@richardjansell
Historian of 17th- and 18th-century travel at Birkbeck, working on servants and other non-elite travellers. New book on British journeys to Iberia: https://uclpress.co.uk/book/no-country-for-travellers/
One for the #TravelWriting scholars. Samia Ounoughi and I seem to have been working on this book forever, but it's out at last! It features a great range of contributions. If you have access to an academic library and an interest in travel writing scholarship, please request a copy!
The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, at Birkbeck, University of London, is looking for a talented researcher to join a project focused on expanding our understanding of non elite writers and writing in seventeenth century England. As Postdoctoral Research Associate you will join 'Written Worlds in Seventeenth-Century England', an exciting Leverhulme Trustโfunded project. The role is offered on a 13 month, part time (17.5 hours a week) contract with a salary of ยฃ22,124 rising to ยฃ25,189 per annum (pro-rated ยฃ44,247 to ยฃ50,379 per annum). In this role, you will carry out dedicated research on non elite textual production, working closely with the Principal Investigator, Professor Sue Wiseman, and the Co Investigator, Dr Brodie Waddell. You will have the opportunity to work extensively with manuscripts and printed sources, visit archives, investigate datasets, develop the project database, and contribute to shaping the projectโs scholarly outputs - and you may also be involved in textual editing. As Research Associate, you will focus on one of two thematic strands: 1. Non elite writing produced in the provinces, or 2. Writing produced by non elite women. Further details via link
We are hiring postdoc researchers to join our #WrittenWorlds project at Birkbeck, with Sue Wiseman, @mdpowelldavies.bsky.social, @richardjansell.bsky.social and I.
0.5FTE, 13 months, focus on women's or provincial non-elite writing #EarlyModern ๐๏ธ
cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/post...
Our next event is happening next week! Sue Wiseman, Brodie Waddell @brodiewaddell.bsky.social and Michael Powell Davies will be discussing "Written Worlds: Non-Elite Writers in Early Modern England" โ๏ธ๐โจ Sign-up here (in-person and online) Thursday 5 March, 5.30 pm www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Written Worlds: Non-Elite Writers in Early Modern England Who wrote in early modern England? What did they write and why did they write it? How did their writing fit into the wider worlds that they inhabited? In this talk, Sue Wiseman, Brodie Waddell and Michael Powell Davies โ all from Birkbeck University of London โ will address these questions by introducing their ongoing Leverhulme-funded collaborative project on non-elite writers in England from c.1570 to 1730. Our research explores the writing practices of people below the level of the gentry and clergy, considering their biographical contexts, their motivations and their contributions to written culture. In addition to giving a birdโs eye view of the sorts of writers and texts we are studying, each of the three speakers will discuss a couple of specific examples of particular writers, including the notebooks of a midland villager, the spiritual diary a London wigmaker, and the confessions of a condemned widow.
'Written Worlds: Non-Elite Writers in Early Modern England'
Sue Wiseman, Michael Powell-Davies and I will be introducing our five-year collaborative project at the @ihr.bsky.social on Thursday, March 5th. Hope to see you there!
Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Book jacket - primary colors, rust, red, black and yellow. Top half is text (title, editors' names, etc). In the bottom half is a drawing of two women - one white-skinned, one dark-skinned - standing facing one white man. Servants behind them hold sunshades over each of the three protagonists.
This imminent volume looks so interesting!
Women and Their Worlds: The Perspectives of Early Modern European Travellers
Edited by Helena Sanson, Maลgorzata Trzeciak-Cygan
Series: New Transculturalisms, 1400โ1800
link.springer.com/book/9783031...
Written Worlds: Non-Elite Writers in Early Modern England Who wrote in early modern England? What did they write and why did they write it? How did their writing fit into the wider worlds that they inhabited? In this talk, Sue Wiseman, Brodie Waddell and Michael Powell Davies โ all from Birkbeck University of London โ will address these questions by introducing their ongoing Leverhulme-funded collaborative project on non-elite writers in England from c.1570 to 1730. Our research explores the writing practices of people below the level of the gentry and clergy, considering their biographical contexts, their motivations and their contributions to written culture. In addition to giving a birdโs eye view of the sorts of writers and texts we are studying, each of the three speakers will discuss a couple of specific examples of particular writers, including the notebooks of a midland villager, the spiritual diary a London wigmaker, and the confessions of a condemned widow. Hybrid | IHR Wolfson Room NB02, Basement, IHR, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, or Online-via Zoom. 5 Mar 2026 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
Slide titled Written World with a seventeenth-century painting of a woman writing in a book.
There might be some Other News happening today, but the really important announcement is that...
