Author: Doing History in Public

  • 11. A Knotted Cord

    11. A Knotted Cord

    By Nico Bell-Romero (@NicoBellRomero) Receiving a knotted cord – a strand made from yucca leaves – might seem like a strange gift for Christmas, but in August 1680, during their revolt against the Spanish, the Pueblo peoples of present-day Mexico placed great importance on them.

  • 16. A Chimpanzee Painting

    16. A Chimpanzee Painting

    By Miles Kempton (https://www.oocdtp.ac.uk/people/miles-kempton) This image shows a chimpanzee painting; not an abstract portrait of a chimpanzee, but a painting by one. The artist was Congo (1954-64), a captive chimpanzee at London Zoo who in the late 1950s caused a scientific and artistic sensation with his uncanny aptitude for painting and drawing. Desmond Morris –…

  • 10. Old Sheffield Plate Toaster

    10. Old Sheffield Plate Toaster

    By Meg Roberts (@megeroberts) Fancy some Regency-era cheese on toast? By the late eighteenth century, cheese toasters were all the rage among the British upper classes. The six removable trays in this particular toaster from the period could each hold a small slice of toast or bread, topped with cheese. To make the toast, hot…

  • 14. The Petition and Pardon of Elizabeth Wright

    14. The Petition and Pardon of Elizabeth Wright

    By Emily Rhodes (@elrhodes96) In the early modern era, women had a direct way to contact their king or queen: a petition. Women could and did take their complaints and pleas to the highest authority in the realm. While the petition would go through various secretaries and court officials — such as Gervase Holles, Master of…

  • 13. A Sign on a Sudeten House

    13. A Sign on a Sudeten House

    By Anna-Marie Pipalova This sign, on a house on the main square of Hudcov, a village in the Sudetenland, announces that the house was in the property of Wenzl Pokorny-Renner, landlord. Further signs on the house state that it was the ‘Gasthaus zum Reichsadler’, the Inn of the Imperial Eagle. The continued presence of these…