VPR’s Expanding the Field Prize is awarded annually for an outstanding essay that diversifies the existing geographic, racial, and ethnic composition of C19 periodical studies. The winner receives $500 and publication in VPR. Submissions due June 15, 2026. More details at rs4vp.org/awards.

Delighted to share that on May 1st I shall be starting a new role as Applied History Fellow @ihr.bsky.social, supported by publisher D C Thomson. I'll be helping to curate digital resource collections (including newspapers, of course!) for the fantastic Social History Archive. Very exciting!

It's official! I've been 'doctored'. So many folks to thank - for now, fab supervisors @digivictorian.bsky.social, @bethgaskell.bsky.social, @drbeard79.bsky.social, @miaout.bsky.social, great examiners @jimmussell.bsky.social, @sarahfoxhistory.bsky.social and many friends/colleagues @rs4vp.org.

A somewhat overdue blog post, musing on 'ancient and modern' media forms. My first blog since submitting my PhD thesis back in October - since then, I've been focused on viva prep and then sorting out thesis amendments, which are nearly complete. 😃 www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=249

Happy Holidays from RSVP! Our gift 🎁 to you is the debut of a new interview series, starting with @patrickleary.bsky.social, who sat down with @c19thnewshound.bsky.social this past year to discuss "Getting Started with Periodicals Research." Stay tuned for more in 2026! rs4vp.org/introducing-...

It has been a momentous week for me. Four years on from starting my PhD, my thesis has been submitted for examination. What a journey it has been! To mark the occasion I chose this newspaper, printed 200 yrs prior to my submission date, from Newcastle where academic life began for me some time ago.

I am once again asking for leads on part-time research, editing, and administration jobs - I have some freelance and hourly paid projects on the go and am not able to take on full-time work in order to accommodate them (and my pro-bono talks/research for charity/vol. orgs). DMs/emails welcomed!

You can read my latest blog post about my experience in the Windy city - at the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals conference - here, www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=225.

Back at my desk today after a couple of days based here - the wonderful Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge - where I learned about museum-community collaboration. Fascinating perspectives, provoking much debate. Great to catch up with fellow CDP students too.

A rare visit to the Edge Hill Uni campus today, where I presented a paper at my dept's postgrad conference @edgehist.bsky.social. Bittersweet as probably the last time I'll do that as a postgrad. Campus is always beautiful in spring - here's a shot of one of its more unusual outdoor sculptures.

A March to the Scaffold moment today! I had the thrilling (but slightly terrifying) experience of giving my first public lecture, to the Friends of @ironbridgegmt.bsky.social. Great audience, knowledgeable & engaged. A surprise was seeing scaffolding at the Coalbrookdale site, for roof refit work.

This was a genuine - and thrilling - surprise in today's post, all the way from Maryland. How lovely that @vpreditors.bsky.social retains the custom of sending a print copy of the journal to its contributors. My first published piece and it's all the more special to have it in physical print. 😀

A final twist in our recent #MastheadMonday saga. The Age & The Argus competed for four years, but by 1843 both were struggling financially. They agreed a merger to survive, becoming the Age and Argus (1843-45). Digitised by the BL & free to view: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/age-l...

Join us for the Post-1800 and Contemporary British Society & Culture Doctoral Open Day on Friday 14 March: - Discover our rich collections - Connect with our expert curatorial teams - Expand your network with like-minded researchers Book your place: bit.ly/BLPhDOpenDay...

C19 people! @RRRJournal's Call for Submissions is open for Issue 8, 'Play in the Long Nineteenth Century.' 🧸🎭🤽‍♂️🩰 Please share widely! ⏰

Hey! Read my latest blog post to find out why this choice of newspaper as a film prop was an intriguing one. www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=213

What has today's date got to do with a First World War army medic? Find out on my latest blog post here: www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=204

Congratulations! Great news - what a serendipitous publication date!

What does this image have to do with my latest blog post? Find out at www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=196

Today marks 170 years to the day that Florence Nightingale left England with 38 women to work at a military hospital in the Crimean War. Read my blog post about the role of the press in her story here: www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=188

I'm starting the final year of my PhD. Already! Feeling energised as things start to draw together - and terrified that it'll soon be over. Still, plenty to do before then...

If, like me, you're feeling a bit under the weather, my latest blog post explores some quack remedies and their surprising role in the development of nineteenth-century newspapers. Please have a read: www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=181

Have a look at my latest blog post here: www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=177 Thinking about some of the stranger secondary uses to which newspapers are put.

I'm blogging again! This post contains a plea for information/help from nineteenth-century press scholars especially. You'll find it at matthewstephens.org.uk?p=169 Thanks!

Hey! You can find my latest blog post here: www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=158 All welcome, especially (press) historians.

A bit of Friday fun from 'The Week's News', 2 July 1881. I couldn't solve the proverbs. They were in the children's corner, so that doesn't make me feel very clever at all! Solutions can be found in the following week's paper, on www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

Hey folks - I'm blogging on my new website. Hopefully of some interest to press scholars and historians. Latest blog post is here: www.matthewstephens.org.uk?page_id=12 and contains some musings on identity (as applied to periodicals).

My Dad used to use a sarcastic phrase when you lost something and he found it straight away: 'What do you think this is? Scotch mist?' (Apologies to Scots for the outdated usage.) I was reminded of this on Saturday, heading to day to of the RS4VP conference in Stirling - mist over the campus loch!

I've got a new website! It hosts some highlights & data links relating to my research into short-lived C19th newspapers; and includes tasters of what I'll be talking about at the RSVP conference in Stirling next week. Check it out at www.matthewstephens.org.uk.

Just had a fabulous gift from Mrs Newshound - this v. recent book by brilliant political journalist Robert Peston & Kisan Koria - made really special by the inclusion of this lovely personal note. Just need to get my head out of the 19th century for a while to read it!

A jolly festive creation spotted this afternoon.

With a govt reshuffle ongoing, my research of the 'Illustrated News of the World' from 1858 led me to this engraving of Lord Palmerston - a past politician to serve both as PM and Foreign Sec. It's an interesting example of cutting edge tech for the time - steel engraved from a photo portrait.

By way of saying hello on a new platform, here's a recent pic of a (still quite rare) full arc rainbow taken in Liverpool - complete with its own shadow.