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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

📢AUTUMN NEWSLETTER OUT TODAY📢 This edition includes an important update on some changes to the team that impact the project's future. Those on our mailing list should have a copy in their inbox, for others see below, or DM your address to receive a pdf. #EarlyModern 🗃️ #DigitalHumanities #HTR

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Justin Colson @justincolson.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

The Exeter Material Culture of Wills team have done an AMAZING job with their Transkribus transcriptions of 25,000 wills. I've been playing with the marked-up raw files kindly provided by @bhamhistory.bsky.social

screenshot of annotated sixteenth century will

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Thank you Sam! We always strive to treat our contributors as research associates, since our project just wouldn't be possible if they were not a part of it. So it's very affirming that you say this 🙏😊

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

📢PROJECT UPDATE📢 You may have seen the news that the University of Exeter, home of the wills project, has placed 500 academics at risk of redundancy. The project leader Prof. Jane Whittle & project co-investigator Dr Laura Sangha are both at risk, alongside almost all of the History department. 1/

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

📢 In Case You Missed It 📢 📜 There's a new 'Will of the Month' post up on our blog! ⛪ Read all about a Tudor clergyman from Cumberland who had a tumultuous life, but regained considerable material wealth at his death 🪙🪙🪙 #history #SkyStorians #EarlyModern sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of the front title page of an early modern book. The print is black on a pale parchment coloured page. The text is in the centre of the front page, surrounded by a printed border with small human figures. This is an image of the frontispiece of The Institution of a Christen Man (1537), known as the Bishops’ Book, which Adeson owned a copy of. Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/institutionofchr00chur/page/n5/mode/2up

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

📢 NEW WILL OF THE MONTH POST 📢 June's post explores the will of a Tudor clergyman who forfeited much of his property in the turmoil of the Henrician Reformation📜 His fortunes improved: his will reveals material comfort & ownership of many fine & decorative items sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photography of an ornate sixteenth century tapestry. It is primarily green, with plants and flowers depicted in blue, cream, and orange hues, as well as birds, and a pale unicorn in the centre. The image is: Tapestry fragment woven in wool and silk, depicting a unicorn, Flanders, ca.1500, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2026 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O84543/tapestry-unknown/

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

'my swanne marke with vj nyckes'. 🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢 Alice Skipwithe's 16th-century will shows how she claimed ownership of these birds - with 6 notches carved into their beaks. Another bequest of swans is discussed in @emilymayvine.bsky.social's post here: #EarlyModern 🗃️

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

📢 In Case You Missed It! 📢 📜 Our latest 'Will of the Month' post is live on our blog: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... It explores the will of an C18th widow of Greenwich who bequeathed land, property, and bonds in the East India Company, but left only 1 shilling to her 'undutifull son' 🪙

An eighteenth century oil painting of Greenwich and the river Thames. It shows the river in the foreground, with sailboats, and buildings, including a church and the royal naval college. Trees and hills can be seen behind he buildings, and the sky is blue. This painting is: Samuel Scott, The Thames at Greenwich; The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-thames-at-greenwich-142722

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

📢 NEW WILL OF THE MONTH POST 📢 May's post explores a Greenwich widow's will which exhibits some clear favouritism📜 One son received the bulk of her estate, the other 'one Shilling and no more because of his undutifull behaviour' 🪙 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... #skystorians #EarlyModern

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Emily Vine @emilymayvine.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

📜 A recent blog post from the @materialwills.bsky.social blog, reflecting on the project team's recent 'Landmark Trust Futures' research retreat at Elton House in Bath 👇 @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social @uoearchhist.bsky.social @cemsexeter.bsky.social #history #skystorians #EarlyModern #Georgians

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

📢 In Case You Missed It 📢 📜There's a new post over on our project blog! Our Principal Investigator, Jane Whittle, discusses different ways of approaching 30,000 will transcriptions, and reflects on our recent research retreat, funded by the wonderful Landmark Trust Futures scheme 👇#skystorians

A photograph of the wills project team working as part of their 'Landmark Trust Futures' research retreat at Elton House in Bath. Five people sit around an old wooden table, with laptops, notebooks, cups of tea. The room is an eighteenth-century room with antique portraits on the walls and large windows.

