Tomorrow's @cecs-york.bsky.social seminar is being delivered by Dr Harrie Neil on 'The Edgeworths, Ireland's Bogs, and Improvement'.
For those of you who can make it in-person, there will be cake but you can also register to attend via zoom here:
www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...
#skystorians #18thC
NEW BOOK ALERT! Wednesday 13 May 2026 sees the launch of 'Gender, Science, and Sociability in the diary of Jane Ewbank of York (1778-1824) with a stellar list of speakers - in person and online
www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...
@cecs-york.bsky.social #skystorians #18thC
Our friends @cecs-york.bsky.social have a really exciting programme over the next few weeks starting with their Annual Copley Lecture: Prof Ros Ballaster, 'The sense of touch and the shaping of the woman artist in the #18thC'
#history #womenshist #skystorians
www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...
This is my review of the film The Testament of Ann Lee, for Criticks @bsecs.bsky.social
In short: it's a musical, and this (mostly) works
www.bsecs.org.uk/criticks-rev...
Here is an obituary for Frank O'Gorman, an important historian of British politics and former president of @bsecs.bsky.social, who died last year. It will appear in a future issue of JECS. It was a privilege to help put this together.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT TO GO!
#CFP #skystorians #18thC
Only a few days left before our CFP closes!
If you find yourself in Paris on the 10-12 June 2026, you might like to attend @isecs-sieds.bsky.social 'Reframing the Enlightenment: intellectual & political disputes today', at the Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris
Details ⬇️
#skystorians #18thC 🗃️
The database features fully searchable membership lists, catalogues & borrowing records from membership subscription libraries across the Anglophone Atlantic - over 220,000 individual records about books, borrowers and their relationship with each other.
#ECLO #18thC #skystorians🗃️
CONGRATULATIONS 🎉 to the winner of our Digital Prize 2026: Eighteenth-Century Libraries Online (ECLO). The project is the result of a 5yr AHRC-funded project on the role of books in social, cultural & political change across the #18thC Atlantic.
www.liverpool.ac.uk/history/rese...
#skystorians 🗃️
🚨 CFP deadline extended - 31st March 🚨Apply for our @bsecs.bsky.social PGR/ECR Conference in Montpellier in September! Theme is Improvement, Degeneration, Stagnation. We can’t wait to see your abstracts! Details below ⬇️ #18c @royalhistsoc.org @ihrlifecycles.bsky.social @long18thsem.bsky.social
DEADLINE EXTENDED to the 31 March 2026!
Join our PGRs and ECRs in Montpellier this autumn to discuss the theme of 'Improvement, Degeneration, Stagnation'
#skystorians #18thC 🗃️ #PGR #ECR #CFP
Really pleased that my third-year course, Inventing Celebrity, has received a BSECS teaching prize. It's a joy to teach. Just marking the mid-semester assignments now, and dare I say it, even that's a pleasure!
***DEADLINE ON FRIDAY 13 MARCH***
Don't forget to submit your proposals for our #PGR #ECR conference, University of Montpellier Paul-Valery! Only two days left to go!
British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Conference Improvement Degeneration Stagnation University of Montpellier 3-4 September 2026 Paul-Valery
We invite proposals for papers for this year’s collaborative Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Conference between the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, the Société d’Études Anglo-Américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles and the Société Française d’Études du XVIIIe siècle, held at the University of Montpellier Paul-Valéry. Topics considering improvement, degeneration and stagnation could include, but are not limited to: · The materiality of any of, or all, these terms · Social, economic, moral and physical wellbeing · Medical perspectives, including the development of psychiatric and psychological medicine and alternate (pseudo-)scientific endeavours such as alchemy or spiritualism · Ideas around taste, attitudes, values and class, both in the social and literary domains · Debates and evolutions regarding language · National identities and comparisons · The pace of improvement and/or degeneration · Science, innovation and the improvement of knowledge · Colonisation and slavery · Religion, secularisation and Enlightenment thought · Gender, sexuality and the perception of the female body · Conceptions of improvement or degeneration in art, design and architecture; as well as in literature and philosophy · The notion of change and teleological narratives of progress · The ambiguities surrounding the notion of progress and the uncertain boundaries between improvement, stagnation and degeneration All submissions should be sent to montpellierconference2026@gmail.com for consideration. Submissions can be in either French or English. For individual papers, please send abstracts of 250 words and a short biography. For fully formed panels, (3-4 speakers), roundtables or workshops please send abstracts of 250 words for each paper along with brief details of the proposed theme, biographies of speakers, and proposed chair. CFP opens 7th January 2026 and closes 13th March 2026.
