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

Right up there on our Honours Board Philip! 🙏 Yes, there's never a good time to be put at risk, but this does seem like a particularly bad one.

A list of the names of the expert volunteers whose work trained handwritten text recognition models used to transcribe 30,000 historic wills.

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

Thank you so much to everyone who has shown an interest in, supported, and volunteered for the project to date. We are very proud of everything that we have achieved so far. 6/6

A photograph of the wills project team standing outside Elton House in Bath. It shows a group of six people, wearing outdoor coats, standing outside a grey Georgian Bath townhouse, with large windows and a black front door.

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

Jane also reflects on our recent team research retreat to Elton House in Bath - generously funded by the wonderful Landmark Trust Futures scheme - which has allowed the team to discuss and refine ideas, and share some of our different approaches to this large number of will transcriptions. 🧵3/3

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

Jane considers 3 main approaches to large numbers of early modern sources: 1. Quantitative Surveys 📈 2. Searching for how the meaning of words changes over time ✏️ 3. Finding needles in haystacks! 🪡 🧵2/3 @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social #DigitalHumanities @uniofexeternews.bsky.social #History

A colourful chart titled 'Changing Bequests', containing changing 'areas' of colour - dark blue, orange, green, light blue, purple. The chart shows how bequests of property, cash, finance, specific goods and unspecified goods changed over time.

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

This led to an even more surprising output - following conversations over lunch & a collaboration with two fantastic nearby stalls, one of our ballad 'woodcut' images from our earlier linocut workshop was transformed into a sparkly badge! 🧵3/3 @uoearchhist.bsky.social @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social

A photograph featuring a print in the style of an early modern woodcut, of 4 white skulls against a black background. Below the print is the lino stamp that was used to create the print, as well as two badges that were made from the skull print design. The badges are blue and black in colour and also have glitter.

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

Later in the day @lsangha.bsky.social, @bhamhistory.bsky.social & @emilymayvine.bsky.social also ran an interactive stall showcasing the project - featuring photos, videos, and posters with details about what we've been up to over the last couple of years 🧵2/3 #SHSFest #Skystorians #History

A photo of three people standing and sitting behind a table - the table is covered in a black cloth, and has photographs, leaflets, and a laptop on it. A banner behind the table reads 'The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790'.

This is a photograph of three members of the project team, from left to right, Emily Vine, Laura Sangha, and Harry Smith, running an interactive stall about the 'Material Culture of Wills' project at the Festival of Social History.

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

He also asked to be 'decently interred without ostentation according to the rites and ceremonies of the Jews in the Portugueze Jews Burial Ground at Mile End’. As the blog post explores, this initial wish was granted, but he sadly did not remain in his preferred resting place. #EarlyModern 🧵2/2

A photograph of hundreds of flat gravestones in a cemetery, with a grey sky, grey and brown buildings at the end of the cemetery, and brown leaves on the ground around the gravestones.

This is a photograph of the Novo or New Sephardic Jewish Cemetery at Mile End (now part of Queen Mary University of London). Photo © Emily Vine, 2025

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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 · 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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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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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

📢 In Case You Missed It! 📢 January's 'Will of the Month' blog post is now live 📜 Read all about a Yorkshire widow's 'Living Will', as well as her ownership of 'global goods': tea, coffee, china, and a ladle for serving punch (made with sugar & spices) ☕🫖 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of an ornate eighteenth-century silver punch ladle. It is positioned at an angle, with the ladle in the bottom left and the handle pointing towards the top right, positioned against a white background.

Image caption: Cast, chased and engraved silver punch ladle; London hallmarks for 1738-39, mark of Paul de Lamerie, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O156415/ladle-lamerie-paul-de/

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

📢 NEW Will of the Month Post 📢 January's post looks at the wishes of a Yorkshire widow who made a 'Living Will'📜 She not only divided up her material wealth, but also expressed hopes for later life, pre-empting any future incapacity. Read about her wishes here: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of Church Lane, Catwick, Yorkshire, including the church where this month's testator hoped to be buried. On the left of the photograph is a row of white houses, in the middle, towards the back of the composition, is a grey stone parish church, and on the right of the photograph is a grey road leading towards the church, bordered by green grass and hedges. The sky at the top of the photograph contains grey-white clouds.

