PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE IN ENGLISH, 1400 – PRESENT: A CONFERENCE

About this Event

Across history people have used letters to communicate. Letters were used in the exchange of news, emotions and opinions; they constructed networks, formed and destroyed friendships and relationships. Personal correspondence has been intrinsic to human society, bonding and breaking links between individuals, family and social groups.

In this conference and in the planned resulting edited collection we will for the first time chart the development of the English language letter and other personal correspondence, which we define loosely as correspondence sent from a named individual to other named individual/s. From the gentry letters of the late medieval period through to the rise of the postcard in the mid-nineteenth century to the prison pen pal services in the present day, personal correspondence takes many forms in material, cultural and generic terms.

At this two day, online, free conference hosted by Drs Rachel Moss and Mark Rothery at the University of Northampton, there will be five regular sessions and one plenary paper ( given by Prof Diane Watt, University of Surrey) on themes including health, disability, archives, gender, emotions in letters from the later fifteenth century through to the near-present. There will also be plenty of opportunity for social conversation and professional networking as we have structured the days to have plenty of breaks, space for casual chats and more organised socialising. We can’t give you conference coffee and sandwiches but we hope to otherwise replicate the feel of an academic conference!

Register to be sent the programme and links for sessions. The conference is free but you will need to register in advance to attend.