The meeting will cover all aspects of the Robin Hood legend and its characters, especially those dealing with images of the outlaw in early printed books, broadsides, chapbooks, children's books, comic books, and film..

Organizing Committee

• Lois Potter, University of Delaware.
• Sayre Greenfield, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg
• Linda Troost, Washington and Jefferson College

SCHEDULE FOR THE MEETING

LINK TO REGISTRATION FORM

Robin Hood and Little John by N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945). Image courtesy of the Permanent Collection of the University of Delaware.

PROGRAM

The meeting will open at 3 pm Thursday afternoon with a panel featuring John Marshall and Tom Hahn on illustrations of Robin Hood from the 16th to the 19th centuries. A reception/light supper will follow the panel and lead into a showing of the 1922 Douglas Fairbanks film with live accompaniment from a highly respected Early Music group Hesperus. They've worked up a complete "soundtrack" of medieval and Tudor music specially for this film.

On Friday morning, film historians John Tibbetts and James Welsh will present "A Dance of Free Men in a Forest: The Douglas Fairbanks Robin Hood Romp." After dinner at Ali Baba's, we'll see the Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Michael Boudewyns, artistic director of the First State Children's Theatre, a one-person play created especially for us.

Noted Robin Hood scholar Stephen Knight will give the keynote lecture on Saturday morning on the relation between the Robin Hood and King Arthur legends, and later in the day, we'll have a reading of acclaimed poet Daniel Hoffman's A Little Geste, (1960). His poem is not a translation but a modern interpretation of the medieval poem in a variety of verse forms and voices. The day will conclude with a medieval banquet and entertainment.

For lunch on both Friday and Saturday, you can choose from the many restaurants of Newark.

EXTRAS

On Sunday, after the official end of the meeting, we'll offer an optional morning trip to the Brandywine River Museum (a fine museum of illustrative art, which is also home of the Wyeth collection) and, for those who have the time, Longwood Gardens, a landscape garden. We won't be far from the Philadelphia airport, so you'll be able to catch mid- to late- afternoon flights (or earlier ones, if you've rented a car or arranged things with us in advance). For those who arrive early, we can arrange a trip to Winterthur on Thursday morning.

HOTEL: 302-453-9700

We've negotiated a very good arrangement with HOMEWOOD SUITES, 640 South College Ave, Newark, Delaware, about 2 miles from the university. They're going to charge us $99 a night (plus room tax etc.) for each suite. A suite, in most cases, consists of a double bedroom, a kitchen, a living room with pull-out bed, and a bathroom. This means that it's possible for people to share without sharing a bedroom, a fact that we hope will enable some of you to double and treble up if you want to save money. The hotel, an affiliate of Embassy Suites, is actually designed for long-term residents--hence the kitchens--and they are willing to do your grocery shopping in advance if you are on a special diet or simply want to be able to eat in the room on your first night. This may not apply to most of you, but it might be useful if you happen to be able to come a bit earlier than the meeting or stay on a bit later. THE SPECIAL RATE EXPIRES ON 30 AUGUST.

The room price includes a substantial cooked breakfast buffet and on Monday through Thursday nights there's also a free welcome reception in the foyer. Homewood may not be Sherwood, but we hope you'll find it a pleasant base from which to attend the sessions and take part in the side trips. What particularly attracted us to the hotel were its comfortable public spaces, which should enable old members of the Robin Hood band to renew old acquaintances after the day's events. There's a small indoor pool, a fitness room, and a business center with free fax and printer, as well as free internet access in all rooms. TGIF (a restaurant with liquor license) is within ridiculously easy walking distance. The hotel also runs a free shuttle, not only to the university but, by arrangement, to any location within five miles. This means that if you come with friends who don't want to attend all the activities, these friends can be dropped at the nearest mall (Delaware has no sales tax). The rate for this block of rooms is a huge discount on what the hotel normally charges, so be sure to ask specifically for the "Robin Hood rate" when you telephone them at 302-453-9700 or at 800-695-8284 (FAX: 302-453-9600). You won't be able to get this rate through online reservations.

Past programs:

Other links of interest::