Writing & research
Is it time to re-examine the ‘witch’ as a symbolic feminist figure?
Or at least, make sure we’re clear about and comfortable with its origin story?
What’s in a recipe book?
The simple name that belies a wealth of culinary, medical, scientific, and social historical knowledge.
Reading, writing, and irregularities of logic
In the 1650s in Salisbury, southern England, 80-year-old Anne Bodenham was hanged for witchcraft. She was a cunning woman, or occultist, who had...
How a 16th Century book lover approached the threat of the Dissolution of the Monasteries
John Leland (c.1503-1552) was variously a poet, a tutor, a rector, a royal chaplain, and is described as Britain’s first antiquarian. Indeed, after...
Research: the influence of women’s under-representation on women history practitioners
Analysis of a data sub-set from an online survey of almost 1,000 history practitioners. This is the third (and final, for now) in a series of...
Research: the state of women’s (under)representation in history outputs
Findings from an analysis of almost 27,000 history outputs from 2024. This is the second in a series of articles drawn from my Public Histories MA...
Research: the who, what, and why of history practice today
Findings from an online survey of almost 1,000 history practitioners. This is the first in a series of articles drawn from my Public Histories MA...
The candid smile that caused a stir
In 1887 Queen Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee – 50 years on the throne. Over two days, from 20-21 June, she was the guest of honour at a...
Love in the archives
A couple of the links/topics I shared in Wednesday’s monthly post (what makes historians go ‘wait, what?’ and ruin lust) had me tangentially...
Marian Farquharson fought for women’s rights; she was punished when she won
In last fortnight’s post about women’s role in the development of commercial photography in Great Britain and Ireland in the mid-19th Century, I...
The development of commercial photography in the 19th Century was liberating for women
On the front page of London’s The Times newspaper on 5 January 1853, almost half the height of one column was dedicated to raising money for the...
There’s a universal pattern in profanity, but it’s not what you probably think
When I was in my teens, my best friend and I decided that we were swearing too much. Our solution was to come up with an alternative word for...
The secret history of occult arts in 19th Century Australia
Dr Ian Evans has spent his career exploring the history and conservation of old Australian houses. But a trip to England in 2002 would set him on a...
The clock with two minute hands
On the front of a building in the southwest England town of Bristol is a clock with an extra minute hand. The building is the 18th Century Corn...
The man on the moon
The moon has been a source of fascination (and sometimes fear) for thousands of years. Some of the earliest-known lunar calendars and celestial cave...