Session 2 from 40 Years On: the Domain of Design History - Looking Back Looking Forward

Chair: Jeremy Aynsley, Brighton University

Dodging the Canons and seeking 'relevance' in the 'Real World:
Barry Curtis, Royal College of Art

Barry Curtis relates his experience of teaching Design History on the pioneering MA in the subject at Middlesex Polytechnic, later University.

Design History enters the Museum: the V&A/RCA MA Course:
John Styles, University of Hertfordshire

John Styles argues that the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design, established in 1981, changed both Design History and the V&A for the better.

Tracing The Vicissitudes of Architectural History: the 1980s to the Present:
Elizabeth Darling, Oxford Brookes University

This paper traces a critical look at the journey that architectural history has taken since the early 1980s and concludes with a  brief survey of the contemporary state of the discipline.