Women, Performance and the Material of Memory : The Archival Tourist, 1780–1915

This book proposes that the performance of archival research is related to the experience of tourism, where an individual immerses herself in a foreign environment, relating to and analyzing visual and sensory materials through embodiment and enactment. Each chapter highlights a particular set of tangible objects including: pocket diaries, portraits, drawings, magic lanterns, silhouettes, waxworks, and photographs in relation to actresses, authors, and artists such as: Elizabeth Inchbald, Sally Siddons, Marguerite Gardiner the Countess of Blessington, Isabella Beetham, Jane Read, Madame Tussaud, and Amelia M. Watson. Ultimately, operating as an archival tourist in my analyses, I offer strategies for thinking about the presence of women artists in the archives through methodologies that seek to connect materials from the past with our representations of them in the present. ""Women, performance and the material of memory: the archival tourist, 1780-1915" proposes that the performance of archival research is related to the experience of tourism, where an individual immerses herself in a foreign environment, relating to and analyzing visual and sensory materials through embodiment and enactment. Each chapter highlights a particular set of tangible objects including: pocket diaries, portraits, drawings, magic lanterns, silhouettes, waxworks, and photographs in relation to actresses, authors, and artists such as: Elizabeth Inchbald, Sally Siddons, Marguerite Gardiner the Countess of Blessington, Isabella Beetham, Jane Read, Madame Tussaud, and Amelia M. Watson. Ultimately, operating as an archival tourist, [the author] offers strategies for thinking about the presence of women artists in the archives through methodologies that seek to connect materials from the past with our representations of them in the present."-- [Quatrième de couverture] "This book proposes that the performance of archival research is related to the experience of tourism, where an individual immerses herself in a foreign environment, relating to and analyzing visual and sensory materials through embodiment and enactment. Each chapter highlights a particular set of tangible objects including: pocket diaries, portraits, drawings, magic lanterns, silhouettes, waxworks, and photographs in relation to actresses, authors, and artists such as: Elizabeth Inchbald, Sally Siddons, Marguerite Gardiner the Countess of Blessington, Isabella Beetham, Jane Read, Madame Tussaud, and Amelia M. Watson. Ultimately, operating as an archival tourist, [the author] offers strategies for thinking about the presence of women artists in the archives through methodologies that seek to connect materials from the past with our representations of them in the present."--Back cover Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi Introduction: The Archival Tourist (Laura Engel)....Pages 1-25 Elizabeth Inchbald’s Pocket Diaries (Laura Engel)....Pages 27-52 Thomas Lawrence’s Portraits of the Siddons Sisters (Laura Engel)....Pages 53-79 The Countess of Blessington and Magic Lanterns (Laura Engel)....Pages 81-105 Women Artists, Silhouettes, and Waxworks (Laura Engel)....Pages 107-129 Amelia M. Watson’s Photographs (Laura Engel)....Pages 131-154 Back Matter ....Pages 155-169