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Church Monuments Society @churchmonuments.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Fascinating account of burial choices and removal

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Emily Vine @emilymayvine.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

📜 In Case You Missed It 📜 April's 'Will of the Month' post is now live over on the @materialwills.bsky.social blog! 👇 #history #EarlyModern #Skystorians

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

📢 NEW PROJECT BLOG POST 📢 Something a bit different from our 'Will of the Month' posts... 📜 Our Principal Investigator, Jane Whittle, explains the different ways we can approach and work with 30,000 will transcriptions 🧵1/3 #EarlyModern @uoearchhist.bsky.social sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

sites.exeter.ac.uk

What to do with 30,000 wills? Three Approaches

Jane Whittle, Wills Project Principal Investigator The wills project has now successfully transcribed more than 30,000 early modern wills from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, with at least 5000 f...

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Co-investigator @lsangha.bsky.social is speaking about the project at the @ihrscb.bsky.social seminar tomorrow! In person at the @ihr.bsky.social and online on Zoom 🌐 Sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... @leverhulme.ac.uk @transkribus.bsky.social @zooniverse.bsky.social #History

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

In tomorrow's paper I explain how we transcribed 30,000 wills and share some preliminary findings: on bequests in wills as a measure of economic change & how wills can be used to trace the interiority of people in the past. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social

history.ac.uk

The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790

Society, Culture & Belief 1500-1800 Seminar

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

📢TOMORROW!📢 I'm speaking at the @ihrscb.bsky.social seminar on people's changing relationship with their possessions in the 150 years before the Industrial Revolution. Join us in person @ihr.bsky.social or on Zoom, register: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... #EarlyModern 🗃️@uoearchhist.bsky.social

From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, many English will makers took the trouble to describe in some detail the items they bequeathed to particular relatives and friends in their wills, and sometimes they even explained why they did so. Wills are thus a unique source of evidence for material culture in the past since they show us not only the sorts of things people owned, but also, by choosing particular objects to bequeath and by describing them in distinctive ways, they indicate people’s attitudes towards their possessions, and how they used objects they owned in order to achieve a variety of aims.

In this talk Laura Sangha will introduce the ongoing Leverhulme Trust project ‘The Material Culture of Wills: England 1540-1790’, which takes advantage of this ability of wills to lay bare the sentiment, meaning and value attached to objects in the past. Laura, the Co-Investigator on the project, will introduce the research team’s focus and explain how they have transcribed 30,000 English wills to create an unprecedently large data sample. She will also share two sets of preliminary findings, to demonstrate the varied themes that different members of the team are investigating to collectively address the central question: how did people’s relationship with, and attitudes towards possessions change in the 250 years before the industrial revolution?

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

📢 APRIL WILL OF THE MONTH 📢 📜 Our new 'Will of the Month' post is now live on our blog! It explores the will of Sir Francis Cottington, who died & was initially buried in Valladolid in 1652. 26 years later, his body was removed & reburied in Westminster Abbey. sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A seventeenth-century portrait of a man wearing black with a white lace collar. He has a grey pointed beard and moustache, appears to have dark hair or a dark hat, and is posed against a dark background. This is a portrait of Sir Francis Cottington (c.1579-1652).

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Many thanks to the organisers, SHS and the IHR for hosting me, @emilymayvine.bsky.social and @bhamhistory.bsky.social at the Festival last Friday. A really excellent day showcasing so much exciting work.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Interdiscplinary action! Combining the wills project, UCL makerspace and the Uni of Essex's project on The Gay Switchboard! 💀

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Last week we participated in the 'Festival of Social History' - an event organised by @socialhistsoc.bsky.social & @ihr.bsky.social In the morning, co-investigator @lsangha.bsky.social spoke about the project's use of AI transcription and working with volunteers 🧵1/3 bsky.app/profile/dave...

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Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · 28/04/2026

Featuring @lsangha.bsky.social and musician Chris Hoban, this video showcases the @materialwills.bsky.social project @uoearchhist.bsky.social that uses cutting edge digital technology to transcribe 25,000 manuscript wills. 🎬 media.leverhulme.ac.uk/video/wills-...

media.leverhulme.ac.uk

Wills as Windows onto Past Lives

Musician and lyricist, Chris Hoban, collaborates with Dr Laura Sangha, one the researchers currently working on the Leverhulme-funded project ‘The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790’

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

📢NEW POST: APRIL WILL OF THE MONTH📢 It's the 1652 (proved 1666) will of Sir Francis Cottingham, ambassador to Spain and a Catholic convert who asked to be buried in the English College. sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... #EarlyModern 🗃️

a portrait of a man wearing black with a white lace collar. He is an older man with an ostentatious grey beard and moustaches, pointed at the ends.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

