Directory of Research and Expertise

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Research Summary and Profile

Research interests:

Digital resources, Digitisation, Early Modern, Gender studies, History, Modern History

Research keywords:

Historical biography, National biography, History of Publishing, Eighteenth-century Britain, History of University of London, Women's higher education, History of social conduct

Summary of research interests and expertise:

I began as a historian of eighteenth-century British history, and went on to study the rise of politeness and gentlemanliness as key values within Hanoverian society. I later turned to the relationship of biography and history, and undertook research a wide range of areas of British history, 18th-20th century, as Senior Research and Publication Editor for the Dictionary of National Biography based at Oxford University's History Faculty and Oxford University Press. Via several projects I remain closely involved with publishing for historians.

I'm currently researching in two areas: the history of reference and reference publishing in 19th and early 20th-century Britain, with a focus on the consolidation of knowledge and the intersection of technology with reference collections; and, second, the social and professional networks of early women undergraduates at the University of London in the early 1900s. The latter is part of a larger prosopographical survey of the early generations of women undergraduates at the University, 1868-1928. In digital history I'm interested in the place of primary and secondary digital content in how we study, and the implications of digital access for our understanding of the past. My broader research interests include historiography, and the development of the early historical profession; innovation in forms of historical writing; and the relationship of history to mental health.

Publication Details

Related publications/articles:

