17 August 2010

The Ideal Book: William Morris and the Kelmscott Press Exhibition in Buffalo, NY


From 7 October 2010 to 30 January 2011 the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, in Buffalo, NY, will hold an exhibition entitled The Ideal Book: William Morris and the Kelmscott Press. The library—let's not forget that Buffalo was in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries one of the largest and most affluent American cities—has a remarkably rich and diverse collection of rare books and manuscripts. Most of the Kelmscott Press titles are there, including the famous Chaucer. Also on display as well will be a selection of books from active in the "revival of printing" influenced in some way by Morris, such as the Roycroft, Doves, Vale, Ashendene, and Essex House Presses. Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to learn about the history of the Kelmscott Press, the life of William Morris, important individuals like Edward Burne-Jones and Emery Walker and the profound impact of Morris on the theories of book design in the 20th century. Free and open to the public.
7 October 2010–30 January 2011
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
1 Lafayette Square
Buffalo, NY 14203
Info: Robert Alessi, Special Collections Librarian
Illustration: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. [Hammersmith: Kelmsoctt Press, 1896]. (Buffalo and Erie County Public Library).

Update on the "Useful & Beautiful" Confernce and Related Events in Delaware, 7–9 October 2010

An update on the conference, "Useful & Beautiful: The Transatlantic Arts of William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites, " to be held at the University of Delaware, Winterthur Museum & Country Estate, and the Delaware Art Museum on 7–9 October 2010:

Online Registration
Online registration is now available (along with mail-in forms) at www.udel.edu/conferences/uandb/
The registration fee is $150 or $75 for students. There is no charge for University of Delaware students, faculty, and staff to attend the conference (although there is a fee for the lunch on Friday, if you wish to have that).

Additional Events
In addition to the previously announced keynote lecture by Fred Kaplan, the sessions of papers at UD, the demonstrations by Arts and Crafts practitioners at Winterthur, the symposium "Pre-Raphaelites in the 21st Century" at the Delaware Art Museum, the Morris Kitsch Archive installation at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, the performance (optional, at an additional charge) of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest by the Repertory Ensemble at UD, the museum and gallery exhibitions, etc., we have the following possibilities:
  • "Kindred Spirits: William Morris, Arnold Dolmetsch and Music,"—a concert on Thursday night, 7 October, Bayard Sharp Hall, University of Delaware. Karen Flint (harpsichord and virginals), Laura Heimes (soprano), and John Burkhalter (recorder) perform music drawn from the Dolmetsch repertory, including works by Byrd, Farnaby, Gibbons, Purcell, Handel, and Arne
  • display of Aesthetic dress from the Historic Costume and Textiles Collection, 1 October–17 December 2010, Alison Hall, University of Delaware
  • film program, Saturday night, 9 October, on the UD campus
Hotels
Only a small number of rooms remain available at the Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware. We have arranged for additional blocks of rooms at the Embassy Suites and the Sleep Inn.

More details will be found at www.udel.edu/conferences/uandb
or contact
Mark Samuels Lasner
Senior Research Fellow
University of Delaware Library
181 South College Avenue
Newark, DE 19717
Tel (302) 831-3250
Illustration: Daisy Print Wellington Boot, detail from David Mabb, The Morris Kitsch Archive. Laminated digital print, 2009. 8.5 x 12 in. (Courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Tamara Henriques.)

07 August 2010

University of Delaware Library/Delaware Art Museum Fellowship in Pre-Raphaelite Studies

University of Delaware Library/Delaware Art Musum
FELLOWSHIP IN PRE-RAPHAELITE STUDIES
2011

The University of Delaware Library and the Delaware Art Museum are pleased to offer the 2011 joint Fellowship in Pre-Raphaelite studies. This short-term, one-month Fellowship, awarded annually, is intended for scholars conducting significant research in the lives and works of the Pre-Raphaelites and their friends, associates, and followers. Research of a wider scope, which considers the Pre-Raphaelite movement and related topics in relation to Victorian art and literature, and cultural or social history, will also be considered. Projects which provide new information or interpretation—dealing with unrecognized figures, women writers and artists, print culture, iconography, illustration, catalogues of artists' works, or studies of specific object—are particularly encouraged, as are those which take into account transatlantic relations between Britain and the United States.

Receiving the Fellowship
The recipient will be expected to be in residence and to make use of the resources of both the Delaware Art Museum and the University of Delaware Library. The recipient may also take advantage of these institutions' proximity to other collections, such as the Winterthur Museum and Library, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Princeton University Library, and the Bryn Mawr College Library. Each recipient is expected to make a public presentation about his or her research during the course of Fellowship residence.

Up to $2,500 is available for the one-month Fellowship. Housing is not provided, but the funds may be used for this purpose, or for travel and other research expenses.

The Fellowship is intended for those who hold a PhD or can demonstrate equivalent professional or academic experience. Applications from independent scholars and museum professionals are welcome. By arrangement with the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, scholars may apply to each institution for awards in the same year; every effort will be made to offer consecutive dates.

Important Dates
The deadline to apply for the 2011 Fellowship is October 15, 2010. Applicants will be notified of who the successful candidate is by November 15, 2010. The chosen candidate will then be asked to provide a date for assuming the Fellowship by December 1, 2010.

Previous Fellows
Karen Yuen (2010), Independent Scholar, Vancouver, Canada
Thad Logan (2009), Department of English, Rice University
Colin Cruise (2008), Research Lecturer, The School of Art, University of Aberystwyth, Wales

About the Delaware Art Museum
Founded in 1912, the Delaware Art Museum is home to the largest and most important collection of British Pre-Raphaelite art in the United States. Assembled largely by the Wilmington industrialist, Samuel Bancroft, Jr., at the turn of the century (with significant subsequent additions), the collection includes paintings and drawings by all the major and minor Pre-Raphaelite artists, as well as decorative arts, prints, photographs, manuscripts, and rare books. The Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives, with a reference collection of 30,000 volumes, holds Samuel Bancroft's papers and correspondence, a rich source for the history of collecting and provenance which also contains significant manuscript material by and about the Rossettis.

About the University of Delaware Library
The University of Delaware Library has broadly based and comprehensive collections—books, periodicals, electronic resources, microforms, government publications, databases, maps, manuscripts, media, and access to information via the Internet—which provide a major academic resource for the study of literature and art. Many printed and manuscript items related to the Pre-Raphaelites and their associates are in the Special Collections Department, including major archives relating to the Victorian artist and writer, George Adolphus Storey, and to the bibliographer and forger, Thomas J. Wise. The Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, associated with the Special Collections Department, focuses on British literature and art of the period 1850 to 1900, with an emphasis on the Pre-Raphaelites and on the writers and illustrators of the 1890s. Its rich holdings comprise 7,000 first and other editions (including many signed and association copies), manuscripts, letters, works on paper (including drawings by Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti), and ephemera.

To Apply
To apply, send a completed application form, together with a description of your research proposal (maximum 1 page) and a curriculum vitae or resume (maximum 2 pages) to the address given below. These materials may also be sent via email to: fellowships@delart.org. Letters of support from two scholars or other professionals familiar with you and your work are also required. These must be sent by mail to:
Pre-Raphaelite Fellowship Committee
Delaware Art Museum
2301 Kentmere Parkway
Wilmington, DE 19806
For an application form go to:

Illustration: Edward Burne-Jones, The High History of the Holy Grail. Ink and watercolor, 1898 (Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, on loan to the University of Delaware Library).