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TRAVEL in the MARKETPLACE:
THE MATERIALITY OF TRAVEL in the LONG
NINETEENTH CENTURY
Bangor University
September 17-18, 2014
Deadline: March 31, 2014
Keynote Speaker: Professor Nicola J.
Watson, Open University
The long nineteenth century was marked by a
growing hunger to experience or read about travel. In Britain, for example, the
period following Waterloo saw the development of the tourist industry and
‘Travels and Voyages’ was a particularly popular literary genre. Armed with
guidebooks and timetables a growing number of middle-class tourists left the
comfort of their drawing rooms to experience the sublime, the beautiful and the
picturesque in the highlands of Scotland, the mountains of North Wales, or the
Lake and Peak Districts. Those in search of the refined and fashionable chose
instead to visit the houses and gardens of the aristocracy, or promenaded
through the seaside resorts and spa-towns. Some went further afield, armed with works on continental
Europe, Africa, India and the ever exotic ‘East’. Many more remained at home to
peruse the printed memoirs, manuscript letters and journals supplied by those
who had recorded their adventures.
As the century progressed, the importance of leisure helped spur the
growth of railways, daytrips and package holidays. Throughout the period 1780-1914 travel literature and the
goods needed for travelling (from wraps for warmth on the train, to medicines
to fight tropical diseases) were an important part of an increasingly
commodified society. This conference aims to explore the material cultures of
travel. Topics might include:
- Travel writing (including guidebooks, poems, novels and periodical articles)
- Literary tourism and ‘must-see’ sites
- Print culture (maps, pamphlets, tickets)
- Souvenirs and memorabilia
- Manuscript culture (Journals, commonplace books, travelogues and letters)
- Advertising and ephemera
- Visual representations
- Modes of transport
- The economics of travel
- Travel and slavery
- Travel agents and package deals
Located between the mountains of Snowdonia
and the Menai Straits, Bangor University is an ideal setting for this
conference. The University boasts
a fine collection of travel books, including a rare copy of the special extra-illustrated
edition of Pennant’s Tour in Wales,
and there will be an exhibition of books, maps and periodicals to accompany the
conference. Abstracts (max 500 words) for papers of twenty minutes duration
should be sent along with a short biography to Dr Maureen McCue (m.mccue@bangor.ac.uk) by March 31, 2014.