📢 NEW Will of the Month Post! 📢 📜 April's post explores the will of Sir Francis Cottington (c.1579-1652), ‘Ambassador extraordinary' to the King of Spain. A Catholic convert, he died in Valladolid, leaving a 'Jewell of Diamonds' to a famous statue of Our Lady 💎 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of a golden statue of Mary the Mother of God. The statue is in a golden archway, with a blue backdrop. The gold statue has a halo, and has been mutilated, so it is missing arms, and there is damage to the face. There is green foliage and white flowers in front of the statue, on the left hand side of the photo.

This is a photo of the statue that Sit Francis Cottington left the 'Jewell of Diamonds' to. The ‘Virgen Vulnerata’ is a mutilated statue of Our Lady at the English College in Valladolid - Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virgen_Vulnerata_de_Valladolid_(2024).jpg

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

📅 Upcoming wills project talks 👇 - Social History Festival this Friday - Laura Sangha at the Institute of Historical Research (hybrid) on 7 May #EarlyModern 🗃️

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

ICYMI - the Wills project spring 2026 newsletter is out now. Find out what we've been up to over the past 6 months 👇 #EarlyModern 🗃️

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

📢 DOODLES IN THE PREROGATIVE COURT OF CANTERBURY ARCHIVES 📢 📜 Some fabulous examples of 'faces' and other scribbles in early modern wills being shared by this account, run by one of our project volunteers 👇 1/5🧵 bsky.app/profile/scri...

bsky.app

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

And the presentations are: ~ Emily, Harry & I at the Festival of Social History, IHR 24 April ~ Me at @ihrscb.bsky.social seminar IHR, 7 May Plus I am looking forward to talking wills at the #Reformation Studies Colloquium next week. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

history.ac.uk

Festival of Social History

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

The newsletter links are: Project progress blog: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... Will of the Month Series: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... Chris Hoban: chrishoban.com Singing the wills blog: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

Four people and a flautist sit on a stage playing, a man in a hat stands next to them singing into a microphone.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

📢 Wills Project Spring 2026 Newsletter📢 Winging its way to many an inbox this week! 📜👇🌱 #EarlyModern 🗃️ @uoearchhist.bsky.social @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social @leverhulme.ac.uk @uniofexeternews.bsky.social

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

📢 In Case You Missed It! 📢 Our latest 'Will of the Month' post is now live 📜 David de Crasto, the hazzan of Bevis Marks synagogue, left in his will 'all my Hebrew Books in my Desk at the Synagogue', as well as charitable bequests to the congregation 📖 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of an eighteenth century writing desk, which is made of a light coloured varnished wood, and photographed against a grey background. Further information about the image: Writing table with raised compartments (bonheur du jour), About 1775 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O113530/writing-table-roger-vandercruse-lacroix/

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Btw our excellent lead blogger Emily [@emilymayvine.bsky.social] is running the London marathon this year! The poor dear had to get up early every day in Bath to get in her training runs. Why not make her feel better about this by sponsoring her?👇 2026tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/emily-vin...

2026tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com

Emily's Fundraising page

I'm running the London Marathon this year, and raising money for St Wilfrid's Hospice Eastbourne. Nearly every family in East Sussex will know someone who St Wilfrid's Hospice has helped - they do suc

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

ICYMI: we have a new will of the month: that of David de Crasto, from a prominent London Jewish family, who died in 1784. #EarlyModern 🗃️

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

To keep up to date with all the wills project news you can join our mailing list. We will only send you the occasional newsletter (one on the way next week) and key updates (such as when we publish findings or release project data to the public). #EarlyModern 🗃️ forms.office.com/pages/respon...

forms.office.com

Microsoft Forms

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

We'll eventually have a for a full write up of our time in Bath for the blog, but suffice to say it was exceptional to have so much time for discussion and collaboration in a beautiful historic house in a stunning city! HUGE thanks to the Landmark Trust for awarding the project this amazing stay.

Five people sitting at a large wooden table, each working on a laptop in front of them. The room is decorated in Georgian style with pale blue walls and portraits, and large sash windows.

6 people wrapped up against the cold stand in front of a very large grand Georgian house.

A group of people stand around a man who is speaking to them, they listen. Behind a curved rank of impressive Georgian houses can be seen.

