Very exciting 🙌
Women's History Network@womenshistnet.bsky.social · 3w ago🚨WHN Annual Conference: Registration is now open! Join us for a very special conference year celebrating the centenary of the Women’s Library and 100 years of women's history. Thu 3 Sep - Fri 4 Sep 2026. For more details and to book: www.tickettailor.com/events/women... @lselibrary.bsky.social
Don’t forget to join us tomorrow (June 30th) at 4pm BST for our seminar with Sylvia Arthur. Sylvia will be talking to us about the National Geographic-supported project, 'A Women’s Oral History of West Africa', which documents the life stories of 100 women. womenshistorynetwork.org/join-us-for-...
Join us for our next seminar, ‘Unleashing the Tides of Muteness: A Women’s Oral History of West Africa’ with Sylvia Arthur
We are very excited to welcome Sylvia Arthur to the Women’s History Network, who will be giving a paper titled, ‘Unleashing the Tides of Muteness: A Women’s Oral History of West Africa&…
womenshistorynetwork.org
New on the blog! @janetsmith1831.bsky.social explores the remarkable life of Helen Taylor, a prominent campaigner, founding member of the Democratic Federation, first prospective parliamentary candidate & member of the London School Board #womenshistory womenshistorynetwork.org/rediscoverin...
Rediscovering Helen Taylor (1831-1907) – Dr Janet Smith
My first encounter with Helen Taylor Whilst researching my M.A. dissertation on the feminist Irish nationalist, Anna Parnell, a brief reference to Helen Taylor in a newspaper piqued my interest. I…
womenshistorynetwork.org
We’re delighted to announce Sophie Weinberg as the winner of our 2025 MA Dissertation Prize 🎉 Her work on matrilineal printing houses uncovers how women sustained and inherited print businesses across generations in the 17th century English book trade. womenshistorynetwork.org/winner-of-th...
Winner of the 2025 MA Dissertation Prize
We are very pleased to announce Sophie Weinberg’s ‘The Matrilineal Printing House: Recovering the Printing Lineage of Widow Stationers in the Seventeenth-Century English Book Trade’ the winne…
womenshistorynetwork.org
Don't forget to join us today at 4pm UK time to hear Dr Kellie Bradshaw discuss her research on 'Controlled Leisure: Women Shop Assistants in London before 1914'. You can sign up for the session here: womenshistorynetwork.org/sign-up-for-...
Sign up for our next seminar, ‘Controlled Leisure: Women Shop Assistants in London before 1914’, with Dr Kellie Bradshaw
The final session of our Spring Seminar Series will take place on Tuesday, 21 April at 4pm GMT. Our speaker for the session is Dr Kellie Bradshaw, a Professor of History from Germanna Community Col…
womenshistorynetwork.org
New Blog! Yuemin He explores how seventeenth-century Chinese gentlewomen used lyric poetry to navigate confinement, imagination, and agency. From Zhang Siyin to Xu Yuan, their voices reveal emotional worlds far beyond the inner chamber. Read here: womenshistorynetwork.org/boudoir-lame...
Boudoir Laments: Reading Gender and Spatiality in the Lyrics of Seventeenth-Century Chinese Gentlewomen – Yuemin He
Late Imperial China is often described as a society structured by strict gender hierarchies. Elite women were expected to remain within the domestic inner quarters, devoted to family duty, moral vi…
womenshistorynetwork.org
So, Love Letters comes to an end after a brilliant, buzzing closing weekend. Thank you to everyone who made it possible!
New on the blog! @nickbhattacharya.bsky.social explores the gendered nature of parish welfare in Devon #womenshistory womenshistorynetwork.org/the-prejudic...
The Prejudice of Welfare for Women Under the Poor Laws – Shagnick Bhattacharya
In April 1818, Catherine Macknally, described in the parish records of St Andrew, Plymouth, as a ‘common prostitute’, was apprehended while wandering and begging with her two illegitimate children—…
womenshistorynetwork.org
📣 New opportunity for early-career scholars! We’ve partnered with the Women’s History Association of Ireland (@whaireland.bsky.social) to award £500 for the best first monograph in women’s/gender history ❗Deadline: 31 July 2026 Find out more & apply: womenshistorynetwork.org/womens-histo...
Join us on Tuesday, 24 March at 4pm UK time for our next online seminar. We will be hosting Dr Ellen Hope Durban who is going to discuss her research on 'Activism for Married Lesbian Mothers in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s'. Read more and sign up here: womenshistorynetwork.org/sign-up-for-...
Sign up for our next seminar, ‘Activism for Married Lesbian Mothers in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s’ with Dr Ellen Hope Durban
We are thrilled to welcome Dr Ellen Hope Durban on Tuesday, 24 March 2026 at 4pm UK time to talk about ‘Activism for Married Lesbian Mothers in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s’. Married …
womenshistorynetwork.org
A total joy to be at @lselibrary.bsky.social to mark 100 years of The Women’s Library. Fantastic engagement! Thanks for the opportunity to speak about our collections. Wonderful to see so much support in the room for women’s history! 👏
We are delighted to announce the winner of the WHN Book Prize. The judges chose Female Servants in Early Modern England by @charmianmansell.bsky.social The highly readable & engaging book, interrogates long-standing assumptions about the domesticity & constraints of women’s lives in service.
Our exhibition Love Letters proudly centres women’s stories — perfect viewing for Women’s History Month! 💌 These letters offer a window into women’s lives and emotions across centuries. Love Letters is free to visit at The National Archives, Kew until 12 April. #WomensHistoryMonth #LoveLetters
Join us this #WomensHistoryMonth in amplifying women’s voices past and present. Our website is a wonderful place to start learning more. Spread the word! womenshistorynetwork.org #WHM2026 #WomensHistory #GenderHist Image: Pit girl brow workers, Wigan, 1900. COPY 1/445, The National Archives.
For @lgbthm.bsky.social ❤️ 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️
Vicky Iglikowski-Broad@vickyig.bsky.social · 5mo ago🚨Still time to book for my talk tomorrow 🚨 Delighted to be speaking about queer love and defiance in government archives. The talk is free and online — join us if you can! 27 February 2026, 14:00 to 15:00. Book here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hidden-lov...
worth a share. For LGBTQ History Month the National Archives are hosting an online event on Friday 27th Feb: Hidden Love: #LGBTQ+ relationships in the #archives www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hidden-lov...
Hidden Love: LGBTQ+ relationships in the archives
How did people defy state prejudice to find love and relationships?
eventbrite.co.uk
🚨Still time to book for my talk tomorrow 🚨 Delighted to be speaking about queer love and defiance in government archives. The talk is free and online — join us if you can! 27 February 2026, 14:00 to 15:00. Book here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hidden-lov...
Hidden Love: LGBTQ+ relationships in the archives
How did people defy state prejudice to find love and relationships?
eventbrite.co.uk
Learn more about the discovery process behind our current exhibition, Love Letters. From structured research to serendipitous finds — three specialists and a volunteer share the thrill of uncovering heartfelt emotions centuries later: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-...
Researching Love Letters
Discover how expressions of love have been uncovered in unexpected places by The National Archive.
nationalarchives.gov.uk
A fantastic evening with Anne Lister and Aphrodite I at Love Letters, The National Archives. 💌 💕
Come and view our exhibition after dark for this exciting late event tomorrow. Last chance to book! 💌 🏳️🌈 💕 www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/whats-on/eve...
Love Letters Late: Ghosted
Ever been left on read? So have they – for centuries. Meet the ghosts of love past at a one night only after-hours event.
nationalarchives.gov.uk
Vicky Iglikowski-Broad@vickyig.bsky.social · 6mo agoOur latest exhibition, Love Letters, is now open at The National Archives, revealing 500 years of love. From paupers, monarchs, queer networks & quiet acts of affection found in government records. Very proud to have been lead curator on this one, working with so many wonderful people! 💌
I haven’t talked about The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline That Listened yet, but it’s so good! The archive material is rich, the authors are incredible, and it’s been a total privilege to help a little with the context. Check it out: www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...
Very excited to be part of this late event at The National Archives! Visit the Love Letters exhibition with MC HRH Aphrodite, get involved in historical speed dating & get creative with coded classified adverts. Still time to join us 👇 www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/whats-on/eve...
🖋️📜 Some #LoveLetters are written in longing. Some are written in law. We had the chance to preview @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy's new exhibition, free through April 12. Among many incredible items on display... Anne Lister & Ann Walker’s wills! (📹: @sazwingrove.bsky.social)
This is a beautiful, powerful, and important exhibition. It reminds us of how love can be found in the most unlikely sources and desperate circumstances.
Vicky Iglikowski-Broad@vickyig.bsky.social · 6mo agoOur latest exhibition, Love Letters, is now open at The National Archives, revealing 500 years of love. From paupers, monarchs, queer networks & quiet acts of affection found in government records. Very proud to have been lead curator on this one, working with so many wonderful people! 💌
So delighted to have some extended commentaries about some of the content, including from @tricksterprince.bsky.social! Multiple items on display are inspired by his wonderful work. Thank you Matt.
Matt Houlbrook@tricksterprince.bsky.social · 6mo agoThis is a beautiful, powerful, and important exhibition. It reminds us of how love can be found in the most unlikely sources and desperate circumstances.
Our latest exhibition, Love Letters, is now open at The National Archives, revealing 500 years of love. From paupers, monarchs, queer networks & quiet acts of affection found in government records. Very proud to have been lead curator on this one, working with so many wonderful people! 💌
New on the blog! @harveybonehist.bsky.social and @txbatha.bsky.social share their fascinating research on the 1959 and 1974 General Elections, exploring the use of 'spousal letters' in candidate's #election pamphlets. #womenshistory #politicalhistory womenshistorynetwork.org/a-word-to-th...
‘A Word to the Wives’: Spousal Letters and the Politics of Persuasion, 1959-74 – Harvey Bone and Tabatha Burden
During a seven-week internship at the University of Oxford, undergraduates Harvey Bone and Tabatha Burden worked on a project researching and assessing data from the 1959 and February 1974 election…
womenshistorynetwork.org
⚡ Lightning Talks at The London Archives ⚡ Are you a student or ECR? Need feedback on your work? Can you summarise it in 5 minutes? Join us for Lightning Talks at The London Archives - a friendly event open to researchers of London and its history! 📆 Wed 11 February 🕔 5pm
Lightning Talks at The London Archives - IN PERSON
Are you a student or Early Career Researcher? Need feedback on in-progress research? Can you summarise your research in 5 minutes or less?
eventbrite.co.uk
It’s lovely to see that Songs of Seven Dials is one of the @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk recommended Christmas gifts. Thank you for the kind words (in the alt-text): they have got me in the festive spirit now. www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/collections/... #London #history #20s30s
We are very excited to have the privilege of hosting Prof Merry Wiesner-Hanks tomorrow at 4pm GMT. Merry will be discussing her book 'Women and the Reformations: A Global History'. Please do sign up to join us: womenshistorynetwork.org/sign-up-now-...