Our small team, consisting of Professor Abigail Harrison Moore (University of Leeds), Dr Fabian Zimmer (TU Berlin), Alice Owen (University of Leeds) and myself have been using the lens of energy practices to re-explore guidebooks, recipe-books, novels, other texts, and the material culture of the home. Following our pilot workshop at Leeds University Library’s Special Collections in 2022 we have been looking for funding to scale up into a bigger project. By partnering international researchers with collections specialists and those working in educational outreach, we will identify and interpret texts and objects that can be used for co-produced/participatory workshops and exhibitions on the theme of past and future energy transitions in the home. Our approach aims to reinstate both the agency of women in negotiating historical energy transitions and the centrality of the household tasks (laundering, cooking, and home-making) to the energy economy.
Katie Ritson 