The 43rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo
8-11 May, 2008.

Kalamazoo was an experience for which I thought l was prepared. There were 602 two-hour sessions of three to four papers, only one paper to be presented by each of some 2160 participants, with five pages of sponsors. ‘Distaff’ ('Discussion, Interpretation and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics and Fashion') sponsored four sessions on the third and fourth days, with a small reception on Saturday evening. There were plenary lectures at 8.30 am, films at 7.30 pm and a Saturday dance from 10pm-1.30am. There were prize-givings and concerts, rooms full of booksellers and exhibitors. Some additional, hard to find, sessions on Sunday, 12th, included some good talks from Swansea University.

It was exhausting, confusing, and very cliquey. The Western Michigan University, a huge campus spread over steep hills with meals taken at the highest point, was poorly mapped so, once one sorted through the inch-thick programme and decided what to hear and where to go, it was a long tough walk to get there. There were spasmodic shuttle buses, but a fit young acquaintance who works for the U.S. Airforce in Anchorage, Alaska, told me she had walked nine miles on the first day!

The lectures ranged widely from Moses to Harry Potter, Chaucer to the Da Vinci Code, There was much about religion and mysticism, feminism and 'gender issues'. Numbers of priests and nuns attended in floor length habits, and long hair seemed preferred, one man had a pigtail reaching to his ankles. For the first forty-eight hours I wandered alone and decided to follow the Cistercian experts as we farm the earliest grange farm for Tintern Abbey (1131) finding prehistoric flints and Roman pottery in most fields. However, their sessions dealt with a single German vineyard, and a single coppiced woodland in southern France. I quickly learned not to ask a question or make a suggestion based on experience (the Amish were farming with medieval methods a very few miles south of Kalamazoo) but a kind lady answered my basic question when we met in the lavatory.

No one could give any information about 'Distaff', the textile organisers, until I found them at 3.30 on the third day and introduced myself to the Presider (I was in their first session, ready with notes in hand, slides prepared), and was greeted with "Glad you got here". So was I, and lucky to be staying off campus as descriptions of student accommodation were depressing.

I met people from all over the USA - Arizona, Arkansas, Alaska - so Kalamazoo is hardly a central location for anyone. Many left after their sessions and few attended the Distaff reception at which I had hoped to get to know and speak with them and distribute our leaflets, but one at least got through to Anchorage with encouraging response as the Knitting History Forum was featured in a long article in their local paper.

It is obviously a popular gathering and a great event for the hundreds of regulars who meet and flatter each other every year but, while everyone was kind and friendly, they are inevitably interested in themselves and their own specialities. It was nice to find John Cherry, speaking on seals for the British Museum, with a warm welcome and interesting news about Medats. I also joined up with another first timer, a lady from Hampstead whose husband is a Head of Department and we agreed that some lectures - excluding Distaff - were mediocre, giving an overall impression of narrow interests, narrow fields (many speakers were floored by simple questions) poor presentation and preparation, but the British ones were vastly better than others. So I am afraid we stuck together and both followed the Brits who had some excellent topics and sessions.

On leaving Kalamazoo we drove first to Dover, Delaware, for a splendid day with the archaeological director of the ‘de Braak’ shipwreck, an 18th century equivalent of the ‘Mary Rose’, which sank in 1798 with her contents, including clothing, largely intact. A lucky chance found us in Berkeley Springs where the States’ quilters were holding their annual exhibition weekend when all exhibits are sold for charity. Then to Washington to visit the famous Textile Museum which was showing an exhibition called "Blue" which was reminiscent of that shown at the Whitworth in 2007, but featured interesting examples from their own extensive collection. The Curator had kindly left me photocopied details of their well-known Islamic knitted socks, twenty-one items considered to be 12th century. I have passed this information on to Jennifer Scarce for her comments and hope we may start some discussion about them.

Kirstie Buckland.

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