Papers Presented
"Botanical Explorations: Women, Knowledge, and Plants in 19th-Century Canada," History and Philosophy of Science Seminar Series, University of Melbourne, Australia, October 2018.
"Mary Brenton in Newfoundland, 1827-38: Writing Botanical Biography," workshop "Women,Men, and Plants in 19th-Century Canada: New Resources, New Perspectives," York University, October 2017.
“Visibly Canadian? Anne Mary Perceval’s ‘Specimens of Canadian Plants’ (1826), Queen’s University, March 2016 (by invitation)
“Clio Meets Flora: Women Botanical Collectors in early 19th-Century North America,” in session “Communicating across Borders of Knowledge: Science, Art and Literacy in the Long 18th Century,” Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, Toronto, May 22-24, 2014.
“Women in Early Canadian Botanical History,” Workshop (by invitation) on “Women’s Scientific Travelling 1750-1850,” London UK, June 27-29, 2014.
“Figuring and Refiguring Flora, Goddess of Flowers, in Early Modern Culture,” Early Modern Circle, University of Melbourne, Australia, November 2012. (by invitation)
“Refiguring Flora: the ‘Botanic Goddess’ in 18th-Century Literature and Science,” Barker Humanities Center Seminar Series: 18th-Century Literature and Culture, Harvard University, March 2012. (by invitation)
“Celebrating Legacies: Feminist Texts, Feminist Futures,” session “Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex: Newly Translated and Rediscovered,” Northeast Modern Language Association, Rochester, New York, March 2012. (by invitation)
“Where are the Goddesses? Jane Loudon, Science, and Mythologies,” Annual Symposium, Victorian Studies Network, York University, October 2011. (by invitation)
“Myths of Flora: Representing, Repudiating, Recuperating the Goddess of Flowers,” Annual Workshop of Women’s Studies Group 1558-1837, London, U.K., June 2011. (by invitation)
Plenary Address, “Where are the Goddesses? Jane Loudon, Science, and Mythologies”, Symposium on Women and Science in the Nineteenth Century, Leeds, U.K., June 2011. (by invitation)
“Metaphors and Myths,” Workshop on “Plant Encounters: Reframing Scholarly Inquiry through Plant Agencies,” University of Toronto, May 2011. (by invitation)
“Erasmus Darwin’s The Botanic Garden: New Mythologies and New Audiences,” Toronto German Studies Symposium: “Fact and Fiction: Literature and Science in European Context,” University of Toronto, April 2011. (by invitation)
“Bog Mould and Crowberry: Collecting Plants with Mary Brenton in Newfoundland,” Canadian Society for 18th-Century Studies, Memorial University, Newfoundland, October 2010.
“Doubling Back, Embodying Agency: Visual Cultures of Gender and Science,” conference Gender and Science: Politics of Participation and Representation, University of Vienna, June 2010. (by invitation)
“Flora in the Vernacular: ‘Artificial Flower Gardens’ in 1780s London,” American Society for 18th-Century Studies, Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 2010.
“Languages of Nature, Cultures of Flowers, 1780-1830,” Science and Technology Studies Research Seminar, York University, February 2010. (by invitation)
“Flora, Floristry, and Botany in 1780s London,” Science and Culture Working Group, Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto, October 2009.
Plenary address: “Scholarship is the Restitution of Decayed Intelligence: Writing Feminist Cultural History,” Centre for Feminist Research series Feminist Knowledge Reconsidered: Feminism and the Academy, York University, April 2009. (by invitation)
“The Grand Temple of Flora, Spring-Gardens, Charing Cross: Spectacle, Artifice, and Natural Knowledge in the 1780s,” Three Societies History of Science Meeting, Keble College, Oxford, July 2008.
“Terrestrial Goddesses: Women and Mythology Textbooks,” American Society for 18th-Century Studies, Portland OR, March 2008
Keynote address: “Women and Plants: A Fruitful Topic,” Women’s History Week, San Antonio College, San Antonio, Texas, March 2008. (by invitation)
“Mary Wollstonecraft and Feminist Enlightenments,” Canadian Women’s Studies Association, Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities, Saskatoon, Sask., May 2007.