Date	Details
01-Jun-2022	'Pollard's Thursdays: the origin and ethos of Institute seminars, 1921-25', in David Manning ed., 'Talking History: Seminar Culture at the Institute of Historical Research, 1921–2021' (University of London Press, 2022, forthcoming) Chapters
09-Sep-2021	Eliza Jeffries Davis (1875-1943), founder of the IHR, entry for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (forthcoming) Articles
05-Aug-2021	'Advanced historical study and the formation of the Institute of Historical Research, c.1900-1921', Historical Research (August 2021, forthcoming) Articles
01-Dec-2020	'Using online bibliographies in teaching and research' Research aids Part of the Royal Historical Society's 'Teaching Portal' for university students and researchers (2020)
25-Nov-2020	Review article, 'The Club. Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age', by Leo Damrosch, Journal of Modern History, 92/4 (Dec 2021), 935-7 Review
12-Nov-2020	'Our Century: past and future thinking at the Institute of Historical Research', WC1E, University of London alumni magazine, 5 (Dec 2020), 34-5 Articles
30-Sep-2020	Institute publishing in the 2020s: what can we do for ourselves? Conference papers Workshop on the future of small-scale digital publishing; with the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.
02-Jun-2020	'The class of 1906: women's friendship circles at the University of London - a social network approach' Conference papers Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, University of Oxford
07-May-2020	Review article, 'Men on Trial: Performing Emotion, Embodiment and Identity in Ireland, 1800–45, by Katie Barclay, English Historical Review (May 2020) Review
10-Jan-2020	'BBIH and the histories of Georgian Britain' Conference papers Panel on 'New digital pathways into the eighteenth century', British Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies annual conference, Oxford (January 2020)
16-Oct-2019	Articles for 'Leading Women: Opening Access - 150 years of women in higher education' (University of London) Articles
17-Sep-2019	'Dictionaries as data: new research from digital records' Conference papers British and Irish Furniture Makers Online, Conference, University of London (October 2019)
05-Jul-2019	'Brief lives: a short history of shifting value' Conference papers  Creative Histories conference, University of Bristol
03-Jun-2019	'Print, data, network, photograph: recreating women student ties at the University of London, 1900-1910' Conference papers Fordham University International Digital Humanities Conference, Fordham University / Birkbeck, London
03-Jun-2019	'Taking biography to the end of the line: Leslie Stephen's lietrary circle in St Ives', seminar, Oxford Centre for life Writing, Oxford University Papers
01-Jun-2019	'Enlightenment masculinities: towards embodiment and experience', in Lise Andries and Marc André Bernier eds. 'L’Avenir des Lumières/The Future of Enlightenment' (Hermann, Paris, 2019), 123-38 Chapters
01-May-2019	'Women's education, to the Power of Nine' Papers
15-Apr-2019	'What is national biography for? Dictionaries and digital history’, in Karen Fox ed., True Biographies of Nations? The Cultural Journeys of Dictionaries of National Biography (ANU Press, 2019), 57-78 Chapters
13-Apr-2019	'The five ages of national biography, 1769-2019' Papers invited lecture, University of London Extra Mural Studies
18-Sep-2018	'Oh Pioneers! Remembering the London Nine', WC1E, University of London magazine, 3 (2018), 16-20 Articles
16-Sep-2018	'The Stephens in St Ives: Leslie, Virginia and the Dictionary of National Biography', Virginia Woolf Bulletin, 59 (2018), 11-24. Articles
01-Aug-2018	'Women undergraduates and the University of London, 1868-1928', Past and Future, no. 23 (Summer 2018), 10-12 Articles
28-Jun-2018	'Holloway and History: London women undergraduates and their networks, 1900-1910' Conference papers conference paper, 'Negotiating Networks: new research on networks in economic and social history', Insititute of Historical Research, June 2018
20-Jun-2018	'From gloom to Bloom: Virginia Woolf in Gordon Square' Articles
04-May-2018	'History and women in higher education', Times Higher Education podcast Research aids
14-Apr-2018	'The Stephens in St Ives: Leslie, Virginia and the Dictionary of National Biography' Conference papers invited lecture, Virginia Woolf Society annual conference, University of London, April 2018
17-Jan-2018	'The London Nine: remembering Britain's first women students', Times Higher Education Articles
01-Nov-2017	'History in an extra dimension', Past and Future, 22 (autumn 2017), 16-18 Articles
01-Sep-2017	'Putting your degree to work', BBC History Magazine Articles
08-Aug-2017	The king of King's Cross: Henry Croft and the Pearly Kings Papers
01-Aug-2017	Review article, 'Boswell's Enlightenment', Robert Zaretsky, Journal of Modern History, 89/2 (2017), pp. 394-6 Review
15-Nov-2016	‘Recreating lives with digital resources’ Papers 'New approaches to biography', panel, Oxford Centre for Life Writing, Wolfson College, Oxford, November 2016
01-Aug-2016	‘Digital future journeys for national biography' Conference papers conference paper, 'Cultural Journeys of Dictionaries of National Biography', Australian National Biography (ANU), Canberra, July 2016
06-Jun-2016	270 biographies for the 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' (2004-16), including Richard ‘Beau’ Nash (1674-1762), master of ceremonies, and the Kit-Cat Club (c.1696-1720). Articles
01-May-2016	Biography and British History Online Research aids
01-Apr-2016	‘National biography and the Bodleian’ Papers invited lecture, Friends of the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, April 2016
01-Mar-2015	‘National biography as national collection’ Conference papers conference paper, 'Audiences, authority and collaboration', National Portrait Gallery, London (March 2015)
01-Mar-2014	Review article, Jack Radnor, 'Johnson and Boswell: a Biography of Friendship', Journal of Modern History, 86 (2014), pp. 900-02 Review
01-May-2013	'Opportunities for national biography online: the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2005-2012', in Melanie Nolan ed., The ADB's Story (ANU Press), pp. 345-71 Chapters
07-Mar-2012	Review article, Stephen Banks, 'A Polite Exchange of Bullets. The Duel and the English Gentleman', Journal of British Studies, 51 (2012), pp. 483-5 Review
01-May-2009	‘Faces and crowds: biography in the city’, in Clare Brant and Susan Whyman eds., Walking the Streets of Eighteenth-Century London, John Gay’s ‘Trivia’ (OUP, 2009), pp. 1-15 Chapters
01-Aug-2008	‘Life on the Square: National biography in WC2’, Trafalgar Chronicle, 18 (2008), 264–71 Journal articles
01-May-2007	‘Tears and the man’, in Barbara Taylor and Sarah Knott eds., Women, Gender and Enlightenment (Palgrave, 2005) Chapters
01-Oct-2004	'From the cracks of history', History Today, 54 (Oct. 2004), 36-9 Articles
05-Mar-2003	Review article, David Kuchta, 'The Three-Piece Suit and Modern Masculinity', American Historical Review, 108 (2003), pp. 571-2 Review
01-Jun-2002	‘Polite ‘persons’: character, biography and the gentleman’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 12 (CUP, 2002), 333-54 Articles
01-Jun-2001	Men and the Emergence of Polite Society, Britain 1660-1800 (Longman, 2001), 250pp Monographs
01-Apr-1999	‘James Boswell’s manliness’, in Tim Hitchcock and Michele Cohen eds., English Masculinities, 1660-1800 (Longman, 1999), 111-30 Chapters
01-Aug-1998	‘Men about town’, in Hannah Barker and Elaine Chalus ed., Gender in Eighteenth-Century England (Longman, 1998), 31-57 Chapters
01-Apr-1998	‘An effeminate or efficient nation? Masculinity and eighteenth-century social documentary’, Textual Practice, 11 (1997), 429-43 Journal articles

Publications available on SAS-space:

Date	Details
May-2012	Opportunities for National Biography Online: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2005–2012 PeerReviewed
Jul-2016	Biography and British History Online NonPeerReviewed
Aug-2017	The king of King's Cross: Henry Croft and digital history NonPeerReviewed
Apr-2019	'What is national biography for? Dictionaries and digital history', in Karen Fox ed. True Biographies of Nations? Cultural Journeys in National Biography (ANU Press, 2019), 57-78 PeerReviewed Book description: Dictionaries of national biography are a long-established and significant genre of biographical and historical writing, existing in many forms across the globe. This book brings together practitioners from around the English‑speaking world to reflect on national biographical dictionary projects’ recent cultural journeys, and the challenges presented to them by such developments as the transition to a digital environment, a new alertness to the need to represent diversity, and the rise of transnationalism. Exploring their paths forward, the chapters of this book collectively make a powerful argument for the continued value and importance of large‑scale collaborative biographical dictionary research.
Jun-2018	'The Stephens in St Ives: Leslie, Virginia and the Dictionary of National Biography' PeerReviewed
Jul-2019	Enlightenment masculinity: towards experience and embodiment PeerReviewed

