Isabel Davis
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drbeldavis.bsky.social
Isabel Davis
@drbeldavis.bsky.social
7.4K followers 2.5K following 180 posts
Historian @ Natural History Museum, research on repro history, nat history, collections.
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/people/isabel-davis.html
Book: Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past & Present MIT Press.
🐁 lover (someone's got to be).
Posts Replies Media Videos
drbeldavis.bsky.social
My review of @amandahess.bsky.social book 'Second Life' in the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social

This is a thoughtful and important book about digital pregnancy and motherhood.

Have you read it? What did you think?
Screenshot of my review on the LA Review of Books' website, showing a picture of the cover of Amanda Hess's book, 'Second Life'.
December 24, 2025 at 1:53 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Look what came in the post for me 2 beautiful books by @jackashby.bsky.social and @taoleighgoffe.bsky.social

Looking forward to reading both.
May 22, 2025 at 11:51 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
I enjoyed collaborating with the Big Fat Negative newsletter, writing a guest post on the consolations of history.

The image is one of Anna Burel's collages for our book Conceiving Histories
@mitpress.bsky.social

#consolationsofhistory

open.substack.com/pub/bigfatne...
Photo collage of a woman wearing a red fallopian hat, tied with a red bow under her chin, the fallopian tubes make it rather like a jester's hat. The ovaries are like bells. She holds her finger to her lips because this image illustrates a section of my book about women's secrets. The photo is black and white. The background a pistachio ice-cream green colour.
May 13, 2025 at 10:05 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
I think this is the coolest thing I've ever discovered... www.isabeldavis.co.uk/resources/ar...

#TudorPortraits
May 13, 2025 at 7:59 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Looking forward to giving the William Matthews Lecture on 30th May 6-7.30pm at Birkbeck, University of London, Torrington Square WC1E 7JL.

I'm talking to the title:
In Vitro: The Fertility Industry Medieval and Modern.

Come!

Tickets are free but you need to book: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
May 9, 2025 at 4:57 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
My letter to the @lrb.co.uk following a full and positive review of my book 'Conceiving Histories' in the last issue. I don't think people were calmer about uncertainty in the past, rather they were better able to acknowledge it.
#HistMed
April 30, 2025 at 5:33 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Looking forward to taking part in this year's Generation Hope programme at the Natural History Museum. My event on 3rd May is on reproductive health histories. We'll be talking about empire and it's legacies. Sign up:
www.nhm.ac.uk/events/from-...

#histmed
April 22, 2025 at 3:05 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Very pleased to receive this warm review of 'Conceiving Histories' in the @lrb.co.uk from @erinmaglaque.bsky.social
I tried to do something different (free time-travel in both text and image). It was hard to know how it might land. To my relief the book's first readers are making sense of it.
April 12, 2025 at 8:27 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
I went to talk to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour yesterday morning to talk about my @mitpress.bsky.social book 'Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present'. Catch it on iPlayer.
#nonfictionreads
April 8, 2025 at 2:32 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Feel very proud to be featured in NHM's new gallery beneath this frog specimen. In my @mitpress.bsky.social book Conceiving Histories, I write about the logistics of the toad trade from South Africa across the early apartheid period, many amongst other things.

#HistMed.
Image of a museum display in the Natural History Museum's newest permanent gallery: Fixing Our Broken Planet. A Xenopus leavis frog is in a crystal clear specimen jar beautifully lit in a black cabinet. Beneath, there is a picture of me (a middle-aged, ok menopausal white woman with dark hair) looking into another specimen jar. Text around the picture gives info about the frog pregnancy test. Sorry not to be able to type it all out here. Message me if you want to know more.
April 4, 2025 at 12:40 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
We're not just 🐋 and 🦕 at the Natural History Museum.

Looking forward to this Generation Hope event @ NHM on reproductive health & colonial history with an environmental lens. 3rd May. Speakers: me, Akosua Paries-Osei, Annabel Sowemimo, & Mitzi Jonelle Tan. www.nhm.ac.uk/events/from-...

#HistMed
Screenshot of event listing mentioned in the post. It reads: 'From Cotton to Frogs: Reproductive Rights through Collections and Colonialism. Uncover hidden histories of reproductive health in this thought-provoking event exploring collections, culture and colonialism through storytelling and discussion.'
March 25, 2025 at 2:02 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
If anybody tells you that this person enjoying my new book, 'Conceiving Histories' out in the wild is my PhD student who I've bribed with chocolate brownies to pretend to enjoy it ... well it isn't true.

#histmed
Young-ish woman with long brown hair in a red shirt, with an open copy to the amazing new book, 'Conceiving Histories', laughing.
March 11, 2025 at 4:19 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social

US readers get 20% discount on 'Conceiving Histories' through penguinrandomhouse.com using discount code READMIT20

UK readers can win a copy, if they attend the
@bconceived.bsky.social
session 18th Mar 7-8pm GMT free online. Register:
broadlyconceived.wordpress.com/category/upc...

#histmed
March 10, 2025 at 8:56 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Folks: I'm going to be on the @ifitaintbaroquepod.bsky.social podcast. Amazing to see the book in such amazing company.

It looks a bit different, doesn't it? It's not a traditional history book. It's full of amazing little-known stories AND it's got pictures, too.

#NewHistoryBooks
March 9, 2025 at 12:23 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
If you are UK-based, there is a chance to win a copy of my book (Conceiving Histories) by attending this talk on 18th March. It's a free online talk with @bconceived.bsky.social What's not to like?
#BookGiveAway
March 8, 2025 at 1:25 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
This is the contents page for Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present. It moves through a lifecycle arc: from sex ed to curiosity and desire, to trying, to really trying, to forking out, to science and experiment, to the relationship between mind and body.

Ask me anything.
A picture of the contents page for my new book, 'Conceiving Histories'. I give some explanation in the post itself. Introduction: Annunciations 1 Frogs: What Your Sex Ed Never Taught You 2 Pads: How to Join the Bump Club 3 Broody Mary: Narrating the In-Between 4 Wind and Waves: How to Self-Help 5 Credit: How the Money Rolls Out 6 Jeux d'Esprit: Testing the Limits 7 Eind-Eggs: Conceiving of Things Conclusion: Seeing the Unbecoming
March 7, 2025 at 7:34 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Pre-ordered copies of Conceiving Histories are now dropping through letterboxes...

It really is now in the wild.

#WhatToReadNext
March 6, 2025 at 5:23 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
I'm talking about my book, 'Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present', to the @bconceived.bsky.social network and reading group. Tues 18th March 7-8pm GMT. Free and online. Link in the Broadly Conceived bio.
March 5, 2025 at 8:38 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
My rat Biscuit. She also has a sister named Scout. I think Index and Footnote would yum them up.
The cutest cafe-au-lait coloured rat you've ever seen, munching on a cheerio.
March 4, 2025 at 11:55 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Dear BlueSky,

Please widely share that my book is out today. 🚀 It tells wild & wonderful, (& arrestingly illustrated) little-known histories from the reproductive frontline. It is a history like no other and like any other, ie brill & for any history lover anywhere.

Discount code in replies
👇🏾
The cover of my beautiful new book, Conceiving Histories. Black and white photo collage of a naked woman arms crossed riding a guppy side-saddle, in front of a moon. Title is in coral pink. Names of author and illustrator in white.
March 4, 2025 at 7:38 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Tomorrow is publication day for Conceiving Histories. Can't believe we've got all the way here!

Tomorrow I'll have discount codes for US readers. Check back in then.
#YourNextRead
The beautiful cover of my new book, Conceiving Histories. It has a woman riding a guppy in front of a moon. All in black and white and a photo collage. Title is a nice coral pink. My and the illustrator, Anna's name are in white.
March 3, 2025 at 12:10 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Have you (or has your partner) ever tried for a pregnancy? Was it easy? Was it not? Give me a word or phrase, a gif or an image. #histmed
This is a very beautiful book cover for Isabel Davis's new book 'Conceiving Histories', illustrated by Anna Burel. It is a black white photo collage of a woman riding a guppy in front of a moon.
February 27, 2025 at 8:15 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Biscuit is a very tall rat. She loves standing on my fingertips and uses me as a vehicle to get around to high places.
February 26, 2025 at 12:53 PM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
I made a 4-min podcast of me reading an excerpt of my new @mitpress.bsky.social book, Conceiving Histories. Catch it here👇
www.isabeldavis.co.uk
February 26, 2025 at 9:58 AM
drbeldavis.bsky.social
Hello from Biscuit!
#PetRatsofThreads
This is my little pet rat Biscuit. She is sitting on my shoulder (her happy place) poking her head out of my hair. She is a lightish grey colour and has black eyes.
February 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM