About the Crafting Communities Project
Crafting Communities is an award-winning resource hub for makers and educators interested in nineteenth-century material culture. The project was created by Andrea Korda, Mary Elizabeth Leighton, and Vanessa Warne; supported by collaborators, including a team of 20 student researchers; and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Universities of Alberta, Victoria, and Manitoba, and the Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada.
In 2020, the team launched a two-year SSHRC-funded series to study old things using digital methods, resulting in 30 online events, hosting scholars, makers, artists and curators for traditional scholarly presentations, hands-on workshops, artists’ talks, and critical crafting sessions focused on pedagogy. View our past events here.
We share our findings in the following resources:
a curated online exhibit of 26 artifacts (Victorian Things)
a three-season podcast of 24 episodes (Victorian Samplings)
15 self-guided how-tos on 19th-century crafts
teaching resources to support hands-on crafting in humanities classrooms
student-authored reflections highlighting what we learn from hands-on crafting
We invite you to learn more about our project and research findings through the following publications:
JVC Online blog: Three blog posts exploring the origins of the project, digital exhibit development, podcasting, online learning, and crafting as experiential learning.
“Crafting in the Humanities Classroom”: Listen to two students describe what they learned from crafting in the classroom in this recorded presentation delivered at the 2022 Festival of Teaching and Learning at the University of Alberta.
“Getting Scrappy in the Classroom during COVID-19: Collaboration, Open Educational Resources, and Hands-on Learning for Humanities Students.” Co-authored with project collaborators Heather Dean and Elizabeth Bassett and published in KULA, this article explores the development of digital exhibits and their use in humanities classrooms.
“Teaching with the Getty Museum Challenge in Humanities Classrooms.” Published in Currents in Teaching and Learning, this article describes how the Getty Museum’s 2020 challenge to recreate artworks at home provides an adaptable model of hands-on learning for instructors seeking experiential learning opportunities.
“Making Things Together: Collaborating and Mentoring on an OER Project.” Forthcoming in IDEAH, this article reflects on our findings from the first two years of the project and offers recommendations for mentoring, care, and collaboration. Coming Soon!
Please use our Contact page to be in touch and follow us on Instagram @crafty_victorians.
Meet Our Team
Crafting Communities is a collaboration between faculty and research assistants situated across Indigenous lands, including those of the lək̓ʷəŋən and SENĆOŦEN speaking communities of the Songhees, Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples; the Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway, Saulteaux, Anishinaabe, and Inuit peoples of Treaty 6 territory; and the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, Dene, and Métis peoples of Treaty 1 territory, which is also the homeland of the Métis Nation. We benefit from these lands, from the support of institutions based on these lands, and from the continued presence of these diverse Indigenous communities, whose cultural practices influenced and enriched Victorian material culture.
Co-organizers
Dr. Andrea Korda
Andrea Korda is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Faculty. Her current research in Victorian visual and material culture focuses on the ways images and objects were used in Victorian education. She is the author of Printing and Painting the News in Victorian London: The Graphic and Social Realism, 1869–1891 (Ashgate, 2015), and her articles have appeared in the Journal of Victorian Culture, Victorian Network, Paedagogica Historica, Word & Image and Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide. In the wake of the lockdowns of 2020, crafting took on an increasingly central role in both her personal and professional life. Forthcoming articles, written collaboratively with members of the Crafting Communities team, consider how crafting practices can contribute to teaching and learning.
Dr. Mary Elizabeth Leighton
Mary Elizabeth Leighton is Professor of English at the University of Victoria. Her current research focuses on pregnancy in Victorian fiction and culture. She is the co-author of The Plot Thickens: Illustrated Victorian Serial Fiction from Dickens to Du Maurier (with Lisa Surridge, Ohio UP, 2019), co-editor of The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Prose, 1832-1901 (with Lisa Surridge, Broadview, 2012), and former co-editor of Victorian Review (2006-16). Collaborating on the Crafting Communities project with this wonderful team has taught her new skills (from hair art and broderie anglaise to ghost signatures), inspired her to try needlepoint and rekindle her knitting practice, and changed how she teaches Victorian literature.
Dr. Vanessa Warne
Vanessa Warne is a Professor in the Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media at the University of Manitoba, where she holds a cross-appointment with the Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Disabilities Studies. Her research explores the history of blind people’s experiences of reading and writing in Victorian Britain. Her book, By Touch Alone: Blindness and Reading in Nineteenth-Century Culture, will be published by the University of Michigan Press in 2024. In her spare time, she volunteers at Dalnavert Museum, a house built in 1895 on Treaty One territory that is now a museum of domestic life. It was her pleasure to work closely with Anne Hung, Jessie Krahn, and Natalie LoVetri on Victorian Samplings, the podcast of the Crafting Communities projec
Contributors
Elizabeth Bassett
Elizabeth Bassett is a librarian and archivist from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Victoria (2016), as well as a dual master’s degree in Archival Studies and Library and Information Studies from the University of British Columbia (2021). While a graduate student, Elizabeth held archives assistant positions with the South Vancouver Island Dance Archives, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the University of Victoria Libraries. Her research interests are focused on personal archives and literary archives. Her contributions to the Crafting Communities project include collaborating with Heather Dean on the scrapbooking workshop and tutorial for the 2020–21 series.
Dr. Karen Bourrier
Karen Bourrier is Associate Professor of English at the University of Calgary. Her research interests include Victorian literature and culture, disability studies, the digital humanities, and women’s writing. She is the author of The Measure of Manliness: Disability and Masculinity in mid-Victorian Fiction (University of Michigan Press, 2015) and Victorian Bestseller: The Life of Dinah Craik (University of Michigan Press, 2019). Her articles have appeared in journals such as Victorian Literature and Culture and Victorian Studies. She is project director of a digital resource peer-reviewed by NINES, Nineteenth-Century Disability: Cultures and Contexts. Before coming to the University of Calgary, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Western Ontario and has also taught at Boston University. Karen collaborated on planning the 2020–21 Crafting Communities series and has provided digital expertise to the Crafting team.
Heather Dean
Heather Dean is Associate Director of Special Collections at the University of Victoria Libraries. Prior to joining UVic, she was an archivist with the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. She holds a Master in Library and Information Studies and Master of Archival Studies from the University of British Columbia as well as a Master of Arts from the University of Victoria. Her interests are in literary and personal archives, and she is the incoming chair of the Section on Literary and Artistic Archives with the International Council on Archives. Heather has collaborated on the Crafting team to integrate archives-based teaching and learning into the Crafting Communities series.
Dr. Denae Dyck
Denae Dyck is a graduate of the English PhD program at the University of Victoria. She joined Texas State University as Assistant Professor in Fall 2022. Her research and teaching interests include nineteenth-century literature and culture, women’s writing, and literature and religion/spirituality. Her publications include articles in Victorian Poetry, Victorian Review, European Romantic Review, Christianity and Literature, and ARIEL. She contributed to the Crafting Communities team’s first series of virtual events in 2020-21, and she served as the Crafting Communities Project Manager in 2021-22. Working with this wonderful team has helped her to discover new ways to make her teaching and research more interdisciplinary, inclusive, and creative.
Dr. Matt Huculak
Matt Huculak is Head, Advanced Research Services & Digital Scholarship Librarian at the University of Victoria Libraries. Matt has provided the Crafting team with training in digital presentation and preservation, with a focus on Omeka and metadata.
Anne Hung
Anne Hung recently graduated from the University of Victoria’s English Honours program with a minor in Professional Communication. Her Honours graduating thesis explored the influence of Romantic ballet on the early 19th-century press, and her research interests include Victorian print culture, performance studies, and digital humanities. She is a co-founder of the Victorian Samplings podcast alongside Jessie Krahn, Natalie LoVetri, and Dr. Vanessa Warne.
Sonia Jarmula
Sonia Jarmula is a recent graduate from the MA program in the University of Calgary’s English Department. Her research focused on orphan girls in children’s literature. She worked as a research assistant for the Digital Dinah Craik Project and for the Map of Victorian Literary Sociability. In 2019, she was the lead conference assistant for the annual VSAWC conference, “Victorian Sociability.” She lives in Calgary. In 2020–21, Sonia was responsible for Crafting Communities’ social media presence, from the VSAWC events list and registration pages to @craftyvictorian on Twitter.
