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Karen Smyth

@karensmyth.bsky.social
569 followers 398 following 47 posts

Hon. Professor in Medieval & Early Modern Literature at UEA. Dabbling in literary criticism, critical and applied heritage studies, creative adaptations of the pre-modern, creative-critical writing methods, Creative Health research & autoethnography.

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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
#CfP: Connection, Conversation, Contention: Encounters in the Medieval & Early Modern World @durhammemsa.bsky.social 20th Annual Conference, St John’s College, Durham University, July 13 - 14 2026. Abstracts by 9 March 2026 #Skystorians www.rensoc.org.uk/event/cfp-co...
20th Annual MEMSA Conference

 

With Keynotes by Dr Natalie Goodison (Durham), Dr Lisa Kattenberg (Amsterdam) and Professor Stuart Carroll (York)

The Medieval and Early Modern Student Association (MEMSA) is delighted to present their 20th anniversary conference entitled: ‘Connection, conversation, contention: encounters in the Medieval and Early Modern World’. Just as MEMSA is an association that connects different people, all kinds of connections took shape in the Medieval and Early Modern period through different means, such as the founding and spreading of major religions like Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. However, with connection also comes contention, such as the Arabic conquests, the crusades and the colonial conquests.
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
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Museums Association @museumsassociation.org · 22/10/2025
Tender opportunity 💡 As part of a review of the Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund, we're commissioning some impact research to explore where our funding has most impact.
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Victoria County History @vch-home.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
These are great - but we love manorial documents more than most! Many of this collection in Chicago are digitised (and should anyone be interested in supporting a history of any of these Norfolk or Suffolk parishes, please get in touch...):
lib.uchicago.edu
Guide to the Sir Nicholas Bacon Collection of English Court and Manorial Documents circa 1200-1785
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Ana Roda Sánchez @arodsan95.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
So pleased to launch the CfP for the III Colloquium on Late Medieval and Early Modern Cities!! Looking forward to your paper proposals 🤗🥳 Deadline 31 Jan 2026 @ebenbow.bsky.social @emmaolson5.bsky.social #medievalsky #skystorians #medieval #cfp #earlymodern #history #urbanstudies #callforpapers
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Jane Winters @jfwinters.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
We’re delighted to be advertising for a Community & Advocacy Manager to work with the UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association @ukiedh.bsky.social. It’s a full-time position (fixed term) and we’d love to hear from you #DigitalHumanities
jobs.london.ac.uk
Community and Advocacy Manager, UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association:London Senate House - Hybrid
The University of London is a leading UK provider of distance and digital education internationally, offering programmes to 45,000 students in 190 countries around the world. Although proudly rooted in London, our community and impact are global.
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Monica H Green @monicamedhist.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Many thanks to the @rsaorg.bsky.social for sharing a notice of the new #OpenAccess teaching module on the Black Death. www.rsa.org/news/709728/.... I will be attending the RSA meeting in February, so get in touch if you want to plan to talk teaching strategies! #MedievalSky #EarlyModern #histmed
rsa.org
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Been having fun resourcing medieval costumes, jewellery, games, craft and herbal props for @beinghumanfest.bsky.social interactive 'Creative Walking Between Past and Present' immersive experience on Nov 14 and 15th! Watch this space for more details ... www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-w...
eventbrite.co.uk
Creative Walking Between Past & Present Norwich
A sensory Norwich adventure. Your walking tour guides are John Paston & Margery Brews, who share their tales of passion, plague and protest.
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 21/10/2025
We look forward very much to taking part in #HistDay25 on Tuesday 4 November, hosted @ihr.bsky.social and @senatehouselib.bsky.social, and featuring more than 70 organisations that enable historical research. It's chance to discover the rich infrastructure that can support your work. #Skystorians
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Institute of Historical Research @ihr.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Final call #HAP26
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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
What kind of #AdventCalendar do you want this year? Join me and #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems for a #TimeTravelAdvent: one chapter (and a time machine into #history) for each day of December, right up to Christmas Day. I'll be posting on here as you read along.
The Drake No / Yes Meme
No: Fancy face creams
Yes: Time travel
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Delighted to see my work 'A Heritage Trail Bio-adaptation of Rebecca Paston's Letters: Presence and Process in Conversation with Renaissance imitatio' published in Adaptation: academic.oup.com/adaptation/a...
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
As Margaret Paston might say about the heatwave: “I beseech you, good folk, beware of your health in these perilous times, for the [heatwave] doth spread swiftly through the town and no man can be sure. I pray God keep thee from such a fate.”
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DocLB2 @doclb2.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
Happy New (Academic) Year 📖 😭😭😉
