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WOMEN’S HISTORY SCOTLAND NEWSLETTER
(June 2013)
Please send items for inclusion in the next newsletter to Elizabeth Ewan at eewan@uoguelph.ca
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News from WHS
Events, Exhibitions
Conferences
Calls for Papers
News from Archives, Websites
Publications
Scholarship
Requests for Information
And Finally
1. NEWS FROM WHS
WOMEN'S HISTORY SCOTLAND GOES TO.......ORKNEY
A report on the 2013 Women's History Scotland Annual Conference
If it's 2013 it must be Orkney - well somewhere beyond the central belt. Women's History Scotland has a
commitment to extending our work, not just outside the academy but into communities the length and breadth of
Scotland. So following very successful conferences in Shetland and in Dornoch we fetched up at Orkney College in
Kirkwall for two days of discussion about women and production. Delegates came from across Scotland, from
England and from the Nordic countries as well as our familiar visitors from Canada. Paper givers certainly
interpreted the conference theme - 'Making, Creating, Producing: Historical Perspectives on Women, Gender and
Production' - in a variety of creative ways. Elizabeth Ewan struck just the right note in the Sue Innes memorial
lecture which kicked off the conference in which she described the ways in which women's work was represented
in medieval Scotland, with many local references, memorably to the rather dubious sock sellers of Shetland.
Striking was the number of papers addressing 'making': lace making, toy production, the weaving of cloth,
ceramics and needlework. Craft has recently emerged as a very topical theme for historical research and here its
gendered aspects were implicit as well as explicit: women craft producers tended to be treated as less skilled than
their male counterparts, certainly less well paid and, in the case of the Women's Institute's attempts to mobilise
women's labour after World War One, unable to produce the standardised wares the market required. But we also
learned how making stuff could entail risks: Carol Christiansen's descriptions of her attempts to replicate the ways
in which Shetland women 'fulled' their cloth by anchoring it on rocks so that it could be worked on by the force of
the sea, brought home to us the ingenuity of the early textile workers. And no doubt the eye sight of the Danish
lacemakers described by Inger Lauridson was damaged by working in such poor light. But who knew that
needlework could require such a health and safety regime as demonstrated by Alison McCall in her paper on
teaching needlework in Aberdeen schools in the 19th century? The audience was treated to a participatory lesson
on the eight stages of putting on and removing a thimble! Sarah Gee's description of her installation art on Orkney
consisting of knitted textiles in the form of sheep and 'yarnwives' amongst other creations reminded us of
Orkney's textile traditions although few of us needed reminding having already raided the wool and jumper sellers
of Stromness and Kirkwall!
But it wasn't all about craft. Women working in brewing, in manufacturing, in the fish canning industry, in
gardening and on the land were all discussed in a series of parallel sessions which made us think about the
opportunities for women in the economy and the constraints, the degree of agency and the extent of exploitation.
We learned from Sadie Hough how women in British factories adapted their workwear both to protect them from
dirty machinery and to align with current fashions (a talk accompanied by some wonderfully evocative
photographs of factories in the 1970s) and from Rebecca Keyel we heard how knitting in the United States during
both World Wars was supposed to calm the nerves.
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Orkney was a presence throughout the conference and not just the beautiful views from the conference venue and
the local seafood at lunch! That there was a preponderance of papers concerning the land, rurality, home or
domestic production and craft and creativity (some of them presented by Orkney residents) was surely influenced
by the location, a place where craft and skill are important determinants of women's experience and of Orkney's
identity and economy today, and where the land and the sea shape everyday life in this island landscape. Women's
History Scotland would like to thank Orkney for having us and particularly Donna Heddle and her team for hosting
such a successful event.
Now, where shall we go next?
Lynn Abrams, convenor, WHS
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Dr Elizabeth Ritchie, the winner of 'Most Engaging Online Tutor' award in the UHISA Teaching
Awards 2013! Several other Centre staff received nominations, with participants making numerous positive
comments. Thanks to all History / Scottish History / Highlands and Islands History students who participated.
2. EXHIBITIONS
Women on the Platform - Afternoon Tea (7 Jun 2013)
We'd like to invite you and any interested members of your group to this. If you have even a tiny interest in the
history of protest and women's activism, and like cake, you're sure to delight in our Women on the Platform
Afternoon Tea Launch Event! concession rates (a £15 Ghillie Dhu Afternoon Tea for £5 or £10 - can't be bad!).
Please share (NB for Facebook, please use the button near the map!) or forward to anyone you think might like to
come along, and let me know if you have any questions. You might like to connect with us or even attend one of
our meetings, which are Thursdays 12.30-2.30 at Tollcross Community Centre (free, + creche). We can pass on
news of anything you are doing through our network, and maybe vice versa? We are starting a blog soon too. We'll
be delighted to see you there - it will be participatory and inspiring!
