Robert Poole (historian)
{{short description|UK-based historian (born 1957)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
Robert Poole (born 1957) is a UK-based historian, currently professor of history at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston.{{Cite web|url=http://www.uclan.ac.uk/staff_profiles/dr_robert_poole.php|title=Staff Profiles {{!}} About us {{!}}|website=Uclan website|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827162137/http://www.uclan.ac.uk/staff_profiles/dr_robert_poole.php|archive-date=2014-08-27|url-status=dead|accessdate=2017-02-18}} He gained his PhD from the University of Lancaster in 1986, where he was associated with Prof Harold Perkin's Centre for Social History, organising the 1996 conference of the Social History Society on 'Time and the Construction of the Past'. He has also held positions at the universities of Keele, Edge Hill and Cumbria. He has also been Leverhulme Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Manchester (2000-1), an associate of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester (2010–17), an associate of 'The Future in the Stars' research programme, Friedrich-Meinecke Institut, Freie Universität Berlin (2012–16),{{Cite web|url=http://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/en/e/fmi/astrofuturismus/projekt/index.html|title=The Future in the Stars: European Astroculture and Extraterrestrial Life in the Twentieth Century. Emmy Noether research group|year=2012|website=The Future in the Stars: European Astroculture and Extraterrestrial Life in the Twentieth Century|publisher=Friedrich-Meinecke Institut, Freie Universität Berlin}} and visiting senior research fellow to the History Group, University of Hertfordshire (2013–15).
Earthrise and the space age
Poole's book Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth (Yale University Press, 2008),{{Cite web|url = http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300164039|title = Earthrise (paperback edition)|website = Yale University Press}} a study of the first views of Earth from space and their impact, has been identified as one of the key works of the 'new aerospace history'.{{Cite book|title = To Touch the Face of God: the Sacred, the Profane and the American Space Program, 1957-1975|last = Oliver|first = Kendrick|publisher = Johns Hopkins UP|year = 2013|isbn = 978-1-4214-0788-3|location = Baltimore, Maryland|pages = 4–5}} He has lectured on 'Earthrise' and the cultural history of the space age in London, Washington, D.C., Lucerne,{{Cite web|url=https://jesslaccetti.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/swiss-biennial-on-science-technics.html?view=flipcard|title=[Swiss Biennial on Science, Technics + Aesthetics]|website=jesslaccetti.blogspot.co.uk|access-date=2018-05-19}} Paris, Berlin, and Copenhagen, broadcast on American public radio networks,[http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=08-P13-00050&segmentID=6 'Living on Earth']{{Cite web|url = http://backstoryradio.org/shows/starry-eyed-heavens/|title = Starry-Eyed: a History of the Heavens|date = August 2013|website = Backstory.org|publisher = Virginia Foundation for the Humanities|url-status = dead|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20141016200652/http://backstoryradio.org/shows/starry-eyed-heavens/|archivedate = 16 October 2014}}{{Cite web|url = https://www.npr.org/2010/02/12/123614938/an-alien-view-of-earth?ps=rs|title = Pale Blue Dot|date = Feb 2012|website = National Public Radio (U.S.A.)}} and in July 2009 wrote the op-ed piece for the Los Angeles Times on the fortieth anniversary of the Lunar landing in July 1969 by Apollo 11.[https://web.archive.org/web/20121104204448/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1793992381.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+19,+2009&author=Robert+Poole&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.31&desc=For+the+Apollo+crews,+a+small+world%3B+Traveling+to+the+moon+changed+how+they+saw+the+Earth LA Times Archive 19 July 2009] Subsequent articles have explored the science fiction writer and techno-prophet Arthur C. Clarke,{{Cite journal|url = http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/vsU4pIysUwcTmD3Stxff/full|title = The Challenge of the Spaceship: Arthur C. Clarke and the History of the Future|last = Poole|first = Robert|date = Sep 2012|journal = History and Technology|doi = 10.1080/07341512.2012.722793|volume = 28|pages = 255–280 | s2cid=143528735 }} '2001: a Space Odyssey and the Dawn of Man' in the 2015 collection Stanley Kubrick: New Perspectives,{{Cite web|url=https://www.blackdogonline.com/imported-products-2/stanley-kubrick|title=Stanley Kubrick: New Perspectives|website=Black Dog Press|access-date=2018-05-19}} and the myth of progress in '2001: a Space Odyssey'.{{Cite book|url=https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781137369154|title=Limiting Outer Space - Astroculture After Apollo {{!}} Alexander C.T. Geppert {{!}} Palgrave Macmillan}} Another recent article, 'What was Whole about the Whole Earth?', provides a missing chapter to Earthrise.{{Cite book|title = The Surveillance Imperative|last1 = Turchetti|first1 = Simone|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|year = 2014|isbn = 9781137438720|url = http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/the-surveillance-imperative-simone-turchetti/?k=9781137438720|last2 = Roberts|first2 = Peder}} In early 2016 he enjoyed a Short-Term Visitor Award at the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum, to look at the recently acquired papers of Arthur C. Clarke.{{Cite web|title = Arthur C. Clarke's Personal Papers Arrive at the Museum {{!}} AirSpace|url = http://blog.nasm.si.edu/highlights-from-the-collection/clarkes-personal-papers/|website = blog.nasm.si.edu|accessdate = 2015-06-21|date = 2015-04-20}}
Peterloo and popular protest
Poole's Peterloo: the English Uprising, (OUP, 2019) is an account of the 1819 Peterloo massacre in Manchester, on which he has written articles in Past and Present,{{Cite journal|title = The March to Peterloo: Politics and Festivity in Late Georgian England|last = Poole|first = Robert|date = August 2006|journal = Past and Present |volume = 192|doi = 10.1093/pastj/gtl006|issue = 1|pages = 109–153}} History,{{Cite journal|title = By the law or the sword: Peterloo revisited|last = Poole|first = Robert|date = April 2006|journal = History|volume = 91|doi = 10.1111/j.1468-229X.2006.00366.x|issue = 302|pages = 254–276}} Labour History Review,{{Cite journal|url = http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/6682/1/Poole%202009%20LHR.pdf|title = French revolution or peasants' revolt? Petitioners and rebels from the Blanketeers to the Chartists|last = Poole|first = Robert|date = April 2009|journal = Labour History Review|doi = 10.1179/174581809X408375|issue = 74, 1|volume = 74|pages = 6–26}} and edited collections.{{Cite news|url=http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719091698/|title=Manchester University Press - Politics, performance and popular culture|work=Manchester University Press|access-date=2018-05-19}} He is historical adviser to the Peterloo 2019 commemoration programme, run jointly by Manchester Histories and the People's History Museum,{{Cite news|url=https://manchesterhistories.co.uk/projects/peterloo2019|title=Peterloo 2019 - Manchester Histories|work=Manchester Histories|access-date=2018-05-19}} and to the 2017-18 community project by ReelMcr, 'Our Sam, Middleton man'.{{Cite news|url=http://www.themeteor.org/2017/08/19/sam-middleton-man-community-needed-help-bring-middletons-famous-son-back-life/|title='Our Sam - The Middleton Man': Community needed to help bring Middleton's most famous son back to life - The Meteor|date=2017-08-19|work=The Meteor|access-date=2018-05-19}} He was instrumental in bringing to the John Rylands Library a full set of the radical newspaper the Manchester Observer (1818–22), now freely available online as part of the library's Peterloo collection.{{Cite web|url=http://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/Manchester~24~24|title=Peterloo Collection|website=luna.manchester.ac.uk|access-date=2018-05-19}} He has given numerous public lectures and workshops, including the Manchester Histories Festivals and the 2018 BBC Civilisations festival,{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/PeterlooMemoria|title=Peterloo Memorial (@PeterlooMemoria) {{!}} Twitter|website=twitter.com|access-date=2018-05-19}} and is an active member of the Peterloo Memorial Campaign.{{Cite web|url=http://www.peterloomassacre.org|title=Peterloo Massacre Memorial Campaign|website=www.peterloomassacre.org|access-date=2018-05-19}} His broadcast appearances include The Matter of the North episode 7 'The Radical North' (BBC R4 2016),{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07syyrh|title=The Radical North, The Matter of the North - BBC Radio 4|website=BBC|access-date=2017-02-18}} Elegance and Decadence: the Age of the Regency episode 3 (BBC Four, 2011), How the North was Built Part 1 (ITV, 2013), The Real Mill (Channel 4, 2014),{{Cite web|title = The Real Mill with Tony Robinson|url = http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-real-mill-with-tony-robinson|website = Channel 4|accessdate = 2015-06-21}} and the BBC Schools Programme Exploring the Past (2015).{{Cite web|title = The Peterloo Massacre, Exploring the Past: Protest - BBC Two|url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02jg2hp|website = BBC|accessdate = 2015-06-21}} He edited a volume of the Manchester Region History Review, Return to Peterloo, contributing essays including 'What Don't We Know About Peterloo?'.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/mcrh/2014/04/02/peterloo/|title=Return to Peterloo|year=2014|website=Manchester Region History Review|publisher=Manchester Centre for Regional History, MMU.|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20140822231244/http://www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/mcrh/2014/04/02/peterloo/|archivedate=22 August 2014|url-status=dead}} . It will be followed by a biography of the Lancashire radical Samuel Bamford, on whom he has written several articles (some of them available online), and whose remarkable diaries he edited with Martin Hewitt for Sutton/St Martin's Press in 2000.{{Cite web|url = https://uclan.academia.edu/RobertPoole|title = Robert Poole|year = 2014|website = academia.edu}}
Early modern England
In 2011 Poole produced a modern edition of The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster (Carnegie, 2011), the original 1612 account of the trial of the Lancashire (or Pendle) witches.{{Cite book|title = The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster|last = Poole|first = Robert|publisher = Carnegie|year = 2011|isbn = 978-1-874181-78-1|location = Lancaster}} The introduction gave the definitive account of England's biggest peacetime witch trial, summarised in an essay for the Public Domain Review.{{Cite web|title = The Lancashire Witches 1612-2012|url = http://publicdomainreview.org/2012/08/22/the-lancashire-witches-1612-2012/ |website = The Public Domain Review|accessdate = 2015-06-21|date = 2012-08-22 }} He was historical adviser to the Lancashire Witches 400 commemoration programme,{{Cite web|url=http://greenclose.org/new/commissions|title=Lancashire Witches 400 {{!}} Green Close|website=greenclose.org|access-date=2018-05-19}} including a long-distance walking trail featured in BBC History magazine,{{Cite book|title=The Lancashire Witches Walk|last1=Poole|first1=R.|last2=Close|first2=Green|date=2013-06-04|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|isbn=9781484920718}} and to the subsequent Documenting Dissent project about prisoners of conscience at Lancaster Castle.{{Cite web|url=http://www.documentingdissent.org.uk/?page_id=16509#readmore|title=Documenting Dissent {{!}} A River of Dissent|website=www.documentingdissent.org.uk|access-date=2018-05-19}} He also edited "The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories" (Manchester University Press 2002), a multidisciplinary book of essays. He has also written "Time's Alteration: Calendar Reform In Early Modern England" (UCL Press/Taylor and Francis, London, 1998), which explains the British calendar reform of 1752 and refutes the myth of riots over the missing eleven days. He explained this on the BBC Radio 4 programme 'In Our Time'.[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00548m9 BBC Radio 4 In Our Time website] He has contributed two articles to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: John Collier ('Tim Bobbin') 1708–1786, and William Holder 1616-1698).
References
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Category:Academics of Edge Hill University
Category:Academics of Keele University
Category:Academics of the University of Central Lancashire
Category:Academics of the University of Cumbria
Category:Academics of the University of Manchester