Dr David Taylor (Warwick) presenting his paper ‘Digital Gillray: from the printshop window to the Windows phone’

In May, it was Warwick’s turn to host the annual workshop held jointly with the University of Birmingham. This year’s theme was 'The Eighteenth Century Past and Present' and it set out to explore how the C18th helps/hinders us to think about contemporary issues, how aspects of the C18th are presented/represented in any form now, parallels/discontinuities between past and present, and C18th issues which still have purchase on current debates. The keynote presentation by Steve Pincus (Yale) on ‘Making a State in 1776: Political Economy, Imperial Politics and the Declaration of Independence’ was followed by panels on The Culture of Objects, The Digital Eighteenth Century, and Historical Perspectives. Postgraduate researchers from both institutions had the opportunity to present alongside established scholars. 30 people took part and the day was judged a great success.