EPOCH Turns Five – Memories from Former Editors
- EPOCH
- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
The EPOCH Editorial Team
It is hard to believe that the COVID-19 pandemic was five years ago, time really does fly! Many of us took lockdown as an opportunity to learn a new skill, finally get around to some DIY, or just ‘binge’ various programmes on streaming platforms in the hope that one day things would return to normality. Though the pandemic affected everyone’s lives, it was particularly disruptive for the generation of PGRs who found themselves unable to visit archives or make research trips for an extended period. Not to be defeated by something as minor as a global pandemic, a group of PGRs at Lancaster University met (virtually) during the Spring and Summer of 2020 to create a space for likeminded individuals to share their research and keep in touch during those uncertain times. This space became EPOCH, and five years on the magazine has published over 200 articles, reviews, and editorials from MAs, PGRs, and ECRs based in 164 academic institutions spread all over the globe.
Community has been at the heart of this publication since its inception; our goal remains the same now as it was then: to provide an accessible platform for MAs, PGRs and ECRs to showcase their latest research and develop their network. To celebrate EPOCH’s ‘wooden anniversary’, the current Editorial Team continued this community spirit and reached out to former editors to hear about their time with the magazine, what they have been up to since leaving EPOCH and to pick out some of their favourite articles. As we look forward to the next five years, please read on to find out more about EPOCH's origins and to discover gems from the archive!
WILL GARBETT
Modern Editor (2022-2024) & Coordinating Editor (2024)
Hello, I’m Will! I was the Modern editor at EPOCH between 2022 and 2024, and I also served ten months as Coordinating Editor. EPOCH was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I wish I’d never left the magazine, but I’m grateful for the time I had there. It was the first place I was ever published (way back in 2020) and is still home to some of the pieces that I’m most proud of (especially this one: ‘Dune and the History of the Future’). It’s also where I made some of my best friends at Lancaster, and where I met the love of my life – Amy Louise Smith is the person who makes EPOCH look as good as it does, and I’m very lucky to have her.
EPOCH shaped my life in other ways. Like nearly everyone who starts a History PhD, I wanted to be an academic – but you probably have a higher chance of becoming a professional footballer. EPOCH introduced me to the world of magazines: the rhythm of the publication cycle; the excitement of commissioning someone cool; the thrill of shaping a piece; the cold, hard reality of proofreading (and proofreading, and proofreading). Now, I have the publishing bug. After we left, Amy and I started Chalk, a new culture magazine – which you can find here: Chalk. Chalk is very different to EPOCH (it’s in print, there isn’t an historical focus, and there are a few silly bits), but there are shadows of our favourite digital history magazine within its pages. When I (eventually) finish the thesis, I want to work for a publisher down in London, and to continue to write.
My favourite article to work on was Polina Ignatova’s ‘Eating your Enemies in the Middle Ages and Today’. I love expansive histories of concepts that range widely and wildly across different periods and sources, so a comparison of medieval and contemporary attitudes to exocannibalism through Undertale, The Umbrella Academy, and the fourteenth-century chivalric romance Perceforest was right up my street. Polina was great – the article is just as fun as it sounds – and I’d love to work with her again on a different project.
AMY LOUISE SMITH
Art Director (Current) & Cultural Editor (2020-2024)
I was a part of the team that founded EPOCH back in 2020, and, as Art Director, I created the visual identity of the magazine. I also served as Cultural Editor, working on articles across seventeen issues. EPOCH was everything to me. Through my design work, I wanted to make academic history cool and current. More broadly, I wanted to make EPOCH the very best magazine of postgraduate writing on the market. At times, I was quite inflexible about that goal!
I believed – and still do – that EPOCH offers PhD students and ECRs a unique opportunity to develop their skills and to learn about publishing outside of academia. This experience is rare and vital: so much incredible historical research is done inside the academy but never gets in front of the public. The EPOCH archive is full of excellent work. I am fond of all the articles I worked on, so it’s hard to choose only one to recommend. That said, I absolutely love Sophie Parkes-Nield’s article on English folk customs, and I should also give a shout-out to Alex Rome Griffin whose scathing review of Ancient Apocalypse remains the most-read piece I’ve ever edited.
I am so proud of EPOCH and of having been part of the editorial team. It is so exciting to see the magazine now, with tens of thousands of readers, remembering the first conversations about it in Bowland Bar (RIP). There is so much to say about how the magazine came together and all of the wonderful, dedicated people who were involved in those early stages. I have written more about EPOCH’s history for Lancaster’s PhD Blog – you can read it here. I would be remiss, though, not to note here the work – and vision – of Meredith Guthrie, who got the ball rolling. EPOCH also owes a great debt to those who joined from subsequent PhD cohorts. I am particularly grateful to Sam Hollins, Dabeoc Stanley, and Will Garbett for their commitment as the coordinating editors during my time with the magazine. I met some lifelong friends at EPOCH. I also met Will, and he and I are now building a life – and another magazine – together.
My role at EPOCH made me realise that my dream career lay outside of academia. I love working with researchers to help them take their work to a wider audience, and the other work I did while at EPOCH – conducting market research, attending seminars on magazine writing, and helping EPOCH develop its editorial process – only emphasised this for me. I became fascinated by how serial publications plan, curate, and design their content. While at EPOCH, I started working for BBC History Magazine as a factchecker. I am now the assistant editor at History Today.
