Category Archives: PhD

Distance and Strangeness: the murder of Anne Spencer

Posted on May 15, 2017 by

I sometimes feel like I’ve spent the last three years trying to figure out my place within history. I still feel like there’s probably a huge mountain of scholarship that I’ve completely missed, but in general I’m starting to work out … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, Everyday Life, History, Maps, PhD, Sources, Space, Staffordshire, Wolverhampton | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Telling family stories

Posted on May 2, 2017 by

As part of my research I will inevitably have to tell you some family histories. I say have to – it’s a vital, fascinating and relevant part of my research. But have you ever had someone try to tell you their … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, History, Irish, Maps, Migration, PhD, Sources, Wolverhampton | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Black Country Irish: Wolverhampton, 1851

Posted on August 8, 2016 by

I’m starting my series on the Irish in the 19th century Black Country by looking at Wolverhampton. This is familiar ground for me, or at least should be – so I’m broadening my normal hyper-local view of Carribee Island out to look … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, Irish, PhD, Quantitative data, Space, Wolverhampton | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Maps and legends

Posted on April 4, 2016 by

  This week’s big adventure was a trip to the fabled meadows of Cambridge or, at least, the brutalist Robinson College (see Otto Saumarez-Smith’s paper on it here) and an ugly Travelodge overlooking some flats. The Urban History Group conference was … Continue reading →

Posted in Maps, PhD | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Beauty is in the streets

Posted on March 7, 2016 by

  The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it. Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach. I never realised that, like party politics, academia has a conference season. At least, March appears to be … Continue reading →

Posted in half baked theories, PhD, Theory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Update

Posted on February 22, 2016 by

I haven’t done a normal post today, but it did occur to me that a quick outline of my research might be of interest to some. I tend to only blog about things that are peripheral to my actual PhD – … Continue reading →

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Dead ends and back alleys

Posted on July 8, 2015 by

Just a short one today as I’m in the midst of a massive trawl through several decades’ worth of census enumerators returns. I’m writing this from my local library, from where I can work on their computers (for free) (albeit … Continue reading →

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Camping, privies, and mapping the everyday

Posted on June 11, 2015 by

At the age of 33, I recently had my first proper experience of camping (my subconscious has all but blocked the ramshackle Cub camps of my youth, although a few excursions in a refurbished caravan a couple of years ago helped). … Continue reading →

Posted in Everyday Life, Maps, PhD, Wolverhampton | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Space to think

Posted on February 6, 2015 by

GIS is increasingly being seen as much as a place to think as a simple data management and mapping tool Gillings & Goodrick (1996) “Sensuous and reflexive GIS: exploring visualisation and VRML”  I’m very grateful to have been allowed to sit in on … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Country, Maps, PhD, Wolverhampton | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Microstoria

Posted on January 6, 2015 by

Montaillou, in the French Midi-Pyrénées. The town is best known for being the focus of Emmanuel Le Roy’s study of heresy in medieval France. I enjoyed reading Brodie Waddell’s post on microhistory yesterday (if you don’t follow the many-headed monster … Continue reading →

Posted in History, PhD | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments