As the U.S. slowly reopens thanks to rising vaccination rates and declining COVID-19 infections, the traditional maypole celebration of springtime seems to be an especially apt way to transition out of a pandemic winter. The second episode of the CDMC’s new podcast, Refrangible, contemplates what this ritual may mean today.
Material Culture
Refrangible Episode One: “Home Front” Efforts Between WWII and COVID-19 Crises
The new podcast from the Center for Design and Material Culture begins with a focus on WWII-era food planning booklets to examine how people behave, act, and contribute in response to top-down guidance during times of struggle and strife.
Student Spotlight: Noah Mapes, 2020 Chipstone-CDMC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow
Art History and Material Culture student Noah Mapes talks about his experiences during last year’s fellowship, student researcher communities during a pandemic, and his contributions to the project “A Colonial Merchant: The Ledger of William Ramsay.”
CDMC Launches New Podcast, “Refrangible,” Exploring the Stories Behind Everyday Objects
From home front efforts during World War II to the statements we make with our COVID masks, the first season of a new podcast from the Center for Design and Material Culture examines a broad range of topics through the prismatic lens of material culture.
Playing with Vision: Children’s Media Culture before Screen Time
Dr. Sarah Anne Carter reflects on the work of Childhood Studies scholar Dr. Meredith A. Bak and invites everyone to attend Professor Bak’s conversation with Dr. Heather Kirkorian, Faculty Director of SoHE’s Child Development Lab.
From Hairbrush to Hairwork: A Workshop with Karen Bachmann
Samantha Comerford, Assistant Collections Manager at the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, researches 19th-century hairwork and attends a workshop to learn hairwork techniques…using her own hair!
An Aria in Hats, Lace and Silk
Through hundreds of hours of hands-on volunteering, Sue Engstrom is giving the public, scholars and students something she never really had in her own days as an undergraduate at UW-Madison: Access to one of the most diverse and valuable textile collections in the country.
Curation Highlight: Rapid Response Mask Collecting Project
Natalie Wright, curator of the Rapid Response Mask Collecting Project, provides insights into the project’s ongoing efforts to capture the varying and vital roles that masks play in daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Sophie Pitman to Join SoHE as CDMC’s Pleasant Rowland Textile Specialist and Research Director
A cultural historian of the early modern period, Dr. Pitman will advance scholarly and educational connections with the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection in the Center for Design and Material Culture.
Rapid Response Mask Collecting Project
Online Launch: Fall 2020. Since March of 2020 face masks have become our central tool in the fight against COVID-19. This exhibition seeks to understand the new ways in which textiles play a critical role in our daily lives as protective face coverings. It uses a “rapid response” collecting model to select masks for the HLATC which mark this contemporary moment as historic.