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Reposted by Zara Kesterton

Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Our Easter term card is now live! Join us on Wednesday for scintillating discussion of Gifts and Diplomacy in the Long Eighteenth Century 🎁 Applications are also open to speak at our symposium on 9 June alongside our wonderful keynote @sallyholloway.bsky.social. See below for more info 👇

Wednesday 13 May 12-1PM (Bridgetower Room, Trinity Hall): Gifts and Diplomacy
Natasha Eaton, ‘Between Mimesis and Alterity: Art, Gift, and Diplomacy in Colonial India, 1770–1800’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 46.4 (2004), pp. 816–44
Henrietta Harrison, ‘Chinese and British Diplomatic Gifts in the Macartney Embassy of 1793’, English Historical Review, 133.560 (2018), pp. 65–97
Wednesday 20 May 12-1PM (Leslie Stephen Room, Trinity Hall): Social Networks
Kate Davison, ‘Early Modern Social Networks: Antecedents, Opportunities, and Challenges’, American Historical Review, 124.2 (2019), pp. 456–82
Jon Mee, Networks of Improvement: Literature, Bodies & Machines in the Industrial Revolution (Chicago, IL and London: Chicago University Press, 2023), Intro.
Wednesday 3 June 12-1PM (Bridgetower Room, Trinity Hall): Evocative Things
Elizabeth Eger, ‘Paper Trails and Eloquent Objects: Bluestocking Friendship and Material Culture’, Parergon, 26.2 (2009), pp. 109–38
Stephanie Downes, Sally Holloway, and Sarah Randles (eds), Feeling Things: Objects and Emotions Through History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), Intro. & Ch. 1

A poster on a cream neoclassical background, text summarised as follows:
On the afternoon of 9 June, we will be running a symposium on the theme of 'Associations' at Newnham College. Our guest speaker is Dr Sally Holloway (Warwick). If you are a postgraduate student or ECR and would like to apply to present a twenty-minute paper at this event, please send a 250-word abstract and brief bio to 18thcenturycam@gmail.com by 20 May. We are especially keen to receive papers which speak to the themes of the discussion group and to Dr Holloway's work.

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Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Thrilled to have been recognised in this lovely award by @historicaljnl.bsky.social! Huge thanks to @marloavidon.bsky.social for being an excellent camerawoman on a cold and rainy day 💐

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Reposted by Zara Kesterton

Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Hot off the press — our reading list for the coming term. Join us every other Wednesday, 12-1pm, at Gonville and Caius to discuss cities in the long eighteenth century 🌇

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Our mini-symposium will follow our termly discussion group – this term, on Cities. We meet fortnightly and lunchtimes at a central Cambridge location. To stay abreast of any news, you can subscribe to our mailing list here: lists.cam.ac.uk/sympa/subscr...

lists.cam.ac.uk

history-eighteenth-century-workshop - Long Eighteenth Century workshop - subscribe

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

We're excited to announce our CFP for our Lent term mini-symposium on the theme of Cities! We're thrilled to have Professor Miles Ogborn as our keynote speaker. If you are a Cambridge-based postgraduate, recent postgraduate, or ECR do think of applying by 12 February!

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

A reminder that our Salon symposium is tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday 26 November! Our theme is ‘The Senses’ and we’re taking an embodied, medical history, musical, and craft-based approach to the long eighteenth century.

Symposium programme:

Wednesday 26 November 2025
Location: Vivien Stewart Room, Murray Edwards College, 1.30–4.30pm

Keynote:
Dr Anna Maerker (King's College London): Title TBC

Presentations:
Eleanor Peebles (MPhil in Early Modern History): ‘To Know Themselves’: Touch, Vision, and the Paper Body in Johann Remmelin’s ‘Catoptrum Microcosmicum’
Hettie Marsden (PhD candidate in Art History): “A System of Minor Actions”? Recreational Embroideries, Aesthetic Affection and Female Agency in Early Victorian Britain
Mika Hyman (PhD candidate in History of Science) and Dr Stephane Crayton (Faculty of Music): Instruments of Sensation: Marin Marais’ ‘Le Tableau de l’Opération de la Taille’ and the Embodied Archive

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

The Salon got off to a fantastic start last week when we discussed smell! This week, it’s Taste, and we’ll be meeting 12-1pm tomorrow in the Junior Parlour at Caius. We’ll discuss Robles’ chapter on ‘Squid’ in Natural Things in Early Modern Worlds + the online exhibition kitcheninthecabinet.com

kitcheninthecabinet.com

The Kitchen in the Cabinet

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Our first session of the term takes place tomorrow (Wednesday 15th) at 12 noon! Please note the updated location in the Junior Parlour, Gonville & Caius

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Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Calling all Cambridge postgrads! Come to our discussion group and symposium

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Océane Fontaine Cioffi @oceanefc.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

🌹I was so lucky to take part in an incredible conference: “Plants & People: the Cultivation and Propagation of Botanical Knowledge Among Non-Professional Communities, c. 1600-1800" (8-9 July 2025) at Cambridge; organised by @zarakesterton.bsky.social and @lucyjhavard.bsky.social 🌱 🌿 🌺

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

That’s a wrap on #plantsandpeople! Thanks to all of our wonderful speakers, keynotes, artists, and attendees for two days of fantastic discussion and hands-on experimentation. Over and out from @zarakesterton.bsky.social and @lucyjhavard.bsky.social !

