11:39 a.m., April 22, 2010----The eighth annual Material Culture Symposium for Emerging Scholars, presented by the University of Delaware's Center for Material Culture Studies and Winterthur Museum and Country Estate, will be held Saturday, April 24, at Winterthur. Tours of the museum's collections will be available to those attending.

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The daylong symposium, which this year is titled “Materials of Exchange,” is organized entirely by UD graduate students. It provides emerging scholars -- graduate students and recent doctoral graduates from a variety of academic disciplines, as well as museum professionals -- with a forum for discussion.

The keynote address will be delivered by John Styles, research professor in history at the University of Hertfordshire.

Organizers said the symposium particularly encourages interdisciplinary conversations about material culture, adding that previous gatherings have included scholars and professionals from such fields as anthropology, art history, historical archeology, history and American studies.

At the conference, distinguished scholars provide comments on papers that have been presented and lead discussion sessions. Participants also have the opportunity to take part in roundtable discussions and special tours of Winterthur's collections with graduate students in UD's Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, including tours of the Winterthur library and conservation labs.

The symposium is free and open to the public. Participants can register online in advance through the website, and registration materials also will be available at the door, beginning at 8 a.m.

Symposium speakers and their disciplines and topics include: Jennifer Black, University of Southern California, history, “'A Token of My Sincerity': Autograph Albums and the Visualization of Authenticity in Late-19th-Century Advertising”; Coral Carlson, Northern Illinois University, global history, “Travels of the Smiling Fish: A Chinese Cizhou Motif in Asian, European and American Ceramics”; R. Dustin Cushman, Temple University, anthropology, “Taken to the Grave: European Trade Goods in Delaware Mortuary Contexts During the 17th and Early 18th Centuries”; Caitlin Haskell, University of Texas, art history, “Exchanged and Converted: How Henri Rousseau's Bonne F�te Entered the Avant-Garde”;

Also: Natalya Hopper, Appalachian State University, public history, “Feedsack Fashion in Rural Appalachia: A Social History of Women's Experiences in Ashe County, North Carolina, 1929-1956”; Wan-Chuan Kao, City University of New York, English, “Leather Incarnate: Medieval, American”; Katie Knowles, Rice University, history, “Playing Dress-Up: Exchanging the Garb of Slavery for Fashionable Clothing”; Jeff Manuel, University of Minnesota, history, “The Law's Role in Constructing Material Culture: The Case of Pelletized Iron Ore”; and Anna Rusk, University of Delaware, history, “Collecting the Confederacy: Wartime Souvenirs as Objects of Cultural Exchange.”

Comments will be given by Roderick McDonald, professor of history at Rider University; Terry Snyder, deputy director of library administration at Hagley Museum and Library; and Monica Dominguez Torres, associate professor and associate chair of art history at the University of Delaware.

Links:

Registration through the website (6th graf)
http://www.materialculture.udel.edu/ess_register.html

Center for Material Culture Studies
http://www.materialculture.udel.edu/

Winterthur Museum
http://www.winterthur.org/