“Vindicating whom? Waving at Mary Wollstonecraft, Enlightenment philosophe,” in session “Generations of Vindication: History in/of Feminisms,” conference “Not Drowning But Waving: Women, Feminism, and the Liberal Arts” conference, University of Alberta, October 2006. (by invitation)
“On ‘Flora’,” Environment and Culture Seminar Series, York University, March 2006. (by invitation)
Keynote address: “Gender, Nature, and Identities: Forms of Representation,” workshop on “Mediating Identities in 18th-Century British Literature and Culture,” German Research Federation, Bamberg, Germany, December 2005. (by invitation)
“Budding Breasts, Botanically and Horticulturally,” American Society for 18th-Century Studies, Las Vegas, NE, April 2005.
“Waxing Botanic: Modelling Flowers for Art, Commerce, and Science,” North American Victorian Studies Association, Toronto, October 2004.
“Sensitive Plants: Women and the Mimosa in Popular Science, 1800-1830,” conference on Popular Science: Nineteenth-Century Sites and Experiences, York University, July 2004.
“’Fac-similes of Nature’: Modelling Wax Flowers for Art, Science, and Profit,” Colloquium for Program in History of Science and Technology, University of Minnesota, April 2004. (by invitation)
“Iconographies of Flora: Charlotte Smith’s ‘enchanting Goddess of the flowery tribe’,” American Society for 18th-Century Studies, Boston, March 2004
“Iconographies of Flora: The Goddess of Flowers in the Cultural History of Botany,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Cambridge, Mass., November 2003.
“From Goddess to Genre: Flora and Botany Books,” Toronto Centre for the Book, November 2003. (by invitation)
“Collecting for William Hooker: 4 Floras in Search of Canadian Plants,” Canadian Science and Technology Historical Association, Kingston, Ontario, October 2003.
“Picturing Flora, the Goddess of Flowers,” National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, November 2002 (by invitation).
“A Foot in the Door: Women’s Struggle to Participate in Science,” National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, November 2002 (by invitation).
“Collecting for William Hooker: Networks and Family Practices in Colonial Quebec and Newfoundland,” History of Science Society, Milwaukee WI, November 2002.
“When ‘Science’ was a Woman?? Gender in the Culture of Science,” Gender Studies Programme, University of New Brunswick – St. John, October 2002. (by invitation)
“Figuring Flora: The Goddess of Flowers and the Cultural History of Botany,” York Seminar for Advanced Research, York University, October 2001.
“Women and Natural History Study” (with Barbara T. Gates), conference “Locating the Victorians,” London, U.K., July 2001.
“Where is History in Women’s Studies?” Canadian Women’s Studies Association, Université de Laval, Quebec, May 2001.
“Locating Linnaeus and Linnaean Botany in Magazines for Women,” Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, M.I.T., April 2001 (by invitation).
“Colonial Correspondents and Collectors: Women Botanizers in Early 19th-Century Canada,” Writing the Past, Claiming the Future: Women and Gender in Science, Medicine, and Technology, St. Louis University, October 2000.
“Botany for Beginners, Amateurs, and Ladies: George Bentham’s Handbook of the British Flora,” Bentham Bicentenary, Linnean Society, London, England, September, 2000. (by invitation)
“On the Study of Nature in Three Women’s Magazines, 1800-1850,” Conference on Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical, University of Leeds, U.K., April 2000. (by invitation)
“Emma Peachey and Victorian Wax Flower Modelling,” History of Science Society, Pittsburgh, November 1999.
"Women in 19th-Century Science Culture: Why History Matters," Zoology Department, University of Toronto, April 1999 (by invitation)
"Representing Scientific Learnedness: Anna Blackburne and Margaret Bryan," American Society for 18th-Century Studies, Milwaukee, March 1999.
"'An accomplishment at once royal and feminine': Victorian Wax Flower Modelling," Modern Language Association of America, San Francisco, December 1998 (by invitation).
"Revision as Resistance: Feminism, History and Science," Faculty of Environmental Studies Seminar Series, York University, March 1998 (by invitation).
