This blog post focuses on Anna Maria Garthwaite who was a silk designer in 18th century England. A silk designers’ purpose was to create designs that showed weavers what colours and decoration they should weave on their loom. Anna specialised…
Author: Lisa Berry-Waite
A three-generation family story through Gwent Archives’ collection – Bec Howarth
Whilst preparing social media content for LGBTQ+ history month I came across the Welsh County LGBTQ+ timelines. Scanning the Newport timeline, one individual caught my eye – Amelia Vella. The timeline wrote how Amelia’s mother, Fanny Vella, was in the…
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—both under two years of age.[1] Examined before two justices of the…
‘The Finding Katherine Project’: a window into the life of Scottish suffragist, Katherine Walker Lindsay – Katherine Ingram
I first learned of Katherine Walker Lindsay in early 2025 when I was examining the letter books of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Society for Women’s Suffrage (GWSSWS), a branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS),…
‘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 elections, feeding into ongoing work being done by Dr. Lyndsey Jenkins…
Kitchen Resistance: how women used food to fight back – Esther Freeman
I’d been in the Women’s Library at LSE for hours, going through oral history transcripts in the Women Against Pit Closures collection. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say I felt close to tears. These women’s lives had been transformed.…
“Women Don’t Get Aids They Just Die From It”: How a poster helped changed the definition of aids and women’s access to healthcare – Olivia Gill
Women Don’t Get Aids They Just Die from It was the headline of an advertisement designed by Gran Fury, which ran in inner city bus stops of Manhattan and in low-income suburban neighbourhoods in Los Angeles in 1991.[i] Gran Fury…
Rediscovering Josephine Fiddes and her forgotten Australian novel – Robyn Floyd
Josephine Fiddes was an English actress, vocalist, author and playwright who graced stages across three continents during the 19th century. Her creative output extended beyond acting to directing, writing one-act monologues and authoring novels. The one publication that survives The Little…
Beyond Formal and Informal: Giving Back Political Agency to Female Diplomats in Early Nineteenth Century Europe – Bart Mooibroek
When researching diplomatic challenges in early nineteenth century Europe, such as the Eastern Question or the Congress of Vienna, the subject matter can appear male dominated. The former refers to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century,…