Dani Johnson
Dani Johnson has worked in libraries (public and academic) for over 14 years. In addition to this, her background combines several years of experience in tech support, training, graphic design, and photography. She splits her free time between exploring the world of food, reading, growing plants, playing videogames, writing, and taking too many photos on her cell phone. Dani has provided the Crafting team with essential training in smartphone photography and editing.
Tommy Mayberry
Tommy Mayberry (he/she/they) is a scholar, professional, and academic drag queen with a background in diverse teaching and instructional facilitation in academia as well as industry. Tommy has presented their scholarship and research findings nationally as well as internationally, in places such as Oxford, Washington DC, Tokyo, and Honolulu. They are co-editor of the forthcoming book, RuPedagogies of Realness: Essays on RuPaul’s Drag Race and Teaching and Learning (McFarland 2021), and they serve as the Vice-Chair, Communications on the Educational Developers Caucus (EDC) national Executive. Tommy contributed to the Crafting project by facilitating the conversations about equity, diversity, and inclusion that have helped prepare the team for the 2021–22 series.
Rich McCue
Rich McCue manages the University of Victoria Libraries Digital Scholarship Commons (DSC), and is a sessional instructor in the Faculty of Education. The DSC makes available digital tools like 3D printers, electronics kits, Virtual Reality equipment, data analysis & visualization software, and teaches people how to use those tools. Rich’s research interests include flipped learning, makerspaces, multimedia learning, and informal credentialing. Rich has contributed to the Crafting project by providing the podcast team with training in Audacity.
Robert Steele
Robert Steele is a master’s student in the Department of English Language and Literatures at the University of British Columbia. His MA thesis explores representations of timekeeping technologies and temporality in Victorian fiction. He also has research interests in gender and sexuality studies and 19th-century print culture and illustration. He is delighted to be part of the Crafting Communities team, crafting the posters for the event series.
Allegra Stevenson-Kaplan
Allegra Stevenson-Kaplan recently completed her Honours English degree at the University of Victoria, where she was Director of Information for the UVic English Students’ Association and a Poetry Editor for The Warren Undergraduate Review. She wrote her Honours graduating thesis on single mothers in Victorian fiction, and her research interests include Victorian literature, digital humanities, and modernist poetry. Her work has been published in The Warren and appears in the 11th volume of The Albatross journal. In 2020–21, Allegra worked as a Research Assistant on the Omeka Exhibition Team for the Crafting Communities project.
Research Assistants
Priscilla Adebanji
During her time on the Crafting Communities team, Priscilla was a computing science major at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus. In addition to piloting tutorials as a research assistant, Priscilla designed parts of the Crafting Communities Website. She is interested in learning that goes beyond conventional boundaries of one’s field and strives to experience life in such a way that when she is not creating art, she is appreciating it - in its many forms.
Hannah Boller
Hannah Boller recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Alberta. With experience in historical research, she attended the "Bigamy Across Boarders" conference in Sydney, Australia in July 2023 and worked on her URI grant, "Mennonite Marriage: A Second Reformation?" She is currently studying towards an After-Degree in Education at the University of Alberta with plans to continue in graduate studies. Hannah enjoys crocheting and scrolling Instagram in her spare time. During 2023-24, she contributed to our team as the main contributor behind the screen where she managed the Crafting Communities social media and thoroughly enjoyed the contributions from the team.
Kiarra Burd
While working as a Research Assistant for the Crafting Communities team, Kiarra Burd was a fourth-year student at UVic pursuing a BA in English Honours with a Slavic Studies minor. Though Kiarra's main academic interest usually revolves around the Early Middle Ages in Europe and its language, literature, and culture, she also enjoys researching Russian and Roman history, Gothic literature, philosophy, and religion. If she is not busy with those things, Kiarra can probably be found practicing her Russian, watching video essays, studying music theory, or binge-watching QI.