Warm wishes,Carol (tutor, DRBs)
Like us on Facebook for updates: https://www.facebook.com/DRBscottishwomenshistory
Extraordinary Ordinary Women of Edinburgh
June 2013 George IV Bridge Library, Edinburgh
My women`s history group `The Bonnie Fechters` along with George IV Bridge library and the Glasgow Women`s
library (soon to be the Scottish National Library for Women) have arranged the second annual series of events
under the heading `Extraordinary Ordinary Women of Edinburgh`. They will run throughout June mainly at
Central Library but a couple in neighbourhood libraries. They comprise poetry workshops, suffragette rosette
making workshops, talks, exhibitions, films and author events. Tickets are free but need to be booked . Hopefully
there will be something of interest to most folk! Feel free to pass on the info to others who may be interested!
See http://www.edinburghreads.eventbrite.co.uk/ for details and bookings.
Many thanks and best wishes
Jane George
edinburghreads events programme
The events programme for women's events in the library in June is now available if you haven't already seen it. Can
be found at edinburghreads.eventbrite.co.uk Bookings can be made by phone or web. I thought you might want
to let WHS society >members know and also friends around Edinburgh.
Privileging or Democratising: the future of access to archives
the recent successful conference hosted by the University of Dundee, generated much debate and online
discussion during the conference, which was continued after the event. The online discussion has been brought
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together and is available http://storify.com/CAIS_Archives. A publication of the presentations and keynote
addresses is being considered, more information will be provided when it is available.
Celebrating Iona (Until 7 July 2013)
In May 2013, the community of Iona celebrates the 1450th anniversary of Columba's arrival on the island, and the
75th anniversary of the foundation of the Iona Community. We are joining the celebrations wh this display of items
from our collections, all of which have an association with Iona. The centrepiece of the display is the medieval
illuminated manuscript, The Iona Psalter. This devotional work was probably written in Oxford in the late 12th
century, possibly for Beatrix, the first Prioress of the Iona Nunnery, and is one of the Library's great treasures.
Friends of the Women’s Library, AGM 4 July 2013
at 6:30, in LSE's New Academic Building (on the corner of Sardinia Street and Lincoln's Inn Fields, just off Kingsway;
about 5 minutes walk from Holborn tube). All Friends of TWL are welcome; even if you're not a Friend, come
along, because after the business meeting (which should be brief!), there will be a presentation by Liz Chapman,
Director of LSE Library, who will give a report on the progress on the transfer of the Women's Library Collections to
LSE and future plans for the Library. To end proceedings, there will be a reception If you are in or near London,
please do come along. While the Women's Library is in suspended animation, awaiting the completion of the
necessary construction, this is a good opportunity to discover what LSE has in mind, and to ask questions and raise
issues. If you aren't a Friend, you won't be allowed to vote in the actual AGM, but you will be welcome to Liz
Chapman's presentation - and if you feel you want to become a Friend, the Treasurer will be only too glad to take
your subscription (£15.00 p.a.)!
Emily Wilding Davidson Centenary Events
The Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art and Parliament Week are holding a reception to mark the
100th anniversary of the death of Emily Wilding Davison (1872-1913) and celebrate her contribution to women's
suffrage.This event is 6-8 pm on Tuesday 4 June 2013, in the CPA Room, off Westminster Hall, Houses of
Parliament. Guests should enter via Cromwell Green Visitor Entrance
www.parliament.uk/visiting/directions/layout/
During the evening guests will be invited to:
* Take a tour of sites of suffragette protest in the Houses of Parliament
* See the new permanent public display on Parliament and Votes for Women
* Hear a compelling account of Emily Wilding Davison's funeral procession read by renowned suffrage historian
Elizabeth Crawford
* Find out about the free resources you can access from the Houses of Parliament on women's suffrage and
women in Parliament www.parliament.uk/women
* View newly acquired WSPU flag and NUWSS pin badge
Numbers are limited so if you would like to attend, please request a place via curator@parliament.uk
Dying for the Vote
Meet the most militant suffragette in Britain at the Emily Wilding Davison centenary exhibition –. Bourne Hall
Museum, Spring Street, Ewell, Surrey, KT17 1UF. Tel: 020 8394 1734; www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk 7 May – 27 July
2013; Free Entry
She died for women
One hundred years ago in June 1913, amid the carnival spirit of Derby Day and in the presence of King George V
and Queen Mary, a militant suffragette named Emily Wilding Davison sacrificed her life for the cause of women’s
human rights. The coroner recorded Misadventure but was it an intentional sacrifice?
Weigh the evidence for yourself at the exhibition – Dying for the Vote.
Emily was fatally injured during the running of the Derby in an attempt to send a message to King George V that his
female subjects were being repressed past endurance by government. Her intention was to run on the track and
wave the flag of the militant Women’s Social and Political Union in front of newsreel cameras. Tragically, Emily
collided with the king’s horse, Anmer. From 7th May to 27 July this year, Epsom & Ewell commemorates the death
of Emily Davison (1872-1913), and the cause for which she died, with a pivotal exhibition guest curator Irene
Cockroft at the Borough Museum at Bourne Hall Community Centre, Spring Street, Ewell, Surrey KT17 1UF. Please
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visit between 9am and 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Free entry to exhibition; parking available; easy access by bus
or train (Ewell West Station); telephone 020 8394 1734; www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk.
3. CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS
Feminist Archive South
June is a busy month for Feminist Archive South workshops. We have three taking place, all of which are
happening at MShed in Bristol. They are free to attend, all welcome and there are participation bursaries available
if you need expenses covered to come along. Hope to see you there!
Sunday 9th June – 1 to 5pm
Members of South West and South Wales Women’s History Network will be facilitating this session. They will
provide insight into how historians interpret historical sources, using the Ellen Malos archive.
Bristol: Voices from the Women’s Liberation Movement facilitated by June Hannam and Kath Holden from
the West of England and South Wales Women’s History Network.
Most women took part in ‘second wave feminism’ at a grass roots, local level. How do we find out why they
became involved and what they hoped to achieve? Can we recover their voices and, if we do, how can we interpret
them? This workshop will look at different ways that historians can try to recover women’s voices. The first part
will look at documentary evidence, including newsletters, pamphlets and photographs. The second part will focus
on oral testimony: participants will be invited to compare summaries, full transcripts and original recordings of
interviews. The workshop will explore memory and the ways in which participants construct different stories of
the movements in which they took part. June Hannam is an emeritus professor and Kath Holden a
visiting research fellow in history at the University of the West of England. They are co-chairs of the West of
England and South Wales Women’s History Network. They both have research interests in gender history.
June Hannam specialises in labour and feminist history and Kath Holden in oral history and history of the family.
Recent publications include Katherine Holden: The Shadow of Marriage: Singleness in England, 19141960 (2007) and June Hannam, Feminism (2012).
Tuesday 18th June – 7 to 9.30pm
Film Showings & collective listening to songs by women inspired by anti-nuclear activism followed by discussion.
Carry Greenham Home (1983)
‘Director Beeban Kidron was so committed to making this 1983 film – she was attending the National Film and
Television School at the time – that she lived at the site herself for more than seven months.
Shot almost entirely on video, Carry Greenham Home‘s depiction of the women involved in the peace movement
contrasts greatly with media portraits of the time, and the subsequent collective memory.
The film gives a fuller picture of what life was like than the fragmented news reports. It covers the processes
underlying the women’s decisions, the influence of outside forces, and the verve and style with which they
developed their own brand of non-violent direct action.’ Notes by Charlotte Cooper.
Don’t Trust Menwith Balls (1995)
A film about Menwith Women’s Peace Camp.
Thursday 27th June – 7 to 9.30pm
Archiving contemporary feminist activism with the Bristol Feminist Network.
Feminists and women’s rights activists have often made a strong connection between history and social change.
Simply put, when women are written out of the history books, their culture, achievements and lives are seen as
less important than men’s. Such a perspective was a motivating force in the creation of the Feminist Archive, and
the Women’s (formerly Fawcett) Library in London. Such facts beg the question: how do we archive the present?
How do we ensure that online 21st century feminist activism is documented in a secure way? How do we collect
records of a movement as it is happening now, what do we remember, and what do we forget?
As part of the evening we will create a timeline of 21st century Bristol feminist activism, hear from experienced
archivists and conduct live oral histories. Join us for this important conversation! If you want to be part of history,
you gotta make it!! http://feministarchivesouth.org.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Feminist-Archive-UK/286873087997896
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FemArchiveSouth
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'Women in Warfare: From Troy to the Trenches'.
12-14 June 2013 The University of Edinburgh
Exploring the diversity of roles women have played from antiquity to current conflicts
 Medicine and Nursing
 Philanthropy and Humanitarianism
 Pacifism and Combat
 Prostitution and Slavery
 War Corresponding and Journalism
 Commemoration and Remembrance
 Military Intelligence and Espionage
 Civil Liberties and Human Rights
On Day Three an event will be held at the Scottish Parliament ‘The Impact of Women’s Leadership in Global
Conflicts’
The University of Edinburgh’s Centre for the Study of Modern Conflict in collaboration with Drexel College of
Medicine’s Institute of Women’s Health and Leadership, Philadelphia, will host a debate on this subject at the
Scottish Parliament on Friday 14th June 2013 at 4pm.
The debate will be chaired by Alan Little, the BBC’s Special Correspondent.
An international panel of specialists in the fields of human rights, health and humanitarian aid, defence forces and
war corresponding will discuss the issues.
Summer Meeting of the Scottish Society of the History of Medicine, Saturday 15 June.
Venue: Centre for Health Science, Old Perth Road, Inverness IV2 3JH. Time 11.00 am until 4.00 pm. Speakers: Mr
Tom Scotland: Casualties BEF France and Flanders 1914‐18; Professor Marjory Harper: A Dysfunctional Diaspora?
Causes and Consequences of Mental Illness among Scottish Emigrants to Canada, 1867‐1914; Professor Alasdair
Munro: The Beaton medical kindred in the Highlands; Professor Stephen Leslie and Mr Jim Leslie: The History of
Highland Hospitals; Dr Miles Mack: The Dewar Report.
