A lover of parties, the biggest party possible thrown in her name would have been Karen’s dream. But of course the pandemic has ruled out that option. Many people have approached us about whether a memorial encounter was being planned and sadly the answer is no, but maybe one day. But what we are doing…
Posted byPhilip Sykas
In 1965, Roy Strong became joint secretary of the newly-formed Costume Society along with Madeleine. He recalled the tensions inherent in the Society at the start. Chairman Donald King’s ‘attitude to dress was what I would categorize as cool, and he was a solitary male presiding over a department staffed entirely by women whose relationships…
Posted byKatrina Finch
Our family were very sad to hear from Madeleine’s children, Mark and Lucy, of the death of their mother on 14 July. A small family funeral was held in Oxford. Madeleine and Karen met in 1957 when Madeleine joined the Victoria and Albert Museum where she remained until 1988, working first of all as a…
It’s two years since Karen died in her own room at our house in Walthamstow. I was there with Katrina and our cousin from Denmark, Tina, a highly qualified nurse who had come from Aarhus specially to help us through Karen’s final illness. Later that day our son Jacob came over and we read excerpts…
Posted byJoshua Cohen
During the last months of Karen’s life, I applied for a job at Aarhus University. Several months after she died, I was awarded the job and more than one person made the joke that Karen must have had a hand in this from the beyond. I’m not sure what I believe about life after death,…
Posted byPhilip Sykas
I just came across this letter from Karen, and was struck at once—not only by the network of scholars that she could effortlessly link together across geographies and generations—but by her long memory for objects and the questions they pose for us. Karen was given an unusual embroidered apron by Genitha Halsey around 1970, presented…
Posted byKatrina Finch
I chose this extract from the oral history already published on Karen’s website because first of all I thought it would be heartwarming to hear my mother’s voice and secondly it provides a prescient and amusing adjunct to the recent registration of her gravestone by Viborg Museum. Katrina Finch Passage from the oral history interview…
Posted byKatrina Finch
The article below appeared in a Danish church magazine which writes about matters concerning the local area where Karen was born and represents the churches of Rødding, Løvel and Pederstrup. The nearest city to these villages/small towns is Viborg which has amongst other buildings, a cathedral and a museum. The museum has been responsible for…
Posted byKatrina Finch
The following talk was given by Philip Sykas on June 6th 2019 as part of the Early Textiles Study Group’s (ETSG) biennial conference, held in Glasgow and dedicated to the memory of Karen Finch. Click here for more information. One of Karen’s lectures, featured on the website, that will interest those studying Early Textiles is…
Posted byKatrina Finch
This is the talk I gave on June 6th 2019 as part of the Early Textiles Study Group’s (ETSG) biennial conference, held in Glasgow and dedicated to the memory of Karen Finch. Click here for more information. 1. Home page Karen Finch, my mother, left to us a considerable archive containing: published and unpublished papers,…
May 8th – my birthday and Karen’s. I have regularly made the complaint that Karen’s birthday celebrations (which she always called “ours”) always overshadowed mine because she had the unfair advantages of age and global fame. At her 80th, for example, a sumptuous river cruise from Hammersmith to Hampton Court and back, I insisted when I…
Posted byKatrina Finch
This website was designed and realized by Stephen Cole, who has put a huge amount of time and effort into preparing it, in constant discussion with Katrina, and with a little bit of further input from myself and friends. From the beginning, Stephen has always been willing to go beyond the call of duty in…
