Jewelry is a cultural artifact, so the study of jewelry provides insight into the society that produced it. We will examine jewelry of the Victorian era and learn what it teaches about aspects of life during this time. We will discuss Queen Victoria’s role as an international influencer for jewelry fashion, and how the Victorians defined “jewelry.” We will explore the cultural symbols encoded in jewelry pieces, filling jewelry with commonly understood meaning. We will identify how scientific discoveries influenced the designs of Victorian jewelry. We will discover how the Victorians’ access to travel created jewelry souvenirs and popularized certain jewelry types. We will consider the Victorians’ “mourning jewelry” culture as a response to the prevalence of death at this time. We will conclude with discussion of the democratization of jewelry: how new materials and technologies made jewelry more available to the fast-growing Victorian middle and working classes.
((Ronaele Novotny - In Person: CMU Campus - Wednesday))
