History@Portsmouth

University of Portsmouth's History Blog

Tag Archives | spiritualism

DarkFest2018-logo-colour-on-white

A Festival of Dark Delights: Portsmouth DarkFest 2018

Dr Karl Bell, Reader in Cultural and Social History, discusses the launch of this year’s Portsmouth DarkFest. Karl researches ‘everything spooky’, and his second book was on the Victorian legend of Spring-Heeled Jack. He’s now working on a book on proto-science fiction ideas in British culture between c.1750-1900. This weekend sees the return of Portsmouth DarkFest, […]

Continue Reading 1
RAF_Museum_Cosford_-_DSC08417

The story of Lucky Jim and Twinkletoe: Is the material culture of folklore providential or problematic for the historian?

Daniel Millard, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, wrote the following blog on the toy mascots carried by Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown on the first Transatlantic flight for the Introduction to Historical Research Unit. Daniel discusses the ways in which we can use these items of material […]

Continue Reading 0
Darkfest

Portsmouth Darkfest returns! October 26th – November 30th 2017

Dr Karl Bell, Reader in Cultural and Social History at Portsmouth, has organised another series of events this autumn as part of Portsmouth Darkfest, a creative and cultural festival that explores all things dark, supernatural and sinister. For details of the wide range of exciting events taking place, click here. Karl’s research interests cover nineteenth-century British society’s continued […]

Continue Reading 0
seance

Lost Voices: Spiritualism on the Home Front, 1914-1919.

Dr Karl Bell, reader in cultural and social history at Portsmouth, has written the following blog based on his AHRC-funded ‘Everyday Lives of the First World War’ research project that examined the role of Spiritualism in Britain during the First World War. Karl’s research interests cover various aspects of ‘the fantastical imagination’, including magical beliefs and […]

Continue Reading 0