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Research in Focus

Emily Burgess working with the RMM medals collection

Volunteering with naval artefacts from World War I

By on January 24, 2020 in Public History, Research in Focus

Emily Burgess, a third year history student at Portsmouth, describes some of the things she has learned and some of the amazing artefacts she has got to work with on a daily basis in over a year spent working as a volunteer first for the National Museum of the Royal Navy and then for the Royal Marines Museum.  She is now devising her own projects and events for the museum and has found the experience invaluable to her studies for her degree. During my first year at Portsmouth University I attended a history volunteer fair held in The Mary Rose Museum. It was there that I met my future supervisor […]

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Railway Safety poster small

New Data Set On Railway Accidents Released & Research Collaboration

By on December 23, 2019 in Events, Public History, Research in Focus

In this post, Mike Esbester, Senior Lecturer in History, introduces the new dataset he’s been working on for the ‘Railway Work, Life & Death’ project. He shows the working behind the data and what’s in it – including why a book of legal cases reveals so much about one of the most dangerous industries of its time. You can find the all the project data here. Back in February 2019 the ‘Railway Work, Life & Death’ project took part in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine’s ‘Transcription Tuesday’ event. This made a primary source available digitally – scans of a volume detailing a railway trade union’s legal cases between […]

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University and Museum Collaborations: History within and beyond the classroom

By on August 10, 2019 in Events, Learning in Focus, News, Public History, Research in Focus

In this blog, Dr Katy Gibbons and Dr Maria Cannon discuss the different ways in which the History team (both staff and students) at the University of Portsmouth have worked with the Mary Rose Museum, and highlight some ongoing and future projects. The History team at Portsmouth is very fortunate in having a number of award-winning museums on our doorstep, and staff and students benefit from this. Only 10 minutes walk from the History team at Milldam building is the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, and one of the museums housed here is the world-leading Mary Rose Museum. Now housed in a bespoke setting, the museum is able to offer an immersive […]

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students dissertation

‘Have faith in your abilities’: Researching and writing the dissertation

By on January 7, 2019 in Learning in Focus, Research in Focus

In this blog Dr Rob James, senior lecturer in history, throws light on the process of researching and writing an undergraduate dissertation. Rob specialises in researching people’s leisure practices, and teaches a number of units that focus on one of the most popular leisure pursuits of the first half of the twentieth century, going to the cinema. He would be happy to supervise students with dissertation topics that cover a broad range of topics located broadly in twentieth-century Britain. Mentioning the word ‘dissertation’ can send a ripple of terror across many a student cohort. It is like one of the characters in the Harry Potter books and films mentioning Lord […]

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View of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, etching by Wenceslas Hollar, 1643, British Museum Print Q, C.100

Local History on Stage

By on December 21, 2018 in Events, Public History, Research in Focus

As part of his practice research PhD at Portsmouth, Vin Adams has written a play about the events here in 1642, just before Charles I raised his standard in Nottingham. The play will be performed in The Square Tower in Old Portsmouth, itself part of the action of the play, and brings to life many figures of the time including Queen Henrietta Maria, John Pym, Sir William Waller and, of course, George Goring. For anyone interested in local history, this should be an interesting exploration of Portsmouth’s part in one of the battles that prefaced the Civil War. Vin has been working on the project with Fiona McCall, senior lecturer […]

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L.3293-1987_christmas_card_1000px

A Christmas reading list

By on December 14, 2018 in Research in Focus

In this festive-themed blog, Dr Katy Gibbons, Senior Lecturer in History, recommends a few texts that feature a link to Christmas. Katy specialises in the religious and cultural history of 16th century England and Europe, and teaches amongst other units, a Special Subject ‘Conflict, Conspiracy, Consensus? Religious Identities in the Reign of Elizabeth I’. With Christmas fast approaching, no doubt many historians are adding reading material to their Christmas lists! For some historians, though, Christmas is the focus of the research they carry out – and there is a wealth of academic history that considers the changing significance of this festival over many centuries. So, for our blog readers, here are […]

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