Jamie Gemmell

Olivette Otele Prize 2025/26 Open for Submissions! The Institute of Historical Research’s History Lab is excited to announce the call for papers for the Olivette Otele Prize for the 2025/26 academic year. The prize offers the chance for fast-tracked publication of an article and a cash prize of £250 and is open to Black UK-based PhD students working in history or related disciplines, exploring any place or period.

Olivette Otele Prize 2025/26 Open for Submissions! We invite you to submit an abstract of no more than 400 words for a 40 minute paper by Friday 28th November 2025 to ihrhistorylab@gmail.com. Timeline: Abstract deadline of no more than 400 words due by 28th November 2025 Shortlisted scholars will be notified by Friday 19th December 2025 and asked to submit a full paper of no more than 8000 words by Friday 27th February The winner will be announced by the end of March 2026

Prize and Recognition The winner will receive a £250 cash prize, will be invited to speak at History Lab’s annual conference in summer 2026, and to submit their paper to Historical Research, the leading generalist historical journal and flagship publication of the Institute of Historical Research. Shortlisted scholars will receive a £30 book voucher and the opportunity to present their research at a History Lab seminar.

About the Prize The Olivette Otele Prize was created in 2020 in response to the Royal Historical Society’s ‘Race, Ethnicity and Equality Report’ which highlighted racial inequality in the field of history. The prize was named after the UK’s first Black woman history professor and was designed to both raise participants’ profiles as well as financially reward labour involved in academic research. We look forward to reading your applications!

📢CFP: Annual Olivette Otele Prize 2025/26!

Our annual prize for Black UK-based history PhD students is now open for submissions!

📆Key dates:

- Abstracts due on 28th November
- Notifications on 19th December
- 8000 word essay due on 27th Feb

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Picture of the audience for the book launch. Prof. Welch is pictured at the front.

Picture of the front cover of Renaissance Skin book.

From sausage makers to cheese rinds to wrinkles... a delightful evening in a packed room to celebrate Prof. @evelynwelch.bsky.social's Renaissance Skin.

@kingsartshums.bsky.social @kingshistory.bsky.social @kingsenglish.bsky.social

Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London Society, Culture and Belief, 1500-1800 Seminar- Session 2

Join us next Thursday (30/10, 5.30 pm) for Dr Emily Vine’s (@emilymayvine.bsky.social) talk on ‘Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London’! You can sign up to join in-person (IHR Wolfson Room, NB02) or online via Zoom here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

We've been able to increase ticket availability. If you're keen to attend, please register!

London museum identifies black Waterloo veteran in rare 1821 painting ‘Honourable’ bandsman Thomas James will feature in display at National Army Museum highlighting service of black soldiers in Napoleonic wars

Thomas James identified as sitter in Thomas Phillips painting. James served as a musician in the army during the Napoleonic Wars.

www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Renaissance Skin Book Launch — CEMS KCL Blog Book launch for Prof. Evelyn Welch's Renaissance Skin, hosted by King's Centre for Early Modern Studies.

Book launch October 23rd!

Join CEMS for the launch of Prof. @evelynwelch.bsky.social's Renaissance Skin. We'll be gathering in King's History department. Comments from Dr. @historyelaine.bsky.social and Dr. Paolo Savoia. Chaired by Dr. @hsmurphy.bsky.social.

kingsearlymodern.co.uk/events/renai...

To mark #BlackHistoryMonth, Identities presents a curated selection of articles that illuminate Black histories and lived experiences across the Black Atlantic.

Read the collection with #FreeAccess:
www.tandfonline.com/...

@nasarmeer.bsky.social @aaronwinter.bsky.social @tandfresearch.bsky.social

Lots of great events this semester!

The Representation of African People in Early Modern European Art & Culture Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

Now open for booking!

This online course provides an introduction to the representation of African people in the art and culture of early modern Europe.

Thursdays, 13 November - 11 December, 2 - 3:30pm

Fantastic resource!

Throughlines — Race in the premodern classroom Created by field-leading scholars, Throughlines’ pedagogical approaches offer accessible and critical ways to incorporate discussions of race in the premodern studies classroom.

