By Lotta Leiwo (University of Helsinki), Rebekah Higgitt (National Museums Scotland), and Tamara Caulkins (Central Washington University)
Amidst mild coastal Norwegian winter weather in December 2024, a group of thirteen humanities researchers convened in Stavanger for a workshop on weather and weathering. The days offered sunshine, coastal fog, and mist—as well as fruitful academic discussions on studying weather and weathering. We gathered at the Greenhouse incubator library at the University of Stavanger for the workshop “Affect and Material Cultures of Weathering: Histories, Temporalities, and Spaces,” organized by MSCA postdoctoral researcher Animesh Chatterjee in collaboration with Melania Buns (the Greenhouse, University of Stavanger).
During the workshop, each of us presented our approaches to studying weather and weathering within the histories of science, medicine, and technology; environmental history; architectural and design history; and literary and cultural studies. The aim was to explore the linkages between affect, material cultures, climate, and weather from the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century.
An introductory session of visual lighting talks, in which each participant spoke about one visual image, was especially illuminating and sparked the idea for our Sourcebook. This Sourcebook, which we are proposing as an open access publication, will encompass textual, visual, and material primary sources geared towards historians wanting to take more notice of the climate and weather in which their narratives emerge. The call for proposed entries will be open until September 4, 2026.
