HeyJaredFree-Range History
A diverse collection of stories from the past, driven by curiosity and wonder. Free-Range History is an interesting newsletter for interested people.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 18, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 10, 2026
Latest issues
The mysterious possible matriarch of Iron Age Melsonby (opens the original)
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“Everyone has their own favourite theory. But I do personally think that there’s a powerful woman involved in this.”That’s Emily North, Curator of Archaeology at Yorkshire Museum. She’s talking about the Melsonby Hoard, a collection of hundreds of items buried in the north of England in the Iron Age, and specifically, the mystery that still surrounds the ‘why’ and ‘who for’ of it.“The objects that are within the hoard are really rare and it’s a pretty much unique combination. There’s so many ele
The museum where lords and ladies mixed with labourers (opens the original)
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Last weekend I dropped into the Young V&A museum in Bethnal Green, east London. I lived just around the corner for over a decade and visited a few times over the years. This was my first time back since its rebrand (it was formerly the Museum of Childhood), renovation, and 2023 reopening.My verdict? Positive. I felt the breadth of items on display was improved, appealing to a wider range of audience ages, and overall it felt more clearly part of the Victoria & Albert family. What didn’t change w
History writing, history, and writing #20 (opens the original)
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Below you’ll find links to some interesting history-related articles I’ve read recently, an archive photo, and an item about the history/practice of writing.Enjoy!History writingI really enjoyed ‘s story about how many 18th and 19th-Century women had to disguise their writing ambitions or, at least, relegate them to brief, snatched moments when they weren’t doing something for someone else.A humorous and informative piece from
Re-post: Margate Shell Grotto – origin, creator, purpose: unknown (opens the original)
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It’s summer, so I’ve given myself permission to temporarily ease off writing stories here. This is the final in a series of re-posts of previous content I’ve been sharing. I’ll be back with something new in a fortnight.I think it’s fair to say that among the ambitions of anyone who ‘does’ history is the desire to discover something new or mysterious, but ultimately, revelatory.We are detectives. Using the available evidence, and a little informed speculation, we piece together the puzzle of the
Re-post: Marianne North didn’t do what was expected of her (opens the original)
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It’s summer, so I’m giving myself permission to temporarily ease off writing new stories here. I’ll keep sending newsletters fortnightly, but for the next little while some of them will be re-posts of previous content – including today.Marianne North (1830-1890) was a woman who knew what she wanted and had the means and motivation to make it happen. From travelling the world to see firsthand the exotic plants that fascinated her, to designing and financing a gallery to save her art for posterity
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