Three people in a museum looking at a range of eighteenth century artefacts in a glass case in front of them.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

And on the database, the indefatigable @bhamhistory.bsky.social continues to improve and refine it, making it possible for us all to work with our 30,000 transcriptions at scale. fyi Harry can also produce diagrams that represent the data in more than 3-D, which is a little mind blowing.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Wills and Material Culture in Early Modern England' will appear in @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social's well regarded series ‘Studies in Early Modern Cultural, Political and Social History. All contributors will be given access to our 30,000 transcriptions and database as the basis for their chapters.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

We're delighted to report we've recently signed a contract with @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social for the edited collection of essays that is the centrepiece of the project publications: 'Wills and Material Culture in #EarlyModern England', eds Laura Sangha & Emily Vine [@emilymayvine.bsky.social].

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

I'm in the process of writing 2 presentations - for the Reformation Studies Colloquium 2026, & the IHR @ihrscb.bsky.social seminar. At the IHR on May 7th I will introduce the project and give an airing for some of our preliminary findings. Hybrid, sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

history.ac.uk

The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

📢MARCH WILL OF THE MONTH📢 Out today, our latest featured will is that of David de Crasto, a prominent Jewish Londoner who was the cantor or hazzan of the Sephardic synagogue. #EarlyModern 🗃️📜 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

Photo of lots of graves covered with prominent tomb stones, all laid flat on the ground and facing the same direction.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

After our fabulous week long residential workshop in Bath last week, it's proving to be a busy time for the wills project team. We'll be circulating our latest newsletter next week if you want to get up to speed on our progress to date: #EarlyModern 🗃️

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

📢 NEW WILL OF THE MONTH POST 📢 📜 March's post explores the will of David de Crasto, the hazzan of the Bevis Marks synagogue. De Crasto left a bequest of 'all my Hebrew Books in my Desk at the Synagogue', as well as charitable bequests to the congregation 📖 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... 🧵1/2

A photograph of Bevis Marks synagogue in the City of London, built in 1701. The photograph shows a close up of a brown-red brick building, with a grand wooden front door with a gas lamp, large windows, and a clock and a sign with some hebrew characters above the door. The image comes from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bevis_Marks_Synagogue_P6110044.JPG

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

📢 Project Newsletter Alert 📢 We're going to be circulating our Spring 2026 Project Newsletter next week! 📰✉️ If you'd like to receive a copy, you can sign up to our mailing list by following this link: forms.office.com/e/JbUEq4Za1u #skystorians #history #earlymodern #citizenscience

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

A fantastic video about project Co-I @lsangha.bsky.social 's Creative Fellowship working with musician Chris Hoban 👇 🎶📜 @leverhulme.ac.uk @uoearchhist.bsky.social #History #EarlyModern #Skystorians

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

📢 In Case You Missed It: Our latest 'Will of the Month' post is live on our blog! 📢 📜 It explores the will of a Tudor landowner who left several interesting bequests, including of a nest of swans 🪹🦢🦢🦢 @uoearchhist.bsky.social @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social 🧵1/2 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of an ornamental carved wooden swan, white with an orange beak, which is on a green ornamental wall bracket. The wall bracket is attached to the sandy coloured wall of a historic building, and flanked by two sash windows. The swan faces away from the wall, looking out towards the street.

Image Credit: A Grade II Listed sixteenth-century swan. A carved wooden swan on an ornamental cast-iron bracket, 11 Sadler Street, Wells, Somerset. Image credit: Tony Cooper / Art UK, (CC BY-NC) https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/swan-281128

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Emily Vine @emilymayvine.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

The 'Will of the Month' series on the @materialwills.bsky.social blog has now been running for TWO YEARS - since February 2024 📆 📜 Our site now features 25 of these transcribed wills: testators who died between 1540-1790, across England and also overseas, and who made a wide range of bequests 👇

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

🎉 February's blog post marks TWO YEARS of the 'Will of the Month' series! 🎉 We've now written about the lives of 25 of our testators 📜 For each blog post we've also transcribed the featured will, so there are now 25 will transcriptions available on our blog: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... 🧵1/7

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

📢 NEW Will of the Month Post! 📢 This is for everyone who followed our 'Eyrie of Swans' discussion last week, and with particular thanks to @hnewsome-chandler.bsky.social , @lostplayhouse.bsky.social and @tracelarkhall.bsky.social who helped us identify it! 🦢 1/3🧵 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

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