This is exciting to see! #Envhist was only just beginning to appear at Cambridge when I was a grad student there in the late 2000s, although (as the organizers note) British historians have long thought about human-environment relations in other guises (landscape/economic history, hist. geography).
🔔⏰Just over 1 month to go! ⏰🔔
Call for papers: Modern British History and the 'Environmental Turn'
A two-day workshop organised by
@andrewseaton.bsky.social and myself at Lincoln College, Oxford, 16-17 September. Deadline for abstracts is 15 May.
Details in poster below!
Can't wait to read and teach this - Alma Igra's forthcoming book The Lion's Share on how science of nutrition emerged out of turn-of-the-century British imperial management. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Wow, I have to go look at this file!
Have you tried BFI archive off Tottenham Court Road? They're great: collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web
#DidYouKnow Britain recruited thousands of nurses from the Commonwealth after WWII?
In the 2024 #WolfsonHistoryPrize shortlisted book 'Our NHS: A History of Britain’s Best-Loved Institution’, Andrew Seaton brings together an engaging account of the institution. ⬇️
bit.ly/4kU2gXz
We are pleased to be supporting the "Modern British History and the 'Environmental Turn'" worshop at Lincoln College, University of Oxford @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social) on 16 - 17 September 2026
See call for papers (closes 15 May 2026) below:
pastandpresent.org.uk/call-for-pap...
Conference Poster: https://www.ticketsource.com/null/t-yzzmpzr
@newcastleuni.bsky.social will be hosting the British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research conference on 7-8 May. Tickets (no charge) for the event go live today at 9am. We have an excellent programme of speakers.
Supported by @leverhulme.ac.uk
@sslh.bsky.social
@ialhi.bsky.social
On Thursday I will be chairing our online session on writing history aimed at a wider audience with guests Elliot Prior and Sabhbh Curran from Curtis Brown Literary Agency. All welcome - sign up here:
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
If you're a PhD candidate or a recently graduated PhD and you work on neoliberalism, this is a great opportunity for funding and networking:
A review in the new @litreview.bsky.social of Marianna Dudley's excellent book on wind power:
literaryreview.co.uk/blowing-in-t...
Not sure on pub date yet as it's in an edited collection - think maybe next year. Would love to read the durex chapter! Had no idea about that, really interesting
Thanks, Tehila
How did people talk about the earth's holistic ecology before the Gaia thesis?
Minji Lee #Hildegard expert @archumanities.bsky.social + François Quiviger @warburginstitute.bsky.social & editor of @reaktionbooks.bsky.social's #Renaissance Lives series talk #ecology & the #Anthropocene, Weds 3pm GMT👇
I have a piece in the forthcoming handbook on contemporary British history edited by @sarahcrook.bsky.social and @drsarahlkenny.bsky.social about how these swelling notions of environment and 'overpopulation' intersected with British debates about social services and welfare in the 60s and 70s
'Ehrlich Speaks', The Text of Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich's Presidential Address to the Conservation Society on 14 January 1972'
Paul R. Ehrlich died yesterday. He was a biologist who influenced the western environmental movement during the 60s and 70s with deeply controversial warnings about 'overpopulation' and resource scarcity. Ehrlich thought Britain wouldn't make it to the year 2000 due to population pressures
I learned to love cinema at the Ultimate Picture Palace in Oxford as an undergrad. It's been around since 1911, and is now a fantastic community-owned venue. But it's at risk of development by Oriel College. This would be a terrible loss for independent cinema. Save the UPP! c.org/TpFdQMnhRN
There is a prince across the water
A review in the new @litreview.bsky.social of Marianna Dudley's excellent book on wind power:
literaryreview.co.uk/blowing-in-t...
Lovely cover!
We'll have a great discussion Wed 4 March 1500 GMT with @mohamedamermeziane.bsky.social & Melissa Leach + James Fairhead on other worlds' & the nonhuman re their books @versobooks.bsky.social & @princetonupress.bsky.social.
All @anthropoceneucl.bsky.social + @uclhistory.bsky.social
#Anthropocene
Thanks, Ben! - that's great news
I am giving the Edinburgh Uni LGBTQ+ History Month lecture on the evening of 27 February, with the title 'Scottish Trans Pasts, Useable and Otherwise'. Details and link to register are here: hca.ed.ac.uk/updates-even... Do come along if you're in Edinburgh!
This two-day workshop will explore several questions. How can environmental history complement or offer alternatives to existing historiographical narratives and periodisations in British history? What new actors, events, or phenomena might come to the fore? How should it foster engagements with places beyond its national borders or with other disciplines? Is environmental history different from longstanding traditions of ‘landscape’ or ‘urban’ histories of Britain? What contributions can historians make to environmental advocacy and policymaking? And how might a focus on the environment reshape teaching in British history? To take part, participants should submit a 300 word proposal for a short ‘position paper’ (approx. 2500 words) that will be pre-circulated at the workshop. These position papers will address the place of environmental approaches and themes within modern British history (1800 to the present) from the perspective of the participant’s own research. Participants will orally summarise their papers at the workshop. The event is free to attend and includes lunch and refreshments. Submissions are welcomed across a range of perspectives and topics, including but not limited to: energy, extraction, non-human actors, pollution, toxicity, rural and urban landscapes, everyday environmental histories (including how they are shaped by class, gender, and race), imperialism and decolonisation, ‘green’ policy, activism, and the political economy of the natural world. Please send proposals and a one-paragraph biography in a single PDF to andrew.seaton@manchester.ac.uk by 15 May 2026. Please also direct enquiries to this address. This event is organised by Dr. Max Long (Oxford) and Dr. Andrew Seaton (Manchester).
CALL FOR PAPERS - Modern British History and the 'Environmental Turn'.
A two-day workshop organised by @maxlong.bsky.social and myself at Lincoln College, Oxford, 16-17 September. Deadline for abstracts is 15 May.
Details in poster below, please share.
Photograph of an American bison standing beside a fence at the London Zoo in 1906.
The research guide on Environmental History that I wrote for The National Archives, UK is now live! Includes research advice and resources on colonial environments, pollution, agriculture, and animal histories.
Available here: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-yo...
#envhist #envhum
On 12 Feb, I'll be speaking at UCL's new Centre for Modern and Contemporary Britain on 'Looking at Britain through Health and Health Care: Changes and Challenges'. We'll be covering history, policy, and discrimination in medical education.
Sign-up here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/looking-at...
Expressionist wartime artwork by Graham Sutherland depicting two bulky coal miners working underground in a Welsh coalmine during World War II, shown crouched and straining around mining machinery beneath a heavy overhanging rock. The figures are rendered in thick, sculptural forms reminiscent of Henry Moore, set against a threatening red and black background created with red wax crayon and black ink wash. The textured rock ceiling looms above the miners, emphasising danger, confinement, and industrial labour, with dramatic colours and rough surfaces characteristic of Sutherland’s wartime style.
Today's @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange theme is Light & Dark. We have chosen Two Miners Drilling by Graham Sutherland, sketched in a Welsh coalmine (1942) as a War Artist. Ink & red crayon heighten the miners’ monumental forms and the rock’s looming threat.
Insightful analysis of the challenges facing recent graduates told from the perspective of one my former students when I was at UCL (who was brilliant).
Link free to read for first three people:
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
The image is text reading 'Centre for the Social History of Health & Healthcare Seminar' with University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian University and Wellcome Trust Logos on the right of the image.
Very excited for the @cshhh.bsky.social upcoming seminar series. #HistMed & #HistSex folks should come along if they can! Keep an eye on the page as we've to come! www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/d...
