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The Material Culture of Wills Project

@materialwills.bsky.social

The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790: a Leverhulme Trust funded project using digital tech & volunteers to transcribe 30,000 wills. Visit our website: https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcultureofwills/

561 Posts4296 Follower415 Folgt
The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 1h ago

Thank you Sam! We always strive to treat our contributors as research associates, since our project just wouldn't be possible if they were not a part of it. So it's very affirming that you say this 🙏😊

sam blickhan@snblickhan.bsky.social · 3h ago

It's really hard to see this news about the MCW team facing redundancy risk from Exeter. They've set an incredibly high bar for participatory research & engagement with their contributors. I regularly use MCW as an exemplar for teams who want to use @zooniverse.bsky.social. Solidarity with the team.

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 10h ago

📢PROJECT UPDATE📢 You may have seen the news that the University of Exeter, home of the wills project, has placed 500 academics at risk of redundancy. The project leader Prof. Jane Whittle & project co-investigator Dr Laura Sangha are both at risk, alongside almost all of the History department. 1/

Dr Laura Sangha@lsangha.bsky.social · last mo.

📢NEW WILL OF THE MONTH📢 The will of a curate mixed up in the case of Elizabeth Barton, the ‘Holy Maid of Kent’. #EarlyModern 🗃️ @leverhulme.ac.uk sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

Will of the Month: A curate of Cumberland who lost all his goods

Emily Vine This month’s post explores the will of John Adeson, a curate of Caldbeck in Cumbria, who died in 1540. Adeson was directly involved in the turmoil of the Henrician Reformation, and known pr...

sites.exeter.ac.uk

Dr Laura Sangha@lsangha.bsky.social · 2mo ago

'my swanne marke with vj nyckes'. 🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢 Alice Skipwithe's 16th-century will shows how she claimed ownership of these birds - with 6 notches carved into their beaks. Another bequest of swans is discussed in @emilymayvine.bsky.social's post here: #EarlyModern 🗃️

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 5mo ago

📢 NEW Will of the Month Post! 📢 This is for everyone who followed our 'Eyrie of Swans' discussion last week, and with particular thanks to @hnewsome-chandler.bsky.social , @lostplayhouse.bsky.social and @tracelarkhall.bsky.social who helped us identify it! 🦢 1/3🧵 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of an ornamental carved wooden swan, white with an orange beak, which is on a green ornamental wall bracket. The wall bracket is attached to the sandy coloured wall of a historic building, and flanked by two sash windows. The swan faces away from the wall, looking out towards the street. Image Credit: A Grade II Listed sixteenth-century swan. A carved wooden swan on an ornamental cast-iron bracket, 11 Sadler Street, Wells, Somerset. Image credit: Tony Cooper / Art UK, (CC BY-NC) https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/swan-281128
Emily Vine@emilymayvine.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📜 A recent blog post from the @materialwills.bsky.social blog, reflecting on the project team's recent 'Landmark Trust Futures' research retreat at Elton House in Bath 👇 @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social @uoearchhist.bsky.social @cemsexeter.bsky.social #history #skystorians #EarlyModern #Georgians

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📢 In Case You Missed It 📢 📜There's a new post over on our project blog! Our Principal Investigator, Jane Whittle, discusses different ways of approaching 30,000 will transcriptions, and reflects on our recent research retreat, funded by the wonderful Landmark Trust Futures scheme 👇#skystorians

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📢 In Case You Missed It 📢 📜There's a new post over on our project blog! Our Principal Investigator, Jane Whittle, discusses different ways of approaching 30,000 will transcriptions, and reflects on our recent research retreat, funded by the wonderful Landmark Trust Futures scheme 👇#skystorians

A photograph of the wills project team working as part of their 'Landmark Trust Futures' research retreat at Elton House in Bath. Five people sit around an old wooden table, with laptops, notebooks, cups of tea. The room is an eighteenth-century room with antique portraits on the walls and large windows.
The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📢 NEW PROJECT BLOG POST 📢 Something a bit different from our 'Will of the Month' posts... 📜 Our Principal Investigator, Jane Whittle, explains the different ways we can approach and work with 30,000 will transcriptions 🧵1/3 #EarlyModern @uoearchhist.bsky.social sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

Emily Vine@emilymayvine.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📜 In Case You Missed It 📜 April's 'Will of the Month' post is now live over on the @materialwills.bsky.social blog! 👇 #history #EarlyModern #Skystorians

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📢 APRIL WILL OF THE MONTH 📢 📜 Our new 'Will of the Month' post is now live on our blog! It explores the will of Sir Francis Cottington, who died & was initially buried in Valladolid in 1652. 26 years later, his body was removed & reburied in Westminster Abbey. sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A seventeenth-century portrait of a man wearing black with a white lace collar. He has a grey pointed beard and moustache, appears to have dark hair or a dark hat, and is posed against a dark background. This is a portrait of Sir Francis Cottington (c.1579-1652).
The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📢 NEW PROJECT BLOG POST 📢 Something a bit different from our 'Will of the Month' posts... 📜 Our Principal Investigator, Jane Whittle, explains the different ways we can approach and work with 30,000 will transcriptions 🧵1/3 #EarlyModern @uoearchhist.bsky.social sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

