Welcome

Name: Sophie Cope

PhD: History

Thesis Title: Making Time Material: Domestic Dated Objects in Early Modern England

Thesis Description:
My project examines ideas of time in seventeenth-century England and their expression in material culture. It looks in particular at a body of neglected objects, a range of domestic wares inscribed with dates, and uses them to investigate how time was conceived and how objects were used to record and reflect upon its passage. I am supervised by Dr Tara Hamling and Dr Erin Sullivan.
 

Education:

University of Birmingham (2015-2018)
AHRC/M3C funded PhD Candidate in History
‘Making Time Material: Domestic Dated Objects in Seventeenth-Century England’ 

Victoria and Albert Museum/Royal College of Art (2012-2014)
History of Design MA 
Passed with Distinction 

University of Cambridge (2009-2012) 
History BA (Hons)
First-Class 
 

Publications:

• 'Women in the Sea of Time: Domestic Dated Objects in Seventeenth-Century England' in Merry Wiesner-Hanks (ed), Gendered Temporalities in the Early Modern World (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018), pp. 47-68
• 'Marking the New Year: Dated Objects and The Materiality of Time in Early Modern England' Journal of Early Modern Studies, 6 (2017), 89-111
• 'Object Study 6: A Shoehorn' in David Gaimster, Tara Hamling, and Catherine Richardson (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Material Culture in Early Modern Europe (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016), pp. 228-9
• ‘The Cabinet with the Letter: Luxury and Poverty in 18th-Century Wurzburg’ V&A Online Journal (Issue 6, Summer 2014) 

Prizes and Awards:

• Universitas 21 Postgraduate Fellowship(March 2018) £1500
  Visiting scholar based at the Centre for the History of Emotions at University of Melbourne
• Midlands3Cities Research Training Support Grant (March 2018) £600
• Gillian Naylor Essay Prize(Victoria & Albert Museum, June 2013) £200
• Oliver Ford Scholarship(Victoria & Albert Museum, September 2012-July 2014) 

Podcasts and Blogposts:

• 'Emotions Make History Podcast: Interview with Sophie Cope, 'History of Emotions and Domestic Dated Objects'
• Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Blog: 'Shakespeare Connected - Marking Time in Shakespeare's England' 

Conference Papers

• ‘The Life and Times of Isaac Walton: Dated Material Culture and the Life-Cycle in Seventeenth-Century England’, Social History Society conference, Keele University (June 2018)
• ‘Making Time Material: Domestic Dated Objects in Seventeenth-Century England’, University of Melbourne History Brown Bag Seminar Series (22^ndMay 2018)
• ‘Powerful Times: Astrology and Dated Material Culture in Early Modern England’, Powerful Objects conference at University of Birmingham (18^thMay 2017)
• ‘Furnishing Time: Dated Chairs and Familial Identity in Seventeenth-Century England’, Objects and Possessions conference, University of Southampton (4^thApril 2017)
• ‘Women in the Sea of Time: Domestic Dated Objects in Early Modern England’, Gender, Power and Materiality conference, University of Plymouth (9^thApril 2016)
   

Teaching:

• Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, University of Birmingham (September 2016 – Present)
  Seminar tutor on the first-year History module ‘Reformation, Rebellion, Revolution: The Making of the Modern World 1500-1800’. Groups of around 17 students.
  
  

Public Engagement:

• ‘Marking Time in Shakespeare’s England’ Exhibition and Public Day
  Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-Upon-Avon (April 2018)

• • Curated an online exhibition based on my research 
  • Wrote a blog post for the SBT website
  • Gave a talk at a public event to publicise the exhibition
    
    
• ‘The Matter of Objects’ Artist Collaboration, Exhibition and Open Day  
  London Pathology Museum/Queen Mary University London (May 2016) 
  • Paired with a local artist, Grace Holliday, who then produced a series of artworks based on my research, following several months of conversation with me about my PhD 
  • Artwork was then exhibited over to the public at Queen Mary University London and at the London Pathology Museum
  • Gave a presentation alongside the artist ‘In Conversation’, as part of an open day for the project