Cost: £25 (£15 for students). For further information please contact Carol Parry Email carol.parry@rcpsg.ac.uk
Women in Science Research Network WISRNet Fractured Histories: Discovering Women Scientists in the Archive
Workshop
16 July 2013 10-5 The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG
The history of women’s participation in science is an incomplete and fractured one: for much of the nineteenth
century women were typically excluded from ‘masculine’ scientific societies and networks and so negotiated a
space to work only at the periphery of their discipline. As a result, evidence of their scientific contribution is
incomplete, scattered and often hidden in the archive. This workshop seeks to identify women working in science –
defined in its broadest sense – from 1830 through to the twentieth century; our aim is to find previously neglected
or concealed trails and to use them to evolve a strategy for locating and interrogating records which illuminate the
history of scientific women. We shall ask key questions including: What evidence do we already have and where
are the gaps? Why were some women recognized by scientific societies and others not? In what ways should we
define ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ in science? To what extent can we understand women’s experience as scientists
as a gendered one?
We extend a warm invitation to historians and to archivists from any type of archive (not just those of scientific
institutions) which may have records of women active, both formally and informally, in science. Archivists based
beyond London are particularly encouraged to attend. The day will include presentations in the morning from
professional archivists – including Anne Locker (Institute of Engineering and Technology) and Joanna Corden (The
Royal Society) – and historian of science Patricia Fara, with the afternoon devoted to discussion, networking and
strategic planning. Lunch will be provided.Places are limited so please register asap or by June 30 2013 at the
latest by visiting www.womeninscience.net . For more information, please contact Claire Jones
clairegj@liverpool.ac.uk or Felicity Henderson Felicity.Henderson@royalsociety.org
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ORAL HISTORY SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE. CORPORATE VOICES: INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANISATIONAL
HISTORIES
5 - 6 July 2013, University of Sussex
This year's conference will explore the hidden histories of organisations, including private companies, public
institutions, hospitals, universities, museums and charities. The keynote speakers are Bruce Weindruch, founder of
the History Factory in the United States, who has worked on corporate histories for clients such as Subaru,
Campbell Soups and Prudential, and Professor Abdel Aziz EzzelArab, director of the Economics and Business
History Research Centre at the American University in Cairo. He will talk about a unique oral history archive in
Egypt and discuss the impact of the Arab Spring. More than 50 papers will be presented at the conference,
focusing on topics including business archives, banking and finance, health and medicine, the media and academia.
Papers will look at what interviews with the staff of institutions and organisations tell us about organisational
history and memory. There will be plenty of opportunity for networking and discussion and the conference will
bring together oral historians with historians of business, education and health.
For more information go to: http://www.ohs.org.uk/conference.php?conf=2&status=0
Pictish Studies at the University of Glasgow in honour of Dr Isabel Henderson on the occasion of her 80th
Birthday
The Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, University of Glasgow—Ionad Eòlas na h-Alba is na Ceiltis, Oilthigh
Ghlaschu—warmly invites you to attend a day conference celebrating: . Friday 7 June 2013 10.15am 5.30pm, Boyd Orr Building (Lecture theatre 222) University Avenue, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ. Featuring
current staff and post-graduate students: Adrian Maldonado, Dauvit Broun, Ewan Campbell, Guto Rhys, Katherine
Forsyth, Simon Taylor, Cynthia Thickpenny, Stephen Driscoll, Thomas Clancy. Further details from: Michelle
Nicholl, School of Humanities michelle.nicholl@glasgow.ac.uk Tel: 0141-330-5690, or from the Centre for Scottish
and Celtic Studies web-site. Registration is free but booking is essential for catering arrangements - Register online: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/6559478577
4. CALLS FOR PAPERS
Call for journal articles for a special issue of War and Culture Studies on incarceration during the
Second World War
Abstract Deadline: 1 June 2013 (600 words)
This special issue of the journal War and Culture (Vol. 7, No.3 August 2014) aims to examine the myriad ways that
incarceration was experienced during the Second World War. Taking a broad definition of wartime imprisonment
and seeking to cover a number of different countries and theatres of war, we welcome proposals on issues such as
the internment of civilian enemy aliens, the captivity of captured enemy soldiers, the incarceration of
concentration camp inmates and the detention of criminals on the home front. Preference may be given to
proposals which examine artistic, filmic or literary representations of incarceration.
Please send expressions of interest to the co-editors Lucy Noakes, Juliette Pattinson and Wendy Ugolini:
L.Noakes@brighton.ac.uk; juliette.pattinson@strath.ac.uk; wendy.ugolini@ed.ac.uk
Abstracts of no more than 600 words to be sent by 1 June 2013. Articles of 5-6,000 words to be submitted to the
guest editors by 30 September 2013. Submission of manuscript: 1 February 2014.
Sex and Sexuality in Celtic Cultures
Venue: University of Edinburgh, 1-3 Nov 2013
Abstract Deadline: 30 June 2013
The Department of Celtic & Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, is pleased to announce that it will host a
conference. The intention of the conference is to provide a forum in which Celtic Studies can contribute to the
recent flourishing of studies of sex and sexuality in the humanities. This has both illuminated previously
underexamined material from a wide range of periods and areas, and developed new theoretical perspectives on
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the understanding of sex in literary, historical and cultural studies.
