Join our lunchtime seminar on the personal papers of Mary Hamilton (1756-1816), a fascinating collection that evokes a social network that was rich in practices of reading, writing, sharing, and transcribing of a huge range of texts. This is evidenced by Hamilton’s letters and journals, which are held at the Rylands, and are currently being transcribed and edited as part of the AHRC-funded project Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers. Instances of reading took place in a huge variety of contexts that could render these acts creative, socially cohesive, intimate, or even transgressive, in ways that were particular to women’s experience.

In this talk, Cassie Ulph and Anne Anderton (Curator of Western Manuscripts and Visual Collections at the Rylands) will focus on Hamilton’s stay at the Dowager Duchess of Portland’s home, Bulstrode Park, where she visited the Duchess and her friend and companion Mary Delany in December 1783. In her diary for this period (HAM/2/3), accounts of Hamilton’s reading and writing practices take place against a background of other kinds of feminine making such as carpet-making, covering screens, and needlework, as well as artistic pursuits. Furthermore, Hamilton’s journal from this period shows that in this sociable reading culture, written manuscripts are part of larger, curated collections of objects that link to the past and past events, rendering them part of the material cultures of collection in the mid to late eighteenth century, of which the Duchess was a leading proponent. These practices convey a shared sense of curatorship that could be cultivated through engagement with texts across generations, as part of a broader landscape of women’s creative work.

Cassie Ulph currently works on the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers' at the John Rylands Research Institute.

Image Ref : HAM/1/1/2/7b

For event enquires, you can contact us by email at jrl.events@manchester.ac.uk or telephone on 0161 306 0555

Your personal data will be processed in accordance with relevant UK Data Protection laws. For more information, please see our privacy notice: John Rylands Research Institute and Library.