Beckie Rutherford, University of Warwick b.rutherford@warwick.ac.uk @B_Rutherford_ We are delighted to share this blog, which is winner of the 2022 SHS Postgraduate Prize. You can read the announcement here. In 1980, Nabil Shaban (a disabled student and aspiring actor) and Richard Tomlinson (an English lecturer at Hereward College in Coventry) co-founded Graeae Theatre Company. It … Continued
James A. S. Sunderland, University of Oxford james.sunderland@merton.ox.ac.uk @JamesSMandate ‘I am a Zionist – and so I have come to Palestine,’ says Ruth, a young woman in Tel Aviv in the late 1930s. She is sat in a café opposite twenty-year-old British journalist Barbara Board. Unlike her male colleagues who were always clambering to grab … Continued
Alice Tomlinson, University of Manchester @alice_the_ant When I started researching women’s changing work patterns in the early modern period for an essay last autumn, I had no idea the rabbit hole I would end up exploring. Initially, I found that much work on women’s employment suggests that either women have been marching slowly towards emancipation … Continued
Catherine Phipps, University of Oxford @katyaphipps ‘Madame, please, I don’t want to stay here. I want to go back to Oran. Give me the money for the trip home and I will pay it back.’ ‘Where did Madame Fernande unearth this girl?’ shouted the boss. ‘Money for the trip home! She’s insane!’ ‘If you want … Continued
Urvi Khaitan, University of Oxford urvi.khaitan@history.ox.ac.uk We are delighted to share this blog, which is runner up in the 2021 SHS Postgraduate Prize. You can read the announcement here. Somi Bowri would have been happy doing anything other than working in a coal mine. Born in the 1910s in an Adivasi (indigenous) Bowri community, she … Continued
Grace Whorrall-Campbell, University of Cambridge gew33@cam.ac.uk We are delighted to share this blog, which is winner of the 2021 SHS Postgraduate Prize. You can read the announcement here. Mary Redman broke down at her desk. The strain visibly overcame her, and she crumpled, like the piece of paper clenched in her fist. Leaning over her … Continued
Freya Taylor and Louise Bell, Glasgow Women’s Library @FreyaMay3 @LouBell This blog explores the ‘(Still) Seeing Things’ project run by the Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL). We’re lucky to have perspectives from two volunteers: one (Freya) who was involved in the project in its initial format and helped bring it online during lockdown; and another (Louise) … Continued
Joseph Saunders, University of Glasgow j.saunders.1@research.gla.ac.uk @joe_saunders1 This blog was commended in the 2020 SHS Postgraduate Prize. In her will of 1638 Anne, widow of James Boler bequeathed her husband’s estate to her children with ‘such increases and improvements’ as she had made. James had been a bookseller and member of the Company of Stationers, … Continued
Dr Vivien Newman, First World War Women @worldwarwomen On 20 April, The Shields Gazette reported that ‘residents are knitting hearts to cheer up patients being treated for coronavirus in intensive care’. This reminded me of knitting in World War One. In 1914, Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener issued a Call to Knitting Needles. … Continued
Charlotte Tomlinson, University of Leeds C.h.tomlinson@leeds.ac.uk @charltommo Everywhere you look, it seems that discussions about COVID-19 are flooded with analogies of the Second World War. The language used to describe the pandemic, and particularly how society should respond to it, has made heavy use of allusions to the war through militarised language – NHS workers … Continued
