Daily Archives: 30 January 2016

Professor Miri Rubin, Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (University of Adelaide Node) Free Public Lecture

“The Virgin Mary: a History in Matter and Emotion”, Professor Miri Rubin (Queen Mary University of London)

Date: 16 February, 2016
Time: 6:00 – 7:00pm
Venue: Napier 102, Level 1, Napier Building, The University of Adelaide
Contact: Jacquie Bennett (jacquie.bennett@adelaide.edu.au) / +61 (0)8 8313 2421

Since its emergence, the figure of the Virgin Mary has inspired a vast range of material objects as well as a great deal of music. While the themes and styles have changed over the centuries, Mary remained a prompt for experiments in visual form, material design and sound. Prayer, meditation, procession, liturgy – the many forms of religious experience – were all associated with emotional participation by individuals and groups, and facilitated by prayer beads, devotional images, dolls, religious jewellery and more. This is as true of the experience of Mary in Europe as it is of the global reception of her figure.

This lecture will offer some pathways into the rich world of religious materiality and emotional expression around the figure of the Virgin Mary. It will develop an historical arc within which these qualities can be situated, and offer it as a case for reflection on historical practices in the study of emotions and in the appreciation of historical materiality.

By Land & By Sea. Scientific Expedition Reports in Special Collections from 1826 to the 1960s – Now Online

The exhibition “By Land & By Sea. Scientific Expedition Reports in Special Collections from 1826 to the 1960s” that is currently running at the University of Otago’s Special Collections Library (until 4 March, 2016) is now available as an online exhibition:

Rich with photographs, colourful plates, scientific descriptions, anthropological and geographical observations, and general insights into expeditionary life, the Scientific Expedition Reports, housed in the University of Otago’s Special Collections, are a veritable mine of information. From the Arctic to the Antarctic, from Uganda to Patagonia, the earliest of the reports dates from D’Urville’s expedition in the Astrolabe from 1826 to 1829, published in 1832; the latest are from the University of Canterbury Snares Islands expeditions beginning in the 1960s. Men and women from New Zealand, Australia, Norway, France, Sweden, America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, China, Egypt and many more countries besides, have travelled the world by land and by sea in the name of science and exploration and have documented the results in these scientific reports. Many of the scientific observations made and specimens taken are still being researched today and despite the treacherous conditions and ever present risks, most members of these expeditionary parties returned alive. The Scientific Expedition Reports in Special Collections are a testament to and a record of humankind’s insatiable desire for knowledge.

To view the online exhibition, please visit: http://www.otago.ac.nz/library/exhibitions/scientificexpeditions.