The Victorian Hand
@victorianhand.bsky.social
130 followers 13 following 20 posts
@ukri.org AHRC Standard Research Grant project (2024-28) exploring historical & contemporary understandings of the human hand. Hosted by @lcflondon.bsky.social & @lancasteruni.bsky.social & co-led by @jbhist.bsky.social & medhistoryman.bsky.social
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victorianhand.bsky.social
How might hands reveal an inner self – a soul, a character, an identity?

Join us on 12 November at Lancaster University to explore this question with Professor Alison Bashford (University of New South Wales) as she presents her book, Decoding the Hand.

Tickets: thevictorianhand.uk/alison-bashf...
victorianhand.bsky.social
We are pleased to annouce that Dr Ross Cameron @rosscmrn.bsky.social has joined The Victorian Hand team as a Public Engagement Fellow at @lcflondon.bsky.social!

Watch this space for upcoming annoucements about public engagement activities and ways to get involved with The Victorian Hand.
victorianhand.bsky.social
Time feels tangible in these casts...
Over on the Victorian Hand project blog, our Research Associate @helenvmurray.bsky.social reflects on her trip to Watts Gallery to research their extensive collection of plaster cast hands..
www.thevictorianhand.uk/blog-touchin...
A plaster cast of the hands of GF Watts, one folded over the other.
victorianhand.bsky.social
Quick correction: our email address is [email protected] - note the dot!
victorianhand.bsky.social
🙋Don't forget! The call for abstracts for our conference on The Hand closes at midnight tonight!

All abstracts should be sent to [email protected]

We can't wait to go through all the incredible submissions we've received, so we can hand-craft a fantastic programme.
Watch this space!
A 2 page spread from a Victorian drawing manual, showing hands, pointing in opposite directions. Text reads: "Last day to submit! The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity, an Interdisciplinary Conference. London College of Fashion, 8-9 January 2026"
victorianhand.bsky.social
Don't forget to submit to [email protected] by Monday 22 September!
victorianhand.bsky.social
Touch transcends time...
Last week, @helenvmurray.bsky.social was getting some haptic shivers whilst exploring spiritual hands in the archives of the Society for Psychical Research.

Meanwhile, we're levitating with excitement to receive your abstracts for The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity.
A hand holding open a nineteenth-century manuscript, laid on a bookrest. The manuscript has marbled endpapers, and a letter on the right-hand page referencing the Victorian medium D.D. Home.
victorianhand.bsky.social
3 weeks to go until the deadline for abstracts for our conference The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity (8-9 Jan 2026).

Are you getting yours ready?✍

Send abstracts and bios to [email protected] by 22 September 2025. We can't wait to hear from you!
A sculpture maquette of a hand, photographed in close up. Text reads '3 weeks to go! CfP Deadline 22 Sept'
victorianhand.bsky.social
🙌Call for Papers🙌
We are excited to invite abstracts for an interdisciplinary conference on The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity, at @unioftheartslondon.bsky.social on 8-9 Jan 2026

Send abstracts of 300 words to [email protected] by 22 Sep - please circulate among your networks!
Call for Papers. The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity. An Interdisciplinary Conference. 8-9 January, 2026 
London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.
Proposal Deadline: 22 September 2025 What do hands reveal about us?
We invite abstracts for papers of 15-20 minutes, for presentation at our 2-day interdisciplinary conference, part of The Victorian Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, and Identity, Past and Present, supported by UKRI. We welcome presentations from multi- and interdisciplinary research fields, including Critical Studies, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and STEM. 
We encourage proposals from artists, makers and performers.
Image includes an illustration of magnetism, a Victorian man sitting under 3 hands, 2 of whom have lines of magnetic power emanating onto his head and shoulders Please send abstracts up to 300 words, and biographies up to 100 words to victorianhand@fashion.arts.ac.uk by 22 September 2025
Read the full call at thevictorianhand.uk/call-for-papers-the-hand

Image features the 3 logos of Lancaster University, UAL and UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council
victorianhand.bsky.social
New publication (not on hands, but on emotions and senses) from project leads @jbhist.bsky.social and @medhistoryman.bsky.social. It's completely Open Access and free for anyone to read.
medhistoryman.bsky.social
@jbhist.bsky.social & I are excited to see that our new article on the Royal Military Exhibition of 1890 has been published Open Access by @ihr.bsky.social. This takes a sensory & emotions history approach to the topic of late Victorian popular militarism.
academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Exhibiting Tommy Atkins: senses, spectacle and military modernity in late Victorian Britain
Abstract. This article considers the conjunction of senses, emotions and objects in the Royal Military Exhibition of 1890 to deepen our understanding of po
academic.oup.com
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
medhistoryman.bsky.social
We argue that the emotional sensorium of the RME cultivated positive 'prosthetic feelings' about the army & encouraged imaginative investiment in the figure of Tommy Atkins. We put embodied experiences at the heart of discussions about the rise of popular militarism in the age of New Imperialism.
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
medhistoryman.bsky.social
@jbhist.bsky.social & I are excited to see that our new article on the Royal Military Exhibition of 1890 has been published Open Access by @ihr.bsky.social. This takes a sensory & emotions history approach to the topic of late Victorian popular militarism.
academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Exhibiting Tommy Atkins: senses, spectacle and military modernity in late Victorian Britain
Abstract. This article considers the conjunction of senses, emotions and objects in the Royal Military Exhibition of 1890 to deepen our understanding of po
academic.oup.com
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
medhistoryman.bsky.social
The reviews for Emotions & Surgery have taken a while to come but are now beginning to appear. It's so gratifying in difficult professional times to read someone as eminent as Prof. Mick Worboys describe it as a 'landmark work ... that compellingly revises the history and historiography of surgery'😇
victstudies.bsky.social
Our latest issue, 67.1, is now live on Project Muse! muse.jhu.edu/issue/55087
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
medhistoryman.bsky.social
I'm most grateful to Amber Vella, an AHRC-funded PhD student at Leicester, for her most generous review of Emotions & Surgery in Medical History. It's deeply satisfying to have it described as a 'fantastic intervention in the history of surgery'. Thank you 🙏

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Book Review
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
medhistoryman.bsky.social
Please get those applications in if you are interested in becoming part of our project team!
victorianhand.bsky.social
This amazing opportunity closes today so please get your applications in before the deadline! #history #publicengagement #GLAM #UKRI #AHRC #culturalheritage
victorianhand.bsky.social
Quick reminder that we're looking for a 3-year F/T Public Engagement Fellow to lead on some really amazing events. The call closes on 24 June, so please get your applications in if you fit the bill. We're really excited about this opportunity and think you will be too!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI861/p...
victorianhand.bsky.social
This amazing opportunity closes today so please get your applications in before the deadline! #history #publicengagement #GLAM #UKRI #AHRC #culturalheritage
victorianhand.bsky.social
Quick reminder that we're looking for a 3-year F/T Public Engagement Fellow to lead on some really amazing events. The call closes on 24 June, so please get your applications in if you fit the bill. We're really excited about this opportunity and think you will be too!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI861/p...
Public Engagement Fellow (The Victorian Hand Project) at University of the Arts London, London College of Fashion
Discover professional service job openings, including the Public Engagement Fellow (The Victorian Hand Project) role, on jobs.ac.uk. Apply today for more information on this position.
www.jobs.ac.uk
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
medhistoryman.bsky.social
Currently transcribing some letters written by Richard Owen held at LU library. One of the gems contained therein is Owen's reference to his relationship with East Sheen neighbour Edwin Chadwick in the 1880s: 'Neighbour Chadwick I see & listen to, weekly; but he never gets out of the sewers!’
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
medhistoryman.bsky.social
Turning away from the REF-apocalypse for a second, may I remind you all that we are looking for a 3-year F/T Public Engagement Fellow to join our Victoiran Hand project. Please do spread the word to all those lovely folks in Humanities and GLAM looking for work. Deadline is 24 June, so get applying!
victorianhand.bsky.social
Quick reminder that we're looking for a 3-year F/T Public Engagement Fellow to lead on some really amazing events. The call closes on 24 June, so please get your applications in if you fit the bill. We're really excited about this opportunity and think you will be too!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI861/p...
Public Engagement Fellow (The Victorian Hand Project) at University of the Arts London, London College of Fashion
Discover professional service job openings, including the Public Engagement Fellow (The Victorian Hand Project) role, on jobs.ac.uk. Apply today for more information on this position.
www.jobs.ac.uk
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
jbhist.bsky.social
It's a three-year full-time post based at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London. If you have expertise in public and community engagement, the creative arts, events organization, or cultural programming, do take a look. Application deadline 24 June 2025. 2/2
victorianhand.bsky.social
Quick reminder that we're looking for a 3-year F/T Public Engagement Fellow to lead on some really amazing events. The call closes on 24 June, so please get your applications in if you fit the bill. We're really excited about this opportunity and think you will be too!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNI861/p...
Public Engagement Fellow (The Victorian Hand Project) at University of the Arts London, London College of Fashion
Discover professional service job openings, including the Public Engagement Fellow (The Victorian Hand Project) role, on jobs.ac.uk. Apply today for more information on this position.
www.jobs.ac.uk
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
jbhist.bsky.social
If you want to ask any questions about this post, get in touch with me!
Reposted by The Victorian Hand
jbhist.bsky.social
Check out how we came to be interested in the history of hands!
victorianhand.bsky.social
If you've been alerted to our project by the recent job advert for a Public Engagement Fellow, why not find out a little bit about the background to the project by reading the first blog post on our new website?
www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/proj...
Welcome to the project! — The Victorian Hand
www.thevictorianhand.uk