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Kristen Haas Curtis @hellomizk.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Wonderfully thoughtful blog post about “Cartooning the Medieval” from Anne Le, a postdoctoral fellow who joined us at the Newberry in June for the event! sites.nd.edu/manuscript-s...
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Writing on heritage, diagnosis, and the ethics of analogy (with reference to the Creative Health agenda in the heritage industry)
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Spent 5 minutes trying to figure out why, on my latest article draft, I had written the note 'Put eggs in'. Why eggs? In what? (writing has nothing to do with food). Then realised typo of double 'g'. Think I need to take a break from the writing and refresh my old mind. Off to look at real clouds...
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Chatting to my neighbours back from holiday: 10-year-old son saw a book on the Pastons at a National Trust property. Boy "look, Mum, we can get this for Karen". Mum "she probably has every book on them!" So sweet - even the kids think of me on hols when the Pastons are about!
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Jonathan Fruoco @jonathanfruoco.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
There's still time! Check our CFP and let's talk about Chaucer and medievalism in Nancy. Please share widely. Poke @creananterre.bsky.social, @saesfrance.bsky.social, @globalchaucers.bsky.social. #ESR #medievalsky
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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Getting ready to teach my medieval manuscripts class this semester. First week of class we learn...the beautiful, condensed language of catalogue entries. I made this annotated graphic of one to show everything we learn from this brief entry.
A screenshot of a catalogue entry from the Cambridge University Library illuminated manuscript catalogue. I have overlaid this with my annotations. Here I will describe the original text and then my annotation on it, which I will precede with the word, NOTE. It goes like this:
178. Note: number of the manuscript as it appears in this catalogue
Add. 4086. Note: Shelfmark
see also Pl. LIX. Note: "plate" means an image, usually in color, elsewhere in the catalogue
Horae. Note: Contents or title of the text in this manuscript, in this case a book of hours
Use of Sarum. Note: Use refers to the rites as practiced ina  certain region; here Salisbury (Sarum is Latin)
England, London. Note: place where the manuscript was made
S. xiv with a superscript 4/4. Note: S means century from Latin for saeculum; xiv is the 14th century; and 4/4 means the fourth quarter of the century. This whole thing means the manuscript was made in the fourth quarter of the 14th century.
Parchment. Note: the writing support (what the pages are made of)
ii + 121 + 1 fols. Note: this manuscript starts with two flyleaves, has 121 folios, and ends with 1 endleaf.
165 x 122 mm (133 x 90 mm). Note: these two separate measurements refer, respectively, to the size of the folios and the dimensions of the area on each ruled for text.
ruled in red ink, below top line. Note: below top line is a method for determining whether a manuscript was copied before or after c.1220. 
rubrics, catchwords, 2o folio ipse est. Note; Secundo folio means the first words on the second folio of the manuscript, often the way a manuscript was catalogued in the Middle Ages.
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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 06/08/2025
New: 'The Holograph Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489-1541)' bit.ly/4mtRQgS The Society's latest Camden volume of primary sources presents the 115 holograph letters of Margaret Tudor. This new edition, by Helen Newsome-Chandler, is an unprecedented epistolary archive 1/2 #Skystorians
bit.ly
The Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots: new Camden volume published - RHS
The Society is very pleased to announced publication of its latest Camden series volume: The Holograph Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489-1541), edited by Helen Newsome-Chandler. This vol...
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Diane Watt @dianewatt.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
This is a fantastic post about a fantastic research project by @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social — it could be an episode in AS Byatt’s Possession! It also highlights the importance of serendipity in research and also how online research will only get us so far. thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/posts/blog/2...
thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk
Finding Two Missing Thornton Manuscripts
Blog article - 23 June 2022
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The Medieval and Early Modern Research Network (MEMRN) @memrn.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
CALL FOR PAPERS!!! The MEMRN Committee are delighted to share the call for papers for our second annual Winter Conference: Fragmented Worlds, Shared Histories. Please share widely! Sponsored by @chase-dtp.bsky.social
We, the committee of the CHASE Medieval and Early Modern Research Network (MEMRN), are overjoyed to announce the return of our Winter Conference this year between the 14th and 16th November.

Join us at the University of East Anglia and online for three exciting days of workshops, papers, social events, and adventure through the historic cathedral city of Norwich.
We welcome papers on a range of topics within medieval and early modern studies for this interdisciplinary conference, including:

*   History and politics
*   Philosophy and theology
*   Literature, drama, performance culture and music
*   Latin and vernacular languages
*   Art history, architecture and archaeology
*   Manuscript studies and book history

For this year's conference, we particularly encourage papers engaging with marginalised histories and communities, global intercultural contact and exchange, or conflict and diplomacy.We invite abstracts of up to 250 words for individual research papers of twenty minutes in length (or 700 words for a panel of three people presenting on a particular subject or sub-theme).

