What has the C19 redesign of Newcastle city centre got to do with Brinkburn Priory in Northumberland? August’s blogpost looks at historic connections across space and time. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2026/7/27/brinkburn-priory-connections-over-space-and-time

Not topical at all! July's blogpost explores the theme of vice, corruption, and decay. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2026/6/30/vice-corruption-and-decay @beccapalmer99.bsky.social

This month my historical research and present concerns have led me to ponder the fate of the NHS. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2026/5/28/e4wgt2ruo4jpg8a7sjf648vqpdpesh

A north east double bill for 1 May. This month’s post outlines the region's role in the Civil Wars. tinyurl.com/2akkmzhe Also this week my poem about Pen Bal Crag appeared online: ilovenorthshields.com/poetry-pen-b... @ilovenorthshields.bsky.social @cromwellorg.bsky.social

In recent posts I’ve discussed the beautifully bound books distributed by Thomas Hollis. This month I focus on the other end of the scale, asking what we can learn from ephemera @ncllibspeccoll.bsky.social www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2026/3/30/networks-of-resistance-in-european-print-culture

In this month's blogpost I reflect on teaching our new MA module on the first information revolution. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2026/2/26/information-revolutions @katherineaeast.bsky.social @ncllibspeccoll.bsky.social

Why does trial by jury matter? In the light of the recent government announcement my first blogpost of 2026 reflects on what C17th and C18th reformers had to say about trial by jury. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/12/31/trial-by-jury

What would eighteenth-century thinkers have made of the recent budget? This month's blogpost offers some answers. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/11/25/lessons-on-inequality-from-the-eighteenth-century

The notion of an ailing body politic feels sadly relevant today. My November blogpost reflects on a workshop held in September that explored how the notion of the body politic was deployed by republican writers in the C17 and C18. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/10/28/republican-bodies

With the new academic year just having begun it seems like a good time for a blogpost on travel, books and translation. I may not be travelling for a while, but at least I'll be reading and writing. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/9/29/migration-mobility-and-translation-in-europe

As I prepare a conference paper on Thomas Hollis's donations to the Library at Bern, this month's blogpost offers a vignette on Hollis's hand of friendship to Rousseau - and its consequences. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/8/28/thomas-hollis-and-jean-jacques-rousseau

Workshop: Translating Cultures: Migration, Mobility and Translation in Europe, c1600-1850, 3/4 September 2025, Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. With @rhammersley99.bsky.social @ebuchetmann.bsky.social @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social et al. The programme is now online @ www.hab.de/event/transl...

This year the town in which I live is 800! In celebration this month’s blog reflects on the role of the North East - and particularly the river Tyne - during the mid-seventeenth century Revolution. @englishheritage.bsky.social www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/7/30/north-shields-800

There is a current emphasis on developing oracy (speaking & listening) alongside reading & writing to improve academic attainment & citizenship. These concerns are not new. They were shared by the stars of June's post Thomas Hollis & Thomas Spence. tinyurl.com/4snh2fv9

The first ever collection on Sidney. Chapters in French & English. Merci beaucoup: François Quastana, Jamie Wheeler Cessna, Alberto de Barros, Luís Falcão, Cesare Cuttica, @rhammersley99.bsky.social, Jean Terrel, Myriam-Isabelle Ducrocq, @thehistorywoman.bsky.social, & my co-ed. Christopher Hamel.

At a time when education seems to be under threat from all directions, this month’s post focuses on the activities of two men who were committed to spreading political knowledge & ideas for the good of society. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/5/27/june-blogpost-a-tale-of-two-thomases-part-1

In this month's blogpost I travel from Oxford to Switzerland in the company of the eighteenth-century eccentric Thomas Hollis. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/4/29/thomas-hollis

A quick advert for April's blogpost, which reflects on a recent symposium celebrating the publication of Quentin Skinner's latest book Liberty as Independence. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/202...

What did the Greeks do for us? March’s blogpost reflects on 20 years since the publication of ‘The Greek Tradition in Republican Thought’. www.rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/2025/2/28/the-greek-tradition-in-republican-thought @threadofariane.bsky.social @standrewshist.bsky.social

The Greek Tradition in Republican Thought — Rachel Hammersley

I am currently co-teaching a module on 'The Scientific Revolution'. Consequently, Isaac Newton's famous comment to Robert Boyle about 'standing on the shoulders of giants' was already in my mind on 15...

rachelhammersley.com

Great piece using C18 ideas to reflect on the value of political podcasts by my colleague Katie East. theconversation.com/podcasts-are...

Podcasts are a great tool for political persuasion – just ask this 18th century thinker

Isaac Watts thought conversation was one of the most effective tools of persuasion and education.

theconversation.com

This month’s blogpost claims that Thomas Spence’s methods of disseminating political information are still being used today. rachelhammersley.com/new-blog/202...