The conference aims to bring together Celtic scholars engaged or interested in relevant areas of study in order to
develop new lines of enquiry, form networks, and explore the potential for future collaborations.
Keynote speakers will be:
Prof Angela Bourke, University College Dublin: ‘Sex and Wilderness in Irish Tradition’
Prof Thomas Clancy, University of Glasgow: ‘Sex at Samhain: “Cosmological” Sex in Medieval Celtic Narratives’
Prof Dafydd Johnston, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies: ‘Medieval Welsh Erotic
Poetry’
Dr Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI and Centre for Research Collections, University of
Edinburgh: ‘Gaelic Bawdy Verse: A Missing Key to Highland Social History?’
We would welcome proposals for 20 minute papers on literary, historical, linguistic, material culture and folklore
topics relevant to sex and/or sexuality in Celtic cultures, covering the medieval, early modern, and modern
periods. Please send proposals including your name, affiliation (if applicable), proposed title and a brief summary
to either Abigail Burnyeat (abigail.burnyeat@ed.ac.uk) or Sharon Arbuthnot (sarbuthn@staffmail.ed.ac.uk)
‘Space and Place in Italo/Glaswegian Life Narratives’ for a/b: Auto/Biography Studies
Guest editors: Sarah Edwards and Katharine Mitchell, School of Humanities, University of Strathclyde,
Essay Deadline: 20 Dec 2013
This special essay cluster seeks submissions which focus specifically on issues of space and place in
auto/biographical depictions of the city. There is an increasing amount of work on, for example, urban memory
and nostalgia, memorials, the relationships between literary texts and the built environment, urban regeneration
and city branding in the fields of life writing, literary and film studies, diaspora and migration studies, cultural and
architectural history, cultural geography and urban studies. This includes a growing body of scholarship on Scottish
identities and landscapes in an increasingly devolved and independent state. We invite essays, then, which draw
on aspects of this work to consider how Italo-Glaswegian auto/biographical texts both shape, and are shaped by,
the literary, cultural, economic and architectural places and spaces of Glasgow.
We are interested in a range of narratives, including autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, television productions,
films and internet resources such as blogs, twitterfeeds and oral histories, which explore the concepts of space and
place in diverse ways. Please see the attached PDF for further details.
Essays should be emailed to sarah.m.edwards@strath.ac.uk and
katharine.mitchell@strath.ac.uk We welcome any enquiries from potential authors.
Early Stuart Politics:The Anglo‑Spanish and Anglo‑French marriage negotiations and their aftermath (c.
1604‑1630)
Venue: University of Kent, Canterbury, 10‑12 April 2014
Abstract Deadline for Panels and Papers: 15 Sept 2013
This conference investigates the cultural, religious, foreign and domestic politics surrounding the Anglo‑Spanish
and Anglo‑French marriage negotiations that dominated early Stuart policy, as James I sought a match with the
great Catholic powers of Europe for his sons, Prince Henry and Prince Charles. The negotiations for an
Anglo‑Spanish match were first broached during the peace treaty of London in 1604, beginning a long process of
protracted consultations between the two powers. Attempts to secure a Spanish bride for Prince Henry were
seriously explored in 1611, but faltered two years later, when they were replaced with discussions for a French
match (1613‑16) or a Savoyard Match (1613‑15). With Henry’s death, James I looked back to Spain for a marriage
alliance for his younger son, Charles, in 1619. However, diplomatic negotiations ended at the close of 1623, when
the Spanish match was substituted by one with France. The Anglo‑French marriage treaty of November 1624
between Prince Charles and Henrietta Maria represented then a major shift in international allegiances. Yet,
despite the initial hopes for an anti‑Habsburg alliance with France, the Anglo‑French match marked in fact the
beginning of hostilities between the Houses of Stuart and Bourbon. Consequently, in both cases, the Anglo-‐‑Spanish and Anglo‑French marriage negotiations were followed by a breakdown of diplomatic relations, as
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England found itself at war with both Spain (1624‑1630) and France (1627‑1629) at once. This conference aims to
create opportunities for comparative discussion on the marriage negotiations to draw wider conclusions on
questions of Catholic toleration; Jacobean and Caroline foreign policy; dynasticism; the workings of early modern
diplomacy; the role of the court; and the wider cultural context in which the marriage negotiations took place.
Proposals are invited for individual papers or panels on the following topics:
• diplomacy and political negotiation • dynastic marriage • the Palatinate issue and the marriage negotiations •
Parliament and the crown • military and strategic considerations • art, literary and cultural exchange • Catholic
toleration and the papacy • the court, patronage and the pursuit of office
• spectacle and performance • popular interpretations of the marriage negotiations • the aftermath of the
marriage negotiations; the peace treaties of 1629 and 1630
Keynotes will be given by Sir John Elliott, Thomas Cogswell, and Malcolm Smuts.
Confirmed speakers include: Karen Britland, Erin Griffey, José Martínez Millán, Michael Questier, Glyn Redworth,
Manuel Rivero Rodríguez, and Alexander Samson. Proposals for panels should consist of three papers and contain
the names of the session chair and the speakers, as well as their respective affiliations and biographies. Each panel
proposal should include abstracts of 300 words per paper, together with e‑mail contacts for all participants. A
proposal for an individual paper should consist of a 300 words abstract and include details of affiliation and career.
All proposals should be sent to earlystuartconference@gmail.com by 15 September 2013.
We welcome proposals from research postgraduates and hope to offer a partial reimbursement (with proof of
expenses). If financial assistance is required, this should be stated clearly on the proposal. The organisers hope to
publish a selection of papers from the conference in an edited collection.
Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies is delighted to continue our interactive column, “Feminist Currents.”
Deadline: 1 Nov 2013
Eileen Boris, Hull Professor and chair of the Feminist Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara,
created this column. She will now be joined by Beth Currans, Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies
at Eastern Michigan University.
The Question: In an era of tightening budgets and renewed fiscal conservatism, how committed are institutions to
our research and teaching, or students to the critical lenses developed in our classrooms? We inhabit a time of
policies mandating that retirees not be replaced and that academic units be consolidated. Circulating in the states
are proposals to charge differential fees by majors and academic units in order to encourage supposedly practical
preparation for the workforce. Thus, for our next question, we propose to continue this conversation by asking
you: What’s the impact of today’s neoliberal political economy on programs and departments in Women’s, Gender,
and Sexuality Studies and what strategies work to cope, confront and survive?
Replies: Email your reflections, from 30 to 300 words, to frontiers@osu.edu no later than November 1, 2013. In
your subject line please type "Feminist Currents." Unless you notify us otherwise in your email, your response
signifies that we may paraphrase your thoughts, quote directly from them, and use your name and
affiliation. Make sure that you include your affiliation, if applicable. For more information, please see:
http://frontiers.osu.edu/feminist-currents
5. NEWS FROM ARCHIVES, WEBSITES
A History of Working-Class Marriage in Scotland:
This project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, will engage with discourses regarding the
formation and make-up of the ‘traditional’ family, and will explore the history of working-class courtship, marriage
and marriage breakdown in Scotland in the period from the civil registration of marriages in 1855 to the
introduction of no-fault divorce legislation in 1976. The project aims to establish the structure and form of the
working-class family over time; to identify the basis of selection of choice of marriage partner; to examine the
nature of the relationship between husbands and wives and to establish the pattern, causes and consequences of
marriage breakdown. For further details please visit the project website.
Project Website: http://workingclassmarriage.gla.ac.uk
Project Twitter Account: @WCMScotland
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The 1895 Valuation Rolls are now live on the ScotlandsPeople website!
We're delighted to announce that the Valuation Rolls (VRs) in Scotland for 1895 have just been added to the
ScotlandsPeople website. The new records, comprising 2,095,707 indexed names and 75,565 digital images, cover
every kind of building, structure or dwelling that was assessed in 1895 as having a rateable value, and provide a
fascinating picture of Scottish society during the late Victorian era.
What do the 1895 Valuation Rolls contain? The Rolls contain the names of owners, tenants and occupiers of each
property - and in many cases, occupations are also included. The head of the household is usually the named
person, although sometimes a husband and wife might both be listed - interestingly, wives are often the named
tenant in rented property. As the Rolls contain individuals from right across the social spectrum - from dwellers in
Scotland's tenements to famous property and land owners - they reveal some very interesting features of social
history in Scotland during the late Victorian era. To highlight some of the interesting social history captured in the
Rolls, we've included some examples below. If you have any questions about Valuation Rolls, visit the dedicated
FAQs page that we've created to help explain what the VRs are all about.
What can I learn from the 1895 Valuation Rolls? You can find out who was living at a specific address, and
whether they rented or owned the property. You can also see the rent that was paid for the house or flat, as well
as the rateable value of the property, As the 1895 VRs appear between the 1891 and 1901 censuses, we believe
that these new records will help family history researchers to find ancestors who have gone 'missing'.
'Scots at Work' exhibition - General Register House, Edinburgh, until 21 June 2013
Rarely-seen documents celebrating the legacy of working Scots have gone on show at the National Records of
Scotland. The 'Scots at Work' exhibition showcases some unusual records loaned by Scottish archives and
museums to illustrate some of Scotland's key industries and businesses, in support of The Working Archive
campaign. Family historians will be interested in the list of men, women and children working down a coalmine at
Loanhead near Edinburgh in 1763, or the Fife salmon fishers' contract with the Earl of Rothes in 1749. Alongside Sir
Walter Scott's life assurance application for £3,000, and items commemorating his role in championing Scottish
banknotes, is Captain Robert Falcon Scott's order for a rangefinder to be used on his fateful Antarctic expedition,
1910-13. Fans of vintage design can appreciate a colourful Carron Co catalogue of 'Carresto' domestic combination
grates, dating from 1938, a miniature 'home safe' (empty) to encourage savers in that same decade of austerity,
and an early McEwan's beer can (also empty). Film clips courtesy of the Scottish Screen Archive illustrate some
long-gone Scottish industries.
