CPHC Doctoral Researcher, Andie Lloyd travelled to the US in July to present a paper at the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) Annual Conference at Loyola University in downtown Chicago. The RSVP brings together an interdisciplinary and international group of scholars who are all dedicated to the study of serials in the long nineteenth century. The conference theme was “Voices and Visions of the Nineteenth-Century Periodical Press.” It explored the dynamic interplay between the diverse voices featured in newspapers and periodicals and the broader visions that guided these publications. Andie’s paper was based on her research into the printing history of Birmingham’s early nineteenth century radical newspapers. It considered the material history of the surviving fragments of advertisements attached to Edmonds's Weekly Recorder and Saturday’s Advertiser. The adverts offer a rare glimpse into the production techniques and commercial struggles of a radical, unstamped weekly. Her paper demonstrated the myriad ways these fragments can connect us to the broader history of early nineteenth-century print culture in Birmingham, and the social, political, technical, and economic landscape in which they were created.
Andie also visited New York to examine collections at the New York Public Library. She primarily consulted the Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, which includes several Birmingham radical newspapers and political pamphlets. The trip provided access to a unique aggregation of Birmingham materials in the United States and provided a rare chance to study transatlantic dispersal patterns of Birmingham’s radical texts. One aspect of Andie’s research seeks to reconstruct the bibliographic history of Birmingham’s radical print from the 1810s and understand their cultural and historical impact. The visit provided some useful insights in to printing processes and evidence which will facilitate reproduction of the publication histories. The trip was an opportunity to compare hand-press variants and facilitated the compilation of comprehensive bibliographies (for which it is important to survey all extant copies). Andie was also able to ascertain copy-specific histories and garner insights into preservation and collection practices, which will deepen her understanding of how these texts have survived and their cultural significance.