So I have finished transcribing the BR1 Catalogue (1968), so I can provide you with some of the basic stats.  So in 1968, BR1 had: 1623 unique BR numbers (titles), with the highest number being 6004. There were 3475 individual line items. I can also say that the max character lengths for the different columns are as follows: Suffixes (following BR number): 20 characters Main Title : 193 characters Part/Volume Title: 176 characters Sponsoring Dept: 21 characters In-text Notes: 239 characters Transcription Notes: 148 Given that there are over 3475 line items, you can do some quick maths to ..read more

Ports have played an important role in history as spaces of transit and transitions, of encounters and exchanges, of comings and goings. As nodes in trading networks and hubs of economic activity, ports serve as dynamic meeting spaces for peoples and cultures throughout time. Ports were also zones of conflict, spaces where wars and battles were fought, and where interests and convictions clashed. For some, ports signified freedom and possibilities; for others – such as enslaved people – captivity and extraction. Despite its dynamic and multifaceted character, the port is often presented as a ..read more

The Governance of the Atlantic Port Cities in the The Middle Ages, a Research Group of the University of Cantabria, seeks chapter proposals on the topic “Criminal Cultures in the Atlantic city and beyond in the Middle Ages.” The association of the Middle Ages with the ideas of regression, darkness and universal stagnation permeates the current collective imaginary about this historical period to the point that any injustice, cruelty or barbarity is branded as “medieval”. It is widely believed that medieval society was subjected to the powerful people, without any structure of regula ..read more

University of Oxford’s Transnational & Global History Seminar invites papers for its annual conference. This year’s conference, which will take place in-person and online, will be on the theme of “Colonialism, Conflict & Commemoration.” The deadline to submit an abstract is April 15. Abstracts can address, but are not limited to the following subthemes: Settler colonialism: Exploring the enduring impacts and contemporary manifestations of settler colonial projects. Asymmetric Conflicts: Reckoning with occluded histories of irregular warfare, civil wars, counter-insurgencies, wars o ..read more

World History Connected has been an affiliate of the World History Association since 2003. While the submission of individual articles on any topic germane to world history are welcome at any time, the journal also invites papers suitable for a Forum, a set of 4 to 8 curated articles showcasing innovative research and the scholarship of teaching in the interdisciplinary field of world history. This Call for Papers invites contributions to the anticipated Fall 2024 issue’s Forum devoted to “Piracy In World History,” guest edited by Ian Abbey, Prairie View A&M University. Contribut ..read more

Last summer, I took advantage of camping at Awenda Provincial Park to drag my family to Discovery Harbour. This was a place I had known about since my teens, when I was sailing tall ships. In fact, I had applied for jobs there several times, trying to get jobs sailing on their two tall ships HM Ships Tecumseh and Bee. This seemed a brilliant opportunity, however, and so we went in. First off, despite being the summer we were one of only a few visitors there, and I was surprised how calm things were, despite it being the middle of July. I very much hope that it gets more visitors than ..read more

Special issue of Global Nineteenth-Century Studies CFP: The Global / Oceanic / Nineteenth Century   In November 2022, the Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies held a two-day international symposium on “The Global / Oceanic / Nineteenth Century.”  Intentionally broad in scope, the symposium sought to cross-map nineteenth-century studies with key currents of the blue humanities, the Black and circum-Atlantic, Indian Ocean studies, oceanic ecologies, post- and decolonialism, maritime globalization, and beyond.  Building on and expanding out from this event,  ..read more

A couple of weeks ago, the family and I went to vist Collingwood, Ontario for a few days.  These days, Collingwood is best known for Blue Mountain and Skiing (which started during the Second World War, and whose supporters in the 1950s included many former Luftwaffe officers in the 1950s, it turns out. Another side of Collingwood, now long ended, was its history as a shipbuilding port.  Collingwood is on Nottawasaga Bay, on the South-west edge of Georgian Bay, and so has access to Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Michigan, and to Lake Superior and the rest of the World via the Welland ..read more

This post is to share the latest wonderful resource from the generous Roy Metcalfe, who has gone to Kew and taken some more photos. These photos are from ADM 234/1 BR 1 (1951), the earliest BR1 catalogue that Kew has available in the catalogue. It’s also the first entry in the ADM 234 series. As you can see, it is distinctly different from the BR1 (1968) that I’ve been transcribing and showing lots of pictures from. First, the individual titles seem to have fewer volumes, but also just from this layout you can see that the establishment for who can claim what is in the same part of the documen ..read more

The DHST Commission on the History of Oceanography (ICHO) announces its Jacqueline Carpine-Lancre Early Career Scholars Prize for outstanding papers addressing some aspect of ocean history, which for the purposes of this prize should include attention to knowledge creation or the history of ocean knowledge, broadly construed. The award aims to provide recognition and support for early career scholars who are contributing to the development of ocean history through their scholarship. Candidates must have recently been awarded a PhD (within the previous 8 years) or have begun the work while enr ..read more