Today, I received a large brown box with David Garrick inside – well, ok, a Staffordshire figurine depicting him in the role of Richard III. I purchased him on eBay for 10 pounds, a pretty awesome deal for such a celebrated actor. He’s obviously been around for a while, as a slightly chipped nose and … Continue reading David Garrick in the mail
Celebrity c. 1849
I’m reading an article by Stella Tillyard on celebrity in Georgian England and she references the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of celebrity. According to the OED, the term “celebrity” wasn’t applied to a person until 1849. But I’m fairly confident that I came across descriptions of Master Betty as a “celebrity” in some of the pamphlets I … Continue reading Celebrity c. 1849
Jean D, is this you?
The other night, in preparation for my trip to Halifax, I fell down an eBay rabbit hole and spent about an hour looking at Staffordshire figurines. I ended up bidding on a really interesting figurine of David Garrick as Richard III (the tent scene just after he awakens from his dream) because it seemed relatively inexpensive. … Continue reading Jean D, is this you?
Halifax trip
Here are some more photos from my trip to Halifax. On Thursday, Dalhousie professor Shannon Brownlee took me out for an excursion to Peggy’s Cove. What a beautiful spot! And on Friday, I had a chance to walk through Halifax’s stately Public Gardens. It was like stepping back in time – appropriate for this project. … Continue reading Halifax trip
Precious Objects in Halifax
On Thursday night, I gave a lecture entitled “Precious Objects: The Material Culture of Nineteenth-Century Child Performers” at Dalhousie as part of the MacKay Lecture series. The audience seemed quite receptive (perhaps it was the slide with images from Us Weekly’s “Stars – They’re Just Like Us” pages) and I received some really excellent questions from students … Continue reading Precious Objects in Halifax
Getting ready for Halifax
On Wednesday, I leave for Halifax, where I’ll be giving a guest lecture as part of the MacKay Lecture Series at Dalhousie University. The theme this year is “Performance Across Boundaries,” which resonates so strongly with the research I’m conducting for this project, e.g. boundaries of age, gender, region, class, nation, human/nonhuman, object/subject. I’m really … Continue reading Getting ready for Halifax