To benefit the Margot Gayle Fund for the Preservation of Victorian Heritage, the Victorian art of wrapping rooms in spectacular panoramas will be the topic of scholar Nicole M. Mullen’s talk, “French Scenic Wallpaper.” Mullen, the curator of SFO Museum at the San Francisco International Airport, is working on a double-feature SFO exhibition of Zuber’s French panoramic wallpaper and late 19^th-century Victorian wallpaper featuring the contemporary maker Bradbury & Bradbury, which opens July 2019. Her talk will explore how 19^th-century armchair voyagers found captivating substitutes for foreign travel in the form of panoramic spectacles. French manufacturers painted and printed vivid views of ancient Roman ruins, Mount Vesuvius’s eruptions and Brazilian jungles teeming with colorful birds and toothy crocodiles. The scenes were teaching tools as well, with lessons on geography, history, mythology, literature and life in foreign lands. The Margot Gayle Fund provides grants for preservation or conservation of Victorian era material culture. Each year 5% of the fund’s principal is available for grants

Reception to follow