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22. Miss Merrifield’s Cricket Bat
By Georgia Oman In May 1876, Margaret Merrifield wrote a letter home to her mother from Newnham College, Cambridge, where she had arrived as a student the year before. The College itself had only been founded a few years earlier, in 1871, with five students living in a rented house in Regent Street, Cambridge. In…
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24. The Stanwick Church Crucifixion
By Eleanor Warren (@elmwarren) I was shown this sculpture by the local key-holder on a visit to Stanwick Church in 2014.[1] It was a surprise and a joy to see this sculpted stone, which was not on display but languishing in a cupboard in the church vestry. The stone is the head of an early…
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23. Cleaning teeth through the ages
By Emily Redican-Bradford (efr27@cam.ac.uk) The first ‘toothbrush’ is thought to have been invented in China in the 1400s, when bristles from the necks of pigs were fixed onto bone or bamboo handles.[1] Before that, twigs were chewed on or split to form brushes and different flavours were used for freshening breath. The ‘modern toothbrush’ was…
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12. A Corned Beef Sandwich in Space
By Lauren Evans (@lauren_evans99) In March 1965, the landmark Voting Rights Act worked its way through Congress in the United States, the Beach Boys topped charts with “Help Me, Rhonda”, and a corned beef sandwich found its way into low earth orbit aboard the Gemini 3 spacecraft which launched from Cape Canaveral on March 23.
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1. Count Down Through Time: The Advent Calendar as a Primary Text for Public History
By Daniel Gilman, @DanielGilmanHQ Ever wondered about the Advent calendars history, from its origin as a religious countdown to Christmas, to its present-day iteration, featuring little surprises behind little cardboard doors? You’re not alone. Here is what I’ve found as I traced the history of Advent calendars for Doing History in Public. Public history enables…
doinghistoryinpublic.org 