Dr Isabel Robinson

I am a cultural historian of the early modern British Atlantic. My interests lie in the intersection between art, literature, and politics from the mid- seventeenth to the late- eighteenth centuries, especially the role played by communication networks (print, transport, and correspondence) in shaping and sustaining public opinion. My work combines a focus on the development of cultural institutions – most of all subscription libraries, learned, educational, and artistic societies - with the politicisation of the periodical press. This focus also extends to the underlying commercial infrastructures by which such institutions were sustained, primarily as a result of growing global economies.

I am a specialist in the relationship between higher education and slavery, having previously held research positions at the University of Oxford, the University of St Andrews, and The British Museum. In the past I have been the recipient of the Katharine F. Pantzer Jr. Fellowship in Descriptive Bibliography which I undertook at Harvard University's Houghton Library. I am currently working on my first monograph, which examines the role of correspondence networks and the periodical press as a facet of British imperial expansion. I have also recently been awarded a digitisation grant from the Paul Mellon Centre for the Study of British Art History to lead the project '"Our Most Beautful Mechanical Contrivances": Exhibiting Empire in Nineteenth Century Liverpool.'

Together with a colleague at the University of Hull, I am the co-founder of an ECR Network for scholars who study Britain’s institutional relationships to slavery, the intention of which is champion best practice in the field and to support likeminded scholars, both professionally and personally, to develop this important and pioneering sphere of research and public engagement. My professional experience also extends into the heritage sector. In the past I have worked in both archives and museums across the U.K. and have a particular passion for record keeping and the nature of the historical record.

At Liverpool John Moores University I am the Lead Researcher on the project ‘LJMU, Enslavement and Empire’ and teach on the following modules:

Undergraduate:

4100HIST: Making History
4101HIST: Exploring History

Post-graduate:

7104MHIST: Liverpool and Slavery (Module Leader 2024/2025)
7102MHIST: Dissertation in Modern History
7100MHIST: History Beyond the University