Wadham College invites applications for a fixed-term Junior Research Fellowship in Economic History, named the David Richards Fellowship, September 2026 – August 2029.

series on the 1883 Corrupt and Illegal Practice Act, Dr Kathryn Rix looks at its impact on electioneering, focusing on the November 1883 York by-election

In 2025-26 the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), Royal Historical Society and DC Thomson will launch a new Applied History Fellowship partnership. Join us at this online session -- 2.30pm on Wed...

Given names hide crucial information about cultural attitudes and beliefs that sheds light on how parents raised their children and the importance they attached to education and other values. Relying on the 1860 Population census for the province of Zaragoza (Spain; almost 400,000 observations), this article shows that naming practices, captured by whether children bear more or less common names and/or were named after their parents, help predicting their educational outcomes, even after controlling for a host of individual-, household- and community-level confounders. Crucially, these results differ by sex, birth-order, socio-economic status and the urban-rural divide, which allows identifying the mechanisms in place. In particular, bearing a common name is negatively associated with the likelihood of girls attending school and being literate in rural areas. By contrast, being named after parents had a positive influence on boys' education, a pattern that is especially visible for the eldest son from families who have access to land. In addition, the results reported here are stronger in more complex household arrangements. These results therefore stress the role played by inheritance customs and the continuity of the family line on both naming practices and the way that parents allocated resources between their siblings, as well as highlighting the different expectations around the role that sons and daughters played in these societies.

A new history of Britain’s tower blocks reveals the ways architecture and ideology have combined to ensure residents are always forgotten

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Applications are invited for the position of Assistant Professor in History of Knowledge Pre-1400, in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. Please note

From the Black Death to the Covid-19 pandemic, from medieval medicine to public health across the centuries, from hospitals to archives & collections. Join us to discover Londo...

Abstract. This article explores how Britons envisaged and planned for the end of working life across the second half of the twentieth century. It shows how

This month's essay from Nick Garland explores how past regeneration efforts like the New Deal for Communities offer vital lessons for shaping sustainab ...