We are delighted to report that we have recently been awarded funding from the University of Exeter’s Public Engagement Springboard fund that will allow us to organise two in person workshops for project volunteers – one will take place in Exeter, the other at The National Archives in Kew.
These workshops will take the form of ‘Transcribathons’, where volunteers will come together to transcribe wills and to learn more about the project from the members of the Team. The events will be in late June 2024, they will be free to attend, and lunch will be provided.
More details to follow soon!
‘The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790.’
Exeter Centre for Early Modern Studies seminar
Speakers: Dr Laura Sangha and Dr Emily Vine
Date: Wednesday 28 February
Time: 15:30 – 17:00
Venue: University of Exeter, Forum Seminar Room 6 AND online via Zoom – joining details below. If you sign up to our project mailing list we will also circulate the link there.
In the pre-modern period, most will-makers described in detail some of the items they bequeathed to particular relatives and friends. For instance Elizabeth Brickenell, a widow of Exeter, left a friend her third best petticoat in 1569, while in 1603 William Radcliffe of London left his sister ‘a gold ring with a picture of death’s head, for all her unkindness’. Bequests in wills thus provide evidence not only of what people owned, but also, by choosing objects to bequeath and describing them in particular ways, of people’s attitudes towards those possessions.
In this talk project Co-Investigator Dr Laura Sangha and Early Modern Research Fellow Dr Emily Vine will introduce ‘The Material Culture of Wills’ – a project using cutting edge digital technology to transcribe 25,000 manuscript wills to examine these changing attitudes to material culture in England in the 250 years before the Industrial Revolution. The key research question is: how did people’s relationship with their possessions change in an era of rapidly increasing trade and commercialisation?with their possessions change in an era of rapidly increasing trade and commercialisation?
Topic: Exeter CEMS English Wills and Attitudes to Possessions c. 1540-1790
Time: Feb 28, 2024 15:30 London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://Universityofexeter.zoom.us/j/92392163667?pwd=TEI3SjV0eS91c2FuV0p4WFdVR3prZz09
Meeting ID: 923 9216 3667
Password: 046908
‘I geve and bequeth to thee my third best petycote’: English Wills and Attitudes to Possessions c. 1540-1790′.
An Online University of Reading Early Modern Research Centre Seminar.
Speaker: Dr Laura Sangha
Date: Monday 26 February
Time: 13:00 -14:00
Venue: Online via Teams only. If you join Reading EMRC mailing list you will receive a link to join on the morning of the talk, or you can email emrc@reading.ac.uk.
In the pre-modern period, most will-makers described in detail some of the items they bequeathed to particular relatives and friends. For instance Elizabeth Brickenell, a widow of Exeter, left a friend her third best petticoat in 1569, while in 1603 William Radcliffe of London left his sister ‘a gold ring with a picture of death’s head, for all her unkindness’. Bequests in wills thus provide evidence not only of what people owned, but also, by choosing objects to bequeath and describing them in particular ways, of people’s attitudes towards those possessions.
In this talk project Co-Investigator Dr Laura Sangha will introduce ‘The Material Culture of Wills’ – a project using cutting edge digital technology to transcribe 25,000 manuscript wills to examine these changing attitudes to material culture in England in the 250 years before the Industrial Revolution. The key research question is: how did people’s relationship with their possessions change in an era of rapidly increasing trade and commercialisation?with their possessions change in an era of rapidly increasing trade and commercialisation?
Sign up to our mailing list for notifications about future events.
‘I geve and bequeth to thee my third best petycote’: English Wills and Attitudes to Possessions c. 1540-1790′.
Speaker: Dr Laura Sangha
Date: Tuesday 13 February 2024
Time: 19:00 – 20:30
Venue: Lecture Theatre, Roland Levinsky Building
Ticket information: £6, £4 Concession, FREE to University of Plymouth students via SPiA and Historical Association members.
In the pre-modern period, most will-makers described in detail some of the items they bequeathed to particular relatives and friends. For instance Elizabeth Brickenell, a widow of Exeter, left a friend her third best petticoat in 1569, while in 1603 William Radcliffe of London left his sister ‘a gold ring with a picture of death’s head, for all her unkindness’. Bequests in wills thus provide evidence not only of what people owned, but also, by choosing objects to bequeath and describing them in particular ways, of people’s attitudes towards those possessions.
In this talk project Co-Investigator Dr Laura Sangha will introduce ‘The Material Culture of Wills’ – a project using cutting edge digital technology to transcribe 25,000 manuscript wills to examine these changing attitudes to material culture in England in the 250 years before the Industrial Revolution. The key research question is: how did people’s relationship with their possessions change in an era of rapidly increasing trade and commercialisation?with their possessions change in an era of rapidly increasing trade and commercialisation?
Sign up to our mailing list for notifications about future events.
We are currently advertising two Leverhulme Trust funded PhD studentships, to start in September 2024. The studentships include full tuition fees and maintenance allowance, and are available to UK candidates.
The successful applicants will join a project team that are using cutting-edge digital humanities techniques to automate the transcription of 25,000 wills from the National Archives. They will be provided with a pre-populated database of these wills to analyse for their PhD research. The PhDs will be jointly supervised by Professor Jane Whittle and Dr Laura Sangha (Archaeology and History, University of Exeter). Please follow the links below for full details.
Global Commodities in Early Modern Wills [DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 1 MAY 2024]
Gender and the Material Culture of Wills: England 1540-1790 [DEADLINE NOW PASSED]
