Conference Hack 

Attending the 32nd Women’s History Network Annual Conference : Curating the Female Self 

Hosted with the Bedford Centre for the History of Women and Gender at Royal Holloway, University of London, 5-6 September 2024 

(Cover image published with permission of Royal Holloway, University of London)

Here’s a conference hack that my supervisors gave me. If your paper is not accepted, just email the organisers to say that you’re willing to be on a waiting list. This worked for me – when one of the speakers stepped down, I stepped up. So, although Manchester Met paid my expenses (thanks Doctoral Services!) on the basis that I had failed to secure a slot to give my paper and was there to learn how to present my research better in future, this was in fact my opportunity. Be warned though – it doesn’t help your imposter syndrome to know that you genuinely shouldn’t be there and really haven’t made the grade. On the other hand, my substitute speaker status was motivational. No-one must suspect from the quality of my paper that that I was a second choice!  

Putting all this internal monologue aside: if you are engaged in historical research and are looking for a forum that doesn’t restrain you to a particular time period, I can recommend the Women’s History Network. This conference crowd was great: impressive while not intimidating. It felt good to talk to them about my research on Bertha Hindshaw (1881-1955), a pioneering female curator who worked at Manchester’s Horsfall Museum from 1912-1947. People asked useful questions after I spoke, which is always what you want. Some people photographed my slides – the truest form of flattery. 

Particular highlights for me were the opening keynote from Professor Kate Cooper, who considered the merits and irritations of fictive and fabulative techniques used to ‘bring back’ lost historical figures, and the speakers on the ‘Electricity’ panel. It was fascinating to learn about the Electrical Association for Women, and about energy-saving practices in the pre-War home. Post-conference I’ve got lots to think about: speakers were generous in sharing their research methods and book recommendations. I have to reconsider how I think about Bertha Hindshaw’s response to the electrification of the Horsfall Museum in 1927. 

The image I’ve chosen to illustrate this blog post is of Royal Holloway, University of London, and shows their stunning Founder’s Building (1886), one of the first places in Britain that women could access higher education. What a privilege it was to attend a Women’s History conference there.