Interpreting the 19th Century for the benefit of the 21st.

12 - 15 JULY 2001

Call for expressions of interest

The year 2001 will mark the sesquicentenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the centenary of the death of Queen Victoria. Coinciding with the dawn of a new millennium, these anniversaries provide the opportunity to review our interpretation of the culture of the Victorian period. The Science Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum in London's South Kensington, a cultural quarter itself funded from the profits of the Great Exhibition, will therefore host a great Victorian festival with major exhibitions and an international conference which will interpret the 19th Century for the benefit of the 21st.

The dates of the conference will be 12-15 July 2001. The location will be in South Kensington, London, with events at the Museums. Accommodation will be arranged at hotels and at local university dormitories. Before and after the meeting there will be a variety of more specialised groups meeting under the rubric of 'The Victorian Fringe'. It is likely that the registration cost will be between £100 and £150. In some cases it may be possible to defray part of the cost.

The meeting is being structured so as to be interdisciplinary, broadly-based and summative. It is intended to foster communication between students of all branches of Victorian history, culture and literature. It will address questions such as the Victorian concepts of progress and time, of certainty and reality, of participation and inclusion, of gender and class, of association and organisation, of art and imagination.

Developing ideas

During 1999 we intend to consult extensively so as to construct a meeting with the widest possible appeal and the greatest possible benefits for the future.

Currently the planning committee is thinking of 10 to 15 themes each of which will incorporate four to six sessions perhaps made up of three papers or, alternatively, of discussion panels. We are however eager to hear proposals for unconventional formats. Themes should each be multidisciplinary incorporating treatments of literature, art, culture, economics, science, technology etc.

We see contributions to this conference as summations and interpretations rather than opportunities to present new research findings. Some potential themes chosen to highlight the interdisciplinary intent are listed below. These themes are of course subject to revision as the conference takes shape. We now seek proposals from anyone who would like to be a theme organiser. Please give a brief description of your concept of the theme, possible panel headings and indicative lists of people you would invite to speak. On the basis of these proposals, the selected organisers will then be asked to invite speakers formally. We encourage partnerships of two organisers for each theme.

Organising group:

• Robert Bud of the Science Museum (convenor),
• Bob Bloomfield (Natural History Museum),
• Paul Greenhalgh (Victoria & A l b e r t Museum),
• and Michael Wolff (University of Massachusetts) is being guided by a wide-ranging planning committee.

Submitting suggestions

Please submit your ideas not later than 1 October 1999.

If you do intend to do so, we would be grateful if you could alert us to your interest now or as soon as possible by emailing j.davies@nmsi.ac.uk, using the subject name 'Victorian themes' and indicating the likely theme and your name. Of course if you have any special vision of how you would organise your theme, then please mention it.

Even if you do not wish to organise a session but would like to attend, please tell us what you would like to experience at the meeting or get out of the occasion. Please email j.davies@nmsi.ac.uk using the subject name 'Victorian conference' with your suggestions. While we cannot promise to satisfy everyone, we shall try to use the time available to organise a truly memorable conference.