The CHASE MEMRN conference remains open to all UK and overseas postgraduates. This includes independent scholars who are unaffiliated at this time. When submitting your abstract, please include your institution (if applicable) and, if from a CHASE-affiliated university institution, whether or not you are directly funded by CHASE.
All proposals should be emailed to chasememrn@gmail.com by Friday
12th September with the subject line 'Conference Paper Submission' and your name. Priority will be given to those available to present in-person, but remote presentation applications will also be considered.

Please feel free to contact the MEMRN team via email or social media DM with any questions you may have. We look forward to welcoming you to Norwich as part of this proudly CHASE-funded event.
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Kathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Anyone here a dab hand at localizing 15thc Dutch dialects?
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Rhiannon Warren @rhnnnwrrn.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
#CFP for #IMC2026 'New Approaches to Medieval Office Liturgy'. @imc-leeds.bsky.social Please share widely and get in touch if you have any questions!
The image is of a poster with the following text on a dark blue background:

CFP: Leeds International Medieval Congress (6-9 July 2026)
Thematic Focus: ‘Temporalities’ 

The past decades have seen exciting developments in medieval liturgical scholarship, moving beyond analysis of texts to examining liturgical practices as diverse, lived, localised, and contested devotional frameworks. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in the study of the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours: the cycle of daily prayers structured around the eight canonical hours (Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline) central to the spiritual, intellectual, temporal and communal life of the medieval Christian world.

This panel invites proposals for 15-20 minute papers on any aspect of Medieval Office Liturgy, especially those that address new perspectives, methodologies, or understudied sources.

Topics may include (but are not limited to): 
⁃ Office Manuscripts
⁃ Intersections with visual and material culture
⁃ Lay experiences of the Divine Office
⁃ Liturgical Reform
⁃ Performance Practices and/or Prescriptions
⁃ The Liturgy of the Hours in Medieval Literature
⁃ Temporality and the Canonical Hours
⁃ Saints lives, cults and offices

