NOVEMBER 2023 LECTURE: JOAN THIRSK AND THE POROUS FRONTIERS OF ENGLISH REGIONAL AND LOCAL HISTORY
Professor R.C. Richardson looks at the career of historian Joan Thirsk (1922-2013) who did so much to re-define what the properly contextualised study of English local history could be and could do. Although chiefly a specialist in agrarian history, her interests extended far more broadly and the lecture offers an overall assessment of her landmark status.
29 November 2023, 2pm
Professor R.C. Richardson, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Winchester.
With an immensely productive career spanning several decades first at the University of Leicester and then at Oxford, Joan Thirsk (1922-2013) did so much to re-define what the properly contextualised study of English local history could be and do. Chiefly a specialist in the field of agrarian history, her academic interests extended far more broadly and she made her mark in all the various subjects she addressed, among them food history, internal trade, inheritance customs, consumerism, cross-cultural contacts and the rural origins of industry. Her general editorship and part authorship of the monumental 10,000 page Agrarian History of England was her greatest achievement. This lecture offers an overall assessment of her landmark status.
Professor Richardson has recently been elected President of our Society. He is the author or editor of numerous books and articles on early modern England.
The lecture is online and free to attend but places need to be reserved via Eventbrite