To people of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, parlors and drawing rooms were the social centers of their lives: the décor of these rooms reflected their wealth and status, as well as an insatiable curiosity about the world. Confidently optimistic women and men occupied these entertainments spaces, trying to emulate the manners and customs of their British and French cousins through conversation, social calls, tea parties, musicales, and other entertainments…and their material world supported these very activities. The 38th Annual Tryon Palace Decorative Arts Symposium brings together scholars, collectors, students, and others to view and consider the pivotal position of both drawing rooms and parlors (and their contents) in the context of a newly emerging American society and in the consolidation of American identity.

One session of the symposium has been reserved for several 15-20 minute presentations from students and scholars to “read” the material culture of drawing rooms and parlors. Thus, we welcome proposals for readings/analyses of several artifacts in Tryon collections.

Those interested in participating should submit a 250-word essay (Microsoft Word document) featuring one of the artifacts that appear as images in the call posted on line at:
http://www.uncg.edu/~pllucas/cfp_matlcult.pdf.

Submissions should be made as an email attachment by February 10, 2006 to pllucas@uncg.edu. Selected scholars will receive a stipend to offset some conference expenses.

Speakers for the conference include Robert A. Leath (Colonial Williamsburg); C. Dallett Hemphill (Ursinus College); Peter Sandbeck (NC State Historic Preservation Office); Nancy Richards (Tryon Palace); Laurence Lubin (Metropolitan Museum of Art); and Patrick Lee Lucas (UNCG).

The symposium is sponsored by the Tryon Palace Commission and the Department of Interior Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Conference information:
www.tryonpalacesymposium.org