Tomorrow is August 🤯 is your syllabus ready??
Throughlines carries several exemplar syllabi to help inspire you for the semester ahead. We are also proud to announce new pedagogical resources from Patrica Akhimie and Geraldine Heng are now available. Start here: www.throughlines.org

The ‘Society, Culture and Belief, 1500-1800’ seminar at the Institute for Historical Research would like to appoint a doctoral student as a stipendiary postgraduate seminar convenor for 2025/26. You would be an active member of our lively, friendly seminar. Your main responsibilities would be to contribute to our social media presence, encourage other postgrads to attend the seminar, and occasionally assist with minor administrative tasks to help the seminar run smoothly. The expectation would be that you would come to the seminar as often as possible. We normally host nine seminar talks over the course of the academic year. In 2024/25, we hosted talks by Rachel Winchcombe (Manchester), Fara Dabhoiwala (Princeton), Will Tullet (York), Tiéphaine Thomason (Cambridge), Nikki Clarke (Birkbeck), and Juliet Atkinson (Leeds). The Institute will provide you with a stipend of £300 (£100/term) and will cover the cost of your meals if you attend post-seminar dinners. The current convenors are Holly Fletcher (UCL), Laura Gowing (KCL), Kate Hodgkin (East London), Eva Johanna Holmberg (Queen Mary), Tiéphaine Thomason (Cambridge), Emily Vine (Exeter), Brodie Waddell (Birkbeck) and Roisin Watson (Open University). To apply, please send a cover letter (max one page) indicating why this opportunity is of interest and a CV (1-2 pages) to b.waddell@bbk.ac.uk by September 1st.

#EarlyModern history PhD students around London: the 'Society, Culture and Belief, 1500-1800' seminar
@ihrscb.bsky.social at @ihr.bsky.social is looking for a postgrad convenor for 2025/26. Stipend of £300/yr and a chance to get involved in a great seminar!

Performing Race in the London Lord Mayors' Show, 1660-1708 | Folger Shakespeare Library Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...

New blog post reflecting on some of the material I was looking at during my @folger.edu fellowship. Thinking about how race was staged on London's streets during the post-Restoration Lord Mayor's Show.

www.folger.edu/blogs/collat...

Conflict, War and Violence in the Early Modern World University of Exeter, October 30, 2025 - October 31, 2025 Deadline for submission/application: September 5, 2025 Call for Papers We are exploring early modern conflict in all its forms. We particularly seek to unpack the interactions between the more traditional aspects of conflict, such as the political, tactical and strategic, with the more human side of it, including sociocultural approaches that explore experiences, representations and impacts of violence. As such, we particularly welcome proposals that look beyond purely military history and break chronological, geographical and disciplinary boundaries. We welcome proposals for individual papers of up to 20 minutes, or full panels of three to four papers, on any aspect of conflict, war and violence in the early modern period. Speakers might consider, but are not limited to, the following themes: • Physical, tactical, operational and strategic aspects of warfare. • Martial identities, values and motivations. • Notions of gender, race, class and religion. • Remembering, (re)imagining and representing violence and/or conflict. • The experience of violence, its impact and the everyday at war. • Popular allegiance in early modern conflict. • Maritime violence and naval warfare. • The bureaucracy of conflict, finance and the law. Abstracts of up to 300 words, along with a biographical note, should be sent to earlymodernwar@gmail.com by Friday 5th September.

#CfP: Conflict, War and Violence in the Early Modern World

Exeter, 30-31 October 31, 2025. Abstracts by September 5, 2025 @earlymodernwar.bsky.social #Skystorians #EarlyModernEvents #MiseryOfCivilWar

www.rensoc.org.uk/event/confli...

Fixed Term Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies King's College London, September 1, 2025 - August 31, 2026 Deadline for submission/application: July 27, 2025 The English department at King’s College London wishes to appoint a full-time Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies on a fixed-term basis from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026. The role will be on our AEP pathway, with an emphasis on teaching and educational scholarship. The successful candidate will have proven experience of university teaching, a record of published research appropriate to their career-stage, and also be able to undertake administrative and pastoral duties. They will be able to teach on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules. These may include the level 4 modules Early Modern Literary Culture and the introductory first-year module Reading Poetry; the level 5 module The Film of the Play; and the level 6 module Shakespeare’s London (co-taught with our colleagues at Shakespeare’s Globe). They may also be asked to supervise MA dissertations for students on our MAs in Shakespeare Studies and Early Modern Literature: Books That Matter, as well as BA dissertations. The postholder will contribute, as personal tutor, to the pastoral care of students. They will be expected to undertake departmental administration as required. They will be responsible to the Head of Department. Further details are available here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/120046-lecturer-in-shakespeare-studies. The deadline for applications is 27th July 2025.

#JobKlaxon: One year fixed-term lectureship in Shakespeare Studies @cemskcl.bsky.social (1 Sept 2025-31 August 2026. Apply by 27th July 2025. #Skystorians #Shax

www.rensoc.org.uk/event/fixed-...

Migration and Mobility History The IHR Migration and Mobility seminar provides a space for historians and scholars from other disciplines to come together to discuss migration and mobility in history.

Really pleased and proud to announce a new @ihr.bsky.social seminar - Migration and Mobility History. We want to cover migration across time and space and speak with colleagues across disciplines. If you're interested in attending/presenting, get in touch: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Not sure how I missed this in April! Excellent new book on Pepys's Diary. Chapter 8 has a whole section that sheds new light on the Black Londoners mentioned in Pepys's Diary. Really helpful for my own work.

