Elizabeth Darling
@archhistdarling.bsky.social
Architectural historian, curator, author specialising in histories of modernist cultures in Britain, esp 20s/30s; expert on women & architecture 1890s to the present. Currently freelance. Also Chair of the Society of Architectural Historians of GB
Reposted by Elizabeth Darling
EVENTS: This Thursday we’ll be joined by Emily Gee IHBC FSA for a seminar exploring campaigns to house a new generation of working Victorian and Edwardian women, the specialised design of their buildings, and the lives transformed by this architectural movement.
Register Now:
sahgb.org.uk/whatson
Register Now:
sahgb.org.uk/whatson
November 24, 2025 at 2:59 PM
EVENTS: This Thursday we’ll be joined by Emily Gee IHBC FSA for a seminar exploring campaigns to house a new generation of working Victorian and Edwardian women, the specialised design of their buildings, and the lives transformed by this architectural movement.
Register Now:
sahgb.org.uk/whatson
Register Now:
sahgb.org.uk/whatson
One of the good 70s BHS shopfronts on Fishersgate, Preston. The busker was singing the Stone Roses - in homage to Mani, RIP.
November 22, 2025 at 12:02 PM
One of the good 70s BHS shopfronts on Fishersgate, Preston. The busker was singing the Stone Roses - in homage to Mani, RIP.
In Preston so of course I visited for bus station! Very nicely detailed! But hardly anyone waiting for a bus! (Preston seems to have a gazillion car parks).
November 22, 2025 at 10:55 AM
In Preston so of course I visited for bus station! Very nicely detailed! But hardly anyone waiting for a bus! (Preston seems to have a gazillion car parks).
Reposted by Elizabeth Darling
SAHGB has conferred the inaugural Colvin Special Award 2025 on the editors of the Pevsner Architectural Guides, recognising their renewal of this landmark series for readers across the British Isles.
Full press release on our website.
www.sahgb.org.uk/features/col...
Full press release on our website.
www.sahgb.org.uk/features/col...
November 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
SAHGB has conferred the inaugural Colvin Special Award 2025 on the editors of the Pevsner Architectural Guides, recognising their renewal of this landmark series for readers across the British Isles.
Full press release on our website.
www.sahgb.org.uk/features/col...
Full press release on our website.
www.sahgb.org.uk/features/col...
New by me - part of my ongoing & evolving work on women’s social activism in late Victorian & Edwardian Edinburgh: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
November 17, 2025 at 9:07 AM
New by me - part of my ongoing & evolving work on women’s social activism in late Victorian & Edwardian Edinburgh: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
V grateful to @iashedinburgh.bsky.social for recognising my scholarship with this Fellowship & delighted that this article is now out online. Jane Whyte was a remarkable member of a remarkable network of Edinburgh activists, & an undoubted influence on her radical daughter Janet Chance.
New paper:
Elizabeth Darling (2025). "Jane Whyte (1857-1944) and Janet Chance (1886-1953): ‘a notable Churchwoman’ and her abortion activist daughter." Women's History Review. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Elizabeth was a 2021 Senior Anniversary Fellow, working on Heroines of the Canongate.
Elizabeth Darling (2025). "Jane Whyte (1857-1944) and Janet Chance (1886-1953): ‘a notable Churchwoman’ and her abortion activist daughter." Women's History Review. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Elizabeth was a 2021 Senior Anniversary Fellow, working on Heroines of the Canongate.
Jane Whyte (1857-1944) and Janet Chance (1886-1953): ‘a notable Churchwoman’ and her abortion activist daughter
This article explores the lives of Jane Whyte (1857-1944) and Janet Chance (1886-1953), a mother and daughter who represent two generations of women's activism in Scotland and England from the late...
www.tandfonline.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:44 PM
V grateful to @iashedinburgh.bsky.social for recognising my scholarship with this Fellowship & delighted that this article is now out online. Jane Whyte was a remarkable member of a remarkable network of Edinburgh activists, & an undoubted influence on her radical daughter Janet Chance.
On Armistice Day I remember my granpop Andrew Darling (on the left in pic 1) , member of the BEF, captured at St Valery and then a POW. Recently found this photo of a poster he designed while a POW at Stalag 383 - in catalogue of National Library of NZ.
