[ecrea] SCREEN CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION: POVERTY ON SCREEN 1880 - 1914

1-3 December 2011, London
SCREEN CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION: POVERTY ON SCREEN 1880 ?
1914

Venue: German Historical Institute London
Convenors: Prof. Dr. Andreas Gestrich (GHIL), Dr. Ludwig Vogl-Bienek
(University of Trier)

This conference will bring together different international research
approaches looking at how the optical lantern (?art of
projection?) and cinematography were used in the context of the
Social Question around 1900. The media history relevance of the
Social Question to the establishment of these new visual media has
hardly so far been examined. Nor have these media been critically
investigated as social history sources. The conference aims to make a
fundamental contribution towards establishing an innovative field of
research in the area where social history and media history overlap.
The rapid success of ?cinematography? at the beginning of the
twentieth century owed much to what was known as the ?art of
projection?. The screen became firmly established as a part of
international cultural life in the second half of the nineteenth
century by the ?art of projection?. The enormous creative
potential of these new visual media in public performances was used
not only for commercial purposes, but also for events in areas such
as education, religion, and social policy.
The interdisciplinary comparison will discuss the state of research
on the motifs, production, dissemination, and reception of the
projection media in the field of poor relief and social policy.
Different methodological concepts will be introduced for researching
the performative potential of existing scripts and artefacts (glass
slides, films, projectors). In addition, projects editing sources
will be presented, and new processes for digitally reproducing and
documenting historical sources and artefacts will be discussed.

Places are limited. Please email Carole Sterckx for registration:
(sterckx /at/ ghil.ac.uk)

PRELIMINARY CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Thursday, 1 December 2011:
13:00
Registration
14:00
Welcome and Introduction
Andreas Gestrich (German Historical Institute London) and Ludwig
Vogl-Bienek (University of Trier)

14:30 ? 17:00
PANEL 1- SCREEN CULTURE AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE ? HISTORIC CONTEXT
AND SOCIAL IMPACT 1880 ? 1914, Chair: Ian Christie (London)
Martin Loiperdinger (Trier): The Social Impact of Screen Culture 1880
? 1914.
Stephen Bottomore (Bangkok): The Lantern and Early Film for Social
and Political Uses.
16:00 ? 17:00 Comment and Discussion Panel 1
Comment by Andreas Gestrich (London)

17:15 ? 19:00
Road Show: Approaches to the Hidden History of Screen Culture
Frank Gray (Brighton): The Lucerna Network for the History of
Projection.
Ine van Dooren (Brighton): Archiving and preserving lantern slides
and related resources.
Richard Crangle (Exeter): Digitizing the History of Screen Culture:
The Lucerna Database.

Friday, 2 December 2011:
09:30 ? 12:30
PANEL 2 - RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS FOR THE LIVING CONDITIONS IN SLUMS
AND TENEMENTS, Chair: Clemens Zimmermann (Saarbr=FCcken)
Ludwig Vogl-Bienek (Trier): Slum Life and Living Conditions of the
Poor in Fictional and Documentary Lantern Slide Sets.
Joss Marsh (Bloomington) / David Francis (Bloomington): ?Poetry of
Poverty? ? The Magic Lantern and the Ballads of George R. Sims.
Bonnie Yochelson (New York): Jacob Riis, His Photographs, and Poverty
in New York, 1888-1914.
11:30 ? 12:30
Comment and Discussion Panel 2

14:00 ? 17:00
PANEL 3 ? EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE POOR ? THE USE OF
LANTERN SHOWS AND EARLY FILMS BY CHARITY ORGANISATIONS, Chair: Ine
van Dooren (Brighton)
Karen Eifler (Trier): Free Meals and Lantern Shows: Charitable Events
in Great Britain and Germany.
Judith Thissen (Utrecht): Educating Moyshe: Jewish Socialists,
Gentile Entertainments, and the Future of the Jewish Immigrant Masses
in America.
Caroline Henkes (Trier): Early Christmas Films in the Tradition of
the Magic Lantern.
16:00 ? 17:00 Comment and Discussion Panel 3
Comment by Frank Gray (Brighton)

Evening Programme at The Foundling Museum:
?TIDINGS OF COMFORT AND JOY"
A festive and true-made Victorian Magic Lantern Show for the
deserving poor of London? by Mervyn Heard with Juliette Harcourt
(recitation and song) and Stephen Horne (piano)

Saturday, 3 December 2011:
09:00 ? 12:00
PANEL 4 ? SOCIAL PREVENTION WITH THE AID OF THE SCREEN AND
EXHIBITIONS
Chair: Richard Crangle (Exeter)
Annemarie McAllister (Preston): The Promotion of Temperance by means
of the Magic Lantern.
Marina Dahlquist (G=F6teborg): Health Entrepreneurs: American Screen
Practices in the 1910s.
Michelle Lamuniere (Harvard University): From Jacob Riis?s Lantern
Slide Presentations to Harvard University?s Social Museum.
11:00 ? 12:00 Comment and Discussion Panel 4
Comment by Scott Curtis (Evanston)

12:00 ? 13:00
Closing Remarks and General Discussion
Chair: Andreas Gestrich
Closing Remarks by Ian Christie (London) and Clemens Zimmermann (Saarbr=FCck=
en)

http://www.ghil.ac.uk/events_and_conferences/conferences_and_workshops.html


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