Tuesday 25 October 2011

Bulletin

Dear all,
Please follow the link for History Lab's forthcoming events this week:
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History Lab committee members vacancies:
If you are interested in becoming a committee member, History Lab is currently recruiting volunteers for the following positions:
  • Treasurer
  • Co-seminar convenor
  • Conference committee members
We also welcome anyone who is interested to help out at any of our events.
If any of the above roles appeal to you, please come along to our next committee meeting. It will be held on the 27th of October at 15:30 in the Tavistock Hotel Pub:

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Regards,

The History Lab team.

Friday 21 October 2011

Speakeasy and book launch

Dear all,
HISTORY LAB
Speakeasy - ONE DAY PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP
SATURDAY 12th NOVEMBER 2011 at 10am-5pm
Rooms G37 and G26, Senate House
Do you get the jitters every time you give a seminar paper? Do you find that you are unable to project your voice, speak too fast and don’t connect with the audience? Or worse, are people falling asleep in your lectures? Clear, effective and professional communication skills are absolutely essential to any aspiring academic. While doctoral students are taught essential research skills, less emphasis is placed on learning how to communicate their research effectively either in the lecture hall or in the seminar room. Speakeasy, a public-speaking training organisation, is a one-day workshop on the art of public speaking for young historians. Organised by an academic and a professional actor, the Speakeasy workshop is specifically designed for historians at the start of their career. Drawing on professional acting skills and techniques, our one-day course addresses the following issues:
· How to be an effective communicator in the lecture theatre, the seminar room or in the conference hall.
· How to get your message across, keep your audience engaged and actually enjoy the experience.
· Voice projection, posture, body language and how to calm your nerves
· Different modes of communication: how to lead seminars, chair conferences and conduct a Q&A.
· Techniques for presenting, how to deliver complex ideas and personalise your style of delivery.
· Methods of communication: how to use PowerPoint, present a poster and ‘how to think on your academic feet’.

This course is available to all registered PhD, Mphil students and early career historians. Due to the interactive nature of the workshop, numbers must be limited to 25.

Note on the workshop leaders:
Liza Filby is a historian based at King’s College, London. She was formerly Chair of the History Lab, the Institute of Historical Research’s national postgraduate network and editor of Vitae’s GradBritain. She has four years experience in running peer-based training workshops for PhD students.
Steven Clarke is a professional actor who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He has a number of distinguished roles under his belt and is currently appearing in a Broadway production of a John Osborne play in New York. Steven has led training sessions on public speaking for both private and public sector organisations.

Reviews of previous Speakeasy workshops in London:
‘A really good day – glad I came all the way from Birmingham’
‘A very, very good day – far exceeded expectations in terms of how useful it has been – thank you!’
‘Great! Very passionate people, very useful!’
‘The session made me realise the importance of public speaking as a tool of professional development and career advancement’
‘[my] confidence grew as the day wore on. Generally really useful – and fun too!’
For a review of one workshop by History Lab organiser Amelia Nel go to: http://the-history-lab.blogspot.com/
Course requirements: All attendees are required to bring along with them a printed copy of 150 words on/about their research- this could be part of a chapter, paper etc. It is perhaps best not to bring part of your original PhD research proposal. Please also make sure that you wear loose comfortable clothing; don’t be scared by this, no crazy stunts involved!

Places are limited on this course so if you would like to attend please email speakeasyworkshops@yahoo.co.uk ASAP. The cost to attend the workshop is £40 which includes lunch, refreshments and a course pack.
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History Lab member publishes thesis
Dr. Samantha Bird completed her PhD back at the end of 2009 and have now had her thesis published. Her story has been one of success going from student to published author. Her book has now been published and there is an event to launch it this Friday, 21 October at the Bishopsgate Institute. Samantha's work is on Stepney borough, in the East End of London, from the outbreak of the First World War through to the Festival of Britain. Bishopsgate is an ideal place to launch the book! It would be great to have a few members coming over to show support. Samantha will be speaking, alongside her supervisor Professor Denis Judd, and also Peter Stone who recently reviewed her book.

Monday 17 October 2011

History Lab Bulletin

Dear all,
See below for projects and events that may be of interest to History Lab members.
Workshop:
History Lab is organising a workshop on Putting Theory into Practice next year, and would be interested in your suggestions for what you would like us to cover.
Please email sally.osborn@me.com with any thoughts on the areas of theory you struggle with most, any particular theoretical dilemmas you've faced, the kind of work you feel is most difficult to apply theory to, or anything else you feel warrants discussion. Many thanks.
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Oral History Project:
The History of Parliament is looking for volunteers with a close interest in and knowledge of post-1945 British politics to become oral history interviewers for a project to create a sound archive of people involved in politics at national and constituency level which will provide a unique record of post-Second World War British political history. This project is being undertaken with the sponsorship and collaboration of Dods, the publishers of Dods Parliamentary Companion and the House Magazine.
For more see:

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Seminars:
Pathology Museum Seminars at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital
presents a unique series of seminars that promise both fascinating insights into a diverse range of topics, and also a glimpse into a little known London museum. Housed within the grounds of St.Bartholomew’s Hospital at West Smithfield, the museum holds a broad range of
pathological specimens, some of which date from the late 1700s, and the papers programmed all speak in some way to this collection, as well as to each other. We hope you will able to join us for what promises to be a stimulating series of conversations. No need to book. Wine and nibbles are provided.

See attached flyer for more information.
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The Uses of Space In Early Modern History 1500-1850
Seminar Series 2011-12

International History Department
London School of Economics
The study of space and place is an increasingly important research-field in the humanities and social sciences. This series explores how spatial ideas and approaches can be used to understand the societies, cultures and mentalities of the past. Leading scholars from a range of disciplines will reflect on the uses of space in two respects: how spatial concepts can be employed by or applied to the study of history; and how particular spaces were used for practical and ideological purposes in specific periods.

Series Organiser: Dr Paul Stock
p.stock@lse.ac.uk
Place: LSE New Academic Building, room 2.14

Time: 18.00
Thursday

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V&A/RCA
History of Design and Material Culture
Autumn Research Seminar Series
Thursday 13th October at 5pm

See attached document for more details.

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FASHIONING THE BODY
'Centre for the Study of the Body and Material Culture'

Seminar Series 2011-12

The History Department, Royal Holloway University of London
Seminars will take place at Royal Holloway, 11 Bedford Square, London WC1, Room F1, on Wednesday at 5.00pm.
Convenors: Sandra Cavallo, Jane Hamlett, Weipin Tsai , Anna Whitelock.
2011 Autumn Term
26 October. Suzy Knight, 'Fashioning Faith: the Renaissance Rosary as

Fashionable Amulet and Devotional Tool'.

23 November. Giulia Calvi (EUI), 'Across three Empires. Balkan Costumes in

Sixteenth-Century Europe'.

14 December. Lesley Hoskins (RHUL), 'Clothing, Control and Identity in the

Lunatic Asylum, 1840-1914'

2012 Spring Term
25 January. Lizzy Currie (RHUL), 'Ganymede's Hose and Cupid's Doublet:

Fashion and Effeminacy in Late Renaissance Italy'.

15 February. Juliet Ash (RCA), 'Seams of Change: From Uniforms and

Treadmills to Intimations of Rehabilitative Reform in Prison Clothing in

Britain 1860s - 1900's'.

21 March. Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska (Illinois), '"Healthier and Better

Clothes for Men": Men's Dress Reform in Interwar Britain'.


Call for papers:
Material Matters
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

Saturday, April 14, 2012
The Center for Material Culture Studies at the University of Delaware invites submissions for papers to be given at the Tenth Annual Material Culture Symposium for Emerging Scholars
Object-based research has the potential to expand and even reinvent our understanding of culture and history. In honour of the tenth anniversary of the MCSES, we seek a broad range of papers from emerging material culture scholars. Whether exploring the latest theories, viewing existing material through a new lens, or reinterpreting standing historical conversations with an object-based focus, proposed papers should exemplify the possibilities in material culture research. In exploring these material matters, we hope to promote an interdisciplinary discussion on the state of material culture studies today.
For more see:
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