iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

My latest blog post can be found at www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=294. It's my own small tribute to the late Professor John North and his scholarly legacy.

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Delighted to share that on May 1st I shall be starting a new role as Applied History Fellow @ihr.bsky.social, supported by publisher D C Thomson. I'll be helping to curate digital resource collections (including newspapers, of course!) for the fantastic Social History Archive. Very exciting!

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

It has been a momentous week for me. Four years on from starting my PhD, my thesis has been submitted for examination. What a journey it has been! To mark the occasion I chose this newspaper, printed 200 yrs prior to my submission date, from Newcastle where academic life began for me some time ago.

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Back at my desk today after a couple of days based here - the wonderful Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge - where I learned about museum-community collaboration. Fascinating perspectives, provoking much debate. Great to catch up with fellow CDP students too.

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

A rare visit to the Edge Hill Uni campus today, where I presented a paper at my dept's postgrad conference @edgehist.bsky.social. Bittersweet as probably the last time I'll do that as a postgrad. Campus is always beautiful in spring - here's a shot of one of its more unusual outdoor sculptures.

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

A March to the Scaffold moment today! I had the thrilling (but slightly terrifying) experience of giving my first public lecture, to the Friends of @ironbridgegmt.bsky.social. Great audience, knowledgeable & engaged. A surprise was seeing scaffolding at the Coalbrookdale site, for roof refit work.

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

This was a genuine - and thrilling - surprise in today's post, all the way from Maryland. How lovely that @vpreditors.bsky.social retains the custom of sending a print copy of the journal to its contributors. My first published piece and it's all the more special to have it in physical print. 😀

Photo of front cover of Victorian Periodicals Review, Vol 57 Number 1 &2, Spring/Summer 2024, print edition

Photo of rear cover of Victorian Periodicals Review, Vol 57 Number 1 &2, Spring/Summer 2024, print edition, with summary of contents.

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Hey! Read my latest blog post to find out why this choice of newspaper as a film prop was an intriguing one. www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=213

Mr Palmer reading a copy of The Porcupine - still image from 1995 film adaption of Sense and Sensibility.

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

What does this image have to do with my latest blog post? Find out at www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=196

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 21/10/2024

Today marks 170 years to the day that Florence Nightingale left England with 38 women to work at a military hospital in the Crimean War. Read my blog post about the role of the press in her story here: www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=188

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 22/09/2024

If, like me, you're feeling a bit under the weather, my latest blog post explores some quack remedies and their surprising role in the development of nineteenth-century newspapers. Please have a read: www.matthewstephens.org.uk?p=181

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 12/07/2024

A bit of Friday fun from 'The Week's News', 2 July 1881. I couldn't solve the proverbs. They were in the children's corner, so that doesn't make me feel very clever at all! Solutions can be found in the following week's paper, on www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 16/06/2024

My Dad used to use a sarcastic phrase when you lost something and he found it straight away: 'What do you think this is? Scotch mist?' (Apologies to Scots for the outdated usage.) I was reminded of this on Saturday, heading to day to of the RS4VP conference in Stirling - mist over the campus loch!

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 31/01/2024

Just had a fabulous gift from Mrs Newshound - this v. recent book by brilliant political journalist Robert Peston & Kisan Koria - made really special by the inclusion of this lovely personal note. Just need to get my head out of the 19th century for a while to read it!

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 13/11/2023

With a govt reshuffle ongoing, my research of the 'Illustrated News of the World' from 1858 led me to this engraving of Lord Palmerston - a past politician to serve both as PM and Foreign Sec. It's an interesting example of cutting edge tech for the time - steel engraved from a photo portrait.

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Matthew Stephens (Dr) - 19th-century Newshound @c19thnewshound.bsky.social · 03/11/2023

By way of saying hello on a new platform, here's a recent pic of a (still quite rare) full arc rainbow taken in Liverpool - complete with its own shadow.

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