‘Transatlantic Crystal Palace: Horace Greeley takes the Great Exhibition on Tour'

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• Tom F. Wright, Faculty of English, University of Cambridge
• Monday 10 May 2010, 17:00-18:00
• Old Combination Room, Wolfson College, Cambridge.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Henrik Schoenefeldt.

POSTPONED DUE TO ILLNESS FROM 6 MAY TO 10 MAY 2010

The lecture is part of REFRACTIONS OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE - Two Talks on the Great Exhibition of 1851

This paper considers the construction of transatlantic meanings of the Great Exhibition, through the figure of Horace Greeley, the eccentric and divisive editor of the New York Tribune.

Having attended the Fair as an official delegate, Greeley toured the American popular lecture circuit during 1851-1852 with talks on his experiences, extolling the necessity of emulation of British technological and commercial achievements. Placing the divided contemporary media response to these orations within the wider context of transatlantic perceptions of the Exhibition, this paper charts the contested resonances of the Crystal Palace for Anglo-American cultural relations.

Biography Tom recently completed a PhD in American literature in the Faculty of English, examining American oratorical culture of the mid nineteenth-century and the phenomenon of the ‘travel lecture’ on the popular lecture circuit. His research interests include the history of travel writing, oratorical traditions, Anglo-American relations and networks of popular cultural exchange. He is a graduate of UCL and Cambridge, and spent a postgraduate year at Harvard on a Kennedy Scholarship.

This talk is part of the Refractions of the Crystal Palace - 2 Talks on the Great Exhibition of 1851 series.

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• Old Combination Room, Wolfson College, Cambridge

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