Photograph: Church Lane, Catwick, with the churchyard in the background where Mary Young hoped to be buried next to James Young Church Lane, Catwick. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_Lane,_Catwick_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1816304.jpg

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

🎄A FESTIVE TREAT: BONUS CHRISTMAS BLOG POST🎄 🎁As we approach the holidays, @lsangha.bsky.social has collected some of the best 'Christmassy' names in The National Archives' will registers. 🎅Featuring Mr Christmas, Christopher Pudding, John Turkey & many more 👇 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A black and white printed frontispiece from an early modern book. The text in the centre reads 'Four Choice Carols for Christmas Holidays.' Carol I. On Christmas Day. Carol II. On St. Stephen's Day. Carol III. On St. John's-Day. Carol IV. On Innocent's Day. Being very necessary and proper to be had in all Christian Families. There are three woodcut images underneath - of St Matthew on the left, the Virgin and child in the centre, and St John on the right. Detail from FOUR Choice CAROLS for CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS (London, 1700-1).

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

🚨FAB PROJECT NEWS🚨 We are delighted to report that we have been awarded a free study break at a Landmark Trust property as part of their Landmark Futures scheme! The whole team will spend a week in Bath at the handsome Georgian building, Elton House. More here: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

Photograph of Georgian buildings in Bath, in the centre is Elton House, owned by the Landmark Trust. It is a three story building with regular windows top to bottom. It's frontage has not been blast cleaned so is shades of darker brown.

Photo of the dining room at Elton House. A long wooden table with lit candlesticks in the centre, pale blue walls and a fireplace with a mirror over it.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

📢 NOW LIVE: December's 'Will of the Month' post! 📢 Read on to find out about the life of a Ragusan merchant who found himself in Stuart London, sick of 'the Disease of the Stone' 👇 He left bequests of: 1 parrot 🦜, 300 pairs of stockings 🧦, & 360 jars of wine 🍾 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A seventeenth-painting of a red parrot, with some blue and yellow feathers, against a brown rocky landscape. The parrot is on a brown perch, and is facing towards the left side of the painting. The file is: Parrot or Ara rouge sur son perchoir, seventeenth century, attributed to Tommaso Salini, File:Exposition Phantasma (Le Voyage à Nantes 2014) (14792256749).jpg

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

📢 NEW Will of the Month post 📢 For December's post, we searched for Christmas-related bequests🎅 'Stockings' led us to the will of a Ragusan merchant: featuring 300 pairs of stockings 🧦, a parrot & 360 jars of wine, & insights into foreign trade in Stuart London👇 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of a cream coloured stocking, folded over, and photographed against a black background. The stocking has green stitching on the side. Man’s stockings or boot hose, 1590-1630, English; linen embroidered with green silk thread https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78739/pair-of-stockings-unknown/ © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

The last Wills Project meeting before Christmas! As you can see, we came suitably attired, but held off on the mulled wine since it was only 11am .. A very productive year for us & our amazing community of volunteers - look out for our December will of the month & a special Christmas blog soon!🎉🎄🎅

Screenshot of an online meeting with 6 attendees. All are wearing Christmas jumpers, three are seated in front of Christmas trees or decorations, two wear floppy santa hats.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

📢 In Case You Missed It! 📢 We've been busy - catch up with our latest 'Project Progress Update' Blog Post 👇 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... Find our more about our recent milestones, and the building of our project database 💻📜 @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social @leverhulme.ac.uk #skystorians

A screenshot of a working version of the project database. The cells of the datasheet are grey, with the top row highlighted blue. The datasheet shows lists of testator names, their occupation, location and archive reference.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

📢 NEW 'Project Progress Update' Blog Post! 📢 We've recently reached a very significant project milestone, and thought this would be the perfect moment to provide a research update: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... Featuring @zooniverse.bsky.social news, and a sneak peek at our database! 📜✍️💻

A screenshot from our Zooniverse website, with a banner that shows that the project data has now been completed. The webpage contains black, green, and gold banners spanning across the top of the page, and the title of the Zooniverse project 'The Material Culture of Wills: England 1540-1790'. On the left half of the screen is a close up of an early modern manuscript, and on the right half, a textual description of the zooniverse project, featuring grey text on a white background.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

📢November Will of the Month📢 Meet Reverend William Thomas, a widowed clergyman from Pembrokeshire who made his will in 1786. William left his breeches to Billy Rees and asked to be buried 'as remote from every other grave as conveniently may be'. 🪦✝️💀 #EarlyModern 🗃️ #Trousers

A long black waistcoat with black buttons on a mannequin.

