The history of furniture remains one of the dominant areas of interest within the history of the so-called ‘Decorative Arts’.  Since it emerged in the 19th century, scholarship focused on furniture history has expanded far beyond the interests of its earlier pioneers, transforming furniture history as a discipline.  This 2-day symposium, developed as part of the exhibition ‘Part of the Furniture: The Library of John Bedford’ (Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, University of Leeds, 9th January-21st December 2024), and in collaboration with Temple Newsam, Leeds, seeks to explore furniture history as a subject and to reflect on what furniture history of the future might look like.  
   We invite submissions for papers on themes related to the history of furniture, focused on any period, any geography, from scholars, museum professionals, collectors, dealers, and furniture makers.  We invite papers through any lens, including methodological papers on furniture history as method/approach, case studies on objects and collections, papers on furniture historians, as well as work-in-progress papers on possible futures for furniture history. 

Contributions might address (not exhaustive):

The history of furniture history
Furniture historians 
Publications of furniture history 
The sources and materials of furniture history
Furniture collections in museums/historic houses
Collectors and collecting furniture
Studies of individual examples of furniture
Studies of types of furniture
Furniture dealers; the market for furniture
Societies and communities of furniture enthusiasts
The themes of furniture history (style, biography, material, geography etc)
Furniture history of the future
 
Papers should be 20 minutes in length; participation can be in-person or online (Microsoft TEAMS).  
The symposium programme will include facilitated tours at Temple Newsam (part of Leeds Museums & Galleries) to explore the world class furniture collections at the house. As well as an opportunity to see extra materials from the collection of John Bedford at the University.

DEADLINE for submission for proposals (c.200 words) is – MONDAY 15th April 2024 to ([log in to unmask]). Successful speakers will be notified by FRIDAY 26th April 2024. Please include title/affiliation with your submission.
Speakers – Free 
Conference delegates (in person) £25 per person (2 days) £15 per person (1 day), includes refreshments and lunch and transport to Temple Newsam. Online delegates - Free.

The Regional Furniture Society are very generously offering financial support for 5 students (part-time or full-time) or early career professionals in the field to attend the conference - please see RFS websites for details – www.regionalfurnituresociety.org

########################################################################

To unsubscribe from the ARTHISTORY-HE-NETWORK list, click the following link:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=ARTHISTORY-HE-NETWORK&A=1

This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/ARTHISTORY-HE-NETWORK, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/