One of my most vivid memories from childhood, is of my mother reading the Nordic folktale ‘East of the Sun and West of the Moon’ to me. The tale, first collected in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century tells of a…
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Resurrecting Dina Dobson: Archaeologist, Educator and Radio Broadcaster – Jan Lewis
by J. Anderson
written by J. Anderson
During my PhD research on the role of professional archaeologists on BBC radio, one of the first files I accessed from the BBC Written Archives at Caversham was that of archaeologist Dina Dobson. I quickly became a little obsessed with…
Taking the Page: Asserting Agency Through Letter Writing in 19th Century Britain
by J. Anderson
written by J. Anderson
What’s in a letter? For a woman living in England in the nineteenth century with limited access to social freedoms and even paper—everything. Historians have given mixed reviews on the value of Jane Austen’s surviving personal letters. Some brush off…
Hidden history and vital identity with a First World War servicewoman’s suitcase of memory – Robert MacKinnon and Denby Humphries
by J. Anderson
written by J. Anderson
Scanning Auntie Emmie’s attic with torchlight, a time-worn leather suitcase caught Susan’s eye. Emmie would regularly retrieve the suitcase from the attic, but its contents were never shared. Opening it up carefully, Susan was presented with material traces of a…
Health, Death and Trauma in Middling Sort Women’s Letters during the Eighteenth Century – Isabella Smith
by J. Anderson
written by J. Anderson
Sources taken from Karen Harvey’s Social Bodes project which contains transcribed letters between c.1680-1820 categorised by state, emotion and body part.[1] Why do we study old letters? What is it about them? Or as historian Susan Whyman asks, ‘filled with…
The Pre-History of Nursing: An Alternative View – Alannah Tomkins
by J. Anderson
written by J. Anderson
My first exposure to the history of nursing was the Ladybird book Florence Nightingale, in the ‘Adventure from History’ series. Like many primary-school children before and since, I was beguiled by Nightingale’s dedication to her cause. The only depiction of…
For thirty years, the Women’s History Network (WHN) have been publishing journal articles and blogs on myriad subjects about women. We have constructed this reading list for LGBTQ+ History Month, and beyond, to make visibility of our publications easier. Clicking…
Inspired and Outraged: The Making of a Feminist Physician – Alice Rothchild
by J. Anderson
written by J. Anderson
My memoir, Inspired and Outraged: The Making of a Feminist Physician, is both a chronicle of my life in the 1950s in a first-generation Jewish family, coming of age in the 1960s, and my embrace of feminism as I encountered…
Women and Madness in the Early Romantic Novel: Injured Minds, Ruined Lives – Deborah Weiss
by J. Anderson
written by J. Anderson
“We are an Injured Body”: Finding Inspiration in a Class on Jane Austen My new book, Women and Madness in the Early Romantic Novel: Injured Minds, Ruined Lives (Manchester University Press), originated in an undergraduate class I taught in spring…
Navigating “Female” Identity: The Role of 19th-Century Missionary Wives – Katherine Hsu
by J. Anderson
written by J. Anderson
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, American Protestant churches prohibited women from preaching or becoming ordained ministers. However, the religious revivalism of the Awakenings – a series of Protestant religious movements in the United States – created new,…
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