Exhibitions

Currently, the SUB Göttingen is featuring Nützliches Vergnügen. Kinder- und Jugendbücher der Aufklärungszeit, an exhibition looking at the rise of juvenile educational literature from the late eighteenth century onward. The exhibition runs through February 20, 2005. More information, including ordering details for the exhibition catalog, can be found at http://www.paulinerkirche-goettingen.de.

Growing Up in Montréal is a new exhibition at The McCord Museum of Canadian History and looks at the behaviours and rituals, habits and games of Montréal children, from birth to the pre-teen years. Featuring the McCord’s remarkable collection of clothing, toys and photographs, the exhibition examines the changes and discoveries that marked the turn of the 20th century and transformed children’s lives. For details, refer to the website: http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/1422.html.

The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has developed an exhibition that is currently traveling. Invention at Play examines the similarities between childhood play and the ways that inventors and other creative people work. The exhibition provides visitors with many “hands-on” opportunities and interactive experiences. A larger version of the show is now at the Omaha Children's Museum in, Omaha, Nebraska and a smaller version is at the Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington, North Carolina; both versions run through April 30, 2005. Check out the website: http://www.inventionatplay.org.

Great Expectations: John Singer Sargent Painting Children is the first exhibition of Sargent’s work to explore his paintings of children (38 of them will be on display). The exhibition will be at Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA from February 25 through May 22, 2005. For additional dates and information, refer to their website: http://www.chrysler.org/press/sargent.asp.

Teen Chicago at the Chicago Historical Society examines Chicago's influence on teen life and the imprint teens make on the city. This exhibition is part of three-year project sponsored by the Society to study how teenagers affect Chicago's history, and how growing up in Chicago affects the way people think, act and feel. More information as well as an online version of the exhibition can be found at http://www.teenchicago.org.

Though not exclusively about children and youth, Lives Lost, Lives Found: Baltimore's German Jewish Refugees, 1933-1945 highlights the experiences of Jewish child refugees to America during the 1930s and early 1940s. SHCY member Chana R. Kotzin has written an essay about children and youth experiences for the substantial catalogue that accompanies the exhibition, which runs until April 2005. More information can be found at: http://www.jewishmuseummd.org/html/pe_highlighted.html

On permanent display at Sweet Briar College Museum in Virginia is a collection of personal items (among them clothing, toys, personal possessions, and books) belonging to Daisy Williams, the girl in whose honor Sweet Briar College was founded. Please refer to: http://www.museum.sbc.edu/.

Conferences

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California announces the following symposium: “From Content to Play: Family-Oriented Interactive Spaces in Art and History Museums.” The purpose of this symposium, which will take place June 3-5, 2005, is to bring together professionals whose work focuses on or informs interactive spaces designed specifically for family audiences in art and history museums. This event will create an in-depth opportunity for professionals to share information, dialogue about the fundamental issues and philosophical underpinnings of our approaches, and recognize and document multiple perspectives on the key issues in this area of museum work. Direct inquiries to Rebecca Edwards, REdwards@getty.edu.

Childhoods 2005: Children and Youth in Emerging and Transforming Societies is an international conference which will be held at the University of Oslo, Norway from June 29 – July 3, 2005. The title of the conference refers to a world where new ethno-cultural encounters, new markets, technology and globalization shape the structure of social change, of new childhoods and the lives of children and young people. Plenary sessions will relate to this theme of change. The conference will be made up of parallel sets of sessions hosted by different thematic networks. Each set of sessions will feature individual keynote speakers, thematic paper presentations and workshops. For information regarding program, registration, conference fees and other practical issues see the conference website: http://childhoods2005.uio.no.