Between 22nd and 25th February 2017, Digital Panopticon historians, including Barry Godfrey are coming to Wigtown, Scotland’s National Book Town to discuss the history of eighteenth and nineteenth century Scottish convicts. Digital Panopticon PhD student, Aoife O’Connor and representative of Findmypast will also be on hand on Saturday 25th February (10am- 4pm) to provide members of the public with free one to one guidance on how to use online sources to trace family histories of criminal lives. Looking forward to the event, Barry has said, “It’s always good fun to talk about crime history with family and social historians, and I can’t think of a better place to do that than in the Scottish town of books. It’s our very own book festival!”
Taking place in The Open Book in Wigtown, talks will include Lucy Williams (author of Wayward Women) on the fascinating life-story of Hannah Holiday, a female convict from Scotland (Wednesday 22nd February, 6pm). The following day Barry Godfrey and Digital Panopticon PhD student Emma Watkins (University of Liverpool) will talk about how to use criminal records to make family and social history (Thursday 23rd February 6pm). This talk will complement the interactive Findmypast family history sessions being run on Saturday 25th February. These include the option of individual thirty minutes slots with an online family history specialist as well as free access to the Findmypast website all day. Everyone from the beginner to the accomplished genealogist is welcome to attend this workshop.
All talks are free and are open to the public (slots can be booked in advance at The Open Book, 2 High Street, Wigtown, DG8 9HQ). Follow this link to see a recent article about this event in The Galloway Gazette
For further information, please contact the Public Engagement and Impact Officer on the AHRC Digital Panopticon project, Dr Larissa Allwork (L.F.Allwork@sheffield.ac.uk )