by the end of February 2018. Notifications of acceptance will be sent before the end of March, and further details will follow soon afterwards.
Wallace Collection Announces £1.2million New Exhibition Space
The Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, London
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons, 2005)
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As announced by The Wallace Collection (13 February 2018) . . .
The Wallace Collection has secured funding to develop expanded exhibition galleries, tripling the capacity of the museum’s existing exhibition space and setting the scene for an ambitious programme of temporary, ticketed [paid] exhibitions. The new space will enable the museum to explore aspects of its existing collection in more depth and collaborate with other institutions, creating partnerships both within the UK and internationally. This transformative project has been made possible by the generosity of The Linbury Trust, the Wolfson Foundation, and an anonymous major donor, creating facilities that reflect the vision and ambition of the Director and Board of Trustees and the growing number of museum visitors.
The new space opens on 19 June 2018 with an inaugural exhibition marking 200 years since the birth of the museum’s founder, Sir Richard Wallace (1818–1890), celebrating him as a great philanthropist and undiscovered cultural luminary. Sir Richard Wallace: The Collector highlights for the first time Sir Richard’s personal contributions to the Collection we know today, focusing on the diverse and idiosyncratic works of art he acquired and his considerable philanthropic legacy. Featuring over twenty works of art collected by Sir Richard, the exhibition explores his eclectic tastes and highlights some of the unexpected treasures of the museum, ranging from a gold trophy head from the Asante Kingdom to imperial ceremonial wine cups from China and a majestic ostrich figure made by the Augsburg silversmith Elias Zorer.
In 2019, Henry Moore: The Helmet Head Series (working title) will be our first paid exhibition, presented in partnership with the Henry Moore Foundation. Moore’s powerful sculptures and drawings will be juxtaposed with Renaissance helmets from the Wallace Collection, which he studied while he was a student at the Royal College in the 1920s. Moore took great inspiration from the Arms and Armour galleries at the Wallace, and this exhibition will demonstrate for the first time a direct connection between Moore’s work and works of art on display within the museum. This inaugural exhibition will be followed by a wide ranging programme of both contemporary and old master exhibitions that will present our extensive collections of paintings, sculpture, armour, and decorative arts in a new light.
Dr Xavier Bray, Director of the Wallace Collection, says: “The Wallace Collection is the greatest gift ever made to the nation, and this new space will enable us to shine a light on the immense quality of our works of art and raise the profile of the museum. The exhibition programme at the Wallace will provide an opportunity to get to know our collection in new ways as well as collaborate with other cultural institutions. Thanks to the generous support of three major donors, who have made it possible to extend our exhibition galleries, we will be able to reach our potential as a truly international institution, sharing the museum with a broader and more diverse audience both at home and abroad.”
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