Katherine DeCoste
During their time with Crafting Communities, Katherine DeCoste was in their second year of the MA program in English at the University of Victoria, where they were interested in representations of motherhood in Victorian print culture. They worked on the Crafting Communities project in 2020–21, helping to develop the Omeka exhibit and object descriptions. They received their BA Honours in English and History from the University of Alberta in 2020. They also enjoy attempting to bake, practicing yoga, and caring for their plants.
Joe Diemer
During their time with Crafting Communities, Joe Diemer was a third-year student at the University of Victoria pursuing an honours degree in English with a minor in Religion, Culture and Society. While working as a research assistant, Joe was excited to learn new creative techniques and to document their journey into the world of Victorian crafts. Currently, Joe is a doctoral student at the University of Toronto, where their research focuses on nineteenth-century children's print culture. They continue to craft in their free time.
Kalea Furmanek-Raposo
Kalea Furmanek-Raposo is an English MA student at the University of Victoria. Her research interests include nineteenth-century girls’ print culture, women’s writing, and hands-on learning. As a research assistant for the Crafting Communities project, Kalea contributed to the rag rug and layette pincushion tutorials and co-hosted the 2023-2024 crafternoons at the University of Victoria. In her free time, Kalea enjoys romance novels, soundtracks, and making sweater vests for her cat.
Madison George-Berlet
During her time on the Crafting Communities team, Madison George-Berlet was a fourth-year English Honours student at the University of Victoria. She worked as an RA on the project during 2020–21, and her work included researching and amalgamating resources on Victorian crafting for the Crafting Communities website. She is particularly interested in learning about broderie anglaise and block printing. Madison is also an editor for the UVic The Albatross and a member of the UVic English Students’ Association.
Maryssa Grayer
During her time on the Crafting Communities team, Maryssa Grayer was a second-year PhD student at the University of Victoria. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Northern British Columbia. In 2020–21, Maryssa worked as part of the team building the Omeka exhibit based on the Crafting Communities event series. She also worked as a research assistant for Dr. Mary Elizabeth Leighton’s and Dr. Lisa Surridge’s project “Great Expectations: Pregnancy in Victorian Fiction.” Maryssa’s research interests include Victorian fiction and culture, Disability Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. When she is not reading any and every book that she can get her hands on, she loves to exhibit her creativity through knitting, felting, painting, and fashion.
Indiana Humniski
Indiana is a fourth-Year Honours English Student from the University of Manitoba. She is a new research assistant who will be leading our social media content creation, updating our website, and sharing scholarly reflections with literary links embroidered onto Victorian practices. She recently served on her University’s Arts Student Body Council as an elected representative, single-handedly highlighting the multi-media creative work of marginalized students in her newsletter, The Queer Quote. As stated by childhood report cards, Indiana is always “eager to share” (especially about books!). She is passionate about her community, alliteration, and Oxford commas! When she is not writing another Google Doc manifesto, you may find her analyzing Taylor Swift lyrics, collecting timeless trinkets, writing film reviews, or chasing her yearly GoodReads goal!
Jessie Krahn
During her time on the Crafting Communities team, Jessie Krahn was an MA student in the Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media at the University of Manitoba, where she wrote a thesis on authorship and social media that explores the connections between new and established ideas about authorship. She was one of the co-founders and co-hosts of the Victorian Samplings podcast, which brings together a variety of voices to explore Victorian material culture. Jessie is happiest when settled down with any novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, and she is currently refining her crafting abilities by making paper doll chains. Keep up-to-date with Jessie’s endeavours by visiting her website.
Jacqueline Kublik
During her time on the Crafting Communities team, Jacqueline Kublik was a third-year Biology major and Psychology minor student at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Faculty. As a research assistant on the team, Jacqueline worked with the Crafter Team and was involved with testing crafts, lesson plans as well as writing microblogs. When she is not crafting or studying, Jacqueline enjoys dancing, reading and travelling. She was very excited to have worked on such a wonderful project!
Natalie LoVetri
During her time on the team, Natalie was an MA student, writing a creative thesis, in the Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media. She currently holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design (BEnvD) and a BA in English with a minor in Philosophy from the University of Manitoba. She has been a research assistant on the project since Fall 2020, and most recently worked with the Victorian Samplings podcast production team. She is passionate about exploring all forms of creative expression. Her research interests include constructions of identity, feminist theory and post-structuralism. Charles Dickens first sparked her love of Victorian literature and she believes no one should go through life without reading Great Expectations.
