Conference | Memory and Meaning in Southern Silver

Posted in conferences (to attend) by Editor on July 19, 2024

From MESDA:

Memory and Meaning in Southern Silver
Online and in-person, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, NC, 20–21 September 2024

Silver and memory are deeply linked as individuals often commission pieces to mark significant moments in their lives and then pass those objects along to future generations. Please plan to join us on September 20th and 21st as we delve into the lives of southern silver makers and patrons who used silver to create memory and meaning in the early American South.

Featured speakers include Ben Miller of Shrubsole and the Magazine Antique’s Curious Objects podcast, author and scholar Catherine Hollan, and Colonial Williamsburg’s Erik Goldstein. In addition to an opening keynote and a day of dynamic lectures, attendees will also have an opportunity to examine MESDA’s silver collection up close during an open house in the MESDA study rooms.

Virtual registration is available for a suggested donation. In-person registration ($325, or $315 for Frank L. Horton Society Members) includes the keynote lecture and reception, one pastry breakfast, one coffee break, one lunch, all lectures proposed on the agenda, and an admission ticket to Old Salem Museums & Gardens. Attendees will also receive exclusive access to the recordings of the lectures for a limited period of time after the program concludes.

f r i d a y , 2 0 s e p t e m b e r

5.00 Opening Reception and Keynote by Ben Miller

s a t u r d a y , 2 1 s e p t e m b e r

9.15 Welcome

9.30 Catherine Hollan — Why Reassess Southern Silver Scholarship

10.15 Alexandra MacDonald — ‘To Brighten Every Painful Hour’: The Follet Family Sampler

10.35 Coffee Break

11.00 Erik Goldstein — Williamsburg’s ‘Madison’ Horse Racing Trophy

11.30 Cynthia Jenkins — Historic Beaufort’s ‘Hamar Cup’

12.00 Lunch

1.00 Charlotte Crabtree — Put the Lime in the Coconut: Silver and Coconut Drinking Vessels in the South

1.45 Emily Whitted — Wealth from the Water: Murky Metal in the Shadow of the Santee River, 1785–2003