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Learning in Focus

charlotte-bronte-portrait

Using Personal Sources: Charlotte Brontë’s letters

By on March 22, 2019 in Learning in Focus

Rachel Savage, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, has written the following blog entry on letters sent between author Charlotte Brontë and her friend Ellen Nussey, for the Introduction to Historical Research module. Rachel reveals how personal sources like this can be used to gain insight into the emotions of women living in the 19th century Britain. The module is co-ordinated by Dr Maria Cannon, Lecturer in Early Modern History at Portsmouth. Charlotte Brontё was born in 1816 and grew up in a society which compelled her to conceal her gender with the pseudonym Currer Bell in order to initiate her successful writing career. [1] The […]

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Marie Marten's letter

Using Personal Sources: Understanding women’s work in the First World War

By on March 4, 2019 in Learning in Focus

Rhea Nana, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, has written the following blog entry on a letter sent by Marie Martin, a nurse in the First World War, for the Introduction to Historical Research module. Rhea reveals how personal sources such as letters can be one of the only places to find certain insights into the emotions of those experiencing the war. The module is co-ordinated by Dr Maria Cannon, Lecturer in Early Modern History at Portsmouth. When analysing wars, immediate connotations come with it, such as suffering, separation and bad conditions. These connotations are expressed in the letters written from Marie Martin, the daughter of […]

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letter from Catt to Schwimmer 1913

Using Personal Sources: Bonds of friendship in the women’s suffrage campaign

By on February 12, 2019 in Learning in Focus

Hannah Moase, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, has written the following blog entry on a letter sent by women’s suffrage campaigner Carrie Chapman Catt for the Introduction to Historical Research module. Hannah reveals how the letter provides us with an insight into the important bonds of friendship that existed between the suffrage campaigners of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The module is co-ordinated by Dr Maria Cannon, Lecturer in Early Modern History at Portsmouth. Carrie Chapman Catt is well known for the huge part she played in the women’s suffrage movement in America and other parts of the world due to her being one of […]

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emily blog

Using Personal Sources: Lost London; the memoirs of an East End detective

By on January 31, 2019 in Learning in Focus

Emily Burgess, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, has written the following blog entry on the memoirs of an East End detective, Sergeant B. Leeson, for the Introduction to Historical Research module. Emily discusses how we can use personal sources such as this to understand more about social anxieties at the time of their writing. The module is co-ordinated by Dr Maria Cannon, Lecturer in Early Modern History at Portsmouth. Crime in the Victorian period has become significant through such cases as the Whitechapel murders. With the use of personal sources, those involved in the investigations into these murders can provide historians with an individual and […]

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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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2018 HHSG booklet cover for slider

Looking backwards – and forwards

By on November 15, 2018 in Learning in Focus, New Publications, Research in Focus

In this post, Mike Esbester, Senior Lecturer in History, outlines student and staff work with an external partner to mark a significant anniversary. Mike’s research focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain, particularly on the cultural history of safety, risk and accident prevention, and on the history of mobility.  When people hit a big milestone age – 40 is a common one – it seems that for many the mind starts to think with greater focus about the past, as well as turning to the future. In some respects organisations are no different: big anniversaries are often used as a moment to pause and take stock, as well as to consider […]

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