Event: LGBT History of the South West

Just flagging an event for anyone interested. This weekend is the launch of Exeter's first ever LGBT History Month, as part of The National Festival of LGBT History.


This is a good step in the right direction in terms of representation of the LGBT community in the South West, and in developing the number of museum and heritage events in the region - as a history student in Exeter, it can be frustrating to be lacking the number of museums of a larger city!


The festival will be launched by our MP Ben Bradshaw, and the Mayor of Exeter at the Exeter this Saturday 11th February at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. The main event will take place on Sunday 12th February at the Exeter Phoenix Centre from 11am-5:30pm, and will feature a series of free talks on various aspects of LGBT history. The keynote speaker is the award-winning author Diana Souhami.


Unfortunately I am away this weekend and am unable to attend the main event, but if like me, you can't make the Sunday event, there are other events going on throughout the month, so I would encourage you to check out some of them!


You can find more information here:
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/university/title_565283_en.html
And for information specifically on the main event this Sunday:
https://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/events/lgbt-history-festival-2017/

Review article: Tim Breen, "Baubles of Britain"

Material culture studies is a rapidly expanding field of historical analysis which takes physical evidence as its point of inquiry, in order to ask questions about what objects meant to the individuals that used them, and moreover what agency objects might have exercised in shaping behaviors and consciousness. During my time at the LMU in Munich, I was fortunate enough to take a graduate introductory course into this field. Below is my review of  one of the most fascinating texts from the course: Tim Breen's article "Baubles of Britain", which examines the links between the developing American national consciousness and the consumer revolution of the 18th Century through the prism of Material Culture studies. You can read Breen's article at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/651021 

The Bell That was Flogged

On the night of 8^th April 1498, a bell was desperately ringing out for help. Its home, San Marco monastry in Florence, was under attack from an armed mob. Bell-ringing was an essential part of the civic defence system: it was supposed to alert the authorities of crises occurring all over the city whether they be foreign attack, fire, or uprisings. Yet the bell of San Marco continued to toll as the authorities ignored its call. The monks were left to fend for themselves; luckily, they had stockpiled weapons in case of such an attack. Surprised by the sudden forced entry, they initially took ahold of the torches and crucifixes and used these to hold back the attackers. As it became apparent that no one was going to answer their cry for help, they resorted to their weapons, resting their harquebuses on the pulpits and firing into the angry mob.

'Dying Like English Gentlemen': Peter Pan and Scott's Lost Men

Grave of Scott and his Men

For my first post on this blog, I thought I would share with you one of those interesting connections of two great figures of history, which I first came across at the Scott Polar Research Institute Museum in Cambridge.

The two figures? Captain Robert Falcon Scott and J.M Barrie.