Early Modern Merchants as Collectors will bring together a number of speakers to discuss new thinking on the history of collecting beyond the consideration of the artists and patron as the principal protagonists.
The Ashmolean has become a renowned centre of research into the history of collecting since 1985, when it published The Origin of Museums, a collection of conference papers edited by Oliver Impey and Arthur MacGregor.
This interdisciplinary conference will explore early modern merchants as collectors across a wide range of geographical regions and collecting categories, investigating whether there are any patterns connecting these merchant-collectors of the early modern period and what we can learn from them.
A full list of speakers can be found at http://earlymodernmerchants.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/
Six student bursaries of £50, to be deducted from the registration fee, are available. Applications should be made to Dr Christina Anderson via email (see below) on or before April 15 and should include a statement, equivalent to no more than one side of A4, indicating how attending the conference would benefit their research or studies. Proof of student status and an endorsement from their supervisor/adviser must also be attached. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by May 1.
The conference will be held in the Headley Lecture Theatre of the Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford.
For the two-day conference, the fee for attendance is £85 (full) or £60 (student). There is no single-day fee. The fee includes lunch and refreshments both days.
To register, please send an email, including your name, institutional affiliation (if any), address, proof of student status (if applicable) and any dietary or other requirements to Dr Christina Anderson, Honorary Research Fellow at the Ashmolean Museum, at christina.anderson@ashmus.ox.ac.uk.
Payment should be made via the Oxford Stores website: https://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk
