Lulu writes: I was very lucky to get work experience at UoB’s History department in June 2023, and as part of my time with Professor Karen Harvey I spent a day transcribing and analysing 18th and 19th century letters. She’d chosen a variety of letters written by children and young people for me, such as … Continue reading “Female friends writing: then and now. A school pupil reflects on their work experience on the ‘Social Bodies’ project”
Category: Emotion
Spirited Communication
Mr Backhouse is ‘in great spirits’ about the price of Cotton,[1] while Mrs Earle’s spirits are ‘much improved’[2]. John Eliot needs to rest his ‘distressed spirits’[3], but easiness with his family keeps Samuel Wesley’s ‘spirits from sinking’.[4] Meanwhile Anna Maria Allwood has spotted ‘the Spirit’ battling with ‘the Old Man of Sin[5] and Joseph Munby … Continue reading “Spirited Communication”
What Letters Did, What Letters Do
I am surrounded by letters on all sides. Our project, ‘Material Bodies, Social Identities: Embodiment in British Letters c.1680- 1820’ funded by the Leverhulme Trust began in February 2021. Our aim? To explore descriptions of everyday experiences of the body in the context of the communities of family and kin, friendship and faith. What role … Continue reading “What Letters Did, What Letters Do”