Helen Esfandiary

Yes! Institutions prescribed, but the nursery decided...
I’ll be unpacking how Georgian mothers redefined medical expertise – transforming teething crises & worm remedies into demonstrations of domestic authority.

@ihr.bsky.social
@bsecs.bsky.social
@ihrwomen.bsky.social
@sshmedicine.bsky.social

I’ll be speaking about the very object featured below - the Le Vacher machine - and how mothers in Georgian England used devices like it to 'straighten' children’s bodies. #HistMed #MaterialCulture #MedicalHumanities #18thCentury

Cover of Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica by Katharine Gerbner. Features an image of an old handwritten ledger or registry page with rows and columns filled with cursive names and annotations and what appears to be an ink smudge at the bottom. The title is overlaid in large black serif font with the subtitle below in smaller black text and the author's name is at the bottom. A vertical red stripe runs along the left edge of the cover.

The Weekly Read is "Archival Irruptions" by @ktgerbs.bsky.social, which traces how British colonial authorities in mid-eighteenth-century Jamaica came to criminalize Obeah, a religious practice held by enslaved Africans. Read the entire book now, for free!
buff.ly/rccy0qL

IHR London Summer School 2026: Sickness and Health From the Black Death to the Covid-19 pandemic, from medieval medicine to public health across the centuries, from hospitals to archives & collections. Join us to discover Londo...

The Institute of Historical Research's 2026 June summer school in Bloomsbury is on Sickness and Health, from London's medieval history to the present. Suitable for the History-curious over the age of 16.

@ihrlifecycles.bsky.social strikes again with another rising star! Huge congrats to @berrypillot.bsky.social for winning the 2025 @ihr.bsky.social Pollard Prize for: 'No Place to be a Child? The Persistence and Peculiarities of Children’s Play during the Second World War in London and Liverpool.'🏆🙌🎉

New post today on #FindTheMidwife. Midwives under pressure with @sallypezaro.bsky.social and myself! What happened when midwives were pushed by town fathers to interrogate their clients? How did they balance their obligations? www.findthemidwife.com/midwives-und...

SSHM 2026: In/Out Location: University of Leeds Dates: 30 June to 3 July 2026 Submission Deadline: 5.00pm (GMT) 11th January 2026 Conference Co-Convenors: Dr Alexia Moncrieff & Dr Katherine Rawling Conference Co…

The 2026 SSHM Conference will be @universityofleeds.bsky.social. The theme will be In/Out and we are inviting papers that consider experiences of being in and/or out of health or health care in any period or geographical location. #HistMed #HistSTM
sshm.org/sshm-2026/

There’s still time to sign up in person or online to hear Amy Wilson talk about pastoral dress & ideas about female fertility, pregnancy, and maternal identity in eighteenth century elite culture 👇

@ihr.bsky.social

We look forward to hosting you Amy!

10 days until the #CFP deadline for the online workshop *Object Stories in Health and Medicine 1700-1900*.

We invite proposals for 15-minute talks on a single object related to health or medicine during the 18th & 19th centuries #histmed #histpsych #medhums

www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/objec...

And we are delighted to have you on board!!! @ihr.bsky.social
@ihrlifecycles.bsky.social

Can you see circles or rectangles? And does the answer depend on where you grew up? | Anil Seth We may believe we see the world exactly as it is – but as studies of optical illusions show, it’s far more complex than that, says cognitive and computational neuroscience professor Anil Seth

"How things seem is not how they are" -- more reasons to pursue the history of experience. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Histories of Resistance: Disability, Agency and Embodiment in the Long Eighteenth Century British History in the Long 18th Century Semianr

Great to see the video of David Turner's recent talk, 'Histories of Resistance: Disability, Agency and Embodiment in the Long Eighteenth Century' @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social now available online. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... It was a great evening.

The one to the right!

There’s still time to sign up online/in person for this important talk this weds @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihr.bsky.social 👇

Hello! This is 'Material Identities, Social Bodies', a Leverhulme Trust-funded research project at the University of Birmingham. Led by @kharveyhistory.bsky.social and supported by @helenesfandiary.bsky.social, it explores embodiment & social identity in C18th British letters
socialbodies.bham.ac.uk

Feminist histories: care, loneliness and embodiment Panel Discussion with Dr Anna Jamieson, Professor Sarah Knott, Dr Naomi Pullin and Professor Karen Harvey.

A first post on a cheering topic. Coming up in February, at Birmingham, with thanks to Lucie Ryzova and Karen Harvey: www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/hist...

Congrats Dion!

Opportunities Find opportunities to join UCL History in academic, research, teaching and learning, admin and other capacities below.

Funded PhD Studentship @UCL History and @wellcomecollection.bsky.social on project titled 'Translating Monstrosity: Constructions of Difference in #earlymodern England and France'. Deadline Jan 31st 2025. Project & application info: www.ucl.ac.uk/history/oppo.... #histmed #histsci #HSTM #bookhistory

Yes please! Can you add me?

Hear, hear!!!!
The same very much applies to breastfeeding and bottle-feeding and historical constructions around these. I experienced the awful double-whammy of being subjected to the guilt and shame surrounding a c-section *plus* bottle feeding.

Why We Need the History of Health and Medicine 'Six Misconceptions about Modern Medicine that Historical Research Undermines' with Professor Matthew Smith (University of Strathcylde)

We're delighted to welcome @healthhistory.bsky.social, who's giving his paper 'Six Misconceptions about Modern Medicine that Historical Research Undermines', this Thursday, 28th Nov! Free tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/why-we-nee.... In person only.

Yes please!

Such a delight to present my research @long18thsem.bsky.social last night. It is such a supportive & challenging forum of senior scholars - presenting here never fails to help me improve the quality of my work. Thank you everyone who came, & to all those who asked questions #skystorians 🗃️

Britishness revisited: food and the formation of British identities in the late eighteenth century

Our fortnightly seminar series continues next Wed 9/10 at 17:30 at the IHR Wolfson Room (as well as online via Zoom) as @sarahfoxhistory.bsky.social of Edge Hill University will discuss the role of food in the formation of British identities. #c18th #britishhistory
www.history.ac.uk/events/briti...

The ‘rational study of God’s works’: Eighteenth-century clerical naturalists and the origins of the modern life sciences

Join us next Wed 25/9 at 17:30 either at the IHR Wolfson Room or online via Zoom as @brycchancarey.bsky.social of Northumbria University will kick off our Autumn seminar program with a paper on eighteenth century clerical naturalism. #c18th #britishhistory www.history.ac.uk/events/ratio...

Apply by 6 Sept to become our new PG convenor! 👇

A fantastic opportunity to become part of our vibrant seminar culture. Deadline 6 Sept! Don’t delay!!!

Registration for #SSHM2024 is now OPEN📢
Society for the Social History of Medicine Biennial Conference 'Resistance' University of Strathclyde, Glasgow 16 - 19 July 2024 Organized by the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/d...

#histmed