The Table - The Second Course

The material culture and social context of dining in the historical periods
 
Department of Archaeology
University of Sheffield, UK
23rd– 25th April 2004
Registration Detaisl and Booking Form:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/A-C/ap/conf/dining/registration.html


The Table’ (Part Two) Conference will move on in time to consider the 
changes that occurred in dining habits in Britain and the colonial world 
between the seventeenth century and the end of the nineteenth century. In 
this period late-medieval and Renaissance social habits were transformed, 
as manufacturing techniques improved, and the output of mass-produced items 
increased, fuelling the growth of the first modern consumer society.

A major theme at this Conference will be the responses made by 
manufacturers to the social changes in eating, dining and food preparation 
which took place, not only in the home, but in public places such as 
hotels, ships and railways. The period saw the widespread acceptance of the 
fork used in dining, and an increase in peoples’ material wealth, with the 
growth of the middle class and demand for more luxurious items at the 
table.

Documentary evidence shows both continuity and changes in eating habits in 
Britain and the colonies. The stylistic changes in objects for the table 
can be traced from 17th century probate records, through to manufacturers’ 
trade catalogues, which detail the diverse range of items, the stylistic 
changes, and the materials used. The increasing range of public eating – 
from lowly eating-houses to the cruise ships, railway dining cars and 
hotels development – had an effect on the products offered by 
manufacturers.

 

Friday 23 April 2004 
    
18:00 - 21:00 Wine reception at the Department of Archaeology (West Street).
Welcome by Jim Symonds. 
    
Saturday 24 April 2004 
  
Lectures to be held in the Satpal Ram Learning Centre, University of 
Sheffield Students Union
    
09:30 Reception desk open 
    
10:00 - 11:00  Session Chair: Jim Symonds – Welcome 
    
  David Barker, Stoke-on-Trent Archaeology Service, UK
‘Producing for the Table – a view from the Staffordshire Potteries’ 
    
  Joan Unwin, Hawley Collection, University of Sheffield, UK
‘Conspicuous Consumption:How to Organise a Feast’ 
     
11:00 - 11:30  Coffee 
11:30 - 12:30 Christine Ball, University of Sheffield, UK
‘Trade Catalogues: Elaborations and Virtual Collections 
     
  Ann Eatwell, Department of Metalwork, V&A Museum, London 'Silver in the 
Victorian household:changing attitudes to its use and status'
    
12:30 - 14:00  Lunch (not included in conference fee) 
    
14:00 - 15:00  Linda Young, Cultural Heritage Management, University of
Canberra, Australia
‘Under Control: Correct Taste at the Dining Table in the long Nineteenth
Century’ 
    
  Susan Lawrence, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
'Feeding workers: Food and Drink in Colonial Australia' 
    
15:00 - 15:30  Tea 
15:30 - 16:30 Alexy Simmons, Simmons & Associates Ltd, New Zealand
"Postcard from Te Awamutu; Eating and drinking with the troops on the New
Zealand War Front’  
    
  Eleanor Conlin Casella and Darren Griffin, School of Art History & 
Archaeology, The University of Manchester We Lived Well at the Hagg": 
Foodways and Social Belonging in Working-Class Rural Cheshire.
    
Evening Meet for drinks and meal (not included in conference fee) 
    
Sunday 25 April 2004 
  
Lectures to be held in the Satpal Ram Learning Centre, University of 
Sheffield Students Union
    
10:00 - 11:00   Session Chair: Mary Beaudry 
  Mary C Beaudry, University of Boston
Privy to the Feast: "Eighty to Supper Tonight" 
    
  Diana di Zerega Wall, City University of New York, USA
Setting the Table in New York City, 1780s-1850s 
    
11:00 - 11:30  Coffee 
    
11:30 - 12:30 Harold Mytum, University of York, UK
‘ Domesticity and the Dresser: An Archaeological Perspective from Rural
Nineteenth Century Pembrokeshire’ 
    
  Mark Horton and Dan Hicks, University of Bristol, UK Rethinking the 
Platter: aspects of mercantile consumption from the Indian Ocean to the 
Atlantic
    
12:30 - 14:00  Lunch (not included in conference fee) 
    
14:00 - 15:00 Julie Banham, University of Sheffield, UK Dinner at four, 
supper at ten. The dining arrangements of a Victorian Sheffield 
industrialist
    
  Annie Gray, Katharine Boardman, Peter Drake and Lesley Johansen-Salter, 
University of York, UK ‘ Sensing the Past: Recreating an Eighteenth Century 
Chocolate Beverage Recipe’

   
15:00 - 15:30  Tea 
    
15:30 – 16:00 Chris Cumberpatch, Freelance Consultant, Sheffield 'We didn't 
keep the Victorian Blue and White': Archaeological approaches to 18th and 
19th century pottery from northern England.
    
15:30 - 16:30  Closing discussion, the conference disperses 
    
16:00 – 17:00 Closing discussion, the conference disperses 


Humanities Research Institute
University of Sheffield
Floor 14
Arts Tower
Sheffield S10 2TN

Tel: 0114 222 9890
Fax: 0114 222 9894
Email: [log in to unmask]