'Scots at Work', General Register House, Mon to Fri: 9am – 4.30pm. Admission is free and no booking is required.
University of Edinburgh plans to create an online archive of Scots-Italian migration stories
The University of Edinburgh is looking to create an online archive that contains stories told by Scots-Italians about
Italian emigration to 'Scozia'.This exciting project will be organised by Professor Federica Pedriali, who is the
director of the 'Italo Scots Research Cluster' at the university. Although Scots-Italians are one of the oldest
immigrant communities in Scotland, amazingly, this is the first time that the idea of creating an archive of their
stories has been proposed. If you would like to get involved in the project, you can contact Professor Pedriali and
her team at the the Italo Scots Research Cluster.
Scottish Leisure History
I have just initiated the blog site Scottish Leisure History, and I am on the lookout for guest contributors. Feel free
to get in touch with me if interested. http://scottishleisurehistory.wordpress.com/ Matthew McDowell
6. SCHOLARSHIP
The William R McFarlane Scholarship.
Application Deadline: 30 June 2013
One scholarship will be awarded to the best full-time applicant who meets the criteria below and is accepted onto
a PhD in History. The value of the award is £15,000 per year for the duration of the recipient's PhD degree
programme (usually three years subject to satisfactory progress). The Scholarship will cover the UK/EU rate of
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tuition fees, a stipend and research allowance (£450).The scholarship is funded by a leading financier and his wife
who have pledged their support for a new historical centre at the University of Edinburgh, which will study the
influence of Scots abroad. Investment fund manager Alan McFarlane and his wife, Anne, have donated £1 Million
to the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies, to support two PhD scholarships in perpetuity and provide 10
undergraduate access bursaries to help students in financial need.
Applicants for the scholarship must be able to demonstrate the relevance of their proposed project to the history
of Scottish emigration and/or the impact of Scottish mobility on overseas countries or related themes. Proposals
may focus on any period from the medieval centuries to recent times. Successful applicants will become members
of the Scottish Centre of Diaspora Studies, directed by Professor Tom Devine, and participate in the Centre’s
activities, including its graduate workshop in Diaspora Studies. Informal enquiries about the awards can be made
to Professor Tom Devine, Director of the Centre.
Eligible applicants should complete an online scholarship application before the application deadline of 30 June,
2013. Please note that you will not be able to access the online application form unless you have applied for
admission to the University of Edinburgh and have full EASE authentication. Applicants will be notified of the
outcome of their application as soon as possible after the deadline.
7. PUBLICATIONS
Women's Works -- twenty-five years in development -- is not your typical classroom anthology of snippets, but a
detailed, up-to-date, and accurate record of women's cultural production, and of British history from women's
point of view.
Women’s Works, vol. 1 (900-1550) supplies the first fully representative history and anthology of (British) women’s
culture from the Brythonic period through the Examinations of Anne Askew. Volume 1 includes a rich selection of
poetry; love epistles; gynecological and birthing literature; an insider’s look at English nunneries; the interrogation
of Lollard women; contemporaneous writings by and about the queens of Henry VIII; and more, much more,
including historical and cultural context for each entry.
Unlike those publications that have reproduced critical old-spelling editions from corrupt copies, Women's Works
supplies accurate, normalized-spelling texts, conservatively edited directly from the most authoritative
manuscripts or print sources. The morphology of Middle English words is preserved, but Volume 1 contains
nothing that cannot be read with enthusiasm by any reasonably intelligent student. Texts originally written in
Welsh (Canu Heledd, Gwenllian ferch Rhirid Flaid, Gwerful Mechain); Old English (“Wulf,” “Lamentation,” OE
charms), Latin (Bishop's visitations, court transcripts), and French (Marie de France) are edited in the original
language, with a parallel translation. ("Christine de Pizan in England" is edited from the earliest English
translations, 1489-1521). Some manuscripts are reproduced in facsimile as well, with diplomatic transcriptions.
Volume 1 ships 15 May 2013 (Ed. D. Foster, M. O’Connell, C. Reno, H. Spiegel; 440 pp., illustrated).
Every retail copy purchased of Volume 1 generates a donation both to The Global Fund for Women and to The
Fistula Foundation.
Women’s Works, vol. 4 (1625-1650) opens with the verse of Anna Ley and Anne Southwell; turns to the deposition
of Mabel Swinnerton (in a child molestation complaint against Dr. John Lamb), and the testimony of the Tuchet
women (against the earl of Castlehaven). These are followed by the poetry of Martha Moulsworth, “Diana”
Primrose, and Sibilla Dover; the cultural discourse of Lucy Hay (both political and erotic); the Civil War letters of
Henriette Marie; the Women’s Peace March of August 1643; and much more. Vol. 4 closes with the December
1650 hanging of Anne Green, and her real-life resurrection moments before her body was to be dissected in an
anatomy theater at Oxford University.
Vol. 4 ships 15 May (Ed. T. Banton, D. Foster; 440 pp., illustrated).
