An aerial view of Singleton Campus and the bay opposite

Professor Louise Miskell

Professor

History

+44 (0) 1792 295777

l.miskell@swansea.ac.uk

Office - 109
First Floor
James Callaghan
Singleton Campus

Available For Postgraduate Supervision

Research Links

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1279-1199

About

Louise Miskell is a professor in the Department of History at Swansea where she teaches undergraduate modules on the modern history of Britain and of Wales and supervises postgraduate students at masters and doctoral level. Her research interests span the history of industrial and urban life in Britain from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries and her publications include books and articles on the history of the copper and steel industries and the history of Swansea. In 2019-2020 she led an AHRC-funded research project on The Social Worlds of Steel, investigating the impact of the steel industry on people and communities in Wales. Her research on steel is ongoing and her current writing projects include a book on the social history of steel in Wales.

Areas Of Expertise

History of the steel industry
History of the copper industry
History of Swansea
Urban history
Modern Welsh history

Publications

Research Highlights

Miskell, L. & Orange, H. (n.d.) Art as Industrial Heritage: Deindustrialisation and Public Sculpture in Britain’s Steel-Making Regions, 1976-2020. Social History
https://doi.org/10.1080/03071022.2024.2389627, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66226
Miskell, L. (2024). In Defence of a Coalfield Community: Resisting Urban Redevelopment in 1950s Wales. In Tim Verlaan and Christian Wicke (Ed.), Urban Activism in Western Europe from the 1950s to the 1980s (pp. 217-243). Springer Nature Switzerland
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57642-3_10, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67197
Evans, C. & Miskell, L. (2020). Swansea Copper. A Global History Johns Hopkins University Press.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa55859
https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/swansea-copper/table-of-contents
Miskell, L. (Ed.). (2020). New Perspectives on Welsh Industrial History. University of Wales Press.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa51960
https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/new-perspectives-on-welsh-industrial-history/
Miskell, L. (2006). Intelligent Town. An Urban History of Swansea, 1780-1855 University of Wales Press.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa11802
Miskell, L. (2021). 'Women in Steel in mid-twentieth century Glamorgan'. Morgannwg. The Journal of Glamorgan History., LXIV 2020, 81-105.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa56766
http://www.glamorganhistory.org/Publications.htm
Miskell, L. (2017). Doing It for Themselves: The Steel Company of Wales and the Study of American Industrial Productivity, 1945–1955. Enterprise & Society, 18(1), 184-213.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eso.2016.55, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa28929
Miskell, L. (2020). The Steel Industry in Welsh History and Heritage. In Stefan Berger (Ed.), Constructing Industrial Pasts. Heritage, Historical Culture and Identity in Regions undergoing Structural Economic Transformation (pp. 91-106). Berghahn Books
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53396
Miskell, L. (2014). From Copperopolis to Coquimbo: international knowledge networks in the copper industry of the 1820s. Welsh History Review, 27(1), 92-111.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa18119
Miskell, L. (2013). Meeting Places: scientific congresses and urban identity in Victorian Britain Ashgate.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa13896
https://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&title_id=12142&edition_id=12524

All Research

Journal Articles

Miskell, L. (2021). 'Women in Steel in mid-twentieth century Glamorgan'. Morgannwg. The Journal of Glamorgan History., LXIV 2020, 81-105.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa56766
http://www.glamorganhistory.org/Publications.htm
Miskell, L. (2017). Doing It for Themselves: The Steel Company of Wales and the Study of American Industrial Productivity, 1945–1955. Enterprise & Society, 18(1), 184-213.
https://doi.org/10.1017/eso.2016.55, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa28929
Miskell, L. (2014). From Copperopolis to Coquimbo: international knowledge networks in the copper industry of the 1820s. Welsh History Review, 27(1), 92-111.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa18119
Miskell, L. (2012). Putting on a Show: the Royal Agricultural Society of England and the Victorian town, c.1840-1876. Agricultural History Review, 60(1), 37-59.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa11220
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bahs/agrev/2012/00000060/00000001/art00005
Miskell, L. (2012). Meeting places: the scientific congress and the host town in the south-west of England, 1836-1877. Urban History, 39(2), 246-262.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926812000041, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa11492
Miskell, L. (2009). ‘Recreational Space in a Resort Town: Park versus Beach in Nineteenth-Century Swansea’. Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 15, 87-104.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa552
Miskell, L., Borsay, P., & Roberts, O. (2005). Understanding Urban Wales. Urban History, 32(1)
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa11808
Miskell, L. (2005). ‘Operating in the ethnic sphere: Irish migrant networks and the question of respectability in nineteenth-century South Wales’. Immigrants and Minorities, 22, 233-253.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa555
Miskell, L. (2003). The Making of a New 'Welsh Metropolis': Science, Leisure and Industry in Early Nineteenth-Century Swansea. History, 88(1), 32-52.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229X.00250, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa2534
Miskell, L. (2002). From Conflict to Co-operation: Urban Improvement and the Case of Dundee, 1790-1850. Urban History, 29(3), 350-371.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926802003024, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa2532
Miskell, L. (2002). Separate Spheres. Re-thinking the history of the metalliferous industries in south Wales. Welsh History Review, 21(2), 249-270.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa11806
Miskell, L. & Kenefick, W. (2000). A flourishing seaport: Dundee harbour and the making of the industrial town, c.1815-1850. Scottish Economic and Social History, 20(2), 176-198.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa11823
Miskell, L. & Whatley, C. (1999). Juteopolis in the Making: linen and the industrial transformation of Dundee, c.1820-1850. Textile History, 30(2), 217-38.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa11822
Miskell, L. & Orange, H. (n.d.) Art as Industrial Heritage: Deindustrialisation and Public Sculpture in Britain’s Steel-Making Regions, 1976-2020. Social History
https://doi.org/10.1080/03071022.2024.2389627, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66226