Reading Samuel Pepys's Shorthand: an online talk and workshop Find out how Pepys kept his secret diary and have a go at reading the shorthand he wrote it in for yourself!

Still a few places available for tomorrow’s online event on Pepys’s shorthand!

Saturday 5 July at 6-7pm BST.  Sign up on Eventbrite here:
tinyurl.com/shorthand-sa...

Teaching the Early Modern - Webinar Series — CEMS KCL Blog A series of webinars on teaching the early modern, from building syllabi to using digital repositories to site visits.

Tomorrow at 14:00! Join us for our final webinar on teaching the #earlymodern. We'll be joined by Claire Titley (@thelondonarchives.bsky.social) to talk about cross-institutional collaboration.

kingsearlymodern.co.uk/events/teach...

Portrait of Ignatius Sancho painted by Thomas Gainsborough. Sancho look to the left. He is wearing a red waistcoat with gold trimming and a dark jacket.

Call for Papers: 'Charles Ignatius Sancho: A Black British Man of Letters and His World' conference. Deadline for submissions 14 July 2025. Conference will be held 13-14 March 2026 at Northeastern University, London: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

2-day Workshop: Caribbean Connections: Seventeenth-Century Barbados and Britain — Medicine and the Making of Race, 1440-1720 Organisers: Dr Michael Bennett (University of Sheffield), Dr Misha Ewen (University of Sussex), and Dr Hannah Murphy (MMoR & CEMS, KCL) Barbados is central to the global history of slavery. The ...

Caribbean Connections: Seventeenth-century Barbados and Britain. A 2-day workshop 25-26 June in London at KCL. Be there. www.mmor.co.uk/events/carib...

Less than a week till our @cemskcl.bsky.social colloquium on early modern war narratives! Sign up here to attend in person or online! 👉 www.tickettailor.com/events/centr...

Please repost! ⚔️

Join us next Friday!

This Thursday! A couple of spaces left. Do join us to talk about teaching and digital repositories with @emilymayvine.bsky.social

Conference Panel Bursary | The London Journal The London Journal is eager to support early career scholars present their work on London at conferences and publish articles based on this work. To that end, the Journal is pleased to annouce a conference panel bursary.

REMINDER: We offer bursaries of up to £500 per head to support UK-based postgraduate and early career researchers to arrange panels on London-related topics for academic conferences. See here for further details on how to apply (please repost to help spread the word!)

Join CEMS on June 6th for our Annual Colloquium! This year's theme is Early Modern War Narratives. Full details below.

Join CEMS on June 6th for our annual colloquium! Excellent theme for this year's event.

Happy Friday! you can now register for our @cemskcl.bsky.social colloquium on Early Modern War Narratives! June 6th in person and online! Keynote by Andrew Hopper and Ismini Pells, funded by KCL, CEMS, & @srsrensoc.bsky.social. Register here (and pls repost!) — www.tickettailor.com/events/centr...

Abstract Creative approaches, specifically historical fiction, and scholarship from Black Studies and Slavery Studies, have critically interrogated the relationship between method and the political and ethical stakes of conducting research on Black Lives and Atlantic slavery. This article uses historical fiction—Sara Collins’s Confessions of Frannie Langton (2019) and Paterson Joseph’s Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho (2022)—and the case of Lucy Johnson, an eighteenth-century Londoner frequently referred to as black, to bring this conversation to bear on long eighteenth-century London’s Black residents. It argues that blackness was a pluralistic category connected to the specific contexts of eighteenth-century London society. As such, methods that theorise blackness as a singularity embedded in Atlantic slavery cannot be easily moved into this distinctive London context. Instead, this article suggests how a social historical approach, informed by a critical engagement with the archive and moving between the imagined recoveries of historical fiction and the impossible narratives of Atlantic-oriented scholarship, might prove generative in future research on Black London.

The next few articles address issues of race in London's history and heritage. First is 'From Historical Fiction to Historical Praxis: Researching Long Eighteenth-Century London’s Black Lives', by Montaz Marché and @jamie-gemmell.bsky.social (also open access): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

"The London Journal A Review of Metropolitan Society Past and Present Vol. 1 No. 1 May 1975" Text over red cover based on historical map of London near Thames.

"The London Journal A Review of Metropolitan Society Past and Present 50th Anniversary Special Issue: London's Past Today Editors: Aidan Norrie and Robert Shoemaker." Red cover composed of illustration of London on Thames, accompanied by other historical illustrations and photos of London.

It's here. Our 50th anniversary special issue, on 'London's Past Today', edited by @aidannorrie.bsky.social and Robert Shoemaker: www.tandfonline.com/toc/yldn20/c....
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