Alexandra Jane Shepard is Professor of

Gender History Gender history is a sub-field of history and gender studies, which looks at the past from the perspective of gender. It is in many ways, an outgrowth of women's history. The discipline considers in what ways historical events and periodization im ...

at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. In 2018 Shepard was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

in recognition for her work in gender history and the social history of early modern Britain. In 2019 she was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

Career

Shepard is Professor of Gender History within the School of Humanities at the University of Glasgow, where her research interests focus on early modern British history, with an emphasis on the social, cultural and economic history and gender relations. Her work has particular emphasis on masculinity in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, and more recently has undertaken comparative research on women's work and agency in early modern history. Her work has contributed to changing the understanding of working-class life over the past five centuries. She is Co-Investigator of the

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts a ...

funded project ‘Women Negotiating the Boundaries of Justice: Britain and Ireland, c.1100-c.1750’, which explores women's access to justice across Britain and Ireland between the 12th and 18th centuries. Shepard also leads a Leverhulme International Network Grant on “Producing Change: Gender and Work in Early Modern Europe", awarded in 2015. She has previously taught and researched at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

, the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

and

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

. Her PhD thesis studied Early Modern student life at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and in particular how undergraduate students expressed their male identities. The thesis was supervised by Keith Wrightson.

Awards

Shepard won the

Leo Gershoy Award The Leo Gershoy Award is a book prize awarded by the American Historical Association for the best publication in English dealing with the history of Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Endowed in 1975 by the Gershoy family and first ...

in 2016 for second book, ''Accounting for Oneself'', published in February 2015; an annual prize awarded by the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

for outstanding works published on 17th- and 18th-century European history’. The book, a culmination of a decade of work, examines how ordinary people valued themselves and understood social order and self-esteem, using innovative methods of

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

. Shepard used over 13,000 witness statements, of which 3,331 were by women, made between the years 1550 to 1728 in church courts and Cambridge University courts, to examine the relationship between wealth, occupation and social identity. In 2004, whilst at Christ's College, Cambridge, Shepard was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize. In 2017, Shepard received a Leverhulme Research Fellowships for research on family and economy in England, 1660–1815.

Personal life

Shepard married engineering scientist

Jason Reese Jason Meredith Reese (24 June 1967 – 8 March 2019) was a British engineering scientist, and Regius Professor of Engineering (Edinburgh), Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. His research was in Multiscale modeling ...

, latterly Regius Professor of Engineering at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, in 2001. Their daughter Zoe was born in 2007. Reese died of a suspected heart attack in March 2019.

Bibliography

* ''The Whole Economy: Gender and Work in Early Modern Europe'' (co-editor with Catriona Macleod and Maria Ågren; Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 2023) * ''Accounting for Oneself: Worth, Status and the Social Order in Early Modern England'' (Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2015) * ''Remaking English Society: Social Relations and Social Change in Early Modern England'' (co-editor with Steve Hindle and John Walter; Woodbridge:

Boydell Press Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Martlesham, Suffolk, England, that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, editio ...

, 2013) * ''Meanings of Manhood in Early Modern England, 1560-1640'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) * ''Communities in Early Modern England: Networks, Place, Rhetoric'' (co-editor with P. J. Withington; Manchester:

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England, and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with t ...

, 2000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Alexandra Alumni of the University of Cambridge Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Scottish women historians Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British gender studies academics Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Academics of the University of Sussex Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of history Academics of the University of Glasgow Tudor historians Historians of the Renaissance 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish women writers 20th-century Scottish historians 21st-century Scottish historians Philip Leverhulme Prize winners