Exhibit:
By J. McNeven - collections.vam.ac.uk, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=665739
Our class gallery on COVE will focus on the Great Exhibition of 1851—Prince Albert’s brainchild and, to the Victorians, the greatest sight in the history of the world. The Great Exhibition, which ran from May 1 to October 15, 1851, celebrated the global prominence of British industry and the manifold achievements of the “civilized” world. Approximately 6 million people—a third of the British population of that time—visited the Crystal Palace, a cast-iron and glass building erected in Hyde Park to house the exhibitions on display. Over 40 times, Queen Victoria visited the exhibits ranging from inventions (the envelope folding machine), housewares and furniture (writing desks, bookshelves), books, exotic foods, and much more more. Charlotte Brontë memorably describes her second visit to the Crystal Palace as follows: “It is such a Bazaar or Fair as eastern Genii might have created. It seems as if magic only could have gathered this mass of wealth from all the ends of the Earth” (qtd. in Posting It 130). After perusing catalogues from the exhibition and seeing original plates in the Pohndorff Room, students will design a booth for the Great Exhibition on any aspect of Victorian culture that could have been on display at this major event. We will visit the IdeaLab to start booth making. The first image will be a photograph of your booth, which you can make from a range of materials—paints, colored pencils, clay, wood, cloth, digital art, or even legos. In addition, students will add 3-4 additional images for a virtual display case to illuminate your chosen wonder of Victorian life. Students will write an introduction, headers, and captions for their case, complete a reflection on designing an online exhibition on COVE, and assess the exhibit. In addition, students will give a 5-minute presentation on their cases, so we can all go to the fair!