The letters before they were opened and read by Renaud Morieux at The National Archives, Kew

French love letters confiscated by Britain finally read after 265 years

07 November 2023

Over 100 letters sent to French sailors, but never delivered, have been read for the first time since they were written in 1757-8. The letters include heart-breaking love letters and evidence of family quarrels. The letters were seized by Britain’s Royal Navy during the Seven Years’ War and forgotten about until historian Renaud Morieux studied them.

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Two of 38 teapots found on the site of Clapham's coffeeshop in Cambridge

A tale of 38 teapots: an intimate portrait of 18th-century sociability

20 October 2014

At a seminar tomorrow (22 October 2014) archaeologist Craig Cessford will talk about the challenges of working on ‘clearance deposits’. He will use, as one of his examples, the recent excavation of a site in historic Cambridge that yielded a cache of teapots, and other items, that had lain undisturbed for more than 200 years.

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Crime and punishment: a 19th-century love affair

30 April 2013

The violence of everyday life in 19th-century Europe – including murder most foul, handsome bandits, wicked women and huge crowds at executions – is being revealed in all its bloody detail by Cambridge University Library.

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Gurkha recruits awaiting inspection c.1950. The never-before-seen footage has been released to mark the launch of the Amateur Cinema Studies Network, http://amateurcinemastudies.org.

Candid camera

19 June 2012

After years of being overlooked as a film genre, amateur cinema is finally being recognised by academics as a form that merits serious study in its own right, offering a surprisingly candid eye on people and the past. Now a new research network will, for the first time, bring their work together in one place.

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Ned Ludd

Rage against the machine

11 April 2012

April 2012 marks the bicentenary of the high-water mark of the Luddite rebellion – but new research suggests that the movement may be celebrated for the wrong reasons.

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