In a significant step to increase our online presence and engagement, BALH has created two new fellowships, for Digital Engagement and for Social Media. The interview and hiring process was held over the summer and both our new Fellows are now in post, working alongside our Digital Manager Paul Carter in our Digital Team. 

Introducing Daniella

"Born and raised in Gibraltar, I came to the UK in 2010 to study a BA in History at the University of Kent and I’ve never looked back since. Upon the completion of my BA, I continued my studies at Kent undertaking an MA in Medieval and Early Modern Studies between 2013 and 2014. After taking a gap year, I returned to Kent in 2015 to pursue my PhD and passed my viva in February 2020. Funded by the Consortium for the Humanities and Arts in the South East (CHASE), my PhD, titled ‘Common Profit and Civic Governance in Ricardian London, c.1376-c.1391’, focused on political discourse and how this was expressed within civic records in Richard II’s London.

"I am interested in the social, cultural and political history of late medieval London, especially understandings of medieval political theory in an urban environment. I have an interest in political language and the way this was used by London’s civic leaders to enforce their authority and negotiate the political landscape that they found themselves in, examining how ideological concerns, specifically common profit rhetoric, influenced documentary culture. Part of my research is also concerned with the relationship between monarch, civic officers and the London populace and how ideas of body politic are expressed in London’s civic records.

"After completing my doctoral studies, I have taken on work in the archive sector working on local history projects for several archives. These include projects undertaken with Special Collections & Archives at the University of Kent, focusing on early modern legal documents produced in Kent between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, and, more recently, with the Gibraltar National Archives, where I’ve been transcribing eighteenth-century letter books outlining Gibraltar’s administrative history. I have a deep interest in making archival records more widely accessible to the public and am very keen to work with county archives to engage audiences with historical records and to learn more about the communities that they are a part of. As from September 2020, I will be undertaking a distance learning MA in Archives Administration at the University of Aberystwyth.

"I am also a Co-founder and Editor of MEMSlib, a lockdown library created in response to the Covid-19 pandemic to assist medievalists and early modernists in carrying out their research from home (https://www.memslib.co.uk/). Recently, I have also taken up the role of Communications Officer for the Archives and Records Association’s Section for New Professionals, which aims to support archivists and records managers in the early stages of their career.

"I am absolutely honoured to join BALH as the Social Media Fellow and I’ll be responsible for BALH’s various social media platforms. This is a very exciting opportunity for me and I’m very much looking forward to highlighting the importance of local history and engaging wider communities with the stories of the places that they live in.

Introducing Claire

"My background is in medieval history and I completed my BA (2010-13) MA (2013-14) and PhD (2014-18) at Royal Holloway, University of London where I was supervised by Professor Nigel Saul. I’ve always had an interest in local history and my PhD explored the parish church, guilds and merchants of Louth in Lincolnshire. I am currently working on a proposal to turn my doctoral thesis into my first book along with researching Lincolnshire’s Corpus Christi guilds and editing the 1389 Lincolnshire guild returns for publication with the Lincoln Record Society. My research interests cover all aspects of British history between c.1066 and c.1500 but I am particularly interested in medieval religion, small urban centres, trade and guilds.

"Since 2017 I have worked on a variety of digital engagement projects. I was the Medieval Specialist and Education Lead for the £1 million Heritage Lottery Funded Citizens Project at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2017 and 2020 which explored the relationship between the citizen and the state from the time of Magna Carta until the present day. During my time on the Citizens Project I researched and presented numerous educational YouTube videos, covering topics including national events such as the 1381 Great revolt, but also important events in local history such as the Lincolnshire Rising. I designed and ran a number of workshops for school pupils across the country, delivered teacher training events (both online and in person) and worked with a range of local museums to produce their own digital resources. I was also a featured contributor for a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on FutureLearn.

"In 2019 I was appointed as one of the AHRC’s Creative Economy Engagement Fellows. As part of my fellowship I worked at The National Archives on a range of digital projects including blog posts, content for another MOOC and a range of online resources for Chertsey Museum which explore the history of Chertsey Abbey and its dissolution using documents and artefacts from Chertsey and The National Archives.

"In 2020 I have been working with the Tudor Chamber Projects team at the University of Winchester to develop and deliver a suite of online, self-guided research tasks for Key Stage 4 and 5 students studying the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII.

"I am delighted to be joining BALH as the Digital Engagement Fellow. In this role I am going to be developing a range of online resources for the BALH and working on the Teacher Fellow Programme run jointly by the Historical Association and BALH in 2021. I am particularly interested in collaborations and facilitating engagement between researchers and secondary schools, teachers, museums, archives and the creative industries so this role is a perfect fit and I can’t wait to get started!