The U. H.

Mnoa History Department

and
The Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society
present

Why So Dismal a Failure?

The South Kensington International
Exhibitions of the Early 1870s and
Exhibition Angst
A History Forum Public Lecture By
Prof. Peter H. Hoffenberg
Department of History
University of Hawaii at Mnoa
Monday, March 2nd
12:30 to 2:00 p.m.
Sakamaki Hall A201
History Department Library, University of Hawaii at Mnoa

Prof. Hoffenberg will explore the reasons given at the time and a few years
later for the failure of the grand scheme of annual international exhibitions
to be held at South Kensington during the 1870s. Four were held, and then
the shows were abandoned. Why? How did contemporaries explain the
dwindling attendance, lack of interest in newspapers and periodicals, and
reluctance of exhibitors to display? Some critics offered comments about
very specific elements of the exhibition experience such as the
architectural lay out of the buildings and the tyrannical character of the
executive commissioner and others made bolder claims about the
relationship between exhibitions, society and politics. This talk is the first
step in a longer-term project evaluating the shifting Victorian views of
exhibitions in light of changing understandings of the public and society
itself. It will focus on the writings of two key exhibition figures: John Forbes
Watson (1827-1892) Reporter of Economics at the India Museum and Henry
Trueman Wood (1845-1929), Secretary of the Royal Society of Arts.