Thank you to Henry Lord PR for the advanced copy of this book to review! Mad, bad and dangerous to know...Romantic poet and famous bad boy, Lord Byron I have always had a love for history. I grew up watching Time Team with my dad, and loved watching period dramas with my mum. At school…
Black Lives Matter and Museums: One Year On
George Floyd mural, not my image The Black Lives Matter movement is by no means a new phenomenon. Continuing the long fight against racial police brutality, the organisation was set up after the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, at the hands of a police officer in Florida. The movement became a global…
#ChooseToChallenge: Women in the Museum Sector
When you step into a museum or gallery today whose stories do you see? Are there any women? If there are, how are they represented? Are they diverse histories? It was so well read the pages fell off the spine...Mary Queen of Scots by David Ross For as long as I can remember I have…
A (not so) Holly Jolly Christmas?: Scottish Festive Traditions & the Ban on Christmas
It might be hard to believe, but there was a time when Christmas was banned in Scotland. In fact, it was not recognised as a public holiday until 1958. Winter festivals have been celebrated in Scotland for hundreds of years. It was in the 4th Century that the celebration of the Birth of Christ, or…
A Christmas Gift Guide for History Lovers
With Christmas just around the corner you may be starting think about those presents. Do you have a history lover in your life you're always struggling to buy for? Need to get that final stocking filler for your museum-going bestie? Or you're just looking for something a little different? Let me help you out with…
Opinion: Why the long-awaited statue of Mary Wollstonecraft was a missed opportunity
Last Tuesday the campaign group Mary on the Green unveiled its long awaited statue dedicated to 18th century writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft. The group have been fundraising and campaigning for this statue for 10 years. Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft is regarded as the 'mother of feminism.' Born in 1759 in Spitalfields, London, Mary went…
TikTok Tarot: The Witchtok Trend & the History of the Spiritualist Movement
Fortune Telling books at The Tenement House, Glasgow I know that I wasn't alone in downloading TikTok when the UK went into lockdown in March. But in between the dance trends and the recipes for whipped coffee I noticed something else. Every so often I would get a tarot video with 'a message from my…
An Introduction
Hello! I'm Rachel! For some time I have been toying with the idea of setting up a blog, but for one reason or another I never really found the time. In an all too familiar 2020 tale, I was furloughed in April and decided to set up an Instagram page: @rachelsfactfiles to share fun historical…
The Continuing Impact of COVID on The Museums Sector
On January 4th the Florence Nightingale museum announced that they would be closing their doors indefinitely to undergo a complete rethink and restructure. Despite celebrating the bicentenary of Nightingale's birth in 2020 and being able to do restricted opening when lockdown was eased, it simply was not enough. The People's History Museum, Manchester, which is…
An Historical Defence of Harry Styles’ Vogue Cover
In November 2020 Harry Styles graced the cover of Vogue magazine wearing a beautiful, blue gown designed by Gucci, becoming the first man to feature solo on a cover of the iconic magazine. Shortly after the the news broke about Harry's much anticipated appearance on the cover, Twitter exploded with arguments over the fluidity of…
My Museum Bucket List
I love museums, and seeing the impact Covid-19 has had on the heritage sector has been truly heartbreaking. With lockdowns all over the globe it was haunting to see images on Instagram of an empty Louvre, and to see the lights off over Michelangelo's David at the Galleria dell'Academia in Florence. In the early days…
Rachel's Fact Files 