Academic Staff - H Mathers
Dr Helen Mathers, BA, PhD [Sheffield]
Research Fellow
Telephone: +44 (0)114 222 1705
Fax: +44 (0)144 222 1717
Room: B1, Elmfield Lodge
email : h.mathers@sheffield.ac.uk
Profile
Helen Mathers was awarded a B.A. in History and Politics from Sheffield University and went on to study for a Ph.D., which was completed in 1980. This research, on the history of Sheffield City Council, was later published as part of the History of the City of Sheffield project (1993). Dr. Mathers worked for many years as an Associate lecturer for the department of History, and also for the division of Adult Continuing Education and the Open University. In 1997 she became director of the `Born in Sheffield´ project, which resulted in a book and an important archive of the records of the Jessop Hospital for Women. On completion of this project, in 2000, she was appointed director of the University of Sheffield´s Centenary History project. She published a comprehensive study of the University's development in May 2005.
Dr Mathers also has a long-term research interest in Josephine Butler, the Victorian feminist campaigner for the rights of prostitutes and has published several articles about her.
Dr Mathers joined the Department of Politics in February 2005 as Research Fellow to the ESRC 'Delivery Chain' project, part of the Public Services Programme; Quality Performance and Delivery project. This research traced the steps which occur between devising a policy in the Home Office and delivering it `on the ground´. She is currently working with Dr David Richards on a study exploring New Labour in government, with particular reference to David Blunkett´s career as Secretary of State at the Department of Education and Employment (1997-2001) and the Home Office (2001-04).
Current Research
ESRC Project: (with David Richards)Political Biography, Political Science and Methodological Innovation: Building Bridges in British Core Executive Studies.
This project draws on theoretical models of the British core executive and applies them to the biographical account, taken from memoirs, private papers and project interviews, of a former Cabinet minister – David Blunkett.
Josephine Butler 1828-1906
Ongoing long-term interest in the life and work of Josephine Butler, the Victorian campaigner for the rights of prostitutes.
Selected Publications
Books
- Standing Up for Students. One hundred years of the University of Sheffield Union of Students (University of Sheffield Union of Students, 2007)
- Steel City Scholars. The Centenary History of the University of Sheffield (James and James, 2005)
- Born in Sheffield. A History of the Womens Health Services, 1864-2000, (with Tania McIntosh) (Wharncliffe Press, 2000).
Journal Article
- ‘Scientific women in a co-educational university: Sheffield 1879-1939’, to be published in History of Education Researcher. Forthcoming
- ‘The Evangelical Spirituality of a Victorian Feminist: Josephine Butler 1828-1906’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, (2001)
Book Chapters
- “Tis dishonour done to me”. Self-representation in the writings of Josephine Butler’ in Jenny Daggers and Diana Neal (ed), Sex, gender and religion: Josephine Butler revisited (New York: Peter Lang, 2006)
- 'Evangelicalism and feminism. Josephine Butler 1828-1906', in Sue Morgan (ed.), Strategies of subversion. Women, religion and the dynamics of feminism, Britain 1750-1900. (Palgrave, 2002)
- 'Sheffield 1893-1926', in D. Martin & J.C.G. Binfield (eds) History of the City of Sheffield Vol. 1., (Sheffield Academic Press, 1993).
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