Dr. Maggie Kalenak

PhD in Modern British History
Researcher for the Girton College Legacies of Enslavement Committee
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Maggie Kalenak

My primary research concerns late courtship and engagement among the middle-class in nineteenth-century England. My work is focused on recovering the experience of engagement for individuals-- the cultural currency they were awarded, how fiancés interacted with one another and their communities, shifts in identities, as well as the representation of engagement in broader nineteenth century culture. My methodology heavily features material culture, history of emotions and sensory history frameworks.

I am available for consultancy on a variety of historical projects with experience in: exhibition curation and design, trade publications, historical fiction novels, blogs, and the acquisition of Victoriana for private collectors. 

Before starting my PhD at the University of Cambridge I graduated with a BA in History from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2015) and a MA in Museum Studies from Newcastle University (2016).


 

- Nineteenth-century courtship, sexual, and nuptial culture
-Nineteenth-century gender history
-Material culture
-Histories of fashion and domestic interiors
-History of emotions and intimacy 
-Historical museology and technologies of display
-Histories of the family and intrapersonal relationships 
-Sensory history
-Epistolary culture 

Lecture: 'Love Letters, Epistolary Culture, and Romantic Relationships' 
University of Cambridge 
MSt in History: Sources, Methods and Research Skills (2021,2022,2023,2024)

University of Cambridge (January 2019-Present)
Undergraduate Supervisor

Lecture: 'Cultural History in Paper 10' 
University of Cambridge 
Paper 10: British Economic and Social History, 1700-1880
Delivered online May 17th, 2020




 

'Snails, Chestnuts, and Churchyard Yew': Middle-Class Girls, Divination, and Games in Mid-to-Late Nineteenth-Century England' (upcoming April 2024)
Children's History Society Conference, Newcastle University 

'"Her tears and her blushes, with a most seductive smile": Fear, Laughter, and Intimate Violence in Nineteenth Century, Middle Class Engagements' (May 2023)
SHaME Workshop: Humour and Sexual Violence, Birkbeck, University of London 

'"Better to be an old man's darling than a young man's scorn"?: Problematising Sexuality, Romance, and Age in the Victorian Marriage Market' (November 2022)
SHaME Work-In-Progress Seminar Series, Birkbeck, University of London

'Dried Leaves, Pheasants, and Tassel-Trimmed Boot Bags: Tracing Nineteenth-Century English Courtship and Engagement through Love-tokens and Gift Culture' (February 2022) 
Cambridge History of Memory and Emotions Workshop

'Love Letters and Vinegar Valentines: Romance and Epistolary Culture in Nineteenth Century England' (February 2021)
Cambridge Blue Belles Women's Institute

'"My old bachelor's neck into the sacred noose": Masculine Emotions, Rejection and the Risk of Proposals in Nineteenth Century England' (November 2020)
North American Conference on British Studies

'"Consider Yourself Kissed": Middle Class Love Letters as Material Culture and Domestic Performance in Mid-to-Late Victorian England' (February 2020)
Modern Cultural History Seminar, University of Cambridge

'Courtship and Marriage in Victorian England: The Advice' (February 2020)
Mill Road History Society
The Ross Street Community Centre, Cambridge

'"True to My Dust?": The Spectre of Ill-Health and Mortality in Mid-to-Late Nineteenth-Century Romantic Relationships' (May 2019)
Cambridge Body and Food Histories Workshop, University of Cambridge

'Manufactured Sentiment: Debating Courtship Gifts in Nineteenth-Century England' (April 2019)
Material Culture Forum, University of Cambridge

'"Kiss this letter before you put it by": Domestic Performance, Material Culture and Fantasy Fodder in Nineteenth-Century Love Letters' (February 2019)
Constructions of Love and Intimacy 1750-1850, University of Warwick

Contact

Tags & Themes

Address
Email
mmk56@cam.ac.uk
Links
Geographical

'Flower Power: Botanical Soothsaying and Girls in Mid-to-Late Nineteenth-Century England', History Today (December 2023).

'"Consider yourself kissed": Intimacy, Engagement, and Material Culture in Nineteenth-Century Middle Class English Love Letters', Journal of Victorian Culture (22 March 2023).

'"Some other girl's mediocre brother": Rejected Men in Nineteenth-Century English Culture', Dirty, Sexy History [blogpost] (23 January 2022).