Authored Books

Evans, C. & Miskell, L. (2020). Swansea Copper. A Global History Johns Hopkins University Press.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa55859
https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/swansea-copper/table-of-contents
Miskell, L. (2013). Meeting Places: scientific congresses and urban identity in Victorian Britain Ashgate.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa13896
https://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&title_id=12142&edition_id=12524
Miskell, L. (2006). Intelligent Town. An Urban History of Swansea, 1780-1855 University of Wales Press.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa11802

Book Chapters

Miskell, L. (2024). In Defence of a Coalfield Community: Resisting Urban Redevelopment in 1950s Wales. In Tim Verlaan and Christian Wicke (Ed.), Urban Activism in Western Europe from the 1950s to the 1980s (pp. 217-243). Springer Nature Switzerland
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57642-3_10, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67197
Miskell, L. (2020). The Steel Industry in Welsh History and Heritage. In Stefan Berger (Ed.), Constructing Industrial Pasts. Heritage, Historical Culture and Identity in Regions undergoing Structural Economic Transformation (pp. 91-106). Berghahn Books
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53396

Edited Books

Miskell, L. (Ed.). (2020). New Perspectives on Welsh Industrial History. University of Wales Press.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa51960
https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/new-perspectives-on-welsh-industrial-history/
Miskell, L. (Ed.). (2010). The Origins of an industrial region: Robert Morris and the first Swansea copperworks, c.1727-1730. South Wales Record Society.
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa11493
http://www.southwalesrecordsociety.co.uk/23.htm

Supervision

Untitled (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Dr Alan Bilton
Small-Scale Fisheries, Local Seafood and the Future of Fishing Heritage in South Wales (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Dr Hilary Orange
'Landscapes of the Bristol Channel: Changing Perceptions of Time and Space in a Maritime Region, c.1780-1914' (awarded 2022)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Martin Johnes
Interwar Internationalism: Wales and the League of Nations, c. 1918-1945. (awarded 2023)

PhD

Other supervisor: Dr Tomás Irish
Gaming Capitalism in the Service of a People: A multidisciplinary Study of the Chickasaw Nation (awarded 2023)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Martin Johnes
On Art Changing Life: Richard Glynn Vivian (1835-1910), His Diaries, Travels and Collection«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /» (current)

MPhil

Other supervisor: Dr Adam Mosley
Caught; in the storm: the 1981 rugby test series between New Zealand and South Africa (current)

MA

Other supervisor: Prof Martin Johnes

Taught Modules

HI-M22 Dissertation

Students produce a dissertation of up to 20,000 words on a historical topic, chosen in conjunction with their supervisor. This represents the culmination of the History MAs, and constitutes Part Two of the programme.
HIH122 Making History

How do historians study the past? Why do their accounts of the past differ, and why do they change over time? This module will help you to understand the various concepts, methods, and approaches that academic historians use when writing history and generating historical explanations. By the end of it, you will understand how and why professional historians disagree on many topics, and you will be equipped to evaluate competing interpretations of the same past events and processes. The module also trains you in the fundamental skills required to study history as an undergraduate, and gives you an opportunity to learn more about the interests and expertise of the history staff you¿ll be working with at Swansea. It will help you make the transition from being taught history at school or college to studying history at university, and it will introduce you to the many different kinds of history you can explore in the course of your degree.
HIH122W Creu Hanes

