Daily Archives: February 10, 2024

Tuesday, March 5, and Wednesdays, March 13 – March 27, 6:30 pm Eastern – Grand Homes & Gardens Speaker Series: State-ly Homes – Exploring US Governors’ Mansions and Gardens, Online

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Homes to generations of state leaders and their families, governors’ mansions have been staples of the American landscape since the country’s founding. From refurbished sites of historical significance to bespoke masterpieces, the grand homes and gardens of U.S. governors offer a unique glimpse into how architecture, interior design, and landscapes can serve a civic purpose. 

Join Morven (New Jersey’s first governor’s mansion) as we explore four current governor’s mansions, traveling from New Jersey to Virginia, Hawai’i, and Maine. Learn from experts about how these spaces were created to embody the state and the people they seek to represent. 

The first event is Tuesday, March 5 at 6:30, exploring Drumthwacket, New Jersey’s Governor’s Mansion. Then, on Wednesday, March 13, we will visit First House, Virginia’s Executive Mansion, followed on March 20 by an exploration of Washington Place, the People’s Home of Hawai’i (below). The final event takes place on March 27 at The Blaine House, Home to Maine’s Governors.

The virtual series is $70 for the general public. Register at https://www.morven.org/upcoming/grandhomes24series You may also register for individual sessions.

Wednesday, February 14, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Women’s Writing and Construction of Gender in the Medieval Enclosed Garden, Online

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Images of enclosed gardens are everywhere apparent in medieval literature – from biblical narrative to secular love lyric, to adventurous romance tale. This Gardens Trust February 14 online lecture, however, will engage with its representation in literary works written by, for or about women in order to demonstrate the powerful, gendered dynamics inherent to this multivalent space, a gendered representation that often afforded women more agency than traditional representation normally permitted.

Lecturer Liz Herbert McAvoy is Professor Emerita in Medieval Literature at Swansea University and Honorary Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol. Her primary research interests lie in the areas of texts written by, for and about medieval women; female anchoritism and other forms of enclosure; the medieval garden; and female mysticism. She has written widely on all these topics, including three recent books published by Boydell & Brewer: Women’s Literary Cultures in the Global Middle Ages (2023), edited with Sue Niebrzydowski, Vicki Kay Price and Kathryn Loveridge; and Women and Devotional Literature in the Middle Ages (2023), edited with Cate Gunn and Naoe Kukita Yoshikawa. This talk is based on the findings in her latest monograph, The Enclosed Garden and the Medieval Religious Imaginary (2021).

Ticket price 8 pounds, through Eventbrite. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us), and a link to the recorded session, available for a week, will be sent shortly afterwards. Register at www.eventbrite.co.uk