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Now for the final paper of the day! We hear from Christina Welch from the University of Winchester on ‘People and Plants in the Colonial Caribbean: Indigenous and Enslaved African People’s Medicinal and Horticultural Knowledge’ 🌱 🌅 🌺 #peopleandplants

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Next up is a paper by Margaux Shraiman entitled 'A Surinamese Butterfly Among Cape Flowers: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Copies of botanical illustrations from the Cabinet of Johanna Breda and Levinus Vincent' 🌼🦋 #plantsandpeople

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

…and a glimpse into our earlier study session at the Fitzwilliam Museum, a tour of the botanical highlights of the prints and drawings collection led by Catherine Powell Warren 🌷🖌️ #plantsandpeople

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Our final panel of the conference on ‘Empire and Knowledge’ begins with Joseph Bienko’s paper on 'Baconian Buccaneering: William Dampier’s Excursion to Panama' ⛵️🌿 #plantsandpeople

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

And now for the final paper of this panel on Medical Knowledge… Lauren Owen’s from Florida State University speaks to us about recipes for health and wellness in 18thC France! #plantsandpeople

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Our third panel of the conference on Medical Knowledge kicks off with a paper from Nikolas Brusletto on ‘Botanical Knowledge in the Norwegian Black Books: Folk Medicine, Embodied Experience, and Social Networks’! #plantsandpeople

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

We have two workshops running in tandem this morning at the #plantsandpeople conference - one on botanical images at the Fitzwilliam Museum, and a practical workshop on early modern dye production with Nabil Ali! Thanks to @jesuscollegecam.bsky.social for the use of your greenhouses!

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Our second and final keynote of the day, @leoniehannan.bsky.social now speaking on ‘Plants as Process: Embodied Knowledge and the ‘Liberty of Air’’! #plantsandpeople

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

And moving to the final paper of this panel, ‘Gardening as Knowledge Practice: Historical Handbooks for Kitchen Gardens’ by Sanne Steen 🪏🪴📚 #plantsandpeople

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

And now it’s time for Janet Stiles Tyson’s paper, ‘A Curious Herbal in the Commercial Book Market’, examining Elizabeth Blackwell’s famous illustrated work #plantsandpeople

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

And we’re back, fuelled after a lovely lunch break! 🥗 🌯🥪 We begin our panel on ‘Books and Knowledge’ with a paper from Grace Murray from Birkbeck entitled ‘Marginalia and Memory Books: Writing Garden Labour in Eighteenth-Century London’ #plantsandpeople

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

The final paper of this panel is from Maja-Lisa Müller from Universität Bielefeld, entitled ‘Mushrooms and Mimesis: 18thC Wax Models as Deictic and Didactic Boundary Objects’! 🍄🍄‍🟫🍄

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Now we hear from Alasdair McNeill from Birkbeck on ‘Cheesemakers and Plant Knowledge in Early Modern England’! 🧀🌻 #plantsandpeople

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Now onto our first panel on ‘Embodied Knowledge’! We begin with a paper by Océane Fontaine Cioffi on ‘Naming Selecting, and Using Plants: Botanical Knowledge in 16thC Perfumery’… 🌸🌺🪻#plantsandpeople

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Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

The best thing about running a conference is inviting your dream keynote speakers! Follow along for updates throughout today and tomorrow 🌸

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Our next event of term is taking place TODAY! (Monday 2nd June) at 5.30 pm (not 5 pm!) in the Junior Parlour at Gonville & Caius College. We'll be hearing papers from João Moreira da Silva @joaomoreiradasilva.bsky.social and Andrés Jácome. All are welcome to join!

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Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Join us today for the first session of the term!

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Registration is now OPEN for our conference 'Plants and People'! Please sign up for attendance and workshops through our website: sites.google.com/view/plants-... Thanks to @sshmedicine.bsky.social @camhistory.bsky.social & the Material Culture Forum for their generous assistance.

Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Thrilled with our line-up for this conference! Hoping to see lots of friends, old and new.