Sue Wiseman, Michael Powell-Davies and I will be talking about #WrittenWorlds in early modern England at @ihrscb.bsky.social on Thurs March 5th! ๐๏ธ
Register here:
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
โInformation moved fast, but not with total freedom. In a Europe divided by religion and scarred by war, surveillance of the posts was inevitable.โ
@earlymodernjohn.bsky.social on early modern news.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
In this blog post, Richard Ansell (Birkbeck, University of London) discusses how the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) is contributing to his research on non-elite travel writing as part of โWritten Worlds: Non-Elite Writing in Seventeenth-Century Englandโ
My new article, 'Selling Education in England, 1650-1715' is now out (open access) in the English Historical Review! academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
New article, by the late Aaron Graham, 'Glorious Autarky? Foreign Resources and the British Fiscal-Military State, 1688โ1815'
academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
@fiscalmilitary.bsky.social
The #Bibliography of #British and #Irish #History (BBIH) has been updated. 3,948 records were added!
About the BBIH: bit.ly/3BKtltK
#History #HistorySky #Bibliographies #UK #Ireland #GreatBritain
@ihr.bsky.social
This is in addition to a planned youth mobility scheme for 18-30 years old (which would be a very good thing too).
So, one day soon an article by me is coming out in the English Historical Review about the fragmentation of England's educational systems from the 1650s on and the new forms of teaching & learning that emerged, and it's only just struck me that this is, you know, Relevant To Our Current Situation.
A Significant Milestone The Social History Society was founded at Lancaster University in 1976 and held a conference that year on the theme of โElites in Societyโ. The SHS was the brainchild of Harold Perkin (the first Professor of Social History in Britain), who quietly promoted a form of social history that looked beyond class based analyses. Alongside a regular newsletter, the societyโs conference was the glue that bound together its increasingly diverse membership. As the SHSโs conferences grew, they moved from a focus on a single theme to a programme that incorporated different strands of social history. The SHS conference is now one of the largest gatherings of social historians in Britain, and incorporates work that spans time, space and various historical approaches. There are few conferences that are as diverse or as open to new ideas. From the outset, the SHS has sought to offer a constructive space for postgraduate historians to present and gain feedback on their work. The society still prides itself on giving postgraduates the same platform as more established colleagues. Thankfully, however, some things have changed. The first SHS conferences were held in the depths of winter (according to late founder member Eric Evans, this was because no other conference was foolhardy enough to organise events at that time of year so they could guarantee and audience). Since 2018, the conference has adopted a summer timetable, allowing outdoor events including walking tours and an unforgettable night at the Black Country Living Museumโs 1950s fairground. We are delighted to be returning to our roots at Lancaster to celebrate our 50th anniversary.
The @socialhistsoc.bsky.social conference will be at Lancaster in July. Call for papers just released. I'll put putting together a proposal, so hope to see some of you there! #EarlyModern ๐๏ธ
Details here: socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe...
Title screen for Lucy McCormick's video 'The history of social class and the Bibliography of British and Irish History'
In this On History blog, @lucy-mccormick.bsky.social and Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal discuss how the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) can be used to research and teach the histories of social class buff.ly/ZDbRcur
Are you studying, researching or teaching histories of the British Empire or Commonwealth? Try using the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH), it contains 670,000+ resources from 55 BCE to today! Find out how to use BBIH buff.ly/yD11954 @brepols.net
Annual shameless Xmas or other seasonal holiday gift suggestion for those interested in any of material culture, empire or British country houses. Over 500 pages & 100 illustrations. Paperback a mere ยฃ30. (Alternatively, free to download from @uclpress.bsky.social or @jstor.bsky.social ).
Come along to the @ihr.bsky.social on Thursday to hear @nailyas.bsky.social talk about her 'Global Libraries' project!
Keen to explore maritime environments and histories without going to sea? The Royal Museums Greenwich Caird Fellowship deadline is 18 January 2026.
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
Birth! Death!! Domestic Religion!!!
Come along (or join online) to hear @emilymayvine.bsky.social's talk at the @ihr.bsky.social next Thursday.
Thanks again for the invitation - Iโm grateful to everyone for their comments and questions!
Great to see the recording of @richardjansell.bsky.social 's recent paper on travel journals and servants' lives on the Grand Tour is now avaiable on the @ihrlibrary.bsky.social website. @long18thsem.bsky.social See: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
So excited to finally have hold of the book!
The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) has recently been updated with 5000+ new references. Discover further details about this update in this On History blog blog.history.ac.uk/2025/10/bibl... @brepols.net
At Bristol Central Library:
Fugitives in the Archive
"Featuring original newspapers, maps, and memoirs by c18th & c19th Black writers, this exhibition assembles the possible lives of these runaways before their bid for freedom."
bristol.events.mylibrary.digital/event?id=242...
#History
ICYMI ๐
Join us tonight, either at the IHR or online to hear @richardjansell.bsky.social present his paper about servants on the โGrand Tourโ in the eighteenth century!
We offer #bursaries up to ยฃ900 for PhD students, post-graduate researchers and independent scholars engaged in postgraduate-level research in the field of labour history to fund essential archive or library research. Find out more sslh.org.uk/bursaries-gr...
The OUP link won't work any more, but the book is now being distributed by Liverpool University Press, here: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
Join us next Wednesday (8-10) in person at the IHR or online from 5:30pm to Dr Richard Ansellโs paper โTravel Journals and Other Traces of Servants on the Grand Tourโ. Register with the following link: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Richard outlines the paper here:
www.tiktok.com/@long18thcen...