WORLD SHIP SOCIETY

From Brunel’s GREAT BRITAIN to Cunard’s QE2, the English Royal Family has embraced ocean liners as a political tool that is as useful to crafting their image as their palaces and wardrobes. At the PONY Branch’s February virtual meeting, we joined Christian Roden who described the longstanding relationship between the royals and transatlantic travel, and explored the interiors of many of these vessels and their surprising connections to the great names of British architecture and design.

Christian is an independent maritime historian, curator, and author, specializing in the French, Swedish, and American merchant marine. He has published in the Winterthur Portfolio and Magazine of the Decorative Arts Trust, and has guest curated exhibitions at the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia and the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Wilmington, Delaware. He holds an MA from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, and a BA in Art History and English from Washington and Lee University, and was a 2011-2012 Fulbright Research Fellow at L’Association French Lines in Le Havre, France. Christian currently works as the Assistant Director of Prospect Research for the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, and has previously held positions at the Decorative Arts Trust, SS United States Conservancy, and the Delaware County District Library in Ohio.

(Photo: Christian Roden collection)