Missed one of our history talks? Want to catch up now?
Choose the talk from the list below (they are in alphabetical order) and then click here to purchase your ticket
10,000 Miles from Home: Stories of local convicts transported to Tasmania
Join curator Sarah Keeling as she traces the story of local people convicted in our courtroom and sentenced to transportation to Tasmania as punishment. For the first time, we bring together information from our court records with stories from the Digital History Tasmania archive to give us a full picture of life before, during and after conviction.
Battlefield Queens: The Women Who Shaped the Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses: one of the most turbulent times in British history. When we think of this period of history, we think of men in armour, but this is a mistake. The Wars of the Roses were shaped by women.
Complimenting our exhibition on the Second Battle of St Albans, Danielle Cavender-Handley’s talk explores how several key women, including three Queens of England, used their power and influence to turn the tide of this war, and ultimately decided who won.
Butch on the Inside: Butch Lesbian History and Identity, 1950-2024
The butch lesbian is a highly visual and visible figure in LGBTQ+ history and contemporary culture. Both revered and reviled in the past and in the present, the butch has played a central role in LGBTQ+ culture and community since the mid-twentieth century. In this talk lecturer Amy Tooth Murphy draws on oral histories of butch lesbians to explore the hopes and fears, strengths and vulnerabilities of women whose masculinity renders them ‘gender outlaws’.
Christmas Through Time: Tracing the Origins of our Festive Traditions
This talk guides you through the history of our Christmas traditions, discovering what we have kept since the Tudor times, and what we have left behind.
Together we will explore how our Tudor, Georgian and Victorian ancestors all celebrated 'the most wonderful time of the year', through looking at food, decoration, gift giving and much more.
Henry Moore: Drawing in the Dark
In this illustrated talk, based on his recently published book, 'Drawing in the Dark: Henry Moore's Coalmining Commission', Chris Owen will explore some of the challenges Moore faced drawing underground at Wheldale Colliery, and how this deeply personal commission led the sculptor to rediscover his roots, as the son of a Yorkshire miner.
History of Christmas Carols
Everyone loves a carol - in the end, even Scrooge. As they accompany us through the Christmas season, they summon up a special kind of midwinter mood. But how did we get that magic?
Composer, choirmaster and author of "Christmas Carols" Andrew Gant unravels our seasonal soundtrack and tells the stories of everyone's favourites from "Good King Wenceslas" and "Away in a Manger to "Ding Dong Merrily on High and "The Twelve Days of Christmas"
Hope In Hell: Pregnancy and Childbirth in Concentration Camps October 1944 - May 1945
Historian Danielle Cavender-Handley presents her research into surviving pregnancy and birth in concentration camps in this talk, "Hope In Hell: Pregnancy and Childbirth in Concentration Camps, October 1944 - May 1945"
Ladybird Books
Helen Day, curator of The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Artists has been researching and collecting Ladybird books for over 20 years. In this talk she shares stories from her own Ladybird childhood, anecdotes about the history of the company and tries to justify why a grown woman can still find endless fascination in vintage Ladybird and all those books which capture so much about the 20th century.
Picturesque Pubs
Talk given by curator David Thorold on Thursday 17th November on the historic pubs of St. Albans and the artists who drew them.
Pit Lasses: This History of Britain's Mining Women
The Report of the Commission into the Employment of Children and Young People in Coal Mines (May 1842) included the revelation that in some mines half-dressed women worked alongside naked men.
This talk, given by historian and writer Denise Bates, examines the life of the female miner in the nineteenth century through to the outbreak of the Great War, both at work and away from it, drawing out the largely untapped evidence within contemporary sources - and challenging received wisdoms.
Scandalous Women
Learn about women, both local and national, who found fame in the history books through their audacious, trend-bucking behaviour.
From scandalous divorces, to glamorous female criminals, and female couples who history has dubbed “very good friends”, this talk is packed with women who overcame the patriarchal confines in which they were forced to live, and did so in style.
The Great Tea Robbery
Perhaps the greatest theft of trade secrets in the history of mankind. Robert Fortune, a young Scotsman went to China to steal the secrets of tea. Travelling disguised as a Chinese merchant by the name of Sing Wa, he went where no westerner had been before, into the interior of China. Speaker Sandy Leong will present this amazing tale of 19th Century industrial espionage to bring the best tea to Britain.
Women With Wings: A Hertfordshire History
With the Air Transport Auxiliary being celebrated in the Passion, Determination, Vision exhibition, join us to discover the importance of Hertfordshire and the surrounding areas in the early history of women in aviation. From an aviatrix with an aircraft manufacturing company in Leagrave, to Amy Johnson competing in the 1934 London to Melbourne Air Race and of course, the ATA’s arrival in Hatfield in 1940. It’s a story of adventure, glamour, war and tragedy.
