About
Research
Email: joe.saunders@stmarys.ac.uk
Biography
Joe is a historical researcher and tutor, currently a research fellow on the UKRI and The Centre for Catholic Education, Research and Religious Literacy (CERRL)-funded project ‘The history and heritage of St Mary’s University: from Catholic teacher education institution to Catholic university, a future in retrospect’. He works on this alongside Dr Anna Cusack. He is working toward a PhD at the University of York and has published academic works on the print trade in early modern England. He is passionate about family and local history, is a tutor at two adult-learning organisations, and the current vice-chair of the British Association for Local History.
Joe is a historical researcher working within academia and beyond. He has worked freelance since 2018 for a range of clients including private individuals, academics, and organisations. He is an associate of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA), the professional body for this work in England and Wales.
His teaching experience includes work as a graduate teaching assistant for the Department of History at the University of York. Joe is passionate about adult education and engagement with history. He has written and teaches several short-courses at York’s Centre for Lifelong Learning and for the online learning-provider Pharos Tutors on subjects relating to social, family, and local history.
Joe regularly gives talks and runs workshops for amateur historians including recent presentations for the Society of Genealogists and the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies. He is also the host and producer of the Family History Federation’s podcast.
Social media
Research
Research profile
Joe’s research interests are broadly on English society in the period c.1500-present with particular focus on the histories of communities, work, and communication. His current doctoral research is on the social history of the seventeenth century English print trade at the University of York. He holds an MA (Hons) and MPhil in history from the University of Glasgow.
Publications
- ‘Family Historians and Our Archives’ in Peck, Imogen. ed. (Forthcoming 2024) British Family Archives & their Afterlives, 1350-2023. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer.
- ‘Richard Adams and his Network of Print’ in Rachel Stenner, Kaley Kramer, and Adam James Smith. eds. (2023) The People of Print: Seventeenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ‘Female Agency in the Social Network of the English Print Trade, c.1623–41’ in Caroline Archer-Parré, Christine Moog and John Hinks. eds. (2022) Women in Print 2: Production, Distribution and Consumption. Oxford: Peter Lang.
- ‘The Howes family of Puritan booksellers in seventeenth century England’, Bunyan Studies: A Journal of Reformation and Nonconformist Culture 25 (2021).
External Involvement
Joe serves as a Trustee and is current vice-chair of the British Association for Local History. His participation in the Association’s work includes management of volunteers and contracted staff to deliver events and other outreach initiatives.