For anyone working in literacy engagement in schools or community organisations, @literacy-trust.bsky.social and @unibirmingham.bsky.social have published a useful (and fun!) pamphlet on 'Place-themed literacy': nlt.hacdn.org/media/docume... (1/3)

I was honoured to give a keynote paper (on medical care on 17th-century English estates) at 'Servants, Labourers and the Manorial World', a conference of the European Network for Country House & Estate Research, at beautiful Ledreborg in Denmark. A wonderful few days of discussion and exploration!

A fantastic day - we had 110 participants and 122 submissions at our Transcribathon! These letters will be hugely useful for researchers and members of the public alike. Check out the Social Bodies website to browse or contribute your own transcription 👇📝 socialbodies.bham.ac.uk

"In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the smallpox..I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of the parents who omit that operation [...]." Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography

Posset pot, made in #Southwark, 1657 with intials ' B. E. D.' (British Museum)

Hello! This is 'Material Identities, Social Bodies', a Leverhulme Trust-funded research project at the University of Birmingham. Led by @kharveyhistory.bsky.social and supported by @helenesfandiary.bsky.social, it explores embodiment & social identity in C18th British letters socialbodies.bham.ac.uk

📣The programme for our 2025 conference is out now! 👉Read it here (scroll down to 'Conference Programme'): socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe... ✨Take a look at the amazing array of social & cultural history on show!🗃️

Also in 2022, we awarded the @crems-york.bsky.social Teaching Early Modern Recipes & Manuscript Cultures project by @mazinggrace.bsky.social and @earlymodernemma.bsky.social 🏆 They presented a poster about their work at our 'Open Research at York: Two Years On' event, available in our wiki 👇

Today's most adorable research find: A child's message scrawled at the bottom of this c1700 letter from Madras, asking their dad to come home #earlymodern

📢 My article on parents' letters to/about ill children is out in an exciting special issue, 'Mothers and Fathers in Medieval and Early Modern Europe', ed. @erhodes.bsky.social & Alice Whitehead. It's full of fantastic contributions to the history of parenting! 👇 www.tandfonline.com/toc/rhof20/3...

CFP for the 'Sleeping Well' @sleepingwelluom.bsky.social end-of-project conference, 'Bodies and Environments in the Early Modern World'. Taking place 9-10 June 2025 at JRRI, Manchester. Details on our website here: sites.manchester.ac.uk/sleeping-wel... Deadline 3 Feb. Please share widely!

Hi all! From January, I'm running an 8-week, learning-for-pleasure evening course via the University of York's Centre for Lifelong Learning. It's on Zoom, open to the public and taking bookings now - please share with any friends or family who might be interested! 👇 www.york.ac.uk/lifelonglear...

One down, nine to go 💪 Our team at Roseberry Topping are doing great work restoring paths to the top of one of the North York Moors' most popular landmarks. See their work in detail here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

In summer 1644, teenaged Alice was saved from drowning in a river by her brother’s horse: ‘the poor mare drew up her fore feet and perceived she did swim ... and ... brought me over that river in safety.’ #EYAAnimals #EarlyModern 🗃️ 📜 More in @hagenilda.bsky.social's blog: https://buff.ly/45H8ilD

Passionflower, Nicolas Robert, 1625-84 (British Museum)

With Leeds Trinity and Loughborough we're now actually at 83, or exactly half of the 166 universities @timeshighered.bsky.social counts. HALF OF OUR UNIVERSITIES ARE SHEDDING STAFF. In a normal timeline, politicians would care about this and try to do *something*, *anything*, right?

I adore this, what a fun way to show how much fabric is involved!

Our Small Grants Programme is now live! If you have a project that supports the study, enjoyment and dissemination of local history we'd love to hear from you. Find out more: ow.ly/cVKf50TUhP2 #WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll

Hello #EarlyModern where would I read about public charges paid to landholders by tenants in mid C17 Yorkshire/England?

📢The call for papers for our 2025 conference is now ✨LIVE✨ We are the biggest gathering of social and cultural historians in the UK and will be at the @bclivingmuseum.bsky.social from 7-9 July 2025! Call is open until 17 January 2025🌟🗃️ Please share widely! socialhistory.org.uk/conference/s...