Latest Posts

  • Rising from the Ashes: A True Story of Survival and Forgiveness from Hiroshima

    To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, we are featuring a new blog series, HIROSHIMA 1945-2015, throughout August. Our first blog is by Dr Akiko MIkamo. Dr MIkamo was born and raised in Hiroshima by parents who survived… Continue reading

  • Professor Matthew Worley on Youth Culture

    From an idea of Dr Jacqui Turner, we are proud to present our new special feature “Our Videos” Dr Turner has created and produced a series of mini-documentaries featuring our members of staff discussing their research expertise and teaching.  … Continue reading

  • Motherhood, Childlessness, and the Care of Children from Slavery to Emancipation

    Call for Papers As part of an international research network funded by an AHRC network grant entitled ‘Mothering Slaves: Comparative Perspectives on Motherhood, Childlessness and the Care of Children in Atlantic Slave Societies’ we invite proposals for 20 minute papers… Continue reading

  • The Dying Child in 17th Century England

    Many congratulations to Dr Hannah Newton whose article “The Dying Child in 17th century England”  has been published in the prestigious journal Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.   Abstract The emerging field of pediatric palliative care recommends that… Continue reading

  • “I will miss the House; the House won’t miss me.”* The resignation of Nancy Astor MP (1919-1945)

    By Shira Kilgallon, Lauren Rhydderch and Jacqui Turner     In July 1945 Nancy Astor left parliament under a cloud of personal and professional regret. Her exit was fraught, blighted the remainder of her life and her relationship with her… Continue reading

  • GCMS Summer Symposium

    By Harriet Mahood The University of Reading has a long history of excellence in medieval studies, reaching back to the early twentieth century when Sir Frank Stenton, author of Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford, 1943), was its first professor of Medieval History… Continue reading

  • Three radicals, two anniversaries… and one Great Charter

    By Dr Rachel Foxley This year I’ve been involved in events marking two anniversaries, four hundred years apart: the birth of the radical pamphleteer John Lilburne in 1615, and the sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15 June 1215.… Continue reading

  • Reading and Sierra Leone

    By Richard Stowell Hosting a university brings a town economic benefit alongside a certain degree of social disruption. Less perceptibly it can over time change the demographics. In the many years that Reading has welcomed students from Sierra Leone, not… Continue reading

  • Bergen-Belsen visit

    By Josef Rees Seventy years ago this April, British troops liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. As an ambassador for the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) through my participation in the Learning from Auschwitz project whilst at school, I was invited to visit… Continue reading

  • The Sick Child in Early Modern England, 1580-1720

    By Dr Hannah Newton ‘How can you study such a depressing topic?’ I am often asked this question. The subject of my research – children’s illness in the early modern period – doesn’t exactly sound like a barrel of laughs.… Continue reading