Oxford Centre for the History of Childhood
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histchildoxford.bsky.social
Oxford Centre for the History of Childhood
@histchildoxford.bsky.social
Oxford University Centre for the History of Childhood - a centre established in 2003 to promote research into the history of children, youth and childhood. https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/centre-history-childhood
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We're delighted to share the programme for this term's History of Childhood seminar series. We can't wait to hear from all our fantastic speakers. Join us for our first session on Monday 20 October, at Magdalen College Oxford or online via Teams at 11am when we'll be thinking all about 'play'!
We're delighted to have Charlotte Canizo @charlottecanizo.bsky.social speak at our next seminar on Crossing Borders, Reshaping Lives: Jewish Orphan Migrations and Humanitarian Relief Before the Holocaust (late nineteenth - early twentieth century). Monday 17 November 11am Magdalen College & online
November 12, 2025 at 10:34 AM
TODAY at 11am! See you there!
Our next seminar is on Monday 3 November when Joey Rauschenberger (University of Heidelberg) will speak on Children on the streets. Conceptual thoughts on a history of modernity and empirical explorations on the example of the late German Empire. All very welcome. 11am at Magdalen College or online
November 3, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Our next seminar is on Monday 3 November when Joey Rauschenberger (University of Heidelberg) will speak on Children on the streets. Conceptual thoughts on a history of modernity and empirical explorations on the example of the late German Empire. All very welcome. 11am at Magdalen College or online
October 29, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Fantastic new blog post by Hannah Stovin on her DPhil research on the social, cultural and medical understandings of the ‘queer child’ in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Fascinating insights bringing queer/trans histories & the history of childhood together
www.history.ox.ac.uk/article/this...
“This Boy is Really a Girl!”: Youth Cross-Dressing in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain
Hannah Stovin (DPhil Student, Mansfield College)
www.history.ox.ac.uk
October 27, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Do you remember taking part in a school mock election? Can you help our Centre member Helen Sunderland out with her research? ⬇️
Did you take part in a mock election at your UK school or college between 1983 and 2001?

Share your memories for a research project on young people and democracy in modern Britain!

Write to us about your experiences here: forms.office.com/e/FNAwjfFR7f
October 24, 2025 at 1:16 PM
TODAY at 11am - see you there!
We're back on Monday! Join us for a discussion of 'play' with papers from Fiona Maxwell, Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social & Caitlin Hendrie. 20 October 11am at Magdalen College Sophia Sheppard Room or online via Teams. More info including how to join us online ⬇️ talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/series...
Centre for the History of Childhood Seminars and Events - Oxford Talks
talks.ox.ac.uk
October 20, 2025 at 7:45 AM
We're back on Monday! Join us for a discussion of 'play' with papers from Fiona Maxwell, Holly Nielsen @hollynielsen.bsky.social & Caitlin Hendrie. 20 October 11am at Magdalen College Sophia Sheppard Room or online via Teams. More info including how to join us online ⬇️ talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/series...
Centre for the History of Childhood Seminars and Events - Oxford Talks
talks.ox.ac.uk
October 15, 2025 at 9:25 AM
New blog post! 📢 Read about Charlotte Canizo's @charlottecanizo.bsky.social fascinating research on Jewish Orphans, Child Migration, and Jewish Humanitarianism in Early 20th-Century Britain here ⬇️
www.history.ox.ac.uk/article/cari...
Caring for the Future: Jewish Orphans, Child Migration, and Jewish Humanitarianism in Early 20th-Century Britain
Charlotte Canizo (DPhil, St Hugh’s College)
www.history.ox.ac.uk
October 9, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Oxford Centre for the History of Childhood
The call for papers for the @histchild.bsky.social 2026 conference at the University of Sheffield, 1-3 July, is now up on our website! Deadline 14 December www.histchild.org/pages/sheffi... #histchild #skystorians #histyouth
Fifth Biennial Conference | Children's History Society
University of Sheffield, 1-3 July 2026
www.histchild.org
October 7, 2025 at 7:45 AM
We're so excited to hear about Holly Nielsen's research in our 1st seminar of term on 'play' in a couple of weeks! 20 October 11-12:15 in Oxford & online - more info on how to join us here: talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/series...
October 6, 2025 at 2:24 PM
We're delighted to share the programme for this term's History of Childhood seminar series. We can't wait to hear from all our fantastic speakers. Join us for our first session on Monday 20 October, at Magdalen College Oxford or online via Teams at 11am when we'll be thinking all about 'play'!
October 6, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Today is the day for our annual Colloquium; we've had some opening words from lead organiser Julia Gustavsson highlighting how #HistChild can contribute to #HistScience, in particular through discussions on agency and the construction and operation of categories of age and development
June 23, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Today! I'll be doing my best to post about the different papers as we go so do check back in!
Also a reminder of our upcoming colloquium, Monday 23rd June online and in person at Magdalen College, Oxford (pls join the waiting list and we'll let you know asap if slots open up). 'Becoming Human? Childhood, Development and the Human Sciences'.
June 23, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Reminder that our Colloquium is a week today! Programme below, and there are still spaces for online attendance..
June 16, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Reposted by Oxford Centre for the History of Childhood
Triple book launch for myself, @drsarahlkenny.bsky.social, and @hannahcharnock.bsky.social! Thanks to @lauratisdall.bsky.social for chairing.

Please do join if you're interested in social and cultural approaches to young people's lives and leisure spaces.

12 June, 12-1, tinyurl.com/mryazrew
April 2, 2025 at 8:33 AM
TODAY!!! Join us
Very excited to remind you that on Monday 2nd June at 11am, @susannahwright.bsky.social will be speaking to the Seminar on her new work examining young people and CND in England in the 1950s and 1960s.
June 2, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Also a reminder of our upcoming colloquium, Monday 23rd June online and in person at Magdalen College, Oxford (pls join the waiting list and we'll let you know asap if slots open up). 'Becoming Human? Childhood, Development and the Human Sciences'.
May 28, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Very excited to remind you that on Monday 2nd June at 11am, @susannahwright.bsky.social will be speaking to the Seminar on her new work examining young people and CND in England in the 1950s and 1960s.
May 28, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Oxford Centre for the History of Childhood
Really excited about our upcoming interdisciplinary conference on the 'Legacies of Section 28' in contemporary history, education and activism, which will be held at UCL on 6th and 7th June. For more details and to register for this free event: www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...
Legacies of Section 28
As we face renewed attacks on the dignity and rights of trans and non-binary people in the UK, many have pointed to the parallels with Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which prohibited loc...
www.ucl.ac.uk
May 23, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Fascinating research on contemporary children’s play by scholars who’ve also done a huge amount to open up the Opie Collection @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social in Oxford
As part of our Folklore Reimagined season, Yinka Olusoga and Catherine Bannister discuss how children are recreating festival traditions and seasonal customs in online spaces, and what lessons this can teach us about children’s digital play and wellbeing. Watch the full video here:
(Mine)crafting custom: collecting children's folklore in a digital age'
Many seasonal customs and festival traditions, such as Christmas and Easter in the UK, seem to be centered on children. In this talk, Dr Yinka Olusoga and Dr...
youtu.be
May 28, 2025 at 6:38 AM
TODAY!! Hope to see many #HistChild people there
Coming up on Monday: @jennycrane.bsky.social talking about her exciting new book 'Writing "gifted children" in Britain and the World: Elitism and Equality since 1945". 19/05/25, 11am, Sophia Sheppard Room Magdalen College, Oxford and online. Join us for what will definitely be a fascinating talk!
May 19, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Coming up on Monday: @jennycrane.bsky.social talking about her exciting new book 'Writing "gifted children" in Britain and the World: Elitism and Equality since 1945". 19/05/25, 11am, Sophia Sheppard Room Magdalen College, Oxford and online. Join us for what will definitely be a fascinating talk!
May 16, 2025 at 6:19 AM
History of Childhood at the Oxford Long 19thC seminar this week
Coming up soon! @csloanox.bsky.social will be kicking off our series 'Writing Histories/Histories of Writing' with a talk on 'Written developments: literacy, child development & young writing lives in mid-19thC-England'. Weds 07/05, 11.10-12.30 in person at Exeter Cohen Quad, or online via Teams
May 5, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Excited to announce the programme for our 2025 Colloquium: Becoming Human? Childhood, Development and the Human Sciences, 23/06, 9.15-5.30, @magdalenoxford.bsky.social and online, with keynotes from @lauratisdall.bsky.social, Bonnie Evans, and Sally Shuttleworth; registration now open.
April 28, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Today!
Coming up at our seminar 11am on Monday 28/04 - exciting new research in the History of Childhood on Ayahs and Amahs, education in 19thC Shanghai, the Kindertransport, & children in the Bangladesh liberation war - join us in person/online
April 28, 2025 at 8:10 AM