How-to History is here to help historians. We explain events, concepts, things, themes and sources to help with the practice of researching, writing and teaching history. Each ‘How-to’ is, usually, a short guide of under a thousand words which directs you to further resources.
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People
How-to History is run by Joe Saunders and Anna Cusack. Joe works as a freelance historical researcher and writer (www.josephsaundershistory.co.uk). He is a Trustee and Vice-Chair of the British Association for Local History, and an Associate of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives. He teaches history at the University of York, the Centre for Lifelong Learning, and for Pharos Tutors. Anna holds a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London where she is an Honorary Research Fellow. In 2022-3 she was a Course Director at the University of Essex and has worked as a Research Assistant at the Universities of Leicester and Erfurt, and on the AHRC funded 'Power of Petitioning' project. She is an ECR board member for History, the journal of the Historical Association. Joe and Anna are both Associate Fellows of the Royal Historical Society.
Write for us: We are keen to share the knowledge of fellow historians. Please email us if you are interested in writing a post: howtohistory@substack.com
Contributing authors:
Lynne Dyer. After graduating from Loughborough University, Lynne worked as a professional librarian for 40 years. A trained tour guide, in 2013 Lynne created the blog lynneaboutloughborough, to promote the town, and posts have been viewed over 550,000 times. Lynne has a local history qualification from OUDCE, and has written four books about Loughborough for Amberley. Find Lynne on X @stjerome1st and on blogger www.lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.co.uk
Jay Hancock writes about history and society. He was the diplomatic correspondent and the economics correspondent for The Baltimore Sun. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and elsewhere. In 2020 he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism. His free Substack is here. He can be contacted on jayhancock@protonmail.com.
Jennifer Putnam is a historian and linguist. She is currently a Conny Kristel Fellow with the European Holocaust Infrastructure. Jennifer submitted her PhD thesis on graffiti in Nazi concentration camps and ghettos at Birkbeck College, University of London in August 2023. Her most recent article is entitled ‘The Struggle Against Timelessness: Prisoner Experiences of Time in Nazi Concentration Camps and Ghettos’.
Jon Rosebank is Fellow of New College, Oxford; Executive Producer BBC Documentaries and History; Head of History 11-18; writer (but not more than one of these at any time.) Now writer and presenter of History Café, revisiting historical episodes and making scholarship accessible on all podcast platforms.
Isabella Rosner is the Curator of the Royal School of Needlework and a Research Associate at Witney Antiques. She researches and cares for nearly 500 years of needlework. In 2023 she completed her PhD at King’s College London, where she studied Quaker women’s needlework, waxwork, and shellwork in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century London and Philadelphia.
Lucy Jane Santos specialises in the late 19th and early 20th century and is a freelance historian examining the crossroads of health, leisure and beauty with science and technology. Lucy has appeared as a contributor on TV and radio, and her historical research has been featured by different publications including History Today and Vogue. Lucy’s debut book was Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium was shortlisted for the BSHS Hughes Prize in 2021. Her next book, Chain Reactions: The Hopeful History of Uranium, will be published in 2024. https://www.instagram.com/lucyjanesantos_/
Cora Wilson studied medieval and early modern history at Oxford University. Now she works on political literacy education. She is particularly interested in gender history, and loves to explore links (however tenuous!) between medieval and modern culture. You can read her work at https://corawilson.substack.com/.
Thanks to all those who have provided help and advice on posts and the project: Pam Smith, Natalie Pithers, Helen Shields, Wendy Tait Mayfield, Dave Annal, Kate Rose (Kresen Kernow), Peter Taylor, and Janet Barrie.