Pat Thane: Reflections on history, policy and action

On Friday 8th November 2024 a workshop was held at the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), London in honour of Professor Pat Thane. This workshop was generously funded by the Royal Historical Society and the Social History Society and with the support of the IHR. Pat is a pathbreaking figure in the historical profession, spearheading … Continued

Age and Health 1500-1800 Conference

Jennifer McFarland and Olivia Formby, University of Cambridge jmm269@cam.ac.uk occf2@cam.ac.uk   Held at St John’s College, University of Cambridge on 24 June 2024, Age and Health 1500-1800 brought together nine postgraduate and early career speakers working on various aspects of health and the life cycle, with a further thirty attendees in person and online. In … Continued

Animals and the Holocaust Workshop

Dr Roseanna Ramsden, University of Leeds R.Ramsden@leeds.ac.uk @RosieRamsden92   In July of this year, Barnabas Balint and Charlotte Gibbs, of the University of Oxford and the University of Southern California respectively, together hosted an academic workshop on the topic of animals and the Holocaust. Held at Magdalen College, Oxford, with the generous support of the … Continued

Organise! Organise! Organise!

Conference Review: Organise! Organise! Organise! Collective Action, Associational Culture and the Politics of Organisation in the British Isles, c.1790-1914, 20-21 July 2023 Dr Dave Steele, University of Warwick @dr_davesteele This conference was supported by a Social History Society Small Grant. It was also supported by the British Agricultural History Society,  the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies, … Continued

Alcohol, psychiatry and society: Comparative and transnational perspectives, c. 1700-1990s

Waltraud Ernst, Oxford Brookes University wernst@brookes.ac.uk Thomas Müller, Ulm University th.mueller@zfp-zentrum.de This new book addresses one of the central debates in the history of alcohol and intoxication: the supposed ‘medicalisation’ of alcohol use from the nineteenth century onwards. The editors argue that many cultures understood the link between overconsumption of intoxicating beverages and the deterioration … Continued

Apprenticeship evidence from Stationers’ wills, 1600–1641

A woodcut print showing a man making paper; his apprentice carrying away the finished sheets.

Joe Saunders, University of York jes593@york.ac.uk I give and bequeath to William Leeke Stationer sometime myne apprentice, in respect of such paines as he is to take as one of the Overseers of this my wyll the… somme of Twentie shillings” In September 1602 this bequest was put into the will of Francis Coldocke, Stationer … Continued

The Social World of the School

Hester Barron, University of Sussex H.Barron@sussex.ac.uk Most of the writing for my new monograph, The Social World of the School: Education and Community in Interwar London, was done during the pandemic. The lockdowns were a strange time to be writing anything, but to be completing a book which reflected on the purpose of school felt … Continued

‘Always at Work’: Oh to be a Post Office Horse?

Image of post office cart

Natasha Preger, King’s College London natasha.preger@kcl.ac.uk We are delighted to share this blog, which was runner up in the 2022 SHS Postgraduate Prize. You can read the announcement here. He begins his week’s work at four o’clock on Sunday afternoon; he ends it at half-past ten on Sunday morning; and at any time during that … Continued