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A key theme in my research is the idea of success and failure. It’s not an idea I initially expected to pursue, but as I started delving into the history of technology it’s something I kept coming back to. Historically, history is about success. We focus on victors in war, celebrate the best ideas, remember certain people more than others. Life, on the other hand, is about both; we all know that failures define us as much as our successes. So, when we create a narrative of the past it’s crucial we think about things that didn’t go as well as things that did.

I’m creating the first history of an object most people don’t remember and very few people used. By doing so, we can see what a historically forgotten object means today. The Electrophone, as it turns out, means quite a lot. For one thing, it was a remote listening device that streamed theatre. Live streaming of arts events is something that is suddenly very important to us today with the pandemic meaning large audiences cannot meet in venues as they once did. Therefore we see the value of studying something previously overlooked.

I was always going to focus on history during my PhD, that was no question, but I was keen to choose a topic that would enable me to explore either science or the arts as well. The Electrophone gave me the chance to look at theatres’ interaction with technology, so both science and the arts, which was perfect.

Post 16 Education: A Level Maths, Geography, and History. I also did an EPQ which was hugely valuable; the confidence it afforded me in writing, researching, and presenting gave me a massive boost throughout my first degree at University.

Higher Education: BA (Hons) in History at Royal Holloway; MA in Public History at Royal Holloway

Natasha’s experience as a student

I’ve always wanted to travel the world and have found history to be a great way of travelling not only through space but also time.

I decided for my undergraduate degree I would choose as many modules in as many different times and places as possible. To some extent, this made it much harder since I would be in 12th Century Spain one minute and then run down the corridor to 20th Century India! But it also gave me an incredible breadth of knowledge and a chance to understand how the world has come to be, rather than just the corners of it that touch my daily life.

Studying such a wide range of histories also meant I ended up falling into other subjects along the way, from nuclear physics to poetry. It means today I’m never afraid to learn something totally new, and I think that attitude probably explains how I’ve ended up studying a PhD in the Media and Communications department (a subject I’ve never actually studied). 

Natasha's Career

I’m now a PhD student creating the first complete history of the Electrophone in Britain. The Electrophone was a Victorian telephone that broadcast live events into the home. This subject covers history, science, media, technology, and the arts all rolled into one.

I would never have imagined I would still be at university five years later when I first started studying for my BA, but I found I loved researching, reading, writing, and sharing this work with others. I decided to focus on looking for a way to continue with all of these things after my masters and soon realised that a PhD would be the best way forward.

One of the best parts about my PhD is that it is a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership, which means I get to work with a heritage organisation that has the same interests as myself when it comes to sharing research with the wider community.