What to do with 30,000 wills? Three Approaches

Jane Whittle, Wills Project Principal Investigator The wills project has now successfully transcribed more than 30,000 early modern wills from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, with at least 5000 f...

sites.exeter.ac.uk

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Co-investigator @lsangha.bsky.social is speaking about the project at the @ihrscb.bsky.social seminar tomorrow! In person at the @ihr.bsky.social and online on Zoom 🌐 Sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... @leverhulme.ac.uk @transkribus.bsky.social @zooniverse.bsky.social #History

Dr Laura Sangha@lsangha.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📢TOMORROW!📢 I'm speaking at the @ihrscb.bsky.social seminar on people's changing relationship with their possessions in the 150 years before the Industrial Revolution. Join us in person @ihr.bsky.social or on Zoom, register: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... #EarlyModern 🗃️@uoearchhist.bsky.social

From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, many English will makers took the trouble to describe in some detail the items they bequeathed to particular relatives and friends in their wills, and sometimes they even explained why they did so. Wills are thus a unique source of evidence for material culture in the past since they show us not only the sorts of things people owned, but also, by choosing particular objects to bequeath and by describing them in distinctive ways, they indicate people’s attitudes towards their possessions, and how they used objects they owned in order to achieve a variety of aims. In this talk Laura Sangha will introduce the ongoing Leverhulme Trust project ‘The Material Culture of Wills: England 1540-1790’, which takes advantage of this ability of wills to lay bare the sentiment, meaning and value attached to objects in the past. Laura, the Co-Investigator on the project, will introduce the research team’s focus and explain how they have transcribed 30,000 English wills to create an unprecedently large data sample. She will also share two sets of preliminary findings, to demonstrate the varied themes that different members of the team are investigating to collectively address the central question: how did people’s relationship with, and attitudes towards possessions change in the 250 years before the industrial revolution?
Dr Laura Sangha@lsangha.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Many thanks to the organisers, SHS and the IHR for hosting me, @emilymayvine.bsky.social and @bhamhistory.bsky.social at the Festival last Friday. A really excellent day showcasing so much exciting work.

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Last week we participated in the 'Festival of Social History' - an event organised by @socialhistsoc.bsky.social & @ihr.bsky.social In the morning, co-investigator @lsangha.bsky.social spoke about the project's use of AI transcription and working with volunteers 🧵1/3 bsky.app/profile/dave...

Dr Laura Sangha@lsangha.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Interdiscplinary action! Combining the wills project, UCL makerspace and the Uni of Essex's project on The Gay Switchboard! 💀

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This led to an even more surprising output - following conversations over lunch & a collaboration with two fantastic nearby stalls, one of our ballad 'woodcut' images from our earlier linocut workshop was transformed into a sparkly badge! 🧵3/3 @uoearchhist.bsky.social @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social

A photograph featuring a print in the style of an early modern woodcut, of 4 white skulls against a black background. Below the print is the lino stamp that was used to create the print, as well as two badges that were made from the skull print design. The badges are blue and black in colour and also have glitter.
The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Last week we participated in the 'Festival of Social History' - an event organised by @socialhistsoc.bsky.social & @ihr.bsky.social In the morning, co-investigator @lsangha.bsky.social spoke about the project's use of AI transcription and working with volunteers 🧵1/3 bsky.app/profile/dave...

Dr Dave Hitchcock@davehitchcock.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Our first panel kicks off with Laura Sangha and the material culture of wills, combining new automatic transcription and citizen history. Volunteer and citizen historians make social history. #SHSfest

Leverhulme Trust@leverhulme.ac.uk · 3mo ago

Featuring @lsangha.bsky.social and musician Chris Hoban, this video showcases the @materialwills.bsky.social project @uoearchhist.bsky.social that uses cutting edge digital technology to transcribe 25,000 manuscript wills. 🎬 media.leverhulme.ac.uk/video/wills-...

Wills as Windows onto Past Lives

Musician and lyricist, Chris Hoban, collaborates with Dr Laura Sangha, one the researchers currently working on the Leverhulme-funded project ‘The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790’

media.leverhulme.ac.uk

The Material Culture of Wills Project@materialwills.bsky.social · 4mo ago

📅 Upcoming wills project talks 👇 - Social History Festival this Friday - Laura Sangha at the Institute of Historical Research (hybrid) on 7 May #EarlyModern 🗃️

Dr Laura Sangha@lsangha.bsky.social · 4mo ago

And the presentations are: ~ Emily, Harry & I at the Festival of Social History, IHR 24 April ~ Me at @ihrscb.bsky.social seminar IHR, 7 May Plus I am looking forward to talking wills at the #Reformation Studies Colloquium next week. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...