CSDI - The Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) Centre for the Study of the Domestic Interior, based at the Royal College of Art in London, brings together three institutions: the Royal College of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Bedford Centre for the History of Women at Royal Holloway, University of London. Launched in September 2001, its goal is to develop new histories of the home, its contents, and its representation. It pursues research into the changing appearance and layout of rooms in a range of buildings, from tenements to palaces; the objects that furnished those rooms; the ways rooms and objects were depicted; the manner in which people used them; and how they thought about them.

Gender, Taste, and Material Culture
in Britain and North America in the
Long Eighteenth Century

The Huntington
San Marino, California
21-22 May 2004

This spring, on 21 and 22 May, the Centre takes its first conference abroad with 'Gender, Taste and Material Culture in Britain and North America in the Long Eighteenth Century' at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Organised by the Centre's Associate Directors A V and John Styles, this two-day event brings together scholars from Britain and America to present work on the domestic interior that is both comparative and interdisciplinary. It aims to stimulate a comparative discussion of themes surrounding gender and material culture, issues of central importance to the study of the domestic interior. For further details see the programme. Those wishing to attend should e-mail Carolyn Powell of the Research Division at the Huntington: cpowell@huntington.org.

In conjunction with the conference, the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture (College of William and Mary and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, USA) is organising a workshop, 'Apprehending the Material World in Early Modern Britain and America'. It also takes place at the Huntington and will be held on 20th May. The workshop will centre on the historical evidence provided by material culture, examining how object-driven analysis can address broad historical questions. For further information about the workshop, see the programme or the Institute's website at www.wm.edu/oieahc, or contact the Co-Chairs, Christopher Grasso and Karin Wulf, OIEAHC, P.O. Box 8781, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA 23187-8781.