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History Travel Fund started by Keele alumna and family
For Rebecca Pierce, who studied History at Keele between 2015 and 2019, it was important to give back to an institution and an academic community that gave her so much.
Rebecca said:“ My time at Keele was so enjoyable and immensely valuable to me that I am pleased to now be able to give back in some way. My mother, Sara, and I are delighted to be able to sponsor the History Travel Fund and Humanities Student of the Year Award. The Student of the Year award is particularly sentimental as it is given in honour of my grandparents. They were huge believers in education, its power to change lives, and help people reach their full potential. As a firstgeneration university student, I hope this contribution goes some small way to giving a student the opportunities my education has afforded me.”
Recipients of the History Travel Fund talk about the impact it made:
“ I am delighted to have been awarded funding to support my research thanks to a generous donation to the History department this year. My PhD thesis recovers women in the print trade in the Midlands between 1700 and 1830. These booksellers, printers, librarians, and supporting traders had an essential role in communication and education in the enlightenment period, yet my project is the first major study of their work. Finding women who have been traditionally overlooked or obscured in historical accounts requires a great deal of archive-based work, and this funding will enable me to visit more archives across the region and restore the lives and work of more women who have been lost from the record until now.” Joanne Butler
“ There are few surviving artefacts from Buildwas Abbey, and the books will allow me to gain an insight into the religious and intellectual history of the house. The books have not been digitised and the visit forms an important part of my research. As a self-funded post graduate researcher, I am extremely grateful to the donors to the Keele History Travel Fund for enabling my visit.” Cathy Clarke
“ During my PhD I will be studying the politics of race in North Staffordshire from roughly 1960 to 2020. My research will focus on the changing demography of the local area and the challenges these communities have faced. I will also be focusing on the work of local activist and community groups in supporting these communities and their attempts to challenge historic societal and institutional racism locally, nationally and globally as well as combating the far-right in the area.
“ I have been lucky enough to receive a grant through a donation to the History department that will allow me to visit the Searchlight Archives at the University of Northampton. The Searchlight Archive is a major collection of material documenting the activities of British and international fascist and racist organisations and also holds Searchlight magazine, which has published on racism, antisemitism, and fascism for 50 years. These collections will be vital to my research not only due to their scope but also because of Searchlight’ s long-time affiliation with a local antiracist and antifascist organisations.” Ben Simpson
“ Thanks to a generous donation, I have been granted a bursary to help fund a visit to the Lambeth Palace Library to research the books of Buildwas Abbey. My PhD project explores the history of the major monastic houses of Shropshire, in the context of their position on the Welsh border.