As part of the outreach activities of the NWO-funded project “Redefining the Region: The Transnational Dimension of Local Colour”, the multimedia exhibition “Travelling Regions: Regional Stories in the Long Nineteenth Century” is now on display on the first floor in Radboud University Library (near the coffee corner) and will remain available until 30 September 2023.
Local colour was very popular in the long nineteenth century, in fiction and in the media. This interest often crossed borders: people wanted to learn about regional life abroad as well, and as a result illustrations travelled to foreign magazines, and local colour novels and stories were translated into other languages.
The exhibition explores these trajectories of travel and translation of a selection of long-nineteenth-century regional fiction and illustrations depicting regions throughout Europe. It showcases reproductions of books and periodicals held in the Heritage Collections of Radboud University Library that can be consulted in the recently-renovated reading room. A touch-screen monitor invites users to click on three different itineraries and learn more about these items and the NWO project by engaging with text, images, audio, and even a 3D model.
The exhibition has been curated by Radboud University academics Prof. Marguérite Corporaal and Dr Giulia Bruna in collaboration with Radboud University Library Metadata Specialist Ruud van den Heuvel. Special thanks to Eefje Roodenburg (Curator of Special Collections for Radboud University Library) and Marian Janssen (Radboud University Library).