Lorena Bradford started monthly tours in American Sign Language, established a program for individuals with memory loss, and brought in medical students to learn soft skills to apply in their caregiving. 'I was a sub-department of one,' she joked to writer Emma Cieslik, who spoke with Bradford over Zoom and at the NGA about her own circuitous path into the profession, and the future of the field of museum accessibility.
Twelve weeks after coming on the market, the Surrey house used to portray the home of actress Maggie Smith's character, Lady Violet Crawley, found a buyer and recently closed along with several adjacent properties for nearly $9 million. Known as Dower House on the TV series, it was built around 1686.
Some things are out of our control. But what is in our control, is our ability to support one another. And ensure that we do not allow fear to keep us from experiencing something that could be truly special.
Mr. Darcy is its stern romantic lead. He has a massive income from his estate - 10,000 pounds a year - and, according to the novel's witty protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, just as large of a stick up his ass. Jane Austen was not one to go for lengthy physical descriptions of things, but we do know that when he enters a room, he draws people's attention with a "fine, tall person, handsome features," and a "noble mien."
A few days after Emerald Fennell's film adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" came out, a friend sent me an Onion headline about a bookseller frantically pulling classics off the shelf before Fennell enters the store. No beloved novel could be safe from the dangers of the director introducing anachronistic costumes, original songs by Charli XCX, selectively color-blind casting, and explicit B.D.S.M. scenes for its Byronic hero.
Striking silhouettes, sumptuous fabrics, bright colours, frills galore, and all manner of ornate accessories define the clothing of the Victorian period, that is, during the reign of Queen Victoria, which spanned seven decades of the 19th century. This was a time of dynamic change as the Industrial Revolution resulted in an expansion of the middle classes. Victorians were persuaded to part with their growing disposable income by mass advertising that ranged from gorgeous colour supplements in popular magazines to striking posters in railway stations.
With alcohol abuse being blamed for widespread poverty and social issues at the start of the 1800s, reformers began turning against booze. Temperance societies appeared in the 1830s, formed by people who committed themselves to a life of abstinence, while also helping those affected by drink and advocating for restrictions on alcohol. Over the century millions would sign the same pledge as part of attempts at self-improvement, turning the Temperance movement into one of England's largest social campaigns of the time.
An excavation in central London has uncovered the remains of a boys school complete with artifacts from the students' schoolwork and their playtime. The objects include a slate tablet used as an erasable notebook to practice handwriting, a slate pencil and several ceramic alleys marbles made of decorated white ceramic from the Victorian era. Artifacts related to children's lives are less frequently found than ones relating to adults, so these objects give us a special glimpse into the lives of schoolboys.
It's nearly 200 years since the birth of a British aristocrat who became the first Muslim member of the House of Lords. But few have heard of Lord Henry Stanley, who "defied convention and his family's wishes" when he converted to Islam in 1859, according to historian Jamie Gilham. Little remains of Stanley's letters and diaries "which is really frustrating but adds to the idea that he was a private man," he said.