Celebrating the life, work and legacy of Matthew Boulton

Celebrations - The outline programme for the bicentenary celebrations is as follows:

Exhibitions

A major exhibition focussing on Matthew Boulton’s life and work by Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery, Gas Hall Exhibition Gallery, June - September 2009. This will draw heavily on the Museum’s and the City Archives’ extensive collections of Boulton material, with additional input from The Birmingham Assay Office, Thinktank, private collectors and other external partners, providing a unique opportunity to bring together Boulton-related objects from many sources.

Satellite exhibitions at Soho House and other museums and galleries in the UK and beyond.

An exhibition dedicated to Matthew Boulton’s Mint, and entitled The Art of Making Money, at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, January-December 2009. The coins, medals, and trade tokens produced by Boulton were by far the most widely distributed images of his era and utterly essential to the growth of the modern cash economy. This exhibition will draw on several collections and will also look at the production techniques at the Soho Mint, and the local, national and international dimensions of the Mint’s activities.

Activities and Events

A full supporting programme of family and school activities, concerts and other events.

Conference and workshops

All the bicentenary partner institutions will join forces to  organise a series of workshops through 2007-8, exchanging knowledge and understanding in order to ensure that all the bicentenary events have maximum impact.

The University of Birmingham and the University of Central England will co-host a major academic Boulton conference from 3-5 July 2009. The conference is already generating international interest.

The workshops and conference, like the exhibitions, will also provide opportunities for two postgraduate students, currently on AHRC-funded PhD projects connected with Matthew Boulton, to present their research alongside scholars from various disciplines and countries.

Publications

The Gas Hall Exhibition catalogue, apart from being a guide to the exhibition, will form a substantial permanent reference work on Matthew Boulton.

A shorter exhibition guide and schools material will also be available.

The Barber Institute will publish a catalogue to accompany its exhibition.

A book by George Demidowicz on Boulton’s industrial undertakings is currently in preparation.

A new book by Professor Peter Jones, Industrial Enlightenment: Science, Technology and Culture in the West Midlands, 1760-1820, will be published by Manchester University Press in 2008.

A book on the former gardens at Soho House is under consideration.

A collection of short essays by various authors on aspects of Matthew Boulton’s life
and work.

The University of Birmingham /University of Central England Conference proceedings will be published at a later date.

Talks and Open Days

The Birmingham Assay Office will host special open days, tours and talks, and a series of ‘Boulton lunches’ with guest speakers.

Websites

There are Boulton collections in a number of museums overseas some of which, including The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, are planning their own 2009 displays.

A key element of the Boulton 2009 project will be a web resource which will enable users in Britain to see objects from those overseas partners as well as locally-generated material.

The special Boulton 2009 website will also be linked to the existing Revolutionary Players site, which was created in 2003 and details the early industrial and scientific life of the West Midlands. www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk

Tourism

A ‘Boulton Trail’ will be developed to provide both tourists and local people with a fresh perspective on Boulton-related landmarks around Birmingham and the region.

Further ideas for activities to add to the 2009 programme are welcome. With its wideranging

scope, Project Boulton 2009 also provides exciting sponsorship opportunities of the whole or specific elements of the project. If you would like to contribute suggestions or discuss any aspect of the project, please contact; Chris Rice, Boulton 2009 Project Leader, at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square,
Birmingham B3 3DH
Email: chris_rice@birmingham.gov.uk

“Of all the interesting things to be seen at Soho... Mr Boulton himself is the most interesting. We passed an evening listening to him, & we wished he had never ceased to speak; we could have heard him constantly without having another wish; he is an inexhaustible mine of precious knowledge, & of every thing that is amiable; he treated us with the utmost Kindness & made us travel through a Country of Wonders!”
Letter of Fanny Deluc to Matthew Boulton, 1800

Picture 1: The Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of
Birmingham, Edgbaston.

Picture 2: Re-creation of Matthew Boulton’s hermitage in the garden at Soho House.

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