As part of the ‘Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World’ project, funded by The Wellcome Trust, we will use this session to remake some domestic lighting technologies that were commonly used c. 1500-1750 in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and/or Early America (e.g. rushlights, bioluminescent woods, candles). The luminosity of each device will be tested and we will consider the different uses to which they might have been put, alongside the consequences of these technologies for our current assumptions about people’s bedtimes and sleep patterns in these years.

What Happens in a Humanities Lab is a new series of events, hosted by academics from across the humanities to bring their material culture specialisms into the lab in the form of practical skills workshops. They are available to staff and students across the whole University of Manchester. Sessions include artefacts and creative writing, indigo dyeing, building an origami disaster bowl, Early Modern candle making and mummifying an orange!

We’re encouraging creativity and discovery whilst learning new skills. Get creative in these workshops, collaborate with others from across the university and come see what a Humanities lab is all about.