History@Portsmouth

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Public History

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The ‘Whitechapel Horrors’ – Victorian newspapers report Jack the Ripper as gothic fiction

The ‘Jack the Ripper’ murders in East London in the late Victorian period have become infamous. In this piece, first year UoP history student Seamus McLoughlin looks at how an article in a Victorian newspaper was of its time in choosing to ignore known facts about the case, or any compassion towards the victims, in favour of speculation, sensation and gothic horror.  This piece was originally written for the first year ‘Fragments’ module, which looks at primary sources, and is taught by Dr Maria Cannon and Dr Katy Gibbons. Over a hundred and thirty years later, Jack the Ripper’s murders are still regarded as some of the most infamous acts […]

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Jewish persecution in Russia and its influence on Jewish immigration to London

The history team are excited to learn that recent UoP history graduate Emily Burgess has set up her own consultancy, Midas Tomes, for historical research and writing.  Emily produced an outstanding dissertation on the female South London gang known as the Forty Elephants so it is great to see her prosper! Checkout this blog post from another UoP history graduate Ben Humphreys on the website. https://www.midastomes.com/themidastomesblog/blogpostone   Click here to see previous posts by Ben and Emily on the UoP history blog.    

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History Film Club – having a conversation about history and film

Our level 5 students have taken over running the UoP history film club, which launched in January.  Below Emily, Kieran, Harry and Ben tell you about their exciting plans.  Hi there – hopefully if you’re reading this blog piece you are interested in our student-run History Film Club (and for good reason)! Four of us who are studying History have started a film club that is run through our Discord server (more on that later), for which we have so-far received positive feedback. We would like to extend our invitation to any student who is interested in attending – you don’t have to come to every screening, just when you’d […]

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International Women’s Day 2021: Katherine Johnson: Mathematician at NASA

To celebrate International Women’s Day, we are delighted that UoP history graduate Ian Atkins has written this profile of pioneering NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson. For International Women’s Day I have chosen to write about Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician, most famous for her work in calculation of the trajectory for manned space orbits, and subsequent lunar expeditions.[1] Johnson was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on the 26th August 1918. She was the youngest of four children, her mother a teacher and her father an all-purpose odd job man.[2] Katherine had always excelled at maths and was ahead of her class from an early age. Margot Lee Shetterly indicates that […]

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The hidden heritage of a naval town: women’s community activism in Portsmouth since 1960

As a naval town, Portsmouth’s history has tended to have a masculine focus.  But many Portsmouth women have actively campaigned for women’s rights and set up practical initiatives in the Portsmouth area to improve the lives of women. A Heritage Lottery Fund grant enabled the setting up of a project to interview these women and capture their stories.  UoP history reader Sue Bruley was one of the project leaders.  Project co-lead Laurel Forster, Reader in Cultural history in the UoP School of Film, Media & Communication explains more about the project and its outcomes. The main aim of this project was to document the activism of  women in the Portsmouth […]

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