Our second year students taking the Dissertation Research Skills module were given an assignment to write a 500-word blog post that would serve as a how-to guide for using a particular online archive or library catalogue. With the students' permission, we'll share some of the best posts here. This one is by Joseph, who has... Continue Reading →
Professor Matthew McCormack recommends: H. G. Cocks, Nameless Offences: Homosexual Desire in the 19th Century (I. B. Tauris, 2003). This is a fascinating study of homosexuality in late Georgian and Victorian Britain. We usually assume that the modern understanding of the homosexual man was invented at the end of the nineteenth century, with the rise of sexology... Continue Reading →
We are excited to announce that registration is OPEN for our conference on personal correspondence in English. The conference is to be held online 15-16 April. We have rich sessions on a range of topics related to personal correspondence across time and have structured the days to offer plenty of opportunities for reflection, discussion and... Continue Reading →
The University of Northampton History department is home to the Searchlight Archive, a unique archive collection of material documenting the activities of British and international fascist and racist organisations from the 1930s onwards. It is one of the most extensive and significant resources of its type in Europe. Daniel Jones, the Searchlight Collections Officer recommends:... Continue Reading →
Rachel Moss, Lecturer in History recommends: Seeing Sodomy in the Middle Ages: Robert Mills (Chicago, 2015) Densely written and packed with complex case studies, this lavishly illustrated leviathan of a book requires careful attention; it’s not a casual read. Nevertheless, this sensitive, imaginative work is bound to become a classic among studies of pre-modern gender... Continue Reading →
LGBTQ+ History and the Holocaust Associate Professor in History Paul Jackson blogs on LGBTQ+ victims of the Holocaust Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code was established in 1871, and essentially banned male homosexuality. Despite this, by the 1920s Berlin in particular had developed a reputation as a city that turned a blind eye to... Continue Reading →
Senior Lecturer in 20th Century History Jim Beach recommends: Philip Hoare, Wilde’s Last Stand: Scandal, Decadence and Conspiracy during the Great War (1997) My suggestion for this reading list connects with the content of my third-year module HIS3027 Secret State. It is not an academic history, and although some of its statements about intelligence history don’t stand... Continue Reading →
Senior Lecturer in History and Programme Leader for BA History recommends: Alan Bray, Homosexuality in Renaissance England (1982): A pioneering study charting shifting attitudes towards physical and emotional intimacies between men between the late middle ages and early Enlightenment. Judith C. Brown, Immodest Acts: the life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy (1986) A good example of the... Continue Reading →
The BBC has been a big part of life in Britain since its foundation in 1922. The BBC’s History of the BBC 100 Voices news and archive site regularly publishes the latest research on how the corporation has envisaged and represented (or misrepresented) its audiences over time. Their LGBTQ+ History mini-site and the BBC Archive... Continue Reading →
February is the UK’s annual LGBTQ+ History Month! Want to get involved but don’t know where to start? Read on! Events will be taking place across cyberspace offering people the opportunity to celebrate, commemorate, and learn more about historic LGBTQ+ experiences and the struggle for recognition and equality. This year is obviously going to be... Continue Reading →
