Auld Lang Syne Album 1855 - 1868

Curator: Welcome. We’re here today to explore Georgina Cowper’s “Auld Lang Syne Album,” a fascinating collection of drawings, prints, photographs, and ink work on paper, created between 1855 and 1868. Editor: It’s deceptively simple on the outside, isn’t it? I mean, the cover just has "JENNY" written on it, almost like a casual invitation, or maybe a dedication. It whispers secrets and closeness; immediately makes you want to crack it open and rifle through some history. Curator: Precisely. This album provides an interesting insight into Victorian social practices around memory and friendship, especially within networks of women. These albums functioned as spaces to preserve intimate relationships and social identities. They reflect on how these networks circulated images, personal sentiments, and mementos. Editor: And you can feel that. It feels very… tactile. Almost makes me want to sit down with some tea and old letters. And yet, you think about all the careful work that went into something like this and it's more than the sum of its parts; someone obviously cared quite a bit about Jenny! There's affection laced in here. Curator: These albums were central to performing and solidifying relationships. Note how photography starts entering the space, it becomes interwoven with the more conventional drawing and printing—and this is quite fascinating. We also see it taking off during this period, changing representation practices. Editor: I wonder who Jenny was. Was she just a mate, a relation, the romantic heart's desire of our mysterious artist, or maybe a complex mixture of the lot. It really tickles that imaginative sense. Someone clearly wanted to memorialize this "Jenny" in a deliberate manner, even the title is a tribute to a familiar sentimental song that recalls shared remembrance and memory. Curator: Indeed, and the very act of creating and sharing albums like this actively constructed female identities. It facilitated the emotional bonds within intimate social spheres and reinforced gendered expectations about sentimentality, memory-keeping, and interpersonal relations. Editor: It also makes me think about the lost art of keeping these physical records. I wonder what Jenny would think about the fact we're discussing her old album today. And I feel it tells you just as much about Cowper as it does about "Jenny". Curator: Well put. Reflecting on how objects like Cowper's album once circulated and were cherished allows us to reevaluate their social significance today. They remain potent reminders of the importance of both personal connections and memory within an ever-changing social fabric. Editor: Precisely. To the unseen stories carried in seemingly unassuming objects like this; that’s why the galleries still hold all the charm.