Women in Wolfson's rare books collection
Karen Spärck Jones, a Fellow of Wolfson from 2000 until her death in 2007, was a computer scientist whose concepts are considered to be the basis for how the modern internet search engine works. She was also a bibliophile, and donated 200 rare books, printed before 1900, to the College, which are stored in the Library basement.
Very few books in the collection are about or were written by women, but those that are had fascinating lives: an actress, philanthropist, evangelist, educator, cookery writer, lady’s maid and dramatist. This new exhibition gives you the opportunity to explore what we know about the books’ authors and their works.
Book onto the tour:
11.00 - 12.00 on Friday 15 March
15.00 - 16.00 on Friday 15 March
Meeting Place: Porters Lodge
Ancient Greek shield-bands: Inside the mind of a hoplite
Fewer images are more evocative of ancient Greek societies than the hoplite warrior, with his distinctive round shield adorned with a blazon. It is less commonly known that many hoplite shields were also decorated on their obverse side, with small images individually commissioned by soldiers. This talk will introduce the fascinating evidence of ancient Greek shield-bands, found mostly in the Peloponnese in southern Greece. Dating to the Archaic era (c. 700–450 BC), the shield-bands consisted of bronze strips placed inside the shield and adorned with small images chosen by the warriors themselves. These depictions featured scenes of mythical heroes, war-time brutality and gendered violence, which offer us a unique source of images and stories that accompanied individual men into combat. Being highly personal items, the shield-bands are a gateway into the mindset of Greek hoplites.
Dr Cezary Kucewicz is an Assistant Professor in Ancient History at the University of Gdansk and Bye-Fellow at Wolfson College. Cezary completed his doctoral research in history at University College London. His thesis, supervised by Professor Hans van Wees, concerned the social history of Archaic Athens. He also holds a BA in Ancient History and Social Anthropology (University College London) and an MA in Ancient History (Cardiff University). He is the author of The Treatment of the War Dead in Archaic Athens: An Ancestral Custom (Bloomsbury 2021), which won the Early Career Researcher prize awarded by the Polish Academy of Sciences
Details:
This is a hybrid event, which will take place in-person in the Gatsby Room (Chancellor's Centre) and also on Zoom on Tuesday 19 March.
If you would like to attend in-person, please book your place.
If you would like to attend online, please register for the Zoom link.
'After News Before Bed' Exhibition
A display of works by the winner of this year’s Wolfson College Royal Academy Schools Graduate Prize. Now in its fifth year, the prize gives an opportunity to a recent graduate of the RA Schools to create an exhibition in the College that also considers the special surroundings of the exhibition space.
The exhibition takes its name from an ongoing series of oil paintings started in 2022 and entitled ‘After news before bed’; it also includes smaller sculptures from the series ‘Repaired objects’ started in 2017.
The title originates from a time slot which in certain countries was designed for short cartoons or other childrens’ programs. Peculiar enough, after the evening news, during which parents would gather (rather distressing) information about politics and different state affairs, children would get their turn to watch some short entertainment before going to sleep. I never understood if the aim was for children to be ‘encouraged’ to watch the news while waiting for their cartoons, or if parents were meant to get some gratifying relaxation with their children after all the more ‘serious affairs’. An interesting space opens up to be explored through imagery in between the two extremes, where serious business can get cartoonishly distorted, and cartoons at the end of the struggle of facts can produce some serious implications.
Opening times:
10:00 - 17:00pm on Saturday 16 March
10:00 - 17:00pm on Sunday 17 March
10:00 - 17:00pm on Sunday 24 March
It is advisable to contact the Porters' Lodge in advance of your visit (01223 335900).
Discover Wolfson’s gardens: Biodiversity tour
Join the Wolfson gardening team on this special tour that will take you around our beautiful College grounds. Our gardens consist of a series of lawned courtyards forming a set of garden ‘rooms’, with some stunning herbaceous borders. The beds and borders contain a wide variety of plants and shrubs that provide structure, colour and interest throughout the year.
Meet the team that manages and develops the gardens and learn about the environmental practices and gardening techniques they use to encourage biodiversity, while enjoying the spring delights that the gardens have to offer.
Book onto the tour:
14:00 - 15:00 on Friday 15 March
Meeting Place: Porters Lodge
This event is now fully booked.
Find out about more events during Cambridge Festival
Check out the Cambridge Festival website for the full programme of events.
