Five British Women Grand Tourists with Dr Emma Gleadhill

In this talk, we uncover the fascinating souvenir culture of British women travellers between 1750 and 1830. Dr Emma Gleadhill’s book, Taking Travel Home, explores how elite women used the objects and texts they brought back from their travels to fulfill their social, intellectual, and political aspirations – whether in the realms of connoisseurship, science, or friendship. Key characters include Hester Piozzi, Lady Anna Miller, Dorothy Richardson, and the Wilmot sisters who went to Russia.

Join Emma as she explores how these mementos were far more than just souvenirs – women revelling in the independence and identity formation of travel used them to form spaces in which they could create and control their own powerful travel narratives.

Dr Emma Gleadhill is a social and cultural historian, and watercolour artist, based in Melbourne, Australia. She is specifically interested in women’s history, travel, and accessing new dimensions of the female experience through souvenir culture.