The first network event was held in Sweden in October 2015 at Lund University and Skarhult Castle. The Steering Committee met with partners including:
- Joanna Norman (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK)
- Esther Starkenburg (Erfgoed Leiden, The Netherlands)
- Anouk Janssen (Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, The Netherlands)
- Marie Lennersand (Riksarkivet, Stockholm, Sweden)
- Kajsa Brilkman (Lund University, Sweden)
- Alexandra von Schwerin (Skarhult Castle, Sweden)
On Day 1 the group outlined plans and outputs for the network covering topics encompassing:
- Intellectual questions about objects and their relationship to power and gender (e.g. gloves).
- How to foster a dialogue between academics from history, literature, material culture, art history, and archivists, curators and exhibitions to share practices in a mutually beneficial way for those studying and displaying collections and archives.
- How each member of the group brings a distinct sector knowledge to bear on collections, practices and displays.
Day 2 was hosted by Baroness Alexandra von Schwerin at Skarhult Castle in Eslӧv, Sweden. The morning involved presentations by participants, followed by a guide-tour led by Baroness von Schwerin to view the castle’s Power in disguise exhibition, and consultation meeting with the network partners advising on future developments for Skarhults kulturminne.
Discussion topics included:
- Strengthening international relationships between museums, exhibitions, archives and academics.
- Pooling expertise and knowledge brought to bear on collections; curating exhibitions and interrogating practices
- Sharing interpretation of collections to schools, local history groups and general public –pedagogy and outreach.
- Gift-shop culture -providing expert knowledge contributing to the development of items (e.g. jewellery and postcards) for sale in museum shops.
- Contributing to public debates about Women’s and Gender History.