Guess who's back!

 

Sorry it's been so long

It has been far too long, over a year in fact, since I last wrote a blog post.  Part of this has been due to lack of time and part of this has been due to lack of inspiration. However, I've decided that I should do an update from where I left off in July 2022!! It seems crazy to think that the last time I wrote anything here was when I'd been to Bishopsgate. 

What have I been up to?

In September 2022 I was awarded a bursary from the Economic History Society. This funding was so gratefully received and so helpful.  It took the pressure off having to juggle work and study for a year and allowed me to take part in a number of events throughout the past twelve months. As a self funded postgraduate researcher, bursaries such as these are so helpful. Although I receive a loan from Student Finance this money covers my fees with a small amount left over for research. Accessing funds through bursaries allows more freedom for research. 

 In November, I presented a paper titled Ladies of the Shoe Trade: Philanthropy, politics and the social significance of the wives of prominent shoe manufacturers in Northampton, 1870 – 1950 at the History of Northampton through Emotional Objects Conference as part of the Being Human festival. This also gave me an excuse to show people my first pair of shoes. [See blog post - My First Shoes]

The start of 2023 and the break in teaching at the University gave me the opportunity to start my next chapter on Charity and Philanthropic Activity in religion.  From this research I presented at paper for the Historical Association on Women’s Philanthropy in Religion in Northampton together with an article on the same subject for Religion Compass which I am awaiting peer review. 

The bursary also allowed me to concentrate on other experiences such as being a co-convenor for the Gender and Political Groups Conference at the University of Northampton which you can read about here. I also delivered a papers on philanthropy in Religion for the Historical Association and also the University of Northampton Centre of Historical Studies Wellbeing conference on Women’s Philanthropy in Welfare. 

So as you can see I've been fairly busy this year.  

What Next?

This year I plan to get the last of my research done.  I'm hoping to make trips to a lot of archives (train strike and childcare depending). I'm currently working on expanding my paper on Women's Philanthropy in Welfare which I'm  hoping will be published in the future. My main target is to get all research completed by the Summer to allow for my final year to just be writing and editing. This isn't going to be an easy task as I need to review the work I did during lockdown to find out what I'm missing, but it's not completely impossible. 

Overall I think I'm on track for my October 2025 but watch this space.