Public talk at National Museums Scotland

For the past week I've been preparing to give a public talk on my research at National Museums Scotland. See advertised content. I felt a little bit of pressure before the event, I kept trying to remind myself to focus on the content, not the fact that 75 people booked tickets online in advance. : ) But in the end, about 50 people, attended and it was a of fun talking to people about the different types of blocks produced to created the images in the encyclopedias. The themes running through my talk as it meandered through the 19th century were: Progress, Knowledge and Democracy. They all had a very specific meaning in the context of the 19th century, and I explained how it was important to understand that context. Progress is very layered. It’s not just about moving forward, it’s about improvement. Knowledge and Democracy are tied together and they are evolving. What is considered useful information changes. What does it mean to be an educated person? Printing and illustration technologies were intertwined with these concepts. These ideas are also implied in subtitle of Chambers's Encyclopedia, which is a Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the people.