#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 🗃️
Inspired by the #BSECS2026 talk on the fabulous "Three Thousand Dishes on a Georgian Table, 1788-1813" data compiled by @historybeagle.bsky.social and team, I pulled together this website:
threethousanddishes.hubers.org.uk
It is such a fun dataset to explore!
@bsecs.bsky.social #c18th #foodhistory
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 🗃️
Thank you to all of you who made #BSECS2026 such a success.
271 delegates
21 pre-formed panels
8 roundtables
5 alternative sessions
144 individual papers
= 1 incredible conference
We are already hard at work planning #BSECS2027 @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social
See you there?!
#skystorians #18thC 🗃️
Another gorgeous week at Pembroke College last week for #BSECS2026 (despite a slightly chaotic travel-related start)! ❄️ Thanks so much to the conference organisers, speakers, and everyone involved for such a wonderful week 💖
Thoroughly enjoyed #BSECS2026, especially our round table on the digital edition, and getting to play the Hannah More game! Also a fantastic panel on miniatures from Prof Christoph Heyl which has given me lots of teaching ideas. Thank you @bsecs.bsky.social for making me very welcome.
My book haul from #BSECS2026 is now materially present on my bookshelf. Exciting times ahead. Thanks to all of the wonderful exhibiting publishers including @manchesterup.bsky.social & @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social
Lecture hall with three speakers at a desk
And that’s a rap on #BSECS2026 - a huge thanks to @fancyhistorian.bsky.social & @hardeepdhindsa.bsky.social for being boss co-organisers & to all the team @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social for their wonderful support for our annual conference. See you all next year!
Pembroke College
That was a fantastic #bsecs2026! Many thanks to the conference organisers, all the fabulous speakers, and the brilliant team at @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social
See you next year for #bsecs2027! @bsecs.bsky.social
Many thanks to the programme committee and organizers, and to the @bsecs.bsky.social executive and president
@historymatt.bsky.social for a fantastic #BSECS2026!
Hope to see you all next year for #BSECS2027.
Had a great time in Oxford for my first #BSECS2026. Thanks to @elementaladam.bsky.social for having me on and chairing the panel ‘Bodies Politic, Bodies Satiric: Satirical Embodiment in Georgian Britain and Ireland’ where I talked all things Fielding, drink, and Jacobite!
It's been a great few days at BSECS. I presented a paper on Eden and Restoration politics in Lucy Hutchinson's Order and Disorder and attended some excellent panels (I especially enjoyed the panel on mock epics and grand epics this morning).
#BSECS2026
Congratulations to Kate Halsey and @mjrsangster.bsky.social, winners of the BSECS Digital Prize, sponsored by Adam Matthew Digital.
#bsecs2026 @bsecs.bsky.social
#ICYMI earlier this week, Robin Eagles of the Georgian Lords posted on uncovering the lives of Black Londoners, among them one who almost certainly joined John London in voting in the 1749 Westminster by-election:
historyofparliament.com/2026/01/05/s...
#HistParl #BSECS2026
Thank you to everyone who joined us for the panel "SOMETHING BREWING"! Grateful to my brilliant fellow panellists and our fantastic moderator Jasmin for such a thoughtful discussion. 🙏 #BSECS2026
An image of the hall at Pembroke College, which has dark wood panelling and arched ceiling beams, mullioned windows with stained glass (though it is dark outside), and portraits on the wall, filled with long tables and people. Matthew McCormack stands at one end holding a microphone.
How many scholarly societies have a President who sings to them?! @historymatt.bsky.social's rendition of 'We are the very model of a scholarly society' brought the house down last night at the #BSECS2026 conference dinner @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social #skystorians #18thC 🗃️
My personal take-away from day 2 of #BSECS2026 History is messy. Go out and talk about it!
A panel of five people sit at a long table in front of a blue screen with an audience
How do we communicate the 18thC to modern audiences both "big" and "small"?? Join us in the Pichette Auditorium now to hear panellists from publishing, public engagement, podcasting, and writing share their experiences #BSECS2026
#skystorians #18thC 🗃️
A large screen with the title of the paper, and an audience seated on tiered chairs.
The Pichette Auditorium is packed for @chloewigstonsmith.bsky.social's key note address 'Thinking With and Again Small Things' at #BSECS2026
#skystorians #18thC 🗃️
Willan explores, through writing imaginative literature, an author can accrue significant and lasting economic and cultural power.
Available online at buff.ly/UrGCd8j
@bsecs.bsky.social
@claudewillan.bsky.social
@stanfordpress.bsky.social
#BSECS2026
#18c
Our CECS director will deliver the #BSECS2026 keynote this afternoon.
We’re having a brilliant time at #BSECS2026. It’s been wonderful to see so much of the CECS community, present and past, at the conference, from our current postgraduates to our MA and PhD alumni.
More scandalous revelations about eminent academics whose names are barely covered by coughing fits please! #BSECS2026
We are delighted to welcome our keynote speaker @chloewigstonsmith.bsky.social to #BSECS2026. Professor Wigton-Smith will be addressing the conference on 'Thinking With and Against Small Things' at 2pm today in the Pichette Auditorium #skystorians #18thC 🗃️
Image of our bookshelf filled with 18th Century Studies titles at the BSECS 2026 Conference
@bsecs.bsky.social conference is in full swing and we have 30% off select 18th century history titles. Come along to the Farthings Cafe or browse online: yalebooks.co.uk/bsecs26/
#BSECS2026 #skystorians #18thC 🗃️
Now at #bsecs2026! With
@elisabethgernerd.bsky.social
@benltjackson.bsky.social
@sallytuckett.bsky.social
@kateesthersmith.bsky.social
