Hybrid Event | Gwillim Student Symposium
Plants, climate, transcription techniques and more; researchers and students from the Gwillim Project share their research.
As the project draws to a close, this is a chance to hear from some of the Research Assistants and Associates whose work was crucial to the project. Their work included transcribing the Gwillim correspondence, designing and building the project website and interactive maps, and researching and writing case studies
Join ROAAr for this hybrid event. This event will be live-streamed for remote attendance, and we will be happy to host a limited number of in-person attendees.
About the Speakers
Ciel Haviland (MA History, McGill University) - “Transporting Plants between India and England"
Carleigh Nicholls (Project Manager, Indian Ocean World Centre) - “Something of the Climate”: Observing the Weather in Early Nineteenth-Century Madras
Hana Nikčević (Assistant Registrar, Art Museum, University of Toronto) - Topic: “Mary Symonds' perspective views”
Saraphina Masters (Assistant Curator of Engagement, Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) - "Indian Expertise on the Natural World in the Gwillim Archive."
Rebekah McCallum (Postdoctoral Fellow, PennState University) - “Transcribing the Gwillim correspondence”
Emily Zinger (Southeast Asia Digital Librarian, Cornell) - “The Gwillim project webinar series”
About the Gwillim Project
The Gwillim Project centres around the life and world of two English sisters in early nineteenth-century Madras (now Chennai), Elizabeth Gwillim and Mary Symonds. Elizabeth and Mary’s letters home and detailed drawings, produced during their stay in Madras from 1801 to 1808, provide an immersive portrayal of Madras under East India Company rule. Their correspondence and artwork also provide insight into the landscape, climate, and ecology of the Coromandel coast, documenting birds, animals, fish, insects, flowers, and trees. The sisters illustrate the lives of India’s human inhabitants, too, and their letters challenge assumptions about women’s work, interests, and social position in both England and India at the time.
The project ran from 2019-2022 and was funded by SSHRC, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, and Digital Museums Canada.