interviewed by Jake Bransgrove, @Jake_Bransgrove Historian Highlight is an ongoing series sharing the research experiences of historians in the History Faculty in Cambridge and beyond. For our latest instalment, we sat down with Benjamin Iago Gibson, a first-year PhD candidate at Trinity Hall, to discuss mountains and their roots, Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, and conceptions of time in the Medieval landscape. Ben – can you tell me what you’re currently researching? I can, yes. I’m interested in the way that people in the Middle Ages, particularly in Britain, thought about History and the past, and ..read more

By Shamsher Bhangal The 1919 Treaty of Versailles is arguably the single most significant document of the twentieth century. It was the peace treaty which marked the conclusion of the First World War and cemented a series of ultimately contentious territorial and political changes in Europe. The Treaty of Versailles has become a staple of the GCSE and A-Level history syllabus and enjoys a surprising amount of recognition in the popular consciousness in Britain today. It is commonly believed that the dictates outlined in the treaty were too harsh on Germany. The territorial amputations and hars ..read more

by Chris Campbell, @Chris__Campbell E. H. Carr must surely be one of the most seasonal names in British historical education. It emerges towards the end of summer in suggested reading lists, multiplies throughout the autumn in sixth form history classrooms, and returns to hibernation shortly after the personal statement deadline passes. How many times throughout that period must admissions tutors skim over the lines ‘I have found E. H. Carr’s What is History? particularly thought-provoking’, and how many times must they resolve to recommend a different book, only to list it once again when Aug ..read more

by Zara Kesterton, @ZaraKesterton Toni Bucky came across T.844–1974 in the Victoria and Albert Museum during her PhD research into blackwork embroidery. She was hunting for evidence of the geometric stitching, usually completed in black thread on linen, which became popular in England during the sixteenth century. In the V&A collections, Toni found an unstitched piece of cloth covered in ink markings of flowers, birds, and insects. Its curved sides suggest that it was once a coif, a tight-fitting cap worn by women in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At first, Toni disregarded it be ..read more

By Molly Groarke, @Molly_Groarke Agnes Acland was nineteen years old in 1870, when her brothers left Britain to travel overseas. Her eldest brother Charlie, heir to the family fortune and baronetcy, departed on a world tour, travelling as far as Australia and New Zealand. Gib, the brother she was closest to, had a successful military career, stationed first in Dinapore, India, then in Aden, Yemen. Meanwhile, her third brother Arthur was voyaging down the Rhine on a European tour. While Agnes and her sister May stayed at home, they still played a considerable role in their brothers’ lives and t ..read more

by Chris Campbell @Chris__Campbell  Although the idea of the ‘public historian’ is a relatively recent concept – spurred on by the growth in consumption of documentaries, podcasts, blogs and social media – there have always been academic historians who have found a broader readership and commanded a certain influence amongst the general public. This new series of Historian Highlights aims to explore those academics of the past who were doing history in public long before TikTok put millions of viewers within arm’s reach, and seeks to understand their impact on the popular view and interpr ..read more

by Daniel Gilman (@DanielGilmanHQ) The 80th anniversary of the end of the Nazi’s Siege of Leningrad came and went only a couple of weeks ago, on 27th of January, with little attention in much of the world. The protracted horror of this siege is one of the most intense tragic events in world history. The evolving memorialisation of the siege of Leningrad reflects the dynamic nature of public history, illustrating how the remembrance of such tragedies is influenced by shifting priorities and agendas. As I read through the diary entries of its victims and survivors, I find that I cannot do justic ..read more

Zara Kesterton, interviewed by Jake Bransgrove Historian Highlight is an ongoing series sharing the research experiences of historians in the History Faculty in Cambridge and beyond. For our latest instalment, we sat down with Zara Kesterton, a second-year PhD candidate at Jesus College and former DHP editor-in-chief. We discuss artificial flowers, French fashion merchants, and some of the realities of being a young historian today. Zara Kesterton in a floral dress at her Master’s Graduation: photo provided by the interviewee. What are you currently researching? I’m researching the interaction ..read more

by Beatrice Leeming There exists an established filmic tradition that has dealt with the ethics of representation and subscribed to the pedagogical power of cinema. The Holocaust has been documented and dramatized with progressive intensity since its occurrence. The perpetrators have been satirised, the victims heroized, and the narrative memorialised in both powerful and problematic cinema. The taboo on representation has repeatedly been broken.[1] Indeed, the evolution of Holocaust cinema maps the evolution of European Holocaust memorialisation more broadly, early postwar screenings of liber ..read more

By Matúš Lazar Alongside his doctoral research on public history, Matúš Lazar also runs a YouTube channel under the name M. Laser. In this post, he discusses his experience in producing historical content online. My real name is Matúš Lazar, but most people know me under my online pseudonym M. Laser. As M. Laser I have been communicating history online, primarily on YouTube, X and various podcasts, for the past seven years. As such, and pardon the self-aggrandisement, I have been at the ‘front lines’ of history communication. This is not as simple as it may seem. People don’t want to be told t ..read more