The Nineteenth Kenneth Karmiole Lecture on the Book Trade
Wed 11/13/2024 • 4PM - 5:30PM PST
UCLA William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
The Nineteenth Kenneth Karmiole Lecture on the Book Trade, "Funding London’s Elite Music Scene Through the Profits of Slavery in the 18th Century & Beyond: Bio-Bibliographical Work as Reparative History," investigates the ways in which the profits of the slave trade and the plantation economy made their way into the musical world in London and elsewhere in Britain and its Caribbean and North American colonies. Those ways included subscription to opera and concert seasons, to music publications, the purchase of musical instruments, the hiring of teachers, private music-making sessions, and even the trafficking of a minor, Muzio Clementi. The bio-bibliographical research method, using printed lists of subscribers, such as those at the Clark Library for the Concerts of Antient Music, involves checking names against databases, notably “Legacies of British Slavery,” as well as in numerous collective and individual family histories. Its success in identifying families whose income derived largely from plantation ownership is unrivaled. It has also turned up a distinctive bibliographical genre, hand-held fans printed with a plan of the boxes at the King’s Theatre and the occupants’ names. As reparative history, the effort is both necessary and rewarding.
The lecture will be presented live by Dr. David Hunter remotely, to in-person attendees at the Clark and online via livestream, with Q&A and discussion with the audience to follow. A display of related materials from the collections will be on view at the Clark before the lecture, and a light reception for all attendees will follow the program.