School sessions offered by the History / Modern History staff include the following:
Roman History (for further topics see the Classical Studies page):
-Going to School in the Roman Empire (Dr Jamie Wood). This talk considers the experiences of pupils, teachers, and enslaved people in the Roman classroom. It focuses on the methods that were used and the violent form and content of much ancient education. Delivered on campus or in schools.
Medieval History:
-Why was King John faced with baronial rebellion in England in 1215? (Dr Louise Wilkinson). This talk is suitable for sixth-form (Yrs12-13) medieval history A-Level students. It outlines the causes of baronial rebellion in England, introducing the key historiography and sources for looking at the outbreak of the First Barons’ War. Delivered on campus.
-The past is all around us: medieval landscapes and buildings (Dr Mark Gardiner). Session aimed at sixth-formers and delivered on campus.
-Why do we study the Middle Ages? The Medieval Origins of the Modern World (Dr Rob Portass). This session is aimed at getting students in Yrs 10-13 to think beyond ‘relevance’ and other buzzwords to interrogate the long-standing influence of medieval innovations, institutions and practices on the world they recognise today. Delivered on campus or in East Midlands schools.
-Jerusalem and the Crusades (Dr Michele Vescovi). This session explores the Crusades by focusing on the Holy City of Jerusalem. We will discuss the cultural history of Jerusalem, from its origins until the Crusades. How did the Crusades impact the Holy City? Teachers are invited to contact the lecturer to tailor the content of this session to their specific requirements. Delivered on campus or can travel to schools.
-The Fourth Crusade and Venice (Dr Michele Vescovi). This session considers the complex dynamics of the Fourth Crusade, which eventually ended with the sack of Constantinople. The second part of the session will focus on Venice, considering how the city was visually transformed by these events, with the translations of spoils of war. Delivered on campus or can travel to schools.
Early Modern History:
-Why was Charles I executed? (Dr Jon Fitzgibbons). A-Level – Will focus on the consequences of the civil wars and the interaction between religious and political ideas. It will look at two key questions for historians of mid-17thC Britain – why was the king executed and why was monarchy abolished? Delivered on campus.
-Oliver Cromwell: King in all but name? (Dr Jon Fitzgibbons). A-Level – Explore the nature of Cromwellian rule in Britain and beyond – also look at the imagery and ceremony of the governments of the 1650s and the extent to which those regimes were able to gain support. Delivered on campus.
-Slimy Stuarts? Exploring the Divine Right of Kings (Dr Jon Fitzgibbons). A-Level – This session will allow students to get into the minds of the early Stuart kings (James I and Charles I), using their writings, speeches and portraits to explore their political and religious beliefs. We will examine how historians have disagreed over the true meaning of divine right kingship and why these debates have implications for broader historical questions, not least the causes of England’s Civil Wars. Delivered on campus.
-Crown, Cromwell and Colonisation (Dr Kristy Warren). This session, for sixth-form students, aims to integrate: 1) how existing historiography shapes what we come to know about the past; and 2) the links between domestic politics, society and religion in the mid-17th British Isles (esp. England) and the emerging English Empire in the Americas. Delivered on campus.
-Anti-semitism before and after the English Civil War (Dr Erin Bell). This session can be aimed at Y9-Y13 and offers an overview of antisemitic stereotypes before and after the return of some Jewish congregations to England in the 1650s; it also includes C17th Jewish responses where possible. Delivered in campus or in local schools (Lincoln or Saxilby).
-The inquisition in the Spanish Americas (Dr Vanessa Alvarez Portugal). A-level. Through an analysis of the Inquisitorial archives, we shall examine the practices, beliefs and behaviours that were object of the socio-cultural control exercised by the religious body. Delivered on campus or in London schools.
-Spanish American silver and emeralds: mining and the environmental modernity (Dr Vanessa Alvarez Portugal). A-level. The session will examine primary source materials to study the techniques and the environmental repercussions of the extraction of silver and emeralds for transatlantic commerce. Delivered on campus or in London schools.
Modern History:
-The case for and against women’s suffrage (Dr Ian Packer). A-Level. Exploring contemporary sources and arguments. Delivered on campus.
-Life in the Victorian Asylum (Dr Jade Shepherd). Aimed at post-16 students. This session is based on a variety of primary sources (illustrations, correspondence, asylum plans), which we use to re-assess popular stereotypes of the Victorian insane asylum (treatment, patient experience). Delivered on campus. Not available in 2023.
-‘Oriental’ activism in late 19th and early 20th-century Britain (Dr Alyson Wharton). This session can focus on a chosen case study, from an Ottoman wax dummy museum in Leicester Square, to cultural events of a society formed to lobby MPs about violence against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. It discusses how refugees and representatives of foreign governments tried to get past misconceptions of Victorian and Edwardian state and society. Delivered on campus or in schools.
-‘Too much fighting on the dance floor’?: Inner-city riots in 1980s England (Dr Isabelle Carter). Aimed at post-16 students. Uses primary source materials to understand different perspectives of 1981 riots (both through personal testimonies and popular culture). Delivered on campus.
-Why does understanding the history of the British Empire matter? (Dr Sarah Longair). Can be tailored to more specific Empire-related questions. Delivered on campus or in schools.
-‘The Forgotten Front’: The First World War in East Africa (Dr Sarah Longair). Delivered on campus or in schools.
-Civil Rights Photography (Dr Jon Coburn). For AS and A2-level students to introduce civil rights photographs and show how historians interpret moments in the movement. Learning Objectives: students will develop: understanding of civil rights history; use of photography as an historical source; group working skills; public speaking skills. Delivered on campus or in schools.
-Why They Dropped the Bomb: The Decision to Use Atomic Weapons During World War II (Dr Thomas Bishop). GCSE, AS, or A2-level students, using a variety of sources to piece together an historical argument. Learning Objectives: students will develop; awareness of debates in Cold War history; ability to compare and contrast a range of source material; argumentative skills; group-working skills; public speaking skills. Delivered on campus.
Skills Sessions, A-Level Revision Sessions and Transition to University:
-Material culture in the classroom (Dr Sarah Longair). This is a general skills session and can be modified according to time period and/or theme. Delivered on campus or in schools.
-Source Analysis: From Manuscripts to Music. Staff in the University of Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage have experience in working with a usually wide and interdisciplinary range of sources. These sessions will showcase our strengths in interpreting visual sources like art, architecture, and cinema, to archaeological finds, to medieval manuscripts, literary sources, oral history, and textual sources from ‘conventional’ archives, as well as digital archives.
-History at University: Taking Your Own Path. Studying History at University is very different to school. These sessions will help students to anticipate some of the changes and to help them understand if reading History (and specifically History at Lincoln) is the right choice for them.
-Continuity and Change in the Past and Present. This session can help students to understand important moments of change in the modern world, such as the Age of Revolutions or the rise of Fascism in Italy.
-The House of Muhammad to Burj Dubai: visual sources for the study of Islamic History (Dr Alyson Wharton). Using visual sources to help teachers and students revise A-Level History syllabus (with specific strengths for OCR’s Rise of Islam and Rise of the Ottoman Empire but also modules on the Modern Middle East, A-Level Religious Studies etc.). Delivered on campus or in schools.
-The History of Russia Through Objects, Artworks and Buildings: Ivan the Terrible to Stalin. Using visual case studies to supplement or revise learning at A-Level on Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. Focus on art, architecture and visual culture of the imperial court and Soviet official culture, but also ephemera, pamphlets etc. connected to social movements.
Contact Dr Alyson Wharton AWharton@lincoln.ac.uk to book sessions.