Author: Doing History in Public

  • The Wandering Historian: Reflections on a Year of Research Abroad

    The Wandering Historian: Reflections on a Year of Research Abroad

    In the second of our posts on doing research abroad, Tom Smith  (@TomEtesonSmith) traverses the United States. Working on American history from a British university as I do, it was inevitable that at some point during my PhD research I was going to have to spend some time abroad. Courtesy of two Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded…

  • The trials and tribulations of the cross-border historian

    The trials and tribulations of the cross-border historian

    By Zoe Farrell | @zoeffarrell Writing in History Today this January, Suzannah Lipscomb, the TV historian and fellow of the New College of Humanities, urged us to remember that ‘no island is an island.’[1] In essence, what Lipscomb argued is that in these times of great uncertainty and heightened feelings of hostility towards ‘the other,’ it…

  • Christmas Shopping in the Seventeenth Century

    Christmas Shopping in the Seventeenth Century

    By Carys Brown | @HistoryCarys In October 2004, Christians, trade-unionists, and the festively-inclined rejoiced at the introduction of the Christmas Day (Trading) Act. Ever since then it has been illegal for large shops to be open on Christmas Day; workers theoretically have the chance to rest and spend time with loved ones; Christians can celebrate the…

  • ‘All Men are Created Equal’? Race and the Declaration of Independence in American Museums

    ‘All Men are Created Equal’? Race and the Declaration of Independence in American Museums

    Tom Smith  (@TomEtesonSmith) The Declaration of Independence, approved on 4 July 1776 by the thirteen colonies which were about to form the United States of America, has returned to the headlines recently after a parchment copy of the iconic document, only the second known to exist, was discovered in the somewhat unlikely surroundings of the…

  • The Allotment as Fertile Ground for Historical Study

    By Zoe Farrell  | @zoeffarrell Allotments in many ways seem like a quaint symbol of the past; reminiscent of that kind elderly neighbour who always shared the fruits of their overabundant crop.  However, allotments have a long history and were brought about in their current form for a very serious purpose. The history of allotments…