Step into the world of the Victorian traveller and writer Isabella Bird through her letters, books, and photographs.
Loretta Mulholland delves into the life of Isabella Bird. Through her personal correspondence with her sister Henrietta, discover Bird's candid thoughts and emotions that accompanied her travels to Hawaii, North America, Japan, Malaya, and, in later life, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. This talk offers a fascinating exploration of the challenges Bird faced and the enduring power of her voice in an age when women's perspectives were seldom heard.
This event is part of the Library's Women's History Month programme.
This event accompanies our exhibition, 'Treasures of the National Library of Scotland' which is on at George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. Isabella Bird's archive is on display as part of this exhibition until September 2025.
About Isabella Bird
Isabella Lucy Bird (1831 to 1904), an English-born adventurer who made Scotland her home, defied the conventions of her era by embarking on solo journeys around the world. Her published accounts provide a rare glimpse into the life of a woman navigating the male-dominated landscape of 19th-century travel and literature.
About the Speaker
Loretta Mulholland is in her fourth year of a PhD in English at the University of Dundee. Her research centres on writing a historic and creative study of the life, writing, and travels of Isabella Bird with extensive use of the materials in the John Murray Archive and other collections held in the National Library of Scotland and at Mull Museum.