I still assist with some of the design and branding at EPOCH. I now also art direct for Chalk, a new culture magazine.
ANNA DRURY
Deputy Coordinating Editor (2024) & Women's+ Editor (2023-2024)
As EPOCH’s first Women’s+ History Editor, I had the privilege of working with a number of contributors on articles pertaining to various, fascinating aspects of histories of gender and sexuality: from women’s positions in constitution-making in Nigeria, to suffrage protest and militancy in early twentieth-century Britain, and Lancaster University’s Pride and Gay Liberation movements during the ‘70s.
Seeing the development of contributors’ articles was always satisfying, and working with researchers who shared my passions and interests was incredibly rewarding. My proudest achievement was helping to assemble last December’s issue, focused on “Gender and Sexuality”, which features my favourite article (if I must choose!): “Finding ‘Common Ground’ on Abortion” by Isobel Bloom, PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Laura Noller and I edited on this together, and from Isobel’s first draft onwards, we were blown away by the integrity of the research, the eloquence of the writing, and her sensitive and nuanced treatment of an issue that has real resonances today. As the magazine continues to grow, I look forward to seeing the second, third, fourth, (and so on!) Women’s+ History Editor at EPOCH, and the publication of further articles that speak to the significance of researching gender histories in today’s world.
LAURA NOLLER
Social History Editor (2023-2024)
Hi, I’m Laura Noller and I served as EPOCH’s Social History Editor from October 2023 to December 2024. When beginning my PhD at Lancaster University, I was so excited to join the EPOCH board as the magazine gave me my first opportunity to publish my research. My article about ‘Frau Annie’ and the negotiation of Jewish identity under Nazi Occupation remains a very proud achievement for me. While on the board, I loved working with our fantastic contributors to bring their work to a wider audience; indeed, my time at EPOCH was defined by the brilliant researchers I corresponded with.
My favourite article to edit was Alex Pomeroy’s Irish Free State Volunteers of the Second World War – a statement which now sounds rather like I’m trying to 'butter up' EPOCH’s current Joint Co-ordinating Editor, but is nonetheless true. (Alex, I’ll take that £10 later) [EDITOR’S NOTE – EPOCH takes allegations of bribery very seriously, any funds received by Laura to the value of ten pounds is purely coincidental]. I edited that article long before Alex joined the EPOCH board, however, and was so intrigued by the hidden voices of the Second World War which his article exposed. This sense of providing a space for chronically silenced historical voices was, I hope, the essence of my contribution to EPOCH during my tenure as the resident advocate for a social history, or ‘history from below’ approach. Reading EPOCH now, it is wonderful to see the magazine’s continued efforts to uplift not only the voices of previously voiceless historical people, but also their platforming of postgraduate students and early-career researchers whose work would otherwise not reach a public audience. The opportunity for those outside the realm of academia to access cutting-edge research is an important opportunity for dialogue in a culture where perspectives on academic research are increasingly politicised is EPOCH’s great strength.
JUDE ROWLEY
International History Editor (2024-) & Joint Coordinating Editor (Current)
What connects Cold War spies, gritstone orbs, Cliff Richard, Preston bus station, and space communism?
Only in EPOCH’s pages could this eclectic mix find a home as neighbours. As EPOCH celebrates its anniversary, its enduring strength for me will always be its versatility and its unique position as an accessible platform publishing research on every imaginable topic of historical interest. It was this openness to publish somewhat obscure research that encouraged me to submit my first pitch to EPOCH in October 2023, at the insistence of the then Co-ordinating Editor (Dabeoc Stanley).
EPOCH gave me the impetus (and an excuse) to delve into researching the history of Lancaster University’s erstwhile Department of Russian and Soviet Studies. I could not have imagined the response to the initial article on this topic, which has led a continuous series of follow-up pieces spanning from Issue 14 to Issue 19. The resulting research has brought me into contact with Lancaster alumni from around the world, who have written in to share their memories of Lancaster, of Cecil Parrott, and of their favourite student haunts from the late 60s (requiescat in pace, Bowland Bar). I am proudest, however, of my work with Vendulka Kubálková, whose candid willingness to share her own recollections of Lancaster University allowed us to tell a hugely important story that risked being forgotten. I thank all those who have engaged with the work EPOCH has allowed me to carry out, but especially Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines, who shared her own recollections of some of the key characters I have researched after reading my pieces in EPOCH.
Though introduced to EPOCH as a contributor, I was brought onto the Editorial Board as the International History Editor ahead of Issue 16. As an Editor, I have been fortunate to work on a wide range of articles on all manner of historical topics and periods. Given the variety of topics EPOCH handles, it would be impossible to choose a favourite piece I have edited. Nonetheless, highlights include Alice Naisbitt’s piece on Cold War Anglo-Soviet cultural exchange and Anaïs Walsdorf’s piece on material history and narratives of progress. As impressive original research articles from talented postgraduate historians, both capture the spirit of what EPOCH was set up five years ago to achieve.
As this suggests, EPOCH’s strength is as a space for overlooked and under-told histories, which lend themselves to the accessible magazine style of its articles. In a world of hyper-specialisation