Great Exhibitionism

Abstract

Quoting from the publicity notice of a meeting in Manchester to promote the Great Exhibition of 1851, Jeffery Auerbach notes the diversity of objectives guiding the event: 'to bring together specimens of industry and ingenuity of all nations;' 'to encourage the communication of knowledge and the free interchange of ideas and to promote friendly intercourse amongst the different nations of the earth;' 'to furnish a stimulus to talent and enterprise;' to provide opportunities for improvement to 'manufacturers, artisans and mechanics' who could use the exhibition to compare 'productions of genius and skill' from around the world; to provided 'a stimulus' to British industry and trade; to provide an opportunity for the artisan to display the results of his 'ingenuity and industry' alongside those of the largest manufacturers; to teach 'the necessity of united action' between 'skill and capital;' and to promote social and international harmony 'which cannot fail to advance the improvement of the human race'.As Auerbach wryly notes, 'it is not surprising that it took 10,000 objects to meet these disparate goals'. Marking the anniversary of the Great Exhibition 150 years later (as well as the centenary of Victoria's death), the scale, shape and aims of 'Locating the Victorians' appropriately recalled the monumentality of the event it commemorated.