CRSCEES 20th Annual Conference

The Class of 2011: Secondary School Education in Post-Soviet Russia (19 March 2011) - Conference programme

Bonarjee Postgraduate Essay Prize 2010 - Winners Announced

The School of History is delighted to report that the 2010 joint-winners of the Bonarjee Postgraduate Essay Prize are Helen Bury (supervised by Prof. Jerry De Groot) and Daniel Thomas (supervised by Dr Guy Rowlands). Helen Bury's essay is entitled "'There is a Change of Heart in Russia": Eisenhower, Churchill and the Long Road to the Geneva Summit'; Daniel Thomas's essay is called 'Commander-in-Chief or Anachronistic Throwback? The Constable of France, 1593-1626'. Many congratulations to both Helen and Daniel.

Dr Michael Brown on BBC Radio 4 'In Our Time' with Melvin Bragg

Michael Brown will be joining the panel of experts on BBC Radio 4's 'In Our Time' on Thursday 3 February to discuss the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) with Melvin Bragg. Details on the programme and how to listen to it can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y2srx The programme can be heard live at 9am and then again at 9:30pm, after which it will be on iplayer for a limited time.

Lecture by the William & Mary Visiting Fellow in Modern History

Professor Cindy Hahamovitch (The College of William & Mary):

Temporary Workers of the World: Guestworker Programs and the Making of Nationless Workers

New Seminar Room, St John's House, South Street
5.15 pm., Tuesday, 15 March 2011

Refreshments will be served.

St Andrews ranked 20th in the world for Arts & Humanities

Arts & Humanities at the University of St Andrews has been ranked 20th in the
Times Higher World University Rankings. For full details on all the Times
Higher World Rankings go to their website:

Honours Pre-advising 2010-11

Pre-advising information is now available online for all students entering Junior Honours courses or returning students entering Senior Honours in the School of History during the 2010-11 academic year. The website contains information on the application process and the degree programmes, including  requirements for entrance to Honours and up-to-date details of all available course modules in Junior and Senior Honours.

Visit the Pre-advising website.

Forthcoming Conferences

The School of History will be hosting a number of conferences and workshops in 2010 including the biennial meeting of the Reformation Studies Colloquiumn, the Shahnameh and Persianate Identity conference hosted by the Institute for Iranian Studies and a Transnational Media workshop hosted by the Centre for Transnational History. Further details of all the conferences hosted by the School can be found by visiting the Forthcoming Conferences page.

Forthcoming Conferences

School of History ranked amongst the top in the UK for research and teaching

AHRC Block Grant Awards

For more information on applying for one of these awards, please follow the link to the AHRC postgraduate funding page.

William & Mary Visiting Fellow in Modern History 2011 Announced

Professor Hahamovitch and the Wren Building, College of William & Mary

The School of History is delighted to announce that Professor Cindy Hahamovitch has been selected to be the first “William & Mary Visiting Fellow.” Prof. Hahamovitch will take up her fellowship in March 2011. She is a historian of 19th- and 20th-century America with particular research interests in labour history and the history of migration.

The School of History at St Andrews and the Lyon G. Tyler Department of History at the College of William & Mary are part of the new Joint International Degree Programme that will allow students to study on both sides of the Atlantic and gain a dual degree awarded by both institutions.

Building on this exciting new initiative, a mutual programme of visiting fellowships for historians has been set up to encourage collaborative research projects and further enhance the links between our two universities.

New York Times 100 notable books of the year

Andrew Pettegree’s The Book in the Renaissance was today announced as one of the New York Times’s 100 notable books of the year 2010.

This prestigious annual list comprised 50 works of fiction and 50 non-fiction titles, and Pettegree’s work is one of only a handful of historical titles to make the list.

The Book in the Renaissance offers a revisionist history of book culture in the first 150 years after the invention of print.  As with the modern media transformation of the digital age, bold predictions of what the new technology of print would bring to the conservative book culture of the manuscript age proved wide of the mark.

Access the full New York Times list here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/100-notable-books-2010.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

The original New York Times Review, by former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, can be accessed here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/books/review/Pinsky-t.html.

Dr Emma Hart lectures in US

Following the recent publication of her book, Building Charleston: Town and Society in the Eighteenth-Century British Atlantic World, Dr Emma Hart was invited to give two talks in the city.  As part of the College of Charleston's Historic Preservation lecture series Hart delivered the Marlene & Nathan Addlestone Lecture, talking to students, academics, and members of the public about how the building of the city helped to make South Carolina one of the wealthiest colonies in Britain's American Empire.  She also spoke to Charleston residents about the early history of their city during a lecture and book-signing at the Historic Charleston Foundation, the organization that oversees the preservation of this historic colonial townscape.

Alex Woolf interviewed by BBC Radio 3

Alex Woolf, Director of the St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, was recently interviewed by historian Bettany Hughes for BBC Radio 3's program 'The Birth of the Britons'. The program explored the dislocation in Britain at the end of Roman Rule. The full program can be heard on the BBC iplayer website until Sunday November 7th.

Undergraduate Success

Many congratulations to Marissa Smit, a Junior Honours Mediaeval History student. Not only did Marissa secure one of the twenty studentships available through the Undergraduate Research Internship Program 2010; she was also one of the two runners up at the recent Awards evening. To see Marissa's poster illustrating her research into the figure of St George and the patronage of Holy War in the Mediaeval Mediterranean, please click here

Dr Katie Stevenson presents the BBC Radio 3 Essay

Dr Katie Stevenson is one of a team of scholars who wrote and presented the BBC Radio 3 Essay series on the Stewarts, broadcast in early October 2010. 'The Essay' is an evening programme designed to debate and explore arts and cultural subjects. Dr Stevenson presented an essay on James IV of Scotland and his political and cultural manipulation of chivalry and Arthurian tradition. To listen to the broadcast on the BBC iplayer please go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v12ny or listen to it by clicking here

Prof. Andrew Pettegree podcasts on the Book in the Renaissance

The process of technological change is at the heart of the story told in Andrew Pettegree’s The Book in the Renaissance.  In a podcast for the series Beyond the Book, Andrew Pettegree discusses with Christopher Kenneally the uncertain future that faced the new technology after Gutenberg unveiled his new invention.

The difficulties that faced the first printers in creating a commercial model for the new printed books inevitably invite comparison with modern technological change.  Pettegree explores these issues in interviews with the Boston Globe and The Atlantic.  With print, as with the present digital revolution, technological fascination helped energise the first wave of innovation: but it proved far harder to develop a commercial model to exploit the new media, and many went bankrupt in the process.

The Book in the Renaissance is published by Yale University Press.

Prof. Pettegree spoke to Beyond the Book's Chris Kenneally about his latest work published by Yale University Press, the Book in the Renaissance.

Hear the podcast here: http://beyondthebookcast.com/report-on-the-book-business-1450/
(the transcript is available at http://www.beyondthebookcast.com/wp-images/PettegreeTranscript.pdf)

Read the Boston Globe interview here
Read the Atlantic interview here
New York Times Review

Bonarjee Postgraduate Essay Prize

Preparatory Reading for Sub-Honours Modules

For a list of suggested summer reading for Sub-honours modules - please click here

School Book Prizes

Congratulations to all students who have been awarded book prizes by the School of History for distinction level performance at subhonours in 2009-10.

Students who have received an award email can now select their prize by clicking here.

Researchers’ Night 2010: Scotland and the Wider World, 24 September 2010

On 24 September the School of History of the University of St Andrews will host Scotland’s first ever Researchers’ Night (3pm-11pm). A Researchers’ Night is a European Commission-funded event held simultaneously in different academic institutions throughout the EU. It aims to celebrate research activities, stimulate interest in research among a wide non-academic audience and encourage the consideration of research as a profession. In St Andrews Researchers’ Night 2010 will showcase the numerous and diverse research topics examined by historians. There will be a wide range of exciting and informative events from 3pm onwards which will include public lectures by leading scholars, children’s activities and guided tours at the Museum of the University of St. Andrews (MUSA), dramatised readings, exhibitions, a wine reception and live music in the historic Parliament Hall of St. Andrews. A special emphasis will be placed on Professor Steve Murdoch’s research project ‘Scotland and the Wider World’ who, with his project team, will offer demonstrations and trial sessions of the ‘Scotland, Scandinavia and Northern Europe, 1580-1707’ – Database, a compendium of biographical information of more than 7000 Scottish men and women which can also be used as a genealogical tool.

All activities and events are free of charge, but some require booking.  For those who cannot make it to St Andrews on the day there will be podcasts and live-streamed lectures available online. For further information see www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/researchersnight or contact Dr Kathrin Zickermann (0131 4611122, kz7@st-andrews.ac.uk) or Dr Sumi David (01334 463302, asohist@st-andrews.ac.uk). 

Postdoc Success for Scottish History Students at the IHR

Two students from the Scotland and the Wider World Project at the University of St Andrews have been awarded postdoctoral fellowships at the IHR for AY2010/11.

From October 2010, *Dr Kathrin Zickermann* will be the *Alan Pearsall Fellow in Naval and Maritime History at the Institute of Historical Research*. The title of her project is: 'Across the German Sea': The Commercial Activities and Transnational Networks of Scottish Merchant Families in the Early Modern Period.

From October 2010, *Siobhan Talbott* will be the *Economic HistorySociety Tawney Fellow 2010-11, at the Institute of Historical Research*. The title of the project is: "'Every Man Lives by Exchanging': The British Commercial Dynamic on the French Atlantic Coast, c.1603-1707".

For more on the Scotland and the Wider World Project visit:

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/research/scotlandworld/about.html

Summer School - Scotland in Europe

The History Department is running a summer school again this year, entitled /Scotland in Europe/. It offers overseas students the opportunity to study Scottish history over the course of five weeks, charting historical developments from the Middle Ages to the present day. Members of staff, postgraduates, and a small number of external speakers are all contributing toward the programme, which will run from Monday 5th July until Friday 6th August 2010.

Visiting Professorship for Frances Andrews

Professor Frances Andrews has been invited to spend January to June 2011 as a visiting professor at the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Villa i Tatti, Florence. While there she will be completing her book on Religion and Public Life in Late Medieval Italy.

Dr Stephen Tyre wins Teaching Award

The School of History is delighted to announce that Dr Stephen Tyre has been chosen as one of the winners of the inaugural 'St Andrews Students' Association Teaching Awards.' Dr Tyre won the award in the category 'Outstanding Teaching at Honours Level.' He was commended in particular for the enthusiasm and love of history that he instils in his students and for the support that he gives them in developing their intellectual potential.

St Andrews library accessions major new digital resources

St Andrews library has subscribed to two major new digital collections to support advanced work in Reformation and Early Modern History.

The TEMPO database is a large collection of 16th and 17th century pamphlets published by Brill.  It offers complete accessed to some of the greatest surviving collections of early German and Dutch pamphlets: the Knuttel collection in the Royal Library in The Hague, the Van Alphen collection of Groningen library, and the Tübingen pamphlet project.  These new accessions complement major collections of French, Swiss and German materials already available in St Andrews. 

St Andrews Early Modernists have also welcomed the decision to subscribe to the digital version of the English 16th- and 17th-century State Papers.  An ongoing venture of Gale / Centage, this will make available to scholars working in the field a vast amount of primary source material in a convenient digital format. It includes images of most of the manuscript records produced by central government in the Tudor period, and now preserved in The National Archives at Kew and the British Library.

Dr Guy Rowlands awarded a Senior Research Fellowship by the British Academy

Dr David Allan Receives 2010 Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award

A Nation of Readers: The Lending Library in Georgian England (London: British Library, 2008) has been awarded the 2010 Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award by the Gleason Book Award Committee of the American Library Association Library History Round Table. Presented every third year, the Gleason Award recognizes the best book written in English in the field of library history. An in-depth analysis of the mechanics of reading in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century England, A Nation of Readers draws upon a wide array of evidentiary sources to explore the book clubs, subscription and circulating libraries, and other book-lending entities that preceded the public library.

Dr Chandrika Kaul interviewed by Melvin Bragg on BBC Radio 4

Dr Chandrika Kaul, lecturer in British imperialism and print culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, was recently a guest on Melvin Bragg's In Our Time on BBC Radio 4. As in her past contributions to the same programme, Dr Kaul provided her expert perspective on Indian and British imperial history. In this instance, she discussed the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and the rebellion that  followed. Details can be found found on BBC Radio 4's designated page for Dr Kaul, which also provides a facility to hear this and her past contributions (please note that you may not be able to listen to the programme if you are accessing it from outside the UK): 

Dr Struck to deliver a keynote speech

Professor Heinrich August Winkler to give Public Lecture at St Andrews

One of Germany's most distinguished historians will come to St Andrews to deliver a lecture addressing key aspects of his recent magisterial "History of the West." The title of Professor Heinrich August Winkler's lecture is "Still a Community of Values? Historical Reflections on the Normative Basis of the West." There will be an opportunity for questions after the lecture. The event, generously supported by the German Consulate-General in Edinburgh and Lufthansa, is open to the public, and the School of History extends a warm welcome to anyone interested.

When? - 6.00 p.m., on Monday, 26 April 2010
Where? - School 3, St Salvator's Quadrangle

For further information, please contact Frank Lorenz Müller on flm3@st-andrews.ac.uk

Shahnameh and Persianate identity conference 9th - 11th April 2010

The Institute for Iranian Studies and the Iran heritage Foundation will be holding a conference focusing on the Shahnameh and the development of Persianate identity in historical perspective. A millennium after his death, the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi remains the single most important literary source of the construction and definition of Persianate identity. Ferdowsi’s magisterial achievement in collating and versifying the history and myths of the Iranian peoples ensured not only the preservation of a canon of shared historical memory and experience, but crucially secured the renaissance of the Persian language for future generations. This conference will focus on the political, social and historical legacy of the Shahnameh in the development of identities in the Persianate world.

Further details about the conference can be found on the Institute for Iranian Studies website. Download a flyer for the conference here.

Dr James Koranyi to speak at special event in Nottingham

Academics and dignitaries from Romania and the UK have been invited to a special event at Nottingham Trent University on 15th February 2010, entitled '20 Years On: Political, Social and Cultural Change in Timişoara since the Romanian Revolution'. Dr James Koranyi will introduce the event, its themes, and projects alongside the mayor of Timişoara, Gheorghe Ciuhandu, and the UK Ambassador to Romania, HMA Robin Barnett. Further information can be found here.

Recent student successes

Steven Paget

Congratulations to Steven Paget who has been awarded the Bonarjee Postgraduate Essay Prize for his essay comparing the drugs policies of the Nixon administration with those of Reagan's presidency. The judges wrote that this was ‘a well-focussed, convincing, wide-ranging and in many ways inspired piece of research that reached out beyond specialist readers and revealed a historian with an impressive ability to communicate to wider audiences.’

Rafael Torrubia

Congratulations also to Rafael Torrubia, who was awarded proxime accessit for the Bonarjee Postgraduate Essay Prize for his essay on ‘Rewriting the script - The Free Southern Theatre and Grassroots Militancy, 1960s – 1980s’. Rafael has also recently given an interview on BBC Radio Scotland as a result of winning last year's ‘Unpublished Writer’ category in the National Gallery of Scotland's ‘Inspired? Get Writing!’ competition.

Dr Chandrika Kaul to deliver a keynote speech at the sixth biennial conference of Australian Media Traditions

Dr Chandrika Kaul has been invited to present a keynote at the Australian Media Traditions international conference at the University of Sydney, Australia. (November 2009). Her talk will aim to identify and analyse those key developments which contributed to a resurgence of international debate over freedom of the press in the aftermath of the Second World War and in a period of rapid decolonization.

New Grant for USTC project

The Universal Short Title Project has now a new grant from the Wellcome Trust.

The Wellcome grant will underwrite a pilot project to analyse all medical texts published in northern Europe before 1601: a corpus of around 5,000 items.  In addition the grant will permit members of the project team to examine surviving collections of early medical texts in major British collections.

The printing of medical texts, both for professional users and lay readers, was one of the most buoyant markets in the early print world.  The project is delighted to have the partnership of the Wellcome Trust to push forward this important work.  The grant (£30,000) will permit the appointment of a research analyst, who will have primary responsibility for the examination of copies and the creation of a public access database.  We are also delighted to be able to call on the expertise of our collaborator, Professor Emeritus Iain Donaldson of the University of Edinburgh, who will work with the project team in the Library of the Royal College of Physicians, one of the most important of the collections to be investigated.

School of History Internship Programme

Any third or fourth year undergraduates or current MLitt students interested in applying for an internship for the academic year 2009-10 should contact Dr Bridget Heal on bmh6@st-andrews.ac.uk. Interns may be asked to help with the work of research centres and institutes, or with the organization of conferences etc. Interns will generally be contracted for 39 hours of work over the course of a semester.

Two St Andrews Historians to lecture at the Royal Historical Society

On Wednesday 1 July Professor Michael Bentley will give the Prothero Lecture, an annual lecture timed to coincide with the Anglo-American Conference.  Professor Bentley will speak on ’The Age of Prothero: British Historiography in the long fin-de-siècle, 1870-1920’.

The first paper of the new academic year will be given by Professor Frances Andrews.  This lecture, on Friday 25 September, is entitled ‘The purpose of religion? Monks and the city in late medieval Italy’.  It draws from the developing work of her major AHRC-funded project, Religion and Public Life in Late Mediaeval Italy.

The Royal Historical Society has a programme of eight lectures each year, and the invitation to speak is regarded as a significant accolade.  St Andrews historians have been well represented among these speakers in recent years.  Papers are published in the annual Transactions of the Royal Historical Society.

Honours Pre-advising 2009-10

Visit the Pre-advising website.

Subhonours Book Prizes

Congratulations to all students who have been awarded Book Prizes by the School of History for distinction level performance at Subhonours in 2008-9.

Students who have received an award letter can now select their prize by clicking here.

Bonarjee Essay Prize

All undergraduates about to enter their fourth year in the School of History and all current M.Litt students are invited and encouraged to compete for:

The Bonarjee Essay Prize

First Prize £400

Second Prize £100

For further details click here.

Bonarjee Postgraduate Essay Prize

New milestone for St Andrews Studies in Reformation History

The publication of S.K. Barker’s Poetry and Protest represents a significant milestone for the St Andrews Studies in Reformation History.  This is the 84th volume in the series since it was inaugurated in 1995.  It is also the tenth monograph published by a graduated Ph.D student of the Institute.

The St Andrews Studies series offers PhD students enrolled in the Institute the opportunity to place their work in an outstanding series that has now published many of the leading scholars in the field.  All dissertations successfully completed in the Institute are automatically considered for inclusion.  For further information on graduate work in the Institute and for scholarships offered contact bmh6@st-and.ac.uk.

Modern History Graduand wins Miller Prize 2008-9

Martin Otero Knott, who has just finished his degree programme in Modern History, has been awarded the Miller Prize (Arts) for 2008-9 by the Faculty of Arts. The Miller Prize is awarded every year to the most outstanding candidate from amongst all the graduands in the Faculty of Arts.

The School of History warmly congratulates Martin on this fine achievement and is delighted that after Richard Sowerby (Mediaeval History, 2006-7) and Jacob Seifert (Arabic & Economics, 2007-8) Martin is the third student from the School in a row to win this prestigious award.

Distinguished Visiting Position for Dr Malcolm Walsby

Dr Malcolm Walsby

The Ecole Nationale des Chartes, founded in 1821, is one of the world’s most illustrious centres for the training of archivists and librarians.  Its graduates include many leading scholars in the fields of the history of art and architecture, as well as palaeographers, curators, librarians and archaeologists.  During his residence Dr Walsby will give instruction to graduate classes, as well as deliver a public lecture.

Chariots of fire at the Edinburgh Marathon

Annual conference of the Société Française d'Études Écossaises

The annual conference of the Société Française d'Études Écossaises (French Society for Scottish Studies) is being hosted by the ISHR at the University of St Andrews, September 10th-13th. The conference opens on Thursday night with Billy Kay, who will present his "Knee Deep in Claret" lecture, with a wine tasting reception to follow. The conference itself will take place over Friday and Saturday, with a conference dinner on the Friday night. The AGM of the Society will be held on Saturday afternoon.

Call for papers and more information

Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship success

Professor Rob Bartlett

Professor Bartlett will be writing a substantial book on the Christian cult of the saints, from its origins in the time of the early martyrs to the Protestant Reformation. This is a subject of central importance to medieval (and later) history and, in recent generations, as the confessional edge to discussion has weakened, it has become a topic of widespread scholarly interest. Medieval Europe was covered with the shrines of hundreds of holy men and women. These were the focus of pilgrimage and sometimes miracle. They were a central part of the experience of people of the time and also generated a rich cultural production, artistic, architectural and literary. It is envisaged that the book would have a tripartite structure. The first section would be a chronological overview, the second consist of a series of substantial discussions of the main themes, while the third would  deal with the subject in a theoretical and comparative way.

Professor Michael Bentley

Professor Bentley will be writing a comparative historiography of the modern west. The investigation centres on structures that help explain why historical writing differs so radically according to time and geography. Why do early nineteenth-century histories differ so sharply from those produced after 1850? Why do French history-books look so different from German ones? Does Irish historiography bear resemblances to Portuguese, and if so why? The second half of the project will lead him to think about and offer an analysis of the master-narratives that all these cultures have produced about specific themes: revolution, urbanization, war and so on. By the end of his leave he hopes to have a clearer picture of the intersection between national culture and visions of the past

Donald Bullough Fellowship For A Mediaeval Historian

The St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies invites applications for the Donald Bullough Fellowship in Mediaeval History, to be taken up during either semester of the academic year 2009-2010.

The Fellowship is open to any academic in a permanent university post with research interests in mediaeval history. It covers the cost of return travel to St Andrews from the holder’s normal place of work, together with a substantial subsidy towards accommodation while the holder is resident in St Andrews.

More information about the Fellowship can be found on the SAIMS website

View earlier news stories from the School of History

Launch of new book by Professor Houston

Professor Houston

The launch of Professor Rab Houston's 'Scotland: a very short introduction' (Oxford University Press) was held at Blackwell in Edinburgh on 27th November. OUP's successful series of 'Very Short Introductions' present complex topics in a highly accessible form. Through an examination of diverse themes (from economics to environment, law to language, population to poetry and socialism to sectarianism) Professor Houston aims to help us understand Scotland's sense of its past.

A transcript of Professor Houston's talk is available online here

Professor Houston was recently interviewed by BooksfromScotland.com about his new book. The interview can be found here. He has also featured on the Oxford University Press USA site and Bookdepository.co.uk's websites discussing his new publication and views about Scottish devolution.

'Scotland: a very short introduction' has also recently been reviewed by the Times Higher Education Supplement. The review is now available online.

Bonarjee Essay Prize Winner announced

Further information on the 2008-9 Bonarjee Essay Competitions for undergraduates and postgraduates will be posted on this website in due course.

Prestigious Prize for Dr Simon MacLean

Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 launched online

In a project of unprecedented scale and complexity, researchers from the School of History have created a fully searchable digital database of the proceedings of the Scottish Parliament from its first surviving act of 1235 to its dissolution by the Act of Union of 1707.

The publication online of The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 at www.rps.ac.uk makes freely available to all the 16.5 million words which document almost 500 years of Scottish parliamentary history.

The project has taken 11 years to complete and presents the records of the Scottish Parliament in a format that is amongst the most technologically advanced and most user-friendly of any historical record yet published.

For students, scholars and anyone interested in Scotland's past, the resource offers an immediately accessible and fully searchable point of entry into one of the country's richest historical sources. As an historical record it is an essential adjunct to understanding not only pre-1707 Scotland but also the Scotland of today.

The project team was led by Professor Keith Brown of the School of History, University of St Andrews.

[Full Story and Press Release]

Pictures from the reception at the Scottish Parliament

View Press Coverage of the Story:

Scotland on Sunday, 11 May 08
BBC News Online, 12 May 08
The Times, 13 May 08
The Courier, 13 May 08
The Press and Journal, 16 May 08

Professor Houston lectures in Japan

Professor Rab Houston has been undertaking a lecture tour of Japan about aspects of his research into the history of Psychiatry and also Scottish history and modern Scottish politics and economics. Professor Houston is pictured here in Hitotsubashi where he recently delivered a lecture.

Early Modern Book Lists Workshop

A workshop will be held on November 5th 2008 to examine Early Modern Book Lists. Lists of books derived from contemporary sources are fundamental to our understanding of the Early-Modern book world. They provide us with rare snapshots of private collections and the holdings of booksellers. The edition and study of these lists are of vital importance. Many lists have already been published and yet there do not seem to be any clear rules on how best to present, annotate and analyse them.
This workshop will look to compare the different types of lists and establish clear guidelines on how to annotate, present and analyse Early- Modern book lists.

For further information please contact Dr Malcolm Walsby: mnw@st-andrews.ac.uk

Download workshop flyer

Institute for Scottish Historical Research Annual Debate

National History or Nationalist History?

The first St Andrews Institute of Scottish Historical Research annual debate will take place on Thursday 6 November 2008 at 5:30pm in School III, St Salvator's Quadrangle, at the University of St Andrews.

The theme of the debate will be 'National History or Nationalist History?'

Two esteemed academics, Prof. Tom Devine, Sir William Fraser Chair of Scottish History and Palaeography at the University of Edinburgh, and Prof. Allan MacInnes, Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Strathclyde, will be taking part in what promises to be a lively debate. The debate will be chaired by Prof. T.C. Smout, Historiographer Royal and Emeritus Professor of the University of St Andrews. A wine reception will follow the debate.

All are welcome. For furher information please contact Dr Katie Steveson.

Scottish Parliament Project Launch

History Scotland Magazine

2008 marks the completion of the Scottish Parliament Project (SPP), based within the School of History. A team of researchers have worked for over ten years to produce an online and fully searchable edition of the surviving records of the pre-1707 Scottish Parliament. To coincide with the public launch of the new resource, The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland (RPS), at the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 15 May, a special issue of History Scotland magazine devoted to current research on parliament has hit the newsstands.

Authors from St Andrews contributing to the special issue include Professor Keith Brown, Deputy Principal and Master of the United College, who writes on the background of the SPP, of which he is director. Professor Brown describes the various challenges of managing such a large project and provides a basic introduction to the new online version of the records. Other articles are focused on Scotland’s lengthy parliamentary tradition. Dr Michael Brown, Lecturer in Scottish History within the School, explores parliament’s very origins and its early history, and Dr Gillian MacIntosh, project manager of the SPP, provides an account of the tumultuous events of 1603-51, in which Scotland’s parliament was at the centre.

The May/June special issue of the magazine is available in shops now. Visit the History Scotland website for further information.

Professor Robert Bartlett investigates the Mediaeval Mind in major new BBC series

Professor Bartlett.
(Picture courtesy BBC)

As part of BBC Four's Medieval Season, Professor Robert Bartlett of the School of History – one of the world's leading medievalists – takes a trip into the medieval psyche in a new, four-part series, Inside The Medieval Mind. Each hour-long episode – Knowledge, Sex, Belief and Power – focuses on a different aspect of medieval life.

The medieval world was full of marvels and, in the first episode, Professor Bartlett unearths how medieval men and women understood the world – and how that knowledge came to be transformed

The series starts on Thursday, 17 April on BBC4.

To watch a preview of the series please visit the Medieval Mind page on the BBC website

View the first episode of the series on the BBC iPlayer website. [available in UK only]

Professor De Groot to deliver keynote speech in Rwanda

Professor De Groot in Rwanda

Professor Gerard DeGroot will be the keynote speaker at a conference on 'Gender Issues in Peacekeeping Missions', to be held in Kigali, Rwanda from 28-29 March 2008.  The conference, sponsored by UNIFEM ( the United Nations Development Fund for Women) and the Rwanda Defence Forces, has the aim of mainstreaming gender issues in peacekeeping operations,  with a particular emphasis on increasing the participation of female soldiers, police officers and civilian personnel.   Professor DeGroot has been involved in this area of research for the past ten years, acting as a consultant to the UN, NATO and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, work which led to the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which formally recognises the need to mainstream gender issues in UN operations.  DeGroot, an expert on female soldiers, is particularly interested in the dynamic created when women take part in peacekeeping operations. Read the full story

Bonarjee Essay Competitions for Undergraduates and Postgraduates

All postgraduates and final year undergraduates in the School of History are encouraged to compete for the annual Bonarjee Essay Prizes.

These competitions, made possible by a generous legacy to the University from Stephen Bonarjee, a former history student, have prizes of up to £500.

• Further details of this year's competition for final year undergraduates and taught postgraduates.
  
  
• Details of this year's competition for doctoral students.

Dr Liam Fox MP delivers public lecture

Dr Liam Fox MP

Institute of Iranian Studies

Launch of St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies

Bonarjee Bequest: 'in recognition of my four fruitful years'

St Salvators c.1934
Courtesy of the University
of St Andrews Library

The School of History has been honoured to receive from a former student a very generous bequest which will be used to acknowledge outstanding performance by current students of modern history.  Stephen W. Bonarjee, a student at St Andrews from 1929 to 1933, graduated with an MA in History and turned to a career in journalism.  After military service during the Second World War and until his retirement Mr Bonarjee as radio editor played a central role in shaping current affairs programming for the BBC, including Ten O’clock, the Today programme, The Week in Westminster, and From Our Own Correspondent.  On his death in September 2003 Stephen Bonarjee left a bequest to the University of St Andrews ‘in recognition of my four fruitful years there’ for the purchase of books for the library and as an endowment for annual prizes for Modern History students.

School Book Prizes

Some of the books awarded
to prize winners.

Congratulations to all students who have been awarded Book Prizes by the School of History for distinction level performance at Subhonours in 2007-8. Letters will be sent out to all students who have been awarded a prize.

Students who have received their award letter can now select their prize by clicking here.

Transnational History Conference

Transnational relations of experts, elites and organisations in the long nineteenth century - 5/6 September 2008.

The University of St Andrews will be hosting a conference on 5-6 September 2008 in cooperation with the University of Köln. The workshop aims to explore the history of various forms of transnational groups of elites and experts as well as networks and organizations between ca. 1800 and the 1930s.

View the full conference programme

Congratulations to the Winners of the Bonarjee Essay Competition

First Prize: John Reeks (Senior Honours)

Second Prize: Andrew Dodd (M.Litt)

Honourable Mention: Gavin Cooke and Andrew Smith (both M.Litt)

This annual essay competition was established in 2007 as the result of a legacy left to the University by Stephen Bonarjee, who graduated with an MA in History in 1933.

Mr Bonarjee's generosity has also enabled the School of History to run a similar competition for doctoral students in his name and to bolster awards given for outstanding performance in undergraduate courses.

The Sixties Unplugged

Professor De Groot

New research suggests that the sixties was not really the decade of peace, love and understanding that people generally remember.

Instead, Professor Gerard DeGroot claims that the decade was as much marked by `mindless mayhem, shallow commercialism and unbridled cruelty' as it was by wearing flowers in your hair and loving your fellow man.

In a new book, the University of St Andrews' researcher attempts to rewrite the history books and capture `the real spirit of the sixties' that is generally lost in the mists of nostalgia.  Out this week, The Sixties Unplugged: A Kaleidoscopic History of a Disorderly Decade, suggests an alternative view of the decade best known as a time for free love.  The new research restores to the hippy era the `prevalent disorder and inconvenient truths that longing, wistfulness, and distance have obscured from memory'.

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