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Inspired by its Wash House foundations, The Women's Library is to host an exhibition on the subject of cleanliness; Dirty Linen will run from Saturday September 28th to Saturday December 21st, entrance is free.

Complementing Dirty Linen, is a programme of study days and evening talks that explore a century's move towards dazzling whites. The first Saturday series of talks, Dirty City, features prominent speakers Patrick Dillon, Dr Stephen Halliday and Peggy Reynolds discussing how London's squalor inspired art and how the Victorians' clean up affected
the city's architecture and lifestyles.

The programme continues with evening talks on East End wash houses, modernism's fear of dirt and Rachel Lichtenstein discusses cleaning and cleansing for Jewish Women. Clean Home, a Saturday series of talks, explores the design of domestic interiors and housework with acclaimed speakers, Professor Adrian Forty, Jocasta Innes and Melissa Benn.

The Royal Institution is hosting a discussion in conjunction with The Women's Library. Entitled 'Cleanliness: A Healthy Obsession?', the event features Ann Oakley, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the Institute of Education, Jonathan Glancey, Architecture and Design Editor at the Guardian and Julian Hopkin, Professor of Experimental Medicine at University of Wales Swansea, discussing when an obsession becomes bad for your health.

Full Listing And Booking Information Dirty City
Saturday October 12, 12pm

12pm Gin/Madam Geneva: Cleaning up Hogarth's London In the eighteenth century gin was new, cheap and strong. Worst of all, it was sold and drunk by women. A governmental campaign to clean up London included an attack on the drinking habits of London society's underside, one that the artist Hogarth was fascinated by. Patrick Dillon, author of Madam Geneva, talks about the clean up and what effect the more sober role had on women.

2.30pm The Great Stink of London: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the
Cleansing of the Victoria Metropolis
In the summer of 1858, the stench from the Thames drove MPs from the Palace of Westminster. "The Great Stink", as it was named by the press, was caused by the collective sewage of two and half million people flowing through the Thames. Based on his book The Great Stink, Dr Stephen Halliday will describe Bazalgette's contribution of drains, sewers and much more to Victorian and present day London.

4.30pm Charles Dickens's Toilet
Dickens hated dirt; he loathed the grubbiness of the everyday. And yet, Dickens needed dirt. It fuelled his imagination as he wrote about sewage, decay and degradation. Writer, academic and broadcaster Peggy Reynolds talks about the problematic dichotomy and how later in life Dickens found the resolution.

Saturday November 23, 12pm
Beauty must be spotless: Anxiety and Dirt in the Domestic Interior Light, white interiors, bare floors and smooth surfaces became the measure of beauty in homes in the first half of the twentieth century.
Professor Adrian Forty argues that the transformation of the domestic interior had less to do with the principles of design and more to do with fear of dirt.

Thursday November 7, 6.30pm
Clean Cities; Modernism's Fear of Dirt
When we built cities we chose to live on top of our own shit and garbage. Cities and a degree of disorder go together. Founders of modern architecture, Le Corbusier, Ebeneezer Howard and Frank Lloyd Wright disagreed, writer and academic Paul Hirst talks about their efforts to banish dirt and chaos from the city.

Booking Information - All Tickets For Talks - £5 (£3 Concessions)
To book tickets call 020 7320 2222, call in or write to us at:
The Women's Library, Old Castle Street, London E1 7NT
By phone - book instantly by credit/debit card, £1 fee per transaction
inc. postage
By post - send details of ticket(s) required/concessions. Cheques should
be made payable to The Women's Library

Tuesday November 26, 7.30pm
Royal Institution Discussion - Cleanliness: a healthy obsession? Is being too clean bad for us? Three commentators from science, sociology and architecture look at the pressures and perceptions of cleanliness and the effect they have on our public and private lives.
Join Ann Oakley, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the Institute of Education, Jonathan Glancey, Architecture and Design Editor at the Guardian and Hopkins to discuss when an obsession becomes bad for your health.

Tickets cost £8, £5 to RI members and concessions. To book tickets, call
the Royal Institute Box Office on 0207 409 2992 or visit www.rigb.org

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9.30am - 5.30pm (late night opening
Thursday 8pm), Saturday 10.00am - 4.00pm Sunday closed
The Women's Library, Old Castle Street, London E1 7NT
Tel 0207 320 2222

For more information on the talks programme, speakers, images, please
contact Katie Slovak on 0207 320 3503 or by email at [email protected]

Katie Slovak
Marketing and Press Manager
The Women's Library
Old Castle Street
London E1 7NT
Tel: +44 (0)207 320 3503
Fax: +44 (0)207 320 2333
www.thewomenslibrary.ac.uk