Cabinets of Curiosity

A Student-Led Exhibition

Calling all curators, public historians and communication experts in the making! The Cabinets of Curiosity on Floor 3 (Faculty of Arts Building) are calling your name. The Cabinets of Curiosity project brings together teams of History undergraduate students to co-create fun displays inspired by Renaissance cabinets of wonder. Each year, teams select a topic, put together a fantastic object collection, and organise their display. The finished cabinets are then open for all to view and wonder at in FAB, Floor 3.

Cabinets of Curiosity

Also known as rooms of wonder, these stored and exhibited a wide variety of objects and artefacts, with a particular leaning toward the rare, eclectic, and esoteric.

You can read about our previous cabinet projects here.

2025-26 The History of Heartbreak

Masculinities in History

For our 2026/27 project the Cabinets explore the theme of masculinity. From the Romans to the Renaissance, from chivalry to the Civil Rights Movement, masculinity has been performed, challenged, and reshaped. Ideas about masculinity have been used throughout time to commend or criticise people's behaviour, but they also help historians to understand a culture's values and anxieties. This Cabinets of Curiosity theme invites students to examine the diverse manifestation and uses of masculinities throughout history.

This year's project is led by Dr Imogen Knox as part of her work on early modern English masculinity, age, and health.

I Am a Man (1968)

This declaration of manhood became a central rallying cry against oppression during the Civil Rights Movement.
David (1504)

Michelangelo was inspired by trends from Greek sculpture to depict a heroic, idealised young man.
Joan of Arc (Lynch, 1901)

Joan of Arc drew contemporary criticism for adopting male dress. Later commentators interpreted her actions as a challenge to norms of masculinity and femininity.
In Unity, Strength! (1969)

The 'New Soviet Man', regularly depicted on posters, was characterised by his education, health, muscularity, and enthusiasm for communism.
The Dance of Death (1816)

The duel typified the defence of masculine honour in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries but the practice was also widely criticised as excessively violent.
'Miss Trial' (1971)

Members of the Gay Liberation Front utilised drag as part of a protest outside Bow Street Magistrate Court in support of the Women's Liberation Movement.

Call for participants

Do you want to get involved in the project, or just find out more? Email Imogen.H.Knox@warwick.ac.uk and join us for an initial meet up in week 5 (details TBC).