Research Projects & Supervisions

Research projects:

Details
'Advanced historical thinking' and the Institute of Historical Research 1900-25 Using the newly catalogued IHR archive, a study of the development of 'advanced historical thinking' in the formative years of the historical profession. 'Advanced thinking' as it was termed at this time emerged as a central goal in the planning and early years of the Institute of Historical Research, established at the University of London in 1921.
'Oh pioneers! Lives and legacies of University of London women students, 1868-1928'  A prosopographical study of the early generations of the London University women students.
For Reference: publishing, technology and the consolidation of knowledge, 1860-1920

Current PhD topics supervised:

Dates	Details
From: 01-Oct-2019 Until:	A social history of eighteenth-century banking, 1730-1780 A prosopographical and social historical study of clients of the early commercial banking sector, co-supervised with Perry Gauci (Oxford)
From: 01-May-2018 Until:	Henry Brougham and the enlightenment origins of slavery abolition An intellectual biography of the whig politician and future lord chancellor, Henry Brougham and his application of Scottish enlightenment theories of political economy to the abolitionism campaign (second supervisor).
From: 01-Jan-2019 Until: 01-Mar-2022	Peer to peer lending: a history of annuities and the annuity market in England, 1775-1815  A social and cultural history of the annuity market of private lending, co-supervised with Professor Anne Murphy (Hertfordshire)
From: 01-Jan-2018 Until:	A new cultural history of the Foundling Hospital, London, 1740-1820  A study of the social, economic, cultural and intellectual influence of the London Foundling Hospital as a metropolitan and national site of innovation. Principal supervisor, with Rachael Johnson (Kingston)

Available for doctoral supervision: Yes

Professional Affiliations

Professional affiliations:

Name	Activity
British and Irish Furniture Makers Online	Project Board member
Social History Society	member
Goldsmiths' Company of London	Advisory, library and archive committee member
London Arts and Humanities Partnership	Chair (History Subject Group)
'Reviews in History'	Member of editorial board
Royal Historical Society	Editorial board, 'New Historical Perspectives'
Raphael Samuel History Centre	Advisory panel member
London Arts and Humanities Partnership	PhD review panel (History)
Faculty of History, Oxford University	Associate member
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography	Associate editor
Royal Historical Society	Fellow
British Society of Eighteenth Century Studies	member

Relevant Events

Related events:

Date	Details
17-Sep-2021	'Rethinking research practices and pipelines, post pandemic' As academic organiser: the 2021 Gerald Aylmer Conference, co-organised by the Institute of Historical Research, The National Archives and Royal Historical Society.
14-Jul-2021	'The accountability of historians', 2021 'Historical Research' lecture with Oxford University Press As academic organizer: the 2021 IHR 'Historical Research' lecture, given by Professor Ludmilla Jordanova (Durham), sponsored by Oxford University Press.
30-Sep-2020	Institute publishing in the 2020s: what can we do for ourselves As academic organiser and speaker. A workshop co-hosted with the Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture on digital publishing in the 2020s
29-Jul-2020	'Writing histories of 2020: responses and perspectives', the 2020 Historical Research annual lecture As academic organiser. The annual Historical Research lecture which this year addressed historians' responses to COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter campaign. Held online.
15-Jul-2020	Getting your first book published: an RHS / IHR workshop for Early Career Historians As academic organiser: an ECR workshop from the IHR and Royal Historical Society, bringing together History commissioning editors and first time authors to advise on first book publishing.
11-Mar-2020	Co-production and Collaboration in the Archive: the 2020 Aylmer Conference As academic organiser: the 2020 Gerald Aylmer Conference, co-organised by the Institute of Historical Research, The National Archives and Royal Historical Society.
09-Mar-2020	Lives of Houses: the 2020 London Weinrebe Lecture in Biography As academic organiser: the 2020 Weinrebe Lecture, organised by the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, University of Oxford, with the Institute of Historical Research
20-Nov-2019	Home Truths: panel and day workshop on family history As academic organiser: part of the 2019 Being Human Festival in the Humanities, on the theme of 'Secrets and Discoveries'
25-Jun-2019	IHR@Manchester As academic organiser: day research workshop for ECRs and History Librarians, with the John Rylands Research Institute, University of Manchester
23-May-2019	New Approaches to Writing History: memoir, autobiography and the historian's past As academic organiser: co-organised with the Raphael Samuel History Centre and Birkbeck, University of London
20-Feb-2019	Digital Futures in the Archive As academic organiser: the 2019 Gerald Aylmer Conference, co-organised by the Institute of Historical Research, The National Archives and the Royal Historical Society.
15-Feb-2018	'Home: new histories of living', IHR 2018 conference As academic organiser: two-day IHR conference on new approaches to the history of domesticity and the home.

Consultancy & Media

Available for consultancy:

Yes

Media experience:

Yes

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