We are thrilled to announce that we have received SSHRC funding for our year-long series of roundtables & workshops! Upcoming sessions feature presenters on photos, brooches, books, hymns, valentines, hair bracelets, nursery wallpaper, and tea gowns, as well as hands-on workshops on embroidery, paper marbling, block printing, hair art, and scrapbooking. We are grateful for support from the University of Victoria, the University of Manitoba, and the University of Alberta. You can follow us on Twitter with the handle @craftyvictorian and the hashtag #craftingvictorians.
Learn more about our upcoming events, including links to registration forms, by clicking on an event. You can also find out more about our past events below. You can also reach us at crafting[at]uvic.ca.

Roundtable on Victorian Material Culture
4 May 2021, 10:00am-11:15am PST on Zoom

A Conversation with Judith Flanders in a Handful of Victorian Objects
14 May 2021, 10:00am-11:15am PST on Zoom
Event Schedule
Crafting Communities: A Series of Victorian Object Lessons & Scholarly Exchanges in COVID Times
Co-organized by Mary Elizabeth Leighton, Andrea Korda, & Vanessa Warne, & Karen Bourrier.
Co-sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada, and the Universities of Victoria, Alberta, & Manitoba.
Date | Event | Confirmed Presenters |
23 Oct 2020, 10:00-11:15 PST | Roundtable: Singing from the Margins? The Cultural Worlds of Victorian Hymns | Alisa Clapp-Itnyre (Indiana U East), Diana Maltz (Southern Oregon U), Heather Marcovitch (Red Deer C), Fred Roden (U of Connecticut) |
29 Oct & 3 Nov, 8:30-9:45 pm CT | Crafting Workshop: Broderie Anglaise Embroidery | Sabrina Mark |
13 Nov 2020, 10:00-11:15 PST | Roundtable: Material Connections Between French and British 19th-Century Literature | Colette Colligan (SFU), Tania Duclos (STM C), Beth Gerwin (U of Lethbridge), Kirsten MacLeod (U of Newcastle), Paisley Mann (Langara C) |
8 Dec 2020, 10:00-11:15 PST | Roundtable: Victorian Object Lessons, Open Session | Jo Briggs (Walters Art Museum), Hannah Claus (artist), Hannah Field (U of Sussex), Imogen Hart (Berkeley), Vanessa Warne (U Manitoba) |
18 December 10:00-11:15 PST | Crafting Workshop: Victorian Scrapbooking | Heather Dean (U of Victoria) & Elizabeth Bassett (U of British Columbia) |
19 January 2021, 10:00-11:15 PST | Roundtable: Victorian Object Lessons, Open Session | Manon Gaudet (Yale U), Heather Hind (U of Exeter), Lorraine Janzen Kooistra (Ryerson), Victoria Mills (Birkbeck), Talia Schaffer (CUNY) |
9 February 2021, 10:00-11:15 PST | Roundtable: Victorian Object Lessons, Open Session | Karen Bourrier (U of Calgary), Denae Dyck (U of Victoria), Freya Gowrley (U of Derby), Andrea Korda (U of Alberta), Jaipreet Virdi (U of Delaware) |
26 February 2021, 10:00-11:15 PST | Crafting Workshop: Hair Art | Sandra Klowak (artist) and Vanessa Warne (U of Manitoba) |
9 Mar 2021, 10:00-11:15 PST | Roundtable: Victorian Object Lessons, Open Session | Jordan Bear (U of Toronto), Anne Bissonette (U of Alberta), Alice Crossley (U of Lincoln), Kristen Guest (UNBC), Alison Hedley (McGill) |
9 April 2021, 10:00-12:00 PST | Pedagogy Workshop: Collections-Based Learning | Heather Dean (UVic) & Elizabeth Bassett (UBC) |
30 April 2021, 10:00-11:15 PST | Crafting Workshop: Hair Art * Registration has been closed* | Sandra Klowak (artist) and Vanessa Warne (U of Manitoba) |
4 May 2021, 10:00-11:15 PST | Roundtable: Victorian Object Lessons, Open Session | Elizabeth Bassett (U of British Columbia), Shalini Le Gall (Portland Museum of Art), Deborah Lutz (U of Louisville), Morna O’Neill (Wake Forest U), Deborah Wynne (U of Chester), Maria Zytaruk (U of Calgary) |
14 May 2021, 10:00-11:00 PST | A Conversation with Judith Flanders in a Handful of Victorian Objects | Judith Flanders, author of The Victorian House, The Victorian City, The Making of Home, Christmas: A Biography, A Place for Everything, & other books |
4 June 2021, 10:00-11:15 PST | Roundtable: Victorian Pregnancy & Childbirth in Five Objects | Isabel Davis (Birkbeck), Jacqueline Hyman (Textile Restoration Studio), Mary Elizabeth Leighton (U of Victoria), Lisa Surridge (U of Victoria), Shannon Withycombe (U of New Mexico), Whitney Wood (Vancouver Island U) |
8 June 2021, 10:00-12:00 PST | Crafting Workshop: Paper Marbling | Amy Cote (Samford U) |
10 August 2021, 10:00-12:00 PST | Crafting Workshop: Block Printing | Samantha Bellinger (Special Collections Librarian, Toronto Public Library) |
To Be Confirmed | Pedagogy Workshop: Teaching Victorian Poetry Online | Alison Chapman (U of Victoria) with RAs Kate Fralick, Kailey Fukushima, & Sonja Pinto |