{"id":96,"date":"2022-02-17T12:23:05","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T12:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/?p=96"},"modified":"2022-03-09T10:59:43","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T10:59:43","slug":"literature-scholars-work-is-stitching-together-global-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/2022\/02\/17\/literature-scholars-work-is-stitching-together-global-conversations\/","title":{"rendered":"Literature scholar’s work is stitching together global conversations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jenni Batchelor, Professor of Eighteenth Century Studies at the School of English, describes how authentic and mutual dialogue has enriched her research and given joy to many.<\/p>\n

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In 2015 I received a phone call in my office. The caller had read a blog post I had written for a Leverhulme funded research project on \u2018Lady\u2019s Magazine\u2019 (1770-1832), the first modern women\u2019s magazine.<\/p>\n

The project commenced in 2014, but my fascination with the\u00a0publication began\u00a015 years earlier when researching it for a chapter of my PhD thesis\u00a0on\u00a018th-century dress. I spent\u00a03 months poring over\u00a0the magazine\u2019s\u00a0fashion plates, reports and essays on dress, but was frustrated that I couldn\u2019t\u00a0write about\u00a0its\u00a0patterns\u00a0for\u00a0embroidering\u00a0clothes,\u00a0accessories and household objects. Over 650 were\u00a0issued\u00a0and, collectively, they constitute one of the largest archives pertaining to women\u2019s\u00a0domestic\u00a0needlework.\u00a0But\u00a0I\u00a0hadn\u2019t been able to write a word about them because the patterns had been removed from\u00a0the copies of\u00a0magazine\u00a0I had seen in libraries up and down the UK.<\/p>\n

And then\u00a0came\u00a0the phone call. The caller\u00a0had read the blog and wondered if I wanted to buy a\u00a0\u2018tatty\u2019\u00a0volume\u00a0of the magazine\u00a0from\u00a01796\u00a0she had acquired\u00a0years earlier.\u00a0To my delight, I\u00a0found\u00a0that\u00a0it contained 6\u00a0intact\u00a0patterns. I posted these\u00a0to the project\u2019s social media channels\u00a0and was\u00a0overwhelmed with the response from\u00a0people\u00a0who wanted to know how\u00a0the patterns\u00a0were\u00a0executed\u00a0(they were published without instruction) and how stitchers today could make them.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0published\u00a0the\u00a0patterns\u00a0on a\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0launched\u00a0a\u00a0non-competitive \u2018Stitch Off\u2019.\u00a0Experienced and novice stitchers,\u00a0textile artists and professional embroiderers across 3 continents\u00a0recreated\u00a0the patterns\u00a0using\u00a0historically faithful, modern,\u00a0and mixed-media\u00a0methods. I\u00a0subsequently\u00a0curated\u00a0a room of many of these\u00a0needleworks\u00a0at an\u00a0exhibition<\/a>\u00a0to celebrate the 200th\u00a0anniversary of Jane Austen\u2019s\u00a0\u2018Emma\u2019\u00a0<\/i>(1816).\u00a0It\u00a0was a fitting tribute to a novel that has\u00a0much to\u00a0say about women\u2019s accomplishments, especially\u00a0since\u00a0Jane Austen<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 an excellent needlewoman herself \u2013\u00a0read and found inspiration\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0\u2018Lady\u2019s Magazine\u2019.<\/p>\n

Fast forward 5 years and \u2013\u00a0thanks to the Stitch Off\u2019s profile \u2013\u00a0I\u00a0now\u00a0own\u00a060+\u00a0patterns. I have also produced\u00a0with Alison Larkin,\u00a0a professional embroiderer\u00a0who was the first\u00a0person\u00a0to respond to\u00a0the Stitch Off,\u00a0a\u00a0history\/craft book called\u00a0\u2018Jane Austen Embroidery\u2019\u00a0(Pavilion 2020<\/i>).\u00a0The book\u00a0took\u00a0on\u00a0particular resonance\u00a0during the pandemic as more people turned to crafting\u00a0for their mental wellbeing, an issue I am\u00a0currently\u00a0pursuing in new research projects.<\/p>\n

None of this would have happened without\u00a0the\u00a0project blog and its associated social media.\u00a0My research has always been public facing, but it was especially important to me that this project was.\u00a0The\u00a0\u2018Lady\u2019s Magazine\u2019<\/i>\u00a0was\u00a0filled with original content provided by an international\u00a0community of reader-contributors who wrote to each other and debated topical items. My goal was to capture something of this community using modern media.\u00a0I have\u00a0gained\u00a0much\u00a0in the process,\u00a0from leads to identifying contributors, to sourcing lost issues and\u00a0establishing\u00a0a better understanding of the dynamics of\u00a0virtual community. The\u00a0Stitch Off\u00a0taught\u00a0me so\u00a0much out\u00a0about the magazine\u2019s\u00a0readers\u00a0and\u00a0the realities of\u00a0Georgian\u00a0women\u2019s embroidery,\u00a0as well as\u00a0giving\u00a0me the confidence to carry out\u00a0my own\u00a0practice-based research.<\/p>\n

Too often\u00a0public engagement is seen as one-way traffic.\u00a0It\u00a0is not. Public engagement in research is\u00a0always\u00a0a learning experience. It has enriched and expanded my\u00a0work\u00a0in\u00a0so many unanticipated\u00a0ways.<\/p>\n

Jennie Batchelor<\/a>\u00a0is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies in the School of English. She has published widely and regularly gives public talks and workshops and interviews on eighteenth-century women\u2019s writing, history and work, material culture and magazines. Her new book,\u00a0\u2018The Lady\u2019s Magazine (1770-1832)\u2019\u00a0<\/i>and the\u00a0\u2018<\/i>Making of Literary History\u2019\u00a0will be published by Edinburgh University Press in 2021.<\/p>\n

You can find out more about the Lady\u2019s Magazine Project here:<\/p>\n

Blog:\u00a0https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ladys-magazine\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter:\u00a0\u00a0@ladysmagproject<\/a><\/p>\n

Facebook:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ladysmagproject\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Website:<\/p>\n

The Lady\u2019s Magazine (1770-1818): Understanding the Emergence of a Genre<\/a><\/p>\n

The Lady\u2019s Magazine (1770-1818): Patterns of Perfection<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jenni Batchelor, Professor of Eighteenth Century Studies at the School of English, describes how authentic and mutual dialogue has enriched her research and given joy … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51475,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[262857],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51475"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/98"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}