Special Session on "Women and Science: Major Books," American Society for 18th-Century Studies, University of Notre Dame, April 1998 (by invitation).
"Rethinking Popularization: Women's Science Writing," Modern Language Association of America, Toronto, December 1997 (by invitation).
"'With matchless Newton now one soars on high': Learned Women and Scientific Ladies," conference "Conceptualizing Women in Enlightenment Thought," Florence, Italy, December 1997 (by invitation).
Plenary Address, "Finding Phebe: Women and the History of Science Writing," Conference on "Women and Literary History," University of Alberta, September 1997. (by invitation)
"Hortensia and Her Children: Women Writing Science for Profit and Pleasure," Annual General Meeting, Friends of the Osborne and Lillian H. Smith Collections, Toronto, April 1997 (by invitation).
Plenary Address, "Science in the Vernacular: Historical Perspectives on Women as Writers and Popularizers," Conference on "Women, Gender, and Science," Carleton University, March 1997. (by invitation)
"Defeminizing the Budding Science: John Lindley and Ladies' Botany (1834)," conference "The Women, Gender, and Science Question," University of Minnesota, May 1995.
"Flora Feministica: Women and the Culture of 18th and 19th-Century Botany," Science Studies Department Colloquium, Atkinson College, March 1995.
"Flora's English Daughters: Women and the Culture of Botany, 1830-1860." Victorian Studies Association of Ontario, Toronto, November 1994. (by invitation)
"Flora Anglica: Women and Botanical Culture, 1760-1860," Research Institute for the History of Science, Deutches Museum/Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany, June 1993. (by invitation)
"Populärwissenschaftliches Schreiben von Frauen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert," Fachgruppe Literaturwissenschaft, Universität Konstanz, Germany, June 1993. (by invitation)
"Conversations about Botany: Pedagogical Styles and Cultural Politics 1780-1825," Women's Studies Group 1500-1825, London, England, April 1993. (by invitation)
"Flora Feministica: Reflections on the History of Botanical Culture," Wellcome Institute, University of London, March 1993. (by invitation)
"'O Mama, we have brought you some funny white toadstools': Women, Gender, and Botany in the 1840s-50s," Cabinet of Natural History, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge, England, November 1992. (by invitation)
"'Bold language, especially in a woman': Agnes Ibbetson (1757-1823), Vegetable Physiologist and Microscopist," Society for the History of Natural History, London, England, October 1992. (by invitation)
"Undomesticating a 'Feminine' Science: Popular Botany in the 1820s and 1830s," British-North American History of Science Meeting, Toronto, July 1992.
"Flora Feministica: Case Studies in Women's Experiences in 18th-Century Botanical Culture," workshop on "The Life Sciences: Gender Critiques & Women's Experiences," Cornell University, April 1992. (by invitation)
"Flora Feministica: Reflections on the Culture of Botany," Research Institute on Women's Writing, University of Alberta (by invitation); and Canadian Society for 18th-Century Studies, Calgary, October 1991.
"`Conversable rather than Scientific': Women and Late Enlightenment Science Culture in England," Eighth International Congress on the Enlightenment, University of Bristol, England, July 1991.
"Linnaeus's Daughters: Women and the Feminization of Botany in the Late Enlightenment," American Historical Association, New York City, December 1990.
"Narrative in Women's Scientific Writing," University of Toronto Eighteenth-Century Group," Toronto, October 1990.
"Mrs. Tansy's Botanical Piddling: Women, Science, and Silence in the 1790s," American Society for 18th-Century Studies, Minneapolis, April 1990.
"Discovering Women Science Writers in England," Rutgers University, Newark N.J., 1989. (by invitation)
"Women and Botanical Culture," Women's Studies Group 1600-1825, London, England, 1989.
"Catechism and Conversation: Science Books for the Young," Western Society for 18th Century Studies, Long Beach, CA, 1988.
"Women's Science Writing in England: Maria Jacson and Botany," Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, 1988.
"Gender and Genre in Science Writing: 1790-1830," Society for Literature and Science, Worcester, Mass., 1987.