En lien avec le rôle joué par Montpellier dans le développement des connaissances médicales en Europe, le colloque de cette année étudiera les notions de progrès, de dégénérescence et de stagnation. Nous invitons les participants à interpréter les termes de progrès, de dégénérescence et de stagnation de façon large, sans restrictions géographiques, étymologiques ou conceptuelles. Les propositions pourront s’intéresser aux questions suivantes: · La matérialité de ces termes · Le bien-être social, moral et économique · Les perspectives médicales, incluant le développement de la médecine psychologique ou psychiatrique et des (pseudo-)sciences comme le spiritualisme ou l’alchimie · La question du goût, des mentalités, des valeurs et des distinctions entre groupes, tant dans le domaine social que littéraire · Les débats et évolutions concernant le langage · Les identités et comparaisons nationales · Le rythme du progrès et/ou de la dégénérescence · Science, innovation et développement des savoirs · Exploitation coloniale et esclavage · Religion, sécularisation et pensée des Lumières · Genre, sexualité et perception du corps féminin · Conception du progrès et de la dégénérescence dans l’art, le design et l’architecture · La notion de changement et la vision téléologique du progrès · Les ambiguïtés autour de la notion de progrès et les frontières incertaines entre le progrès, la dégénérescence et la stagnation Les propositions de communication, en français ou en anglais, sont à envoyer à l’adresse montpellierconference2026@gmail.com, sous la forme d’un résumé de 250 mots assorti d’une courte biobibliographie. Les propositions d’ateliers, de tables rondes ou de séances complètes (entre 3 et 4 intervenants) doivent être accompagnées d’un résumé pour chaque proposition et d’une courte présentation du thème, des intervenants, et du/de la président.e de séance pressenti.e. Les propositions sont à envoyer avant le 13 mars 2026.
You may only just have recovered from #BSECS2026, but our hardworking reps are already planning our #PGR #ECR conference, University of Montpellier Paul-Valery, 3-4 September 2026 on 'Improvement, Degeneration, Stagnation'
Deadline for submissions: 13 March 2026
#skystorians #18thC 🗃️
CONGRATULATIONS 🎉 to the winner of our second teaching prize, Marine Ganofsky. Her #interdisciplinary course invites students to discover 18thC France's fascination with #magic, imagination, & wonder, challenging the idea that the Enlightenment disenchanted the world.
#skystorians 🗃️
CONGRATULATIONS 🎉 Angus Sutherland @edinburghnapier.bsky.social, our Boydell & Brewer Career Development Fellow 2026!
Angus studies #18thC practical manuals written by & for shepherds/sheep farmers to see how they challenge Enlightenment narratives of agricultural 'improvement'
#skystorians 🗃️
🥳 Congratulations to Dr Emrys Jones, Senior Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture, at @kingsenglish.bsky.social on this recognition!
#FeelgoodFriday CONGRATULATIONS 🎉 to Emrys Jones who has won one of our #BSECS2026 Teaching Prizes. His prize-winning course introduces students to #18thC Britain's cultures of fame via a wide range of materials to identify parallels between the 18thC public sphere & our own
#skystorians 🗃️
Elizabeth Montagu's Correspondence Online project @montaguletters.bsky.social has announced their next round of paid internships, focusing letters from Montagu to Classicist and poet Elizabeth Carter - emco.swansea.ac.uk/project/inte...
@bsecs.bsky.social @bars.bsky.social @oxford18thc.bsky.social
Congratulations🎉 @breerob-kirk.bsky.social! We can't wait to read it! #skystorians #18thC 🗃️
So pleased to announce that MUSIC INDUSTRY AND FAMILY NETWORKS IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN: THE CORRI FAMILY IN EDINBURGH AND LONDON, 1771–1825 is now under contract with Boydell and Brewer! Many, many thanks to the series editors and those who have supported this work so far! @bsecs.bsky.social
Isabel's paper considered how “islands of ice” encountered by James Cook on his 2nd voyage, stalled imperial expansion & exposed the fragility of Western epistemology, unsettling human-nonhuman distinctions & disclosing the possibility of alternative, non-extractive forms of planetary relation
More CONGRATULATIONS 🎉#BSECS HQ today, this time to Isabel Realyvasquez, winner of our Presidents Prize, awarded for her paper 'Polar Archipelagos: Cook's Voyages at the Ends of the Earth
#skystorians #18thC 🗃️ #BSEC2026
CONGRATULATIONS to our #BSECS-GPP fellow for 2026, @zoescreti.bsky.social 🎉
Zoe's project examines archival loss in the Royal Collections, exploring the ways in which destroying manuscripts preserved reputations, avoided scandal, and shaped legacies at the apex of #18thC society
#skystorians 🗃️
This Valentine’s season, discover how 18th c. couples poured their hopes, anxieties and desires into hand written love letters - read my article in Bath Spa uni news feature here #18c #love #letters www.bathspa.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
18TH CENTURY BRITISH HISTORY PHD LIGHTNING TALKS CFP
Are you at the start of your PhD? Want to tell an eager and engaged audience about it in 5 mins? We want to hear the best PGR research about 18th Britain at our #LightningTalks event 29 April 2026.
Please see the poster for further information!
Need more #18thC in your life??
OF COURSE YOU DO!
Click below for an incredible programme of events from our friends @cecs-york.bsky.social
#skystorians #18thC 🗃️
www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...
Welcome Emily! We're all looking forward to meeting you!
#skystorians #18thC