Kayla Matthew
During her time on the team, Kayla Matthew was a fourth-year student in Creativity and Culture at the University of Alberta's Augustana Campus, with a focus on text and theory courses. She contributed to the Crafting Communities tutorials and also took photos for the team’s social media. In addition to working as a research assistant for Crafting Communities, Kayla volunteers with the Augustana Students Association and took part in Augustana's weekly Crafternoons. Her interests include swimming, camping, cheesy romance novels, and watching history documentaries.
Anne Mirejovsky
During her time with Crafting Communities, Anne Mirejovsky was a fourth-year Psychology and Art History major at the University of Alberta (Augustana Campus). Anne’s role as a research assistant on the Crafting Communities team was to come up with object descriptions and contextual summaries of the various objects that our experts presented. Besides her academic pursuits, Anne trains for biathlon full time. Biathlon has taken her to some exciting places, like Siberia for the 2019 World University Games. More recently, Anne qualified for the upcoming World University games in Lucerne, Switzerland. After her degree, she plans on training as a full-time athlete for a few years with dreams of making the Canadian National team. In the meantime, Anne’s immediate goals include finding some time to sleep and play Stardew Valley!
Jane Nederlof
During her time on our team, Jane was a third-year psychology major at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus, with an undeclared minor that allowed her to dabble widely in English, music, and outdoor education. Her contribution to Crafting Communities consisted of exploring Victorian crafting techniques through hands-on attempts, as well as her detailed documentation of the process. Jane also coordinates service practicums and mentors students at a nearby Bible College. She spends nearly all the rest of her time in reading, writing poetry, photography, singing, and being a hopeless extrovert.
Ruth Ormiston
Ruth Ormiston recently completed their MA in English at the University of Victoria and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Publishing at Simon Fraser University. As a member of the Crafting team in 2020–21, they designed and edited the Crafting Communities website and helped to manage the Crafting email account. Ruth’s research interests include Victorian children’s magazines, juvenile readership, and the nineteenth-century museum/exhibition.
Kavita Premkumar
During her time on the team, Kavita Premkumar was a first-year MA student with the Department of English at the University of Victoria. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Wheaton College in Massachusetts. She is interested in crafting as a supportive pedagogical tool for neurodivergent students. Most recently, she has been working on embroidery, wire-wrapping crystals, and wax-sealing ridiculously long letters to her friends in New England.
Rebekah Stretch
During her time on the team, Rebekah Stretch was in her third year of undergraduate studies as an Ethics and Global Studies interdisciplinary major at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus. During her time on the Crafting Communities’ Crafting Team, she was responsible for researching and experimenting with various crafts and aspects of Victorian material culture. In addition to her prior position as a research assistant, Rebekah was President of the Augustana Choir, an on-campus Student Chaplain, and an academic tutor. Some of her other passions include history, theology, hiking in the rocky mountains, drinking strong coffee, singing in choirs, and reading classic literature.
Lucie von Schilling
While on the team, Lucie von Schilling was pursuing a M.A. in English with a Creative Writing thesis at the University of Manitoba. She received a B.F.A. in Creative Writing with a minor in Film Studies from the University of Victoria. Besides writing poetry and working with the Crafting Communities team, Lucie makes pottery and elaborately embroidered jackets; she has recently taken up knitting. Lucie has two adorable huskies named Moemann and Sundae who bring infinite joy to her life. She is interested in the construction of gender through crafting practices, and the history of scrapbooking.
Jamie Zabel
Jamie Zabel was a research assistant for the Crafting Communities project from August 2020 to August 2021 and was involved in creating the object exhibits that make up the Omeka exhibition. Her current research interests include 19th- and 20th-century reception history, specifically centering on Charles Dickens and J.R.R. Tolkien, and the intersection of archival studies with questions of agency and access. Her work has been published in Moveable Type, the graduate publication of University College London. She is currently working in Victoria, BC.