The University of Northampton has partnered with the Northampton Branch of the Historical Association to stage a programme of talks. As in previous years, these will take place online, on campus and in local schools: we are particularly keen to hear from History teachers who would like to host a talk at their school. All talks are free to attend and everyone is welcome.
19 October, 7pm online: Kerry Love (UON), ‘Banners in British Left-Wing Politics since 1800’
Banners and signs are a regular sight present at contemporary protests, and they often form the focal point of debates about the right to protest in the news. This talk will look at how and why they emerged in the eighteenth century, how they were used in developing popular politics, and how in spite of changing political circumstances, the left continues to draw on banner tradition and visuals in a number of ways in Britain.
30 November, 7pm online: Milly Mulcahey (University of York), ‘”A Genesis Story for the USA or The Beginning of the End”: Mayflower 400 and the Challenges of Commemoration’
In this talk Milly Mulcahey takes us back to the planning meetings, partnership calls and historical learning at the very start of the UK’s ambitious Mayflower 400 commemorations (2016-22). Local dreams of investment and rejuvenation were balanced with the complexity of this historical narrative – the story of a courageous quest for religious freedom and of grave robbing, kidnapping and colonisation. Milly investigates the key learnings of this national project, drawing on three years of interviews with public historians, event organisers, local government representatives, critics of the commemorations, and Native American project partners from the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag, Shinnecock, Dakota and Cherokee Nations.
18 January, 6pm Waterside Campus, University of Northampton: The Great Debate
The Great Debate is an annual national public speaking competition where students from school years 10-13 have five minutes to present their speech arguing their answer to a question. The question being asked this year is: Which historical place or person from your local area deserves greater recognition? We want you to explore the local history of your area or region in all of its diversity or singularity to identify a person or place that has contributed to the world that we live in today and should be better known. See the Historical Association website for further details and please contact david.waller@northampton.ac.uk if your school would like to participate in the Northampton heat.
22 February, 7pm online: Neil Lyon (Local Historian), ‘”The Best Burglar in the County”: the story of Joan Wake and the Northamptonshire Record Society’
Joan Wake (1884-1974) is one of the most remarkable women Northamptonshire has ever produced. An eminent archivist and local historian, single-handedly she saved Delapré Abbey from demolition in the 1950s. This talk pays tribute to one of our greatest local characters of the twentieth century.
14 March, 7pm online: Dr Toby Purser (UON), ‘Alfred of Wessex and the Making of England‘
It is often erroneously thought that King Alfred of Wessex not only defeated the Vikings but was the first king of England. He was in fact the last king of the English kingdoms. His victory over the Vikings was without doubt an astonishing achievement but Alfred’s military victories were only the beginning since he spent 20 years winning the peace, by means of great private wealth, education, literature and a sophisticated government which propagated a powerful narrative of the English destiny. Alfred held the line against the Vikings but remained what he had always been – king of Wessex. His achievements laid the foundations for his grandson Aethelstan to conquer the Viking territories and declare the first Kingdom of all England, in 927, a generation after Alfred’s death in 899, an event that was by no means inevitable.
2 May, 7pm online: Dr David Waller (UON), ‘Donald Trump and the Remaking of American Political Religion‘
The election of Donald Trump as U.S. President in 2016 presents something of a puzzle: how and why did the least morally upstanding — and most unpopular — candidate of recent times receive the ardent support of many evangelical Christians? Why was the so-called ‘Religious Right’ so vocal in championing some of the more extreme policies of the subsequent Trump Administration? This lecture will explore the rise of Christian identity in American politics in recent years, its growing association with the Republican Party, and why some Christian voters ignored more obviously evangelical candidates in favour of Trump.
For further information about the programme or the branch, please contact the Chair Dr David Waller on david.waller@northampton.ac.uk or the Secretary Prof Matthew McCormack on matthew.mccormack@northampton.ac.uk.
HISTORY AT NORTHAMPTON 