Please send an abstract of up to 250 words and short biography including your affiliation(s) to Rhiannon Warren (rlow2@cam.ac.uk) by the 31st of August 2025
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Just reviewed a grant application - timely intervention in a global area, astute research questions, robust methodology, nuanced theoretical framework, far-reaching outcomes. Excellent partnership framework. Yet with a 5% success rate in the grant competition, will it see the light of day?
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Christine Johnston @archaeologuest.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
this is such a beautiful conversation with @zenakamash.bsky.social about the power of connection and healing through tangible and intangible cultural heritage—please take a few minutes to hear more about this amazing work! #PeoplingThePast #CulturalHeritage #ArchaeologyLovers
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
I've been scribbling. In the next few days excited to share deets on a creative-critical pedagogy article and an essay on heritage trails as an adaptation method. Have also been sorting the final publisher's manuscript of my latest monograph.
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Will Rossiter @satyrane.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
1/2 A superlative, benevolent & generous scholar, whom we lost this year, in his last email to me, said “Supporting rising talent, I have come to understand, whether through direct teaching or indirect support and mentoring, is ultimately more important than anything I’ve published. …
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MAMO Conference 2027 @themamoconf.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
The Middle Ages in the Modern World conference is now on Bluesky! Stay tuned here and on our website for the upcoming 5th MAMO conference, at King's College London, 24-26 June 2025. See you at MAMO number 5! themamo.org
themamo.org
The Middle Ages in the Modern World
A multidisciplinary conference on medievalism in the post-Middle Ages
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Laura Cleaver @laurajcleaver.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
There’s still time to book for this online short course next month. It is for anyone who wants to work with texts in medieval French 🇫🇷📖📝 #medievalsky👇 ies.sas.ac.uk/events/trans...
ies.sas.ac.uk
Transcribing Old and Middle French (1300-1500)
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Lucy Moloney @lucyelm.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
As we head into the new academic year in Australia, I'd like to reshare this document of #neurodivergent study tips that I compiled. It's based entirely on tips by neurodivergent people, and I have had learning advisors tell me it was very helpful and had good info. #historysky #academicsky 1/3
drive.google.com
Neurodivergent Study Tips.pdf
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
I'm at that exciting stage: the final stages of one book's manuscript while discussing co-authoring the next one. It feels like saying goodbye to a dear friend as they go off on an adventure into the big world while having exciting meetings with new thoughts/'friends' bubbling in ...
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Is England's earliest Valentine's letter an expression of love or a shrewd marriage bid? pastonfootprints.co.uk/margery-brew.... Biography of Margery Brews Paston by @FLovellInfo. Sharing the love this #ValentinesDay listen to Margery's letter: www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9z0...
youtube.com
Margery Brews 1477 Valentine Letter
YouTube video by Norfolk Record Office
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
You know what never gets old and continues to amaze me - finding hidden stories in the archives. Have just written an article to shine a light on one forgotten figure. More anon after peer review ...
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I'm currently writing on the curated decay of heritage storytelling. Can't wait to read this article 👇
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postmedieval @postmedieval.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
/postmedieval/ is launching a new mentorship programme to facilitate publication for scholars whose first language is not English. 👇 find all the details here 👇 sites.google.com/view/postmed...
Call for participants for a mentorship programme for scholars who have not yet published in English
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Dr Mary Bateman @mareganlefay.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Obligatory intro post! Hello! I lecture in medieval literature at the University of Bristol. I wrote a book about local place and the Arthurian Tradition in England and Wales (pic below).
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HappyMuseum Project @happymuseum.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
Museum Storytelling for Transformative Change How could innovative approaches to storytelling help us (and our audiences) imagine new possibilities and open up capacity and agency for transformative change? Read more and sign up for our online workshop shorturl.at/Yiy3P Tues 4 Feb 12.30 - 14.00
Illustration of hands tying knots in threads by Hannah Mumby (www.hannahmumby.co.uk)
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dr. christopher @eatthatbee.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
I recently worked with Literature Compass to co-edit a cluster of essays in honor of the work of Dr. John Ganim and in celebration of his retirement. I'll link the individual articles below; I wrote a short introduction that provides some context for the essays. doi.org/10.1111/lic3...
doi.org
Introducing John Ganim's Theatricality, Medievalism, and Orientalism
The following introduction provides a personal and critical backdrop for a cluster of five essays that celebrate the pedagogical and scholarly career of Dr. John Ganim following his recent retirement...
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Nathen Amin ✒️📚 @nathenamin.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
15th Century Starter Pack, the best of all the centruries AM I RIGHT? ⚔️ go.bsky.app/3wEUeqJ
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Megan L. Cook @meganlcook.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
Not necessarily where I expect to find fifteenth-century English poet Lydgate cited, but I'm not mad about it
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
It has been a while since I was on bluesky .... just spent a few minutes trying to recall how to sign out and I'm so joyous I've figured it out I've stayed to post again!
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James Baker @jwbaker.bsky.social · 26/02/2024
The 2024 Richard Deswarte Prize in Digital History is now open for dominations of works published since January 2023. Nominate your work or a work that you 💜. Deadline 31 May. Full details here: ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2021/12/the-...
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 21/11/2023
I usually do professional messages but this time it's personal. My dearest friend has a bleed on the brain and is being prepped for neurosurgery. If you are the praying type, prayers for J, her family and all the doctors working with her much appreciated.
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Centre for the History of People, Place & Community @chppc.bsky.social · 19/10/2023
Would you like to help shape our Centre for the History of People, Place & Community? Are you an #ECR researcher, practitioner or professional working in a relevant area? We’re looking for 2 or 3 ECRs to join our Advisory Board. Apply by 23/11. blog.history.ac.uk/2023/10/invi...
blog.history.ac.uk
Invitation: early-career representatives on the Advisory Board of the Centre for the History of Peop...
Invitation to apply - we are looking for two or three early-career representatives to join the Advisory Board for the IHR's Centre for the History of People, Place and Community.
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 08/11/2023
Delighted my pastonfootprints.co.uk project won the 2023 Bishop of Norwich's First Nature prize. Encouraging wellbeing benefits for children on Paston heritage trails via medieval pilgrimage, herb gardens, wool industry, plague wellbeing strategies, hunting for Goshawks, imagining griffins etc
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Sarah Bell @sarahbell85.bsky.social · 13/10/2023
Excited to announce the second of our 'Disability & Climate: In conversation with' sessions! Join @emmageen.bsky.social on Zoom on 16 Nov 2023, 6–7.30pm GMT to discuss the process of co-producing a disability inclusive climate plan! Find out more & sign up online: forms.office.com/e/f667CHSWSP
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Karen Smyth @karensmyth.bsky.social · 05/10/2023
Grateful to the Royal Historical Society for funding my new teaching this semester on @PastonFootprints heritage trails with Medical Humanities students: Society awards seven Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships, 2023-24 | RHS (royalhistsoc.org) Wonder what #MargaretMautbyPaston would make of it?
royalhistsoc.org
RHS | Royal Historical Society
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