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Our Easter term CfP is now open! Send us your abstracts by 28 April 🌿

Poster for the call for papers with a landscape painting top left and a bird of paradise top right. Summary of the text:

Those interested in presenting should send a 250 word abstract, accompanied by a short biography, to 18thcenturycam@gmail.com by 28 April 2025. We welcome proposals for any topic that focuses on the period c.1660–c.1840. Your paper may address any theme, including (but certainly not limited to):

Visual and material cultures
Sociability
Manners and daily interactions
Rhetoric and speech
Industry and commerce
Social and political change

Our workshop takes place in a central Cambridge location on Tuesday evenings, from 5–7pm. We will hear two twenty-minute papers, followed by a Q&A session, and we usually continue the discussion over drinks and dinner.

The proposed dates for Easter term are 27 May, 3 June, 10 June, and 17 June (to avoid coinciding with the Long Eighteenth Century Seminar). Please let us know when applying to present if you cannot make any of these dates.

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

...and that's our Call for Papers officially closed! We received a fantastic number of abstracts. We're looking forward to selecting papers for our conference in the next few days, and will be in touch with all applicants as soon as we can.

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Our final session of Lent term is on Tuesday! We will be hosting an *online only* event featuring two exciting papers from @arrannerispoli.bsky.social and Deiara Semeco Kouto. DM us for the Teams link or subscribe to our mailing list via the link in our bio.

Arrannè Rispoli (University of California, Los Angeles): The Poetics of Black Criminality

Deiara Semeco Kouto (KNUST/Leuphana University of Lüneburg): The Transcultural Concepts of Anton Wilhelm Amo in Relation to the Production of Knowledge in Exhibitions and Curatorial Programs

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Plants and People 2025 conference @people-plants-2025.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Three days left to respond to our Call for Papers! Send your abstracts and bios to zlk21@cam.ac.uk and lh655@cam.ac.uk by Friday 14 March

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Our next session of the term is tomorrow evening at 5pm in Teaching Room 1, Old Divinity School! We’re delighted to welcome Nate Catching and Tiéphaine Thomason to speak on war and peace in France and Martinique 🕊️ Join us in person or online (message for a Teams link)

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Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I’m presenting on some of my favourite paintings at the @18thcenturycam.bsky.social workshop today!

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

We are delighted to announce our Lent term card! Our first session is a big Bach event on 4 February at St John’s College Library seminar room. 🎶 For more details, subscribe to our mailing list: lists.cam.ac.uk/sympa/subscr...

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Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Thrilled to be organising this conference with @lucyjhavard.bsky.social! We have some wonderful keynotes and creative workshops lined up 🥰

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

⏳ Deadline extended! ⏳ You now have until this Friday 17 January to apply to speak at our workshop. All postgraduate students and ECRs welcome. Come and join our friendly 18th century community 😊

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

One day left to submit your abstracts! 🕰️

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Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

French historians… if a 1755 marriage contract in Paris is witnessed by a “marchand limonadier”, is that likely to be a lemonade seller or a cafe owner? Keeping my fingers crossed for the former 😬🤞

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Long Eighteenth Century Cambridge @18thcenturycam.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

The deadline for our Lent Term CfP is next week! To apply, please send a 250 word abstract and short bio to our email 18centurycam@gmail.com by 10 January. Our theme this term is ✨ Form and Function ✨

A poster describing the mission of the workshop and giving details of the theme, convenors, and format. Please visit our website www.hist.cam.ac.uk/workshop-long-eighteenth-century for a text version

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Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Our Long 18th Century workshop is now accepting paper proposals for Lent Term 2025! We welcome 250 word abstracts on the theme Form and Function by 10 January. Looking forward to another great term ✨

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Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

What an incredible honour and privilege to meet “la momie de Strasbourg” yesterday to study her crown of artificial flowers. It’s incredibly rare to see surviving flower accessories from the 17th century, and even rarer to see them in the presence of the young woman who wore them. Unforgettable!

Technical sketches of a crown of flowers attached to a skull

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Zara Kesterton @zarakesterton.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

It’s the final session of the term for the Cambridge Long 18th Century Workshop tomorrow — and it’s a bumper edition! We’ll be meeting in the Arthur Quiller-Couch room at 5pm tomorrow and on Teams. Sign up to our mailing list for more details. See you there! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💡🕰️ lists.cam.ac.uk/sympa/subscr...

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The Historical Journal @historicaljnl.bsky.social · 07/10/2024

📣Out now on #firstview! Zara Kesterton (@zarakesterton.bsky.social) on 'Artificial Flowers in the Credit Records of an Eighteenth-Century French Fashion Merchant' #Clothing #Botany #Knowledge #Science #Women #History 18thc 🗃️🌷💐🌹 👉Read OA here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

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