A monotone painting of Haverfordwest Castle - a romantic looking building set in rolling hills with some houses clustered around it's foot.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

📢NOVEMBER WILL OF THE MONTH📢 This month's featured testator is a widowed clergyman from Pembrokeshire who made his will in 1786. Reverend William Thomas asked to be buried 'as remote from every other grave as conveniently may be'. 🪦✝️💀 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Our Zooniverse volunteers reached this fantastic milestone while the project team were in Exeter, and meeting to discuss next steps for the transcriptions and the database. We were delighted to reach this milestone, and discussed how valuable all the Zooniverse contributions have been. 🧵3/4

A photograph of the Wills project team meeting in a room at the University of Exeter. There are six people in the photograph, sitting around a table with laptops in front of them, looking at a screen on the wall which contains a colourful graph. The carpet is grey and the walls are white. There are glass doors in the wall at the back of the room which overlook grass.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

📢 In Case You Missed It 📢 October's 'Will of the Month' post is now live on our blog 📜 When Margery Gadyng died in childbirth in 1540, she made a nuncupative or 'oral' will, leaving ribbons to the women who witnessed her declare her final wishes. Read more here👇 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of a brown embroidered ribbon on a black background. The ribbon is curled on the right hand side, and decorated with embroidery, including green plants and white and yellow flowers. Ribbon, embroidered, ca. 1600, English https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O10418/ribbon-unknown/ ©Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

📢 NEW Will of the Month Post 📢 October's will is an unusual & poignant example of a married woman who made a will Margery Gadyng died in childbirth in 1540 - she declared her will to the midwife & women attending her, leaving them bequests of ribbons & rosaries sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of a rosary - a loop of string threaded with brown beads, some with symbols painted on them. Rosary of 30 unglazed earthenware beads of red and black clay, British Museum 2009,8038.1.a-b https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_2009-8038-1-a-b?selectedImageId=1310905001
© The Trustees of the British Museum

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

One of our PhD students Jane Tozer recently visited @nationaltrust.org.uk Ham House during their 'Open Cabinets' event while researching 'japanning' - furniture finishes that imitated East Asian lacquerwork. The cabinets are opened only twice a year - Jane captured this beautiful photograph:

A photograph of a black and gold cabinet, taken at the National Trust property Ham House. The black cabinet has several patterned drawers, and its doors are open. It stands on an ornate gold table, next to a wooden chair and a patterned screen, on a wooden floor, and in front of patterned walls. Description: a lacquer cabinet made from imported incised Coromandel lacquer panels with japanned interiors and mounted on a European gilded wood stand.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Project Research Fellows Harry Smith and Emily Vine are looking forward to speaking as part of the Warwick History 'Post-Doc' Club series, next Wed 22 October @ 17.00. They'll be discussing 'Digitization & Citizen Science'📜💻 Follow this link for Zoom details: warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/his...

A poster with a white background and black text, with a blue border at the top of the poster, and photographs of manuscripts. The title of the poster reads Warwick History ‘POST-DOC’ CLUB METHODOLOGIES SERIES. Online Meeting: Weds 22 October at 5pm
DIGITIZATION & CITIZEN SCIENCE: Inviting collaborative research to transcribe handwriting. With Harry Smith and Emily Vine of the Material Culture of Wills, 1540-1790 project at the University of Exeter.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

3. Catch up on our latest 'Will of the Month' blog post! September's post was written by Dylan Cox, a 3rd year Exeter History student 📜 You can catch up on all of our 'Will of the Month' posts - over 20! - on our website 💻 @uoearchhist.bsky.social #history sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... 🧵3/3

A 1720 drawing of Bridewell Prison, seen from above, from “The Prospect of Bridewell” from John Strype‘s An Accurate Edition of Stow’s “A Survey of London“ (1720) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridewell_Palace#/media/File:Prospect_of_Bridewell.jpg

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

2. Read our Autumn Newsletter! 📰 We've recently circulated our latest project update - with details of what we've been up to over the last 6 months! 📜🎨🎵 Download the pdf or plain version from our news page: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social #skystorians 🧵2/3