"Women and 19th-Century British Botany: Introductory Books," Visiting Scholars' Forum in the History of Science, Harvard University, 1986. (by invitation)
"Women's Science Writing: The Case of Maria Jacson," North-East American Society for 18th-Century Studies, Philadelphia, 1986.
"Women as Popularizers of Knowledge: British Botany 1790-1830," Canadian Society for 18th-Century Studies, Ottawa, 1986.
"Feminist Approaches to the History of British Botany," Dean's Seminar Series in Women's Studies, Faculty of Graduate Studies, York University, 1986. (by invitation)
"William Withering and 18th-Century Botanical Culture," Medical History Classics Series, U.C.L.A., 1986. (by invitation)
"From Wakefield to Becker: Introductory Botany Books and Women," Symposium on History of Science Education for Girls and Women, International Congress on the History of Science, Berkeley, Calif., 1985. (by invitation)
"Botany for Novices: Introductory Botany Books and Women," Centre for Studies in Science and Mathematics Education, University of Leeds, England, 1985. (by invitation)
"Priscilla Wakefield's Natural History Books," Society for the History of Natural History, London, England, 1983.
"Priscilla Wakefield: Author of Books for Children and Young Persons," North-East American Society for 18th-Century Studies. Rutgers University, 1982.
"'The Fair Daughters of Albion' and the Popularization of British Botany," North-East American Society for 18th-Century Studies, M.I.T., 1981.
"'The Fair Daughters of Albion' and the Popularization of British Botany," Society for the History of Science, University of Essex, England, 1982. (by invitation)
"Linnaeus's Daughters: Women and British Botany," Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Vassar College, 1981.
"'With Bliss Botanic': Women and Plant Sexuality," American Society for 18th-Century Studies, San Francisco, 1980.
"On Botany and Female Education: Priscilla Wakefield (1751-1832)," History of Education Society, Toronto, 1977.
"Women and 18th-Century British Botany," York/University of Toronto Women's Studies Colloquium, Toronto, 1977.
"Wieland's Die Natur der Dinge: Changing Patterns in 18th-Century Plant Imagery," American Society for 18th-Century Studies, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1976.
"Albrecht von Haller's 'Die Alpen' and Botany," Canadian Society for 18th-Century Studies, Halifax, 1976.
"Women's Studies," Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada Conference, Ottawa, 1975
Other
Workshop, “Botany and Visuality in Early 19th-Century Quebec,” Queen’s University, March 2016.
Discussant, Workshop on “The Politics of Care in Technoscience,” York University, April 2012. (by invitation)
“What’s the Place of Humanities in Women’s Studies,” Programme Seminar, Graduate Programme in Women’s Studies, York University, November 2007.
Roundtable Participant, “Interdisciplinary Reflections on the Gender and Work Database: Knowledge Production across the Human Sciences,” conference: Gender and Work Database: Knowledge Production in Practice,” York University, October 2004.
Roundtable Participant, “Common Ground? A Conference on Intersecting Cultures,” Graduate Program in Humanities, York University, May 2004.
Plenary Presentation, conference on “The PhD in Women’s Studies,” Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, October 2001 (by invitation).
Co-Director, York Seminar for Advanced Research: "Figural Vocabularies of Gender in Science, Medicine, and Technology, York University, 2001-02
Exhibition Consultant, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., Intrepid Women: Victorian Artists Travel (1999-2000).
“Science for Whom? The Key Role of Women in the Next Millenium,” 9th Canadian International Youth Forum, Science-Sphere 98, Toronto, October 1998 (by invitation)
“In Search of Agnes Ibbetson: Early Women in Science and Their World,” 1998 Toronto University Librarians’ Annual Joint Dinner, Toronto, 1998 (by invitation).
Radio Interview: "Women Hold Up Half the Sky," KALX, Berkeley, CA, interview about Natural Eloquence: Women Reinscribe Science, September 20, 1997.
Radio Interview: "Morningside," Peter Gzowski, CBC, interview about Cultivating Women, Cultivating Science, February 13, 1997.