November 11, 2025 at 10:23 AM
On Armistice Day I remember my granpop Andrew Darling (on the left in pic 1) , member of the BEF, captured at St Valery and then a POW. Recently found this photo of a poster he designed while a POW at Stalag 383 - in catalogue of National Library of NZ.
Tidying up and reunited with no 32 of @themodernist.bsky.social journal as edited by #RuthLang. My contrib was an exploration of the contemporary not-seeing of Elizabeth Denby.
November 10, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Tidying up and reunited with no 32 of @themodernist.bsky.social journal as edited by #RuthLang. My contrib was an exploration of the contemporary not-seeing of Elizabeth Denby.
Super time yesterday evening learning all about early cinema in Hove - within weeks of the Lumieres’ films being shown in London, Bertie & Laura Smith had started film making in St Ann’s Well Gardens! #filmarchivesoutheast
November 9, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Super time yesterday evening learning all about early cinema in Hove - within weeks of the Lumieres’ films being shown in London, Bertie & Laura Smith had started film making in St Ann’s Well Gardens! #filmarchivesoutheast
Reposted by Elizabeth Darling
Just up: a great contribution to CST's ongoing Defending the WAC series by James Jordan. Thoughts on Cartier, Dimbleby and the unknowns of archive research. cstonline.net/defending-th...
Defending the WAC: Filling the gaps which some never knew existed by James Jordan
In common with the other authors of this series of blogs, I am a regular user who knows first-hand the importance of the BBC’s Written Archives. When I first visited in 2006 it was to research a…
cstonline.net
November 7, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Just up: a great contribution to CST's ongoing Defending the WAC series by James Jordan. Thoughts on Cartier, Dimbleby and the unknowns of archive research. cstonline.net/defending-th...
Enjoyed this programme about one of my favourite book series: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Artworks - When Kevin Met Sadie - BBC Sounds
Chris Page explores the influence of Joan Lingard’s Kevin & Sadie novels on young readers.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Enjoyed this programme about one of my favourite book series: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Nice to see my name in the local paper - tho’ I prefer
To think of my work as germinal!
To think of my work as germinal!
November 2, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Nice to see my name in the local paper - tho’ I prefer
To think of my work as germinal!
To think of my work as germinal!
www.sahgb.org.uk/whatson - @thesahgb.bsky.social has a busy autumn events programme - our seminar series with @IHR kicks off this Thursday!
Architectural History Events - SAHGB
Throughout the year, the society hosts numerous hybrid seminars, face-to-face visits and study days.
www.sahgb.org.uk
October 26, 2025 at 9:32 AM
www.sahgb.org.uk/whatson - @thesahgb.bsky.social has a busy autumn events programme - our seminar series with @IHR kicks off this Thursday!
Reposted by Elizabeth Darling
MUST READ! In the latest CST blog about the damaging changes going on at the BBC Written Archives Centre, @marklewisohn.bsky.social delivers his cri de cœur squarely at those who came up with or are signing-off on this policy shift. Please read and share widely.
cstonline.net/defending-th...
cstonline.net/defending-th...
DEFENDING THE WAC: MARK LEWISOHN LOOKS AT WHY RENEWED APPRECIATION IS URGENTLY REQUIRED
I was asked to write an op-ed piece saying why I think the BBC’s Written Archives Centre (WAC) is a unique and brilliant resource, which I can do because it’s both – and why, therefore…
cstonline.net
October 24, 2025 at 11:44 AM
MUST READ! In the latest CST blog about the damaging changes going on at the BBC Written Archives Centre, @marklewisohn.bsky.social delivers his cri de cœur squarely at those who came up with or are signing-off on this policy shift. Please read and share widely.
cstonline.net/defending-th...
cstonline.net/defending-th...
RIP Dave Ball.
Dave Ball, one half of 'Tainted Love' hitmakers Soft Cell, dies, aged 66
Dave Ball, one half of 'Tainted Love' hitmakers Soft Cell, dies, aged 66
Synth-pop musician Dave Ball, who was one-half of the popular 1980s band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.
news.sky.com
October 23, 2025 at 1:20 PM
RIP Dave Ball.