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

📢 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 📢 September's 'Will of the Month' post is live on our blog 📜 Written by Dylan Cox, a 3rd year Exeter History student, it explores the will of a C17th London gentleman, and his charitable bequests & mourning rings 💍 #skystorians #history sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of a gold mourning ring and a small gold crucifix. Catalogues caption: an Example of a ‘Enamelled gold mourning ring, The hoop with a skull reserved in black enamel inscribed Non hic Sr. N. S. obt 30 June 86, England, date 1686’. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O125929/mourning-ring-unknown

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

📢 NEW WILL OF THE MONTH POST 📢 We're delighted to share this very special post by Dylan Cox, a 3rd year History student at Exeter. 📜 Dylan has transcribed & researched the will of a London gentleman who made several bequests, including to Bridewell prison 🧵1/2 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

In the next few days we'll be circulating our Autumn 2025 project newsletter! 🍂✉️ To receive a copy and find out what we've been up to over the last few months, make sure you're signed up to our mailing list: forms.office.com/e/JbUEq4Za1u @leverhulme.ac.uk @uoearchhist.bsky.social #history

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

📢 ICYMI: in our new blog post Laura Sangha talks about her collaboration with a musician to explore wills, history and creative approaches 👇 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... #EarlyModern 🗃️

A photo montage showing Laura Sangha and Chris Hoban talking to people, looking at wills, visiting a museum. There are also images of people creating linocuts at a workshop, and of a will.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

📢NEW WILLS PROJECT POST!📢 In the post our project Co-Investigator Laura Sangha recounts what happened when she collaborated with musician Chris Hoban in order to explore the wills in our sample. sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... #EarlyModern 🗃️

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

📢 In Case You Missed It 📢 Our August 'Will of the Month' post is now live on our blog! 📜 It explores the will of a Huguenot 'Master Weaver', who lived in Stepney and made a bequest of 'all the Loomes and Harnesses belonging to a Weavers’ Trade' 🧶 #skystorians 👇 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A book showing colourful flowery designs for woven silk. The book is opened and set against a black background. Design for woven silk from the ‘Leman Album’, pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper, possibly by James Leman, 1734. James Leman was a second-generation Huguenot refugee, and silk weaver and designer who was living and working in Spitalfields at the same time as our featured testator. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O65210/design-leman-james/ © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

📢 NEW Will of the Month post! 📢 It explores the will of a Huguenot refugee & 'Master Weaver of Stepney' whose will is a insight into community & craftsmanship 📜 He leaves money to the French church & mentions the Huguenot trades of silversmithing & watchmaking ⌚ sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...

A photograph of a row of eighteenth-century townhouses in Spitalfields, East London, with blue sky and some cars parked on the street. Master Weavers would have lived in large townhouses like the ones in Fournier Street in Spitalfields. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:25_to_41_Fournier_Street,_Spitalfields_(01).jpg

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Although we know little about the testator, we can build up a picture by focusing on the small details in her will, and by bringing in context relating to female servants' lives in the eighteenth century. Read on to find out more about Mary Carlton: sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... 🧵2/2

A wooden coffer with a lock, Coffer, Mexico (Villa Alta), 1700-1750, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O118973/coffer-unknown/

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

📢 New Will of the Month post 📢 How do we write about those who left little behind, both in terms of possessions, & evidence in the historical record? 📜 This month's post explores the life of a servant woman, Mary Carlton, who had few objects to bequeath other than her 'box' 🧵1/2 #skystorians

A greyscale eighteenth -century print of a servant woman being turned out of a house and on to the streets. The woman exits a door and down some steps in the centre of the painting, two other women stand in the doorway behind her, the streets are filled with destitute looking people. Thomas Gaugain: Diligence and Dissipation: The Wanton turn’d out of Doors for Misconduct (Plate 5) (1797) Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:20235

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

📜 Thanks so much to all our volunteers who showed up for the #transcribathon today! 3494 classifications completed and one very happy project team!

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

16/ 🧵 Also, a look at all of the planned publications coming out of the project - including two PhDs, a series of articles in academic journals, and an edited collection. Looking at a range of themes including: global trade, gender, textiles, death and commemoration, and the maritime.

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

15/ 🧵 AND TO FINISH Our final talk of the afternoon, by project lead @jwhittle.bsky.social about where the project is going next - including making our transcriptions publicly available as a free download from our project website (over 50 volumes of wills containing up to 2000 pages of text!)

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