History@Portsmouth

University of Portsmouth's History Blog

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Public History

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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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Putting a positive spin on war-time evacuation

In this blog post, second-year history student Alex Symonds looks at a diary from World War II, now in the Imperial War museum.  The diary, apparently a joint effort by three girl guides, was probably intended for public consumption, and thus downplays the negative impact of war-time life for evacuees. The evacuation of British children in World War II is often depicted as a negative experience for everyone involved.  Children who had never even left their home towns suddenly had to adapt to life in the countryside and living with strangers, while their host families were confronted with dirty, disease-riddled children who were nothing like they had ever seen before.[1] […]

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