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This case study presents the impact of research undertaken by Dr Nicola Verdon on the social and economic history of the British countryside in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her findings, which focus on rural work patterns, family life and gender relations, are published in leading academic journals and have been used to inform and contribute to several public impacts: a museum exhibition on women's work on the land, a leading theatre production which centres on the fortunes of a Devon farming family, and several programmes on the broadcast media (radio and TV) on rural life and labour.
The production of hand-knitting is of key economic and cultural importance in Scotland. University of Glasgow research on the history of hand-knitting has: helped to enhance a significant textiles collection at Shetland Museum and Archives (~88,000 visitors each year) and contributed to the growth of public interest in and understanding of this craft activity and its history. Glasgow research has also informed the work of contemporary knitwear designers who have found inspiration in the traditional designs and colour ways and has engaged the wider public, promoting greater appreciation of the cultural significance of hand-knitting and its role in the rural economy of the past and present.
University of Huddersfield research into Lady Anne Clifford and her Great Books of Record has led to wide-ranging new awareness of a key figure in regional history, women's writing and political and cultural engagement. Supported by extensive dissemination efforts, including an exhibition, a series of public lectures and numerous media appearances, the work has helped inform the broader popular debate about the period in which Lady Anne lived, especially in terms of challenging cultural and gender stereotypes, and has generated both local and national interest in her life, her achievements and her continuing significance. The tourism, heritage and culture industries have benefited as a result.
Allotments are a subject of wide ranging historical interest and significance, now boosted by a renewed enthusiasm for their use in current times of economic difficulty and environmental awareness. Research by Jeremy Burchardt, University of Reading, into the history of allotments, in itself offering a ground-breaking academic perspective on a marginalised `popular' history subject, led a number of individuals and organisations from outside academic life to take up work on the history of allotments. Most notably, it prompted the Family and Community Historical Research Society (FACHRS) to launch a major nationwide project, resulting in a book (Breaking New Ground) jointly edited by Burchardt, and an accompanying database. Together these resources have provided an extensive reference source for further investigations by individuals and groups of local historians and allotment associations. With the interest in the general and specific histories of allotments continuing, Burchardt's work and that emanating from it has provided a rich resource and starting point for numerous further enquiries.
This case study presents the impact of research undertaken by Professor Clare Midgley that places nineteenth-century British women's activism within its imperial and global contexts. Impact has been achieved through advisory roles and public engagement activities with two community groups involved in projects to commemorate women, and a consultancy role with English Heritage. As a result, Midgley's research has both played a crucial role in initiating and shaping local projects to commemorate pioneering British feminists and abolitionists of local, national and global significance, whilst also influencing national policy on preserving and presenting historic sites associated with women's history.
Newcastle research has informed public perceptions of marriage as an institution in Britain and abroad by: (i) challenging cultural values and social assumptions about marriage; (ii) expanding the sensibilities of individuals on this subject; and (iii) extending the range and improving the quality of evidence pertaining to the history of marriage and through this enhancing public understanding of sexual health issues and informed marriage equality debates.
Italiane. Biografia del Novecento has enhanced public discourse by stimulating widespread and important debates in the Italian media, among politicians and the public about the role of women in twentieth-century Italy. Some of its arguments have been considered controversial, leading many commentators, including the prominent journalist Paolo Mieli in 2012, to call it a `courageous book' (Section 5:3). As the first scholarly but accessible work of synthesis (in any language) ranging over the history of Italian women in the whole twentieth century it is an important milestone for Italian women's history and for discussions about women's role in contemporary Italy. It has also made a significant contribution to history teaching in Italian universities.
Impacts of Dr Danae Tankard's research into furnishing and clothing of the 17c. rural poor are evidenced for the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum (WDOAM) and its staff and volunteers, for visitors to the exhibit-house, Poplar Cottage, the Poplar Clothing Project exhibition and for the interested public at large. It is a case of historical research informing heritage practice and experience.
These impacts have been achieved through two projects, the first focusing on informing a historically accurate interpretation of the furnishings of the 17c. Poplar Cottage and the second recreating accurate replica clothing for an exhibition and subsequent use by the WDOAM's interpretation staff and volunteers. The enhanced visitor experience was evaluated through a post-exhibition survey and the impact on the Museum and its staff evidenced through training delivered and subsequent modified practices and the additional press coverage arising from the exhibition.
Tankard is part-time (0.5Fte) senior lecturer at the University of Chichester (since January 2008) and also part-time (0.5Fte) social historian at the WDOAM.
While academic research about 18th-century women writers is well established, many general readers are completely unfamiliar with the range, presence and vitality of their cultural activity. Elizabeth Eger's research on 18th-century women's writing led to a free, public exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery aimed to bridge the distance between specialised and general knowledge by introducing to the general public the original bluestockings— a group of intellectual women who had significant social and literary impact upon Enlightenment Britain but were subsequently written out of history. The exhibition attracted a large audience of over 185,000 people, approximately twice the number predicted by the NPG. 40% of the visitors were first time at the NPG, and an outreach programme ensured this audience was diverse.
Brad Beaven's research into the changing character and form of popular culture in the English city between 1850 and 1945 underpinned the `Portsmouth Voices' project, a collaboration with Portsmouth City Museum supported by a £223,500 Heritage Lottery Fund award. Previous exhibitions had presented rather narrow and parochial narratives of Portsmouth's history. Beaven's research significantly structured the project's engagement with class, gender and ethnicity in narrating the city's past, and played a guiding role in the curation of a major exhibition that successfully challenged preconceived ideas on generation, race and sexuality. In presenting both an inclusive and challenging story of Portsmouth's history, the exhibition attracted significant visitor numbers and a new section of the public who engaged with the Museum for the first time.