“Publishing popular history in the 19th century British newspaper”
University of Central Lancashire, UK
Applications are invited for a full-time 3-year fees-only PhD studentship (via MPhil), exploring the publishing of popular history in the 19th-century British newspaper. The successful candidate will assess the scale and content of history publishing in newspapers, particularly local newspapers. The project will involve analysis of digitised and non-digitised newspapers, and comparisons with history publishing via magazines and books. Material such as chronologies, news of archaeological finds, dedicated ‘Notes and Queries’-style columns, folklore, dialect and wholesale scholarly transcription of historical sources will be analysed, and case studies selected. Qualitative, quantitative and ‘digital humanities’ methods can be used, according to the student’s interests and skills. The project could also study the writers of this material, and links between newspaper and book publishing.
The project combines the histories of journalism, publishing, provincial literary and scholarly cultures, history as an academic profession, and amateurism versus professionalism. There is scope for the student to pursue personal scholarly interests under these broad headings.
This is an opportunity to realign current thinking on the publishing of history, away from books and towards newspapers and periodicals; to challenge established 19th-century historiography; to contribute to public history, and to explore historical consciousness among ordinary people, beyond the universities and metropolitan salons.
The University of Central Lancashire is close to substantial archival collections related to 19th-century local history and antiquarianism, including the Lancashire Archives, Chetham’s Library (Manchester) and Manchester Central Library. The student will be encouraged to use other relevant archives in the UK and Ireland.
International applicants may apply for the studentship but will be required to pay the difference in tuition fees. It is expected the successful applicant will commence 1 July 2017. The application deadline is 30 April 2017. For more information, please visit: www.uclan.ac.uk/research/study/studentships.php.