the art of being a historian, or antiquarianism?

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Commemoration of the execution of 17 Luddites, York, 19 January 2013

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On Saturday 19 January, York's Alternative History held an afternoon of talks and commemoration for the Luddites tried and executed at York. placards outside York Castle In the huge space of the Guild Hall, Adam Gutteridge , one of the organisers, introduced the themes of the day. His speech echoed the two interesting articles publicising the event in the Guardian (by local historian Paul Furness, here , and by another organiser Helen Graham, here ). They argue that now that York's industrial economy is no more (chocolate and railways), York has remade itself round the past: an economy of tourism. Yet the past as presented to tourists and indeed to residents, is a sanitised and normalised history, centring round Vikings, medieval religion, and Georgian middle-class pleasures. The recent York 800 celebrations had no place for the popular protest and resistance that had a distinguished history in the city. I began the talks by explaining the context and meaning of the ...
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Chartist Walking Tour of London, with British Library Labs

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map of the route, overlaid on Richard Horwood's 1799 map of London On Monday 21 September, as part of my British Library Labs project, we held a Chartist day and walking tour around West London. The Political Meetings Mapper has uncovered over 125 venues in London used for Chartist meetings in the 1840s. The BL Labs team took over 30 academics and members of the general public round a tour of some of the sites that I found still standing today.  We were pleased so many people turned up in costume, and everyone got to wear a traditional red, cream and green rosette! Thanks to every one for coming along, and braving the rain. Thanks also to Mahendra Mahey of the BL for doing the running round organising logistics, and to Adam Lloyd Jones for the filming.  We began with some talks in the Foyle Centre for Conservation conference suite. Mahendra Mahey introduced the work of BL Labs. I then discussed the Political Meetings Mapper and gave a background to Chartis...
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