Ellen Terry (1847-1928): 'Fashioning an Artistic Identity’ 

A PhD at the University of Brighton in collaboration with the Department of Theatre and Performance, Victoria and Albert Museum and the Smallhythe Place (managed by the National Trust and holder of the Ellen Terry Collection).

Supervisors

Prof Lou Taylor, University of Brighton

Dr. Kate Dorney, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Performance, Victoria & Albert Museum

Abstract/Proposed focus of Research

This research explores the role which Terry’s dress played in ‘fashioning’ her identity – as a mother, as a woman, as an actress portraying a role, as a celebrity, as a friend of artists and as respected ‘artist’ in her own right. In order to examine and set Terry’s personal life, acting career, and personal and theatrical dress in context, this study takes an object based material culture approach (as suggested by Daniel Miller and Jules Prown). This is founded upon a close examination of the extant theatrical costumes and garments worn by Ellen Terry which survive with the Ellen Terry Collection at Smallhythe Place, alongside clothing of comparable and contrasting contemporaries. It also encompasses a detailed analysis of contemporary visual and written material particularly newspaper reviews, correspondence and cartes de visites which will be used to develop and supplement the information revealed by the clothing. 

Key Aims of Investigation

• To investigate the manner in which Ellen Terry used both her stage costume and personal dress to project and establish her position as a famous, respected actress who understood the ‘art’ of late Victorian Theatre.
• To expose the close relationship between the design, making up and consumption of the clothes worn by Terry and her personal and professional taste, in the context of the fashionable, aesthetic, arts & craft (or what Lou Taylor has termed ‘simple life’ dress), and stage costume, of Terry’s period. 
• To create a multidisciplinary critical debate surrounding theatrical costume and establish these artefacts as an area worthy of study for both dress and theatre history. 
• To facilitate future research by assembling a clear list of the garments, photographic, and archival material connected with Ellen Terry, which survives within the collections held by Smallhythe Place and the Department of Theatre Performance. 
• To lay the foundations for a long term, and mutually beneficial, partnership between the University of Brighton, Smallhythe Place and the Department of Theatre and Performance.