Looking forward to speaking about the multiple modernities of BBC Broadcasting House next Feb.
October 20, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Looking forward to speaking about the multiple modernities of BBC Broadcasting House next Feb.
Reposted by Elizabeth Darling
Just out: Factory tourism in inter-war Britain: the spectacular construction of social-democratic mass production: academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...
Factory tourism in inter-war Britain: the spectacular construction of social-democratic mass production
Abstract. In the 1920s and 1930s, British mass-manufacturers opened their factories to hundreds of thousands of ordinary consumers. As the market for brand
academic.oup.com
October 12, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Just out: Factory tourism in inter-war Britain: the spectacular construction of social-democratic mass production: academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...
📯📯 Important blogpost!
My campaign colleague Kate Murphy has written today about the plight of women's studies in light of the BBC Written Archives Centre's withdrawal from the world of independent study. The policy changes, in her view, are 'nothing short of catastrophic'. cstonline.net/defending-th...
Defending the WAC: recovering the invisible women of the BBC by Kate Murphy
My first visit to the BBC’s Written Archives Centre was in 2002. I was working as a producer on Woman’s Hourand had applied for a three-month attachment to what was then the Diversity Centre…
cstonline.net
October 10, 2025 at 3:12 PM
📯📯 Important blogpost!
Well it’s with the publisher! My manuscript & its many marvellous illustrations is now at the beginning of the production process. Look out for a new history of #BBC Broadcasting
House early next summer.
House early next summer.
October 2, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Well it’s with the publisher! My manuscript & its many marvellous illustrations is now at the beginning of the production process. Look out for a new history of #BBC Broadcasting
House early next summer.
House early next summer.
Important new update on RIBA collections move on @thesahgb.bsky.social website. www.sahgb.org.uk/features/the...
The RIBA Collections Move: An Update - Sep 2025 - SAHGB
The Society has sought some further information about access to archival material during the interim closure period of the RIBA Study Room.
www.sahgb.org.uk
September 29, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Important new update on RIBA collections move on @thesahgb.bsky.social website. www.sahgb.org.uk/features/the...
In town yesterday for the launch of @ejngee.bsky.social excellent new book. Beautifully researched & with great illustrations. An important contribution to our understanding of how working women occupied the late Victorian and Edwardian city.
September 25, 2025 at 8:07 AM
In town yesterday for the launch of @ejngee.bsky.social excellent new book. Beautifully researched & with great illustrations. An important contribution to our understanding of how working women occupied the late Victorian and Edwardian city.
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And paging all those involved in practising architectural history in the U.K. and indeed elsewhere! Whether that be in an academic context, in practice or in the museums and archives sector.
And paging all those involved in practising architectural history in the U.K. and indeed elsewhere! Whether that be in an academic context, in practice or in the museums and archives sector.
Calling All Students!
Join the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain and enjoy a reduced student membership rate of just £23 per year.
Membership is ideal for students who want to support their studies and demonstrate their commitment to the discipline.
sahgb.org.uk/join-renew
Join the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain and enjoy a reduced student membership rate of just £23 per year.
Membership is ideal for students who want to support their studies and demonstrate their commitment to the discipline.
sahgb.org.uk/join-renew
September 22, 2025 at 8:53 AM
‼️‼️‼️‼️⬇️⬇️⬇️‼️‼️‼️
And paging all those involved in practising architectural history in the U.K. and indeed elsewhere! Whether that be in an academic context, in practice or in the museums and archives sector.
And paging all those involved in practising architectural history in the U.K. and indeed elsewhere! Whether that be in an academic context, in practice or in the museums and archives sector.
Enjoying the 90th birthday celebrations at Embassy Court today.
September 20, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Enjoying the 90th birthday celebrations at Embassy Court today.
Reposted by Elizabeth Darling
Thank you to @theobserveruk.bsky.social for giving attention today to the campaign for independent access to the BBC Written Archives. The Corporation is still yet to engage with our argument and properly defend the policy shift. That is because it is indefensible. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...
Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research
observer.co.uk
August 24, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Thank you to @theobserveruk.bsky.social for giving attention today to the campaign for independent access to the BBC Written Archives. The Corporation is still yet to engage with our argument and properly defend the policy shift. That is because it is indefensible. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...