Latest Posts
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Into the Archives: Berkshire Records Office, by Graham Moore
When thinking about undertaking archival research, it can be easy to reach automatically for the big national institutions. But there is more to life than the British Library or The National Archives; sometimes, history can be a little closer to… Continue reading
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Into the Archives: A Day in the Life of a Volunteer at The National Archives, by Christos Giannatos
As a Postgraduate Researcher, I was pretty excited to work with primary material and uncover the many secrets they hold, but also, use those secrets to enrich my research! From a young age, I was watching documentaries where archivists and… Continue reading
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Into the Archives: Listening to the Voice in the Archive, by Dr Beth Wilson
In April 2023, I travelled to Indiana University Bloomington to spend two weeks in the archives. I was funded by the Institute for Advanced Studies at Indiana University to undertake a Repository Research Fellowship at the Archives of Traditional Music… Continue reading
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Into the Archives: South Carolina, by Prof Emily West
In April 2023 I visited South Carolina to undertake archival research. This trip would not have been possible without a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant, and I am grateful to them for funding this trip. I first visited South Carolina during… Continue reading
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#EurovisionRdgHis nominations 2023
Throughout the month run-up to the Eurovision 2023 final, held in Liverpool, the History Department has been sharing its favourite Eurovision entries of the past. All those who were nominated, along with their reason for nomination are below. 1967: Sandie… Continue reading
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The United Kingdom and Eurovision: A History of Ambivalence?, by Dr Ben Bland
It’s perhaps an understatement to say that the United Kingdom has a slightly more complex relationship with the Eurovision Song Contest than many of the other competitor nations. The UK is one of the so-called “Big Five”: the five countries… Continue reading
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Teaching Excellence in the History Department at the University of Reading 2023
We are very privileged to have so many of our teaching staff recognised by students through Reading University Students’ Union’s Excellence Awards. This year, six of our staff (including two PhD students) have been nominated! Here is what they say… Continue reading
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Nancy Astor and the Tommies of the First World War: An Image Gallery of Nancy Astor’s Correspondence with Samuel Deans, by Noah Strauss
Besides taking her seat in Parliament as the MP for Plymouth a year after the close of the First World War, Nancy Astor is not often conflated with the period of the First World War and the immediate period following… Continue reading
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Laetitia Houblon’s Letters and Women on the Grand Tour, by Jessica Campbell
During the eighteenth century, the Grand Tour became a popular phenomenon among the upper classes of English society. It became a rite of passage for aristocratic young men to spend anywhere between six months to four years travelling around Europe,… Continue reading
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The Naked Blogger of Cairo, by Dr Dina Rezk
In November 2011, 20 year old Egyptian Alia Mahdy posted a nude photograph of herself on her blog Diary of a Rebel. She was wearing nothing but black stockings, red leather shoes, and a flower in her hair. The photograph… Continue reading
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