Every copy purchased of Volume 4 generates a donation to V-Day, a global activist movement seeking to end
violence against women.
To view extracts, visit www.wicked-good-books.com
Women’s Works, vol. 3 (1603-1625) ships 1 June 2013. Women’s Works, vol. 2 (1550-1603) ships 30 June 2013.
Each volume is an illustrated 8x10" paperback, 440 pp. (including front matter).
About the imprint: Wicked Good Books, founded in 2012, is a not-for-profit cooperative, representing a
consortium of established scholars, artists, and social activists. WGB is committed to book projects that
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significantly advance human knowledge, or that challenge received ideas about culture. All submissions intended
either for the classroom or for scholarly reference are subject to the usual process of peer review. Every WGB title
published has a 10% share of royalties earmarked for the non-profit cause of the author or editor's choice. All
classroom texts in the developing WGB booklist are priced at under $30. Moreover, enrolled students with
demonstrated financial need can request a complimentary copy of any title that you assign from the WGB booklist
as a required text. For more information, visit our Website: www.wicked-good-books.com, or write to me, Tobian
Banton, managing editor. If you have a colleague or student interested in early women writers or in women's
history, announcement may be forwarded. .
Sincerely yours,
Tobian Banton
Managing Editor, Wicked Good Books
Box 44, Greentown PA 18426 tobian@wicked-good-books.com
8. REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION
Hen Parties
I wonder if any WHS members can help me? I'm researching hen parties and I note that the earliest entry in the
OED suggests it was simply a gathering for women (nothing to do with weddings at all). I'd like to find out more
about these 19th century 'hen parties' - what did the women do at these parties? Were they held in the day time
or evening? I presume it was only upper class women? When did it move from being a gathering of women to a
pre-wedding get together
Any assistance would be gratefully received.
With thanks
Sheila Young
PhD Research Student, Elphinstone Institute
University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK AB24 5UA
Email: sheila.young@abdn.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0) 1224 272996
Working Class Women in South Wales
I am writing about women during the industrial period-19thc-20thc and in particular I am interested in women's
involvement politically in terms of trade unionism and protests as well as their involvement in charity and the
suffragette movement in Wales. As we all know, Communism/Socialism was prominent in the industrial regions of
Wales and even Chartism whereby women were involved in protesting during the riots that occurred due to men
being treated unfairly, condition's and a decline in the iron industry resulting in men being laid off. I am particularly
interested in focusing on women in the Valleys of south Wales and working class women in particularly as there
appears to be little information on the working class woman/the 'Welsh mam' compared to the middle woman
such as Lady Charlotte Guest, Rose Mary Crawshay etc.
Please contact me for any advice on my research on, as any information or advice would be brilliant.
07810277048 or email l.powell2007@yahoo.co.uk
LISA POWELL
15 TUDOR TERRACE, MERTHYR TYDFIL CF47 8RU
Plea over Edinburgh Royal Observatory suffragette bomb mystery
From The Scotsman 21 May 2013
Information on the mystery bomber who 100 years ago attacked the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh during a
suffragette campaign is being sought. The bomber was never caught following the blast that shattered windows,
splintered floors and cracked stone on the observatory's tower on 21 May 1913. The bomb, a jar with gunpowder,
exploded at 01:00 when nobody was inside to be injured. Blood, a ladies' handbag and a note were found at the
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scene. Scrawled in ink on a scrap of paper was the phrase: "How beggarly appears argument before defiant deed.
Votes for women."
Dr John Davies, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, told the BBC Scotland news
website: "Today we encourage young women and girls into science and technology, but it is interesting to see how
much has changed here in 100 years. The bomber, or bombers, were never caught so we don't know anything
about them, but if any of their grandchildren are still in Edinburgh, we'd love to meet them and find out more so
we can update the display in our visitor centre." Although the more moderate suffragists deplored the use of
violence a breakaway movement, the Women's Social and Political Union spearheaded by Mrs Pankhurst and her
daughter, started a campaign of destruction across Great Britain at the beginning of 1913. It included attacks on
Ayr racecourse, Kew Gardens, Regents Park, and the Tower of London. Post boxes had acid poured into them, train
carriages were set on fire and telephone lines were cut. As Mrs Pankhurst said about the WSPU's activities: "We
don't intend that you should be pleased." The then Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Ralph Sampson, certainly was
not. He described the attack as "an outrage".
Nobody was ever charged with the attack. At the time the observatory only employed men. Times have
changed and the current director of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, which runs the Royal Observatory in
Edinburgh, is Prof Gillian Wright. A piece of the jar used in the bomb is on display at the observatory.
9.AND FINALLY
A reflection on MOOCS (Massive Open Online Courses) and the role of women within them
http://www.historiann.com/2013/05/15/guest-post-on-the-lords-of-mooc-creation-whos-really-for-change-andwho-in-fact-is-standing-athwart-history-yelling-stop/
WOMEN’S HISTORY SCOTLAND
Promoting study and research in women's and gender history in Scotland
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT
http://womenshistoryscotland.org/