Lunch and Learn: What Time Is It?

The clock may feel ever present in our lives. However, many of the tasks we do every day rely not on the second hand but on our senses to “know time.” A recipe can tell us to simmer our soup for 15 minutes, but that mechanical measure flies out the window if the taste, temperature, or consistency isn’t right. Across the Anglo-Atlantic world in the long 18th century, craftspeople, artisans, and makers also relied on their senses to “know time.”

In this talk, New England Regional Fellowship Consortium (NERFC) Fellow Alexandra M. Macdonald will draw from both the museum and archival collections at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History to explore the myriad ways people used their eyes, ears, tongue, hands, and nose to “regard the signs” in maker’s spaces in the long eighteenth century. This presentation will offer an introduction into how time has always been sensory and suggest that clock time may not be as all-consuming as it might feel.

This virtual event is free and open to the public.  Click here to register through Yapsody. You’ll get a confirmation email and the Zoom link will be in the attached ticket. You’ll also receive a reminder email with the Zoom link the morning of the event.