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Dear all, Further to the message circulated about the forthcoming conference 'Innovative Interpretation of Manuscripts', I would like to invite expressions of interest for two paid consultancy roles within our DDF-funded project. 1. A learning specialist to deliver a theoretical keynote session on the potential of artefacts for learning. The audience will include academics, who are specialists in their own research but are new to concepts in museum learning. We would ask that the consultant attends both days of the conference (26th and 27th April), facilitates sessions as required and generate ideas. For details of the conference, please see below. 2. A specialist to oversee evaluation of visitor patterns within the current Wordsworth exhibition within the Wordsworth Museum, and the effectiveness of the current displays. As well as establishing methodology, we ask the specialist to train a number of our interns in the techniques required to carry out the survey work, and to assist in the evaluation of interventions to the gallery planned for summer 2012. We are open to suggestions as to how we might proceed with the above. Best wishes, Jeff. Jeff Cowton Curator The Wordsworth Trust Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Cumbria, LA22 9SH Direct line 015394 63506 www.wordsworth.org.uk Words on the Page, and the Meanings Beyond: The Innovative Interpretation of Manuscripts Two-day conference, The Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, Cumbria LA22 9SH 26th and 27th April 2012 I write to invite expressions of interest from both potential contributors to, and participants in, the forthcoming conference on the interpretation of manuscripts. As you may have seen in the latest edition of the Museums Journal, the Wordsworth Trust is undertaking research into the innovative use of manuscripts to further engagement and learning. This follows a similar conference held in March 2011, and the completion of a report funded by the Designation Development Fund in Spring 2011. We are again grateful to Arts Council England and the DDF, as well as to Adam Matthews Digital, for funding to enable a second conference. As well as facilitating a greater understanding of a person’s life and creative process through analysis of a text (poetry, prose, correspondence, etc) we wish to explore meanings within a manuscript and its history that go beyond interpretation of the words on the page. We believe that: a) creating an understanding of a manuscript’s emotional value to its contemporaries (for its content, but also as an object in itself) is essential to understanding its importance today, and that b) its physicality can be as significant as its content when doing so. The formality of the handwriting for example, or the nature of underlinings and deletions, as well as the circumstances of its composition, its purpose and its intended audience, provide a sense of direct access to its author and emotional engagement with the historical figures with which the manuscript is associated. The purpose of the conference is to: 1. Examine the textual, physical and emotional meanings of manuscripts; the equal importance of textual analysis and the manuscript as artefact. 2. Report on and discuss recent projects. 3. Discuss and develop ideas for interpretation, using the Wordsworth Trust’s DDF project interventions as a case study. The learning from the conference and its follow-up activities will be widely disseminated, and a further workshop will be held in September. We wish for the conference to be a gathering of people of different backgrounds: learning and interpretation specialists, scholars, archivists and curators. In particular, we would like to commission a learning specialist to attend and deliver a key note introduction on the learning potential of artefacts in general, setting the scene for the subsequent discussions on manuscripts. We would ask this specialist to be in attendance for the whole conference, contributing where appropriate and producing a summary of its conclusions. Please write to Jeff Cowton, Curator at The Wordsworth Trust ([log in to unmask]) if you wish to attend as a general participant, or to give a paper or lead a discussion on purposes 1 or 2 above, or wish to discuss the role of learning consultant (fee to be paid). There will be no charge for attending the conference, and we will offer funding towards contributor’s expenses. Please note that space is limited, and it may not be possible to accommodate everyone wishing to attend. The DEADLINE for submission of proposals is Thursday 23 February 2012. Yours with very best wishes, Jeff. Jeff Cowton Curator The Wordsworth Trust Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Cumbria, LA22 9SH Direct line 015394 63506 www.wordsworth.org.uk + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + GEM list: Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask] For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=GEM + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +