A new chapter

It has been too long since I posted on here, so I'm starting up again.
I've been meaning to do this for a while but wasn't sure what to write about, seeing as I am not currently writing or researching a dissertation.

I suppose starting with, or rather finishing, where my last post left off is a good idea!

I might well start a new blog for my Postgrad when I can think of a good title. I definitely haven't just spent the last half an hour googling 'History blogs' and 'history puns'...

Pretty much the best I can come up with is 'AnAmericanistStuckInEngland' which isn't a pun, or funny, at all. It just describes me.
I thought of Herstory but it's taken by someone who has never made a single blog post and should feel ashamed of themselves.

So on to me!

I graduated from Newcastle with a First in History in July 2016! It was an incredible day.

Here is proud me.

I was over the moon! Of course everyone would love a First but I went into University hoping to get a good 2:1. Not sure how I managed to scrape over that 70 line, it was a close call, but I am glad I did!

I could not have done it without my partner Joseph, who was there in America with me, putting up with the hours I spent marveling at at Dorothy's slippers (NMAH) and buying out the gift shops (who doesn't want a mini Constitution in a bottle, and 25 bookmarks from the Library of Congress?), and waiting patiently while I took hundreds of photos of text panels in the museums so I didn't have to read everything there and then.
Turns out most of the photos I took of text were rather blurry and I never read most of them at all.

Actually, what I will do here is to copy and paste the Acknowledgments page of my dissertation, because it says everything I want to say here really.

This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of Professor Susan-Mary Grant who gave me much encouragement and support and always made me feel like I could do it when I thought I could not. Thank you to the Charleston Jazz Initiative and the Avery Research Center, whose staff were patient and helpful, fetching me endless boxes, and photocopying pages and pages at my request. Also thank you to John White and the College of Charleston who very kindly gave me a place to stay in Charleston whilst using the library’s archives.

Thanks to Bob and Margo for the tour of the Alabama Jazz Hall of fame and the taste of an Alabama BBQ, and thanks to Hilary, Jake and Kerstin whose house became our home in Washington D.C.

Thanks to my mum and dad for your endless support, and to everyone else who read my blog whilst I was in the US doing the research for my vacation scholarship and dissertation.

Thanks to Brian for keeping me sane and always giving me an escape when it got too much. You might not like Jazz, but I hope you enjoy reading about it.

And finally, I dedicate this work to Joseph Shaw who accompanied me around endless museums and archives in the United States. I could not have done it without you.

It was all a great adventure, and it paid off!

And now here I am in February 2017, back home in Sheffield (I made my decision, did I mention?), as a Masters student at the University of Sheffield.
Changing my Twitter bio finally, to sell myself as an actual Postgraduate rather than an aspiring one, was a proud moment for me.
Being in Sheffield has its positives and negatives. The University itself is brilliant and the staff I've met and been taught by are wonderful.

I might leave it here for now and carry on soon about what I've been up to at Sheffield. Maybe on a different blog, to leave this as my research blog. I'll let you know.

Take care my small band of probably two followers,

Em x