Due to concerns about safe travel during the global COVID-19 pandemic, RSVP was forced to reschedule its 2020 conference, originally to be held at Temple University. In lieu of an in-person conference, we hosted a series of free online events designed to connect our socially distanced members and newcomers alike.
With the success of our inaugural “digital salon” in September 2020, RSVP’s membership elected to continue offering free virtual events periodically. Below is a record of our panels, interviews, workshops, roundtables, Twitter chatter, and conversations that continue to connect us with our colleagues worldwide and with the Victorian periodicals we love.
2023 Digital Events
Our 2023 Digital Events convened about once a month and included a variety of topics.
February 3
Pick-A-Periodical: The Yellow Book
Our inaugural “Pick-A-Periodical” event, in which we ask an RSVP member to select an issue (or short range) of a periodical for attendees to review ahead of the talk. The event itself is devoted to discussing the text collaboratively, drawing on the lead’s expertise and observations from attendees.
Periodical: Volume 5 of The Yellow Book (April 1895)
Presenter: Dr. Lorraine Kooistra
March 1
Speaker’s Forum: Maryam Sikander
As the inaugural presenter in our new Speaker’s Forum series, Maryam Sikander presented her research on the relationship between Punch and its Indian rendtion, Avadh Punch, in a talk entitled, “Avadh Punch (1877-1938): Transformation of Colonial Text and Context.”
April 7
Collaborative Learning Workshop with Jiwon Min
In a collaborative learning and troubleshooting workshop, Jiwon Min presented on her interdisciplinary research project, “The Making and Unmaking of Krakatau: Reading Nineteenth Century Periodicals, the Volcano and Climate Change,” which explored the various international responses to the Krakatau eruption in the late nineteenth-century.
May 5
Pick-A-Periodical: Press News
In this “Pick-A-Periodical,” longtime RSVP member Patrick Leary took us through one of his favorite little-known trade journals, Press News, which covered the “news” of everything to do with print journalism as seen from the print-shop floor.
Periodical: Press News (or formally, The London, Colonial and Provincial Press News)
Presenter: Patrick Leary
June 9
Richard Altick’s Shows of London
An informal reading group discussion on Richard Altick’s seminal text, The Shows of London (1978). Attendees were asked to read a few token chapters as they were able and then come for a seminar-style discussion of the text and its relevance in expanding our research methods into the wider Victorian media ecosystem.
Text: Altick, The Shows of London (1978)
Discussion Leader: Matt Poland
August 4
Manuscript Periodicals in the Long 19th Century
A panel presentation from experts working with manuscript periodicals that explored themes such as reading communities, the relationship between manuscript magazines and their print counterparts, and the way that local and national events come together in these small-scale, home-grown magazines.
Panelists: Catherine Sloan and Abigail Droge
Moderator: Katy Birch
September 8
The Art Historians are Coming!
Presentations from two art historians who presented on imagery in transnational periodicals. Hala’s talk covered the illustrations in nineteenth-century Arabic periodicals published in Egypt and Ottoman Syria. Tom’s talk focused on the global spread of lithography and portrait format within periodicals.
Panelists: Hala Auji and Tom Young
Moderator: Priti Joshi
October 12
Writing Your Curran Application with Russ Wyland
A practical workshop from Russ Wyland, a long-time RSVP member and Curran Award Committee member, who provided concrete advice on writing competitive grant applications, specifically for RSVP’s annual Curran Fellowship awards.
October 27
Collaborative Learning: The Curran Index
A collaborative learning session with Dr. Lars Atkin, co-editor of The Curran Index, and Philipia Hatziandreou, intern for Curran Index co-editor Dr. Emily Bell (who was out sick) about the work of attribution in historical periodicals research.
2021 Digital Salon Events
Race and Transimperialism in Periodicals — A Workshop Series
Megan Kuster (University College Dublin), “Returning Citation: The Journal of the Polynesian Society, Natural Science and Indigenous Agents” (May 2021).
Vaibhav Singh (University of Reading), “The Making of Transimperial Technological Networks: A Case-Study of Select Marathi Periodicals” (October 2021).
2021 Digital Salon Spring Series
Our 2021 Digital Salon Spring series convened about once a month and included a variety of topics.
January 22
A Discussion on Decolonizing Periodical Studies
A practice-based session with invited experts whose research at the intersection of critical race studies/transimperialism and periodical studies laid the foundation for a robust discussion and lively online chat.
Panelists: Caroline Bressey, Priti Joshi, and Candace Ward
Moderator: Lars Atkin
February 12
Doing Periodical Research Online
An informal roundtable led by grad students/early career researchers, for grad students/early career researchers, on how to make the most of online periodical resources and how to optimize your research process.
Panelists: Madeline Gangnes, Kaari Newman, Matthew Poland, Mercedes Sheldon, and Jessica Terekhov
This event was not recorded in support of open discussion. Download the list of resources we brainstormed.
March 19
Teaching Periodical Studies Online
A panel presentation on how to teach periodicals online. Our panelists described the creative ways they use digital affordances to connect students with Victorian periodicals research, especially in the time of distance learning.
Panelists: Melissa Range, Jennifer Phegley, Lindsay Lawrence, and James Mussell
Moderator: Helena Goodwyn
To access or download the assignments/activities discussed by our panelists, visit our Teaching Materials page.
April 12
A Zotero Workshop with Marie Léger-St-Jean
Born out of our February brainstorming session, Marie kindly took us through the finer points of using Zotero, an open-source software for organizing research.
April 22
Household Words: How to Do Primary Research at Home
A roundtable discussion on the resources and methods that enable us to research Victorian periodical culture during the Covid-19 pandemic (and beyond).
Panelists: Emily Bell, Stephen Basdeo, and Jessica Elizabeth Thomas
Moderator: Rebecca Nesvet
May 21
Doing Research as an Independent Scholar
A live (and lively!) Q&A session with highly acclaimed independent scholars on how to research/write when not affiliated with a university.
Panelists: Judith Flanders, Helen Rappaport, Marie Léger-St-Jean, and Patrick Leary
Moderator: Kaari Newman
2020 RSVP Digital Salon
Our inaugural Digital Salon consisted of four sessions convened over the original conference dates, September 10-12, 2020. It included:
- A Colby Book Prize Interview with Dr. Thomas Smits (Utrecht University), winner of the 2020 Colby Book Prize, about his new book, The European Illustrated Press and the Emergence of a Transnational Visual Culture of the News, 1842-1870 (Routledge). The session was chaired by Andrew Hobbs.
- A Digital Humanities and Periodical Scholarship Roundtable with:
- Troy Bassett (Purdue University Fort Wayne), At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837-1901
- Jesse Erickson (University of Delaware), Ouidiana and America’s Black Press
- Marie Léger-St-Jean (Independent Scholar), Price One Penny: Cheap Literature, 1837-1860, a 2020 RSVP Field Development Grant recipient
- Jessie Reeder (SUNY Binghamton), British Chilean News: Digitizing the 19th-Century British Press in Chile, a 2018 RSVP Field Development Grant recipient
- Matthew Poland (University of Washington), Moderator
- A “Twitter Taster” event previewing scholarly work by RSVP members:
- Helena Goodwyn, The Author Evolution: Walter Besant’s Pellucid Prose
- Andrew King, Circulating Rhythms: Victorian Trade Periodicals and Everyday Myths
- Laura Fiss, Andrew Fiss & Michelle Jarvie-Eggart, ‘Pioneer of the Technical and Trade Press of the World’: Mining Periodicals in the Holdings of Michigan Technological University
- Justin Gilbert & Marie Léger-St-Jean, Gabriel Alexander and G.W.M. Reynolds: Changing Bylines and the Transatlantic Circulation of Penny-Number Revolutionary William Wallace
- Alexis Easley, The Reprinting of the Brontës’ Poetry in the Periodical Press, 1846-99
- Kirstie Blair, Factory Times
- Kaari Newman, Circulations of Civil War: The American Civil War According to the Preston Chronicle
- An RSVP Social Hour based on Ann M. Hale’s Nineteenth-Century Periodicals Lockdown House meme. The meme asked us to choose a set of historical figures to join for the duration of the pandemic. Inspired by the lively social media conversations that ensued, we sought to create a similar atmosphere in cyberspace to chat with colleagues and mingle with a select group of Victorians, where we could never escape the inimitable Dickens!