Sut mae haneswyr yn astudio'r gorffennol? Pam bod eu fersiynau o'r gorffennol yn amrywio a pham ydynt yn newid dros amser? Bydd y modiwl hwn yn eich helpu i ddeall y cysyniadau, y dulliau a'r ymagweddau gwahanol y mae haneswyr academaidd yn eu defnyddio wrth ysgrifennu hanes a chreu esboniadau hanesyddol. Erbyn diwedd y modiwl, bydd gennych ddealltwriaeth o sut a pham bod haneswyr proffesiynol yn anghytuno ar lawer o bynciau a bydd modd i chi werthuso dehongliadau cyferbyniol o'r un digwyddiadau a phrosesau o'r gorffennol. Mae'r modiwl hefyd yn eich addysgu am y sgiliau sylfaenol angenrheidiol i astudio hanes fel myfyriwr israddedig ac mae'n rhoi cyfle i chi ddysgu mwy am ddiddordebau ac arbenigedd y staff hanes y byddwch chi'n gweithio gyda nhw yn Abertawe. Bydd yn eich helpu i bontio o bwnc sy'n cael ei addysgu yn yr ysgol neu'r coleg i astudio hanes yn y brifysgol a bydd yn eich cyflwyno i'r mathau gwahanol o hanes y gallwch chi eu harchwilio yn ystod eich cwrs gradd. How do historians study the past? Why do their accounts of the past differ, and why do they change over time? This module will help you to understand the various concepts, methods, and approaches that academic historians use when writing history and generating historical explanations. By the end of it, you will understand how and why professional historians disagree on many topics, and you will be equipped to evaluate competing interpretations of the same past events and processes. The module also trains you in the fundamental skills required to study history as an undergraduate, and gives you an opportunity to learn more about the interests and expertise of the history staff you¿ll be working with at Swansea. It will help you make the transition from being taught history at school or college to studying history at university, and it will introduce you to the many different kinds of history you can explore in the course of your degree.
HIH284 Disunited Kingdom? Class, Race, Gender and Social Division in Twentieth-Century Britain

This module examines the dynamics and structure of British society over the course of the 20th century. Despite radical social, political and economic changes, the idea of a British nation, a British people and a British way of life remained powerful and persistent. Yet beneath a veneer of social and and national unity were profound divisions and inequalities. This module explores how categories such as gender, class, race, region, nation and religion evolved and persisted. In doing so, the module considers what causes social change and the extent to which there was anything resembling British society at all. The module will relate these historical contexts to the present day. It asks how history can be used to understand contemporary social divisions and seeks to empower and enable students to think critically about how Britain and `Britishness¿ are constituted in contemporary society.
HIH3300 History Dissertation

The History dissertation is a free-standing, 40-credit module that runs across both semesters of Level Three. Candidates conduct research upon a subject of their choice, devised in consultation with a member of staff teaching for the degrees in History, and concerning a topic that falls within staff research and teaching interests.
HIH3360 Towns and Cities in Modern Britain

This special subject examines how economic, cultural, social and demographic changes have played out in urban Britain from the Victorian period to the 1980s. We will trace the fate of towns and cities in twentieth-century Britain. We will assess the impact of war and economic depression on town life and examine the impact of house-building and reconstruction after 1945. We will evaluate how towns were re-shaped around the needs of the motor-car and the rise of new manufacturing industries in the post war-period and, in the latter decades of the twentieth century, the part played by cultural and heritage-led regeneration schemes in urban rejuvenation. Primary sources will include photographic material, town plans, publicity brochures and local government publications.
HIH3383 The Rise and Fall of Wales? Politics, Culture and Society, 1847-1939

This module explores the history of Wales from the notorious 1847 Blue Books to the outbreak of the Second World War. It analyses the emergence of Welsh identities in politics, religion and popular culture and considers how Welshness intersected with other loyalties such as class, race, and Empire. Students will learn about the role of the Welsh language, women, trade unions and political parties in society and explore key events such as the Great War, strikes and riots and the first modern Welsh legislation

Key Grants and Projects

The Social Worlds of Steel 2019 - 2020

, with Dr Hilary Orange

Professor Louise Miskell

Telephone number

Email address

Twitter Account

Research Links

About

Areas Of Expertise

Research Highlights

All Research

Untitled (current)

Small-Scale Fisheries, Local Seafood and the Future of Fishing Heritage in South Wales (current)

'Landscapes of the Bristol Channel: Changing Perceptions of Time and Space in a Maritime Region, c.1780-1914' (awarded 2022)

Interwar Internationalism: Wales and the League of Nations, c. 1918-1945. (awarded 2023)

Gaming Capitalism in the Service of a People: A multidisciplinary Study of the Chickasaw Nation (awarded 2023)

On Art Changing Life: Richard Glynn Vivian (1835-1910), His Diaries, Travels and Collection«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /»«br /» (current)

Caught; in the storm: the 1981 rugby test series between New Zealand and South Africa (current)

HI-M22 Dissertation

HIH122 Making History

HIH122W Creu Hanes

HIH284 Disunited Kingdom? Class, Race, Gender and Social Division in Twentieth-Century Britain

HIH3300 History Dissertation

HIH3360 Towns and Cities in Modern Britain

HIH3383 The Rise and Fall of Wales? Politics, Culture and Society, 1847-1939

The Social Worlds of Steel 2019 - 2020