Summer Update

 Many of you may have previously visited my blog before so will be accustomed to my waffling, unpredictable posts. This blog, however, has a purpose. The purpose is to provide an insight into what life is like as a Ph.D. student. I had originally planned to use my old blog to do this but felt that I needed a fresh start, a new beginning, a rebirth if you will. I have however previously written some thoughts about being a Ph.D student and you can read them here. In fact, that is a good place to start.

What has happened since January 2021? The world is still going COVID crazy and we've had another lockdown. Luckily, Chloe was able to remain in nursery for this third lockdown (is it third? Working from home you get to a point when you don't know anymore) so I was able to continue with my research as best as I could. I presented my transfer seminar titled 'Ladies of the Shoe Trade: Philanthropy, Politics and the social significance of the wives and daughters of prominent shoe manufacturers in Northampton in 1850 to 1950'. From this, my Ph.D. focus has started to change.

I'm really enjoying writing about women's history, particularly in this context as it is very rarely written about especially in a local history setting. I am currently working on a paper/chapter/bit of writing (I've learnt that in academia you write lots that may end up as something but can also end up as absolutely nothing) about the importance of women's history in local history research and how much of the history is based on men's experiences. I'm looking at how, when researching local census returns, a household is based on the man of the household as the head and how the women are often in the shadows. This links into my thesis nicely as many of the ladies I am researching were mayoresses in Northampton (their husbands being the Mayor obviously - this was the 19th Century - Northampton didn't get a female Mayor until 1933 and even then it was due to the death of her husband. Helen Hanafy became Northampton's first female Mayor between January and November 1933 after her husband, Percy Hanafy died. 

Another post on this will be coming shortly. 

So we're approaching the summer holidays which usually means I will try to read all the books I currently have out of the library.  When I say try I mean in between trying to entertain a 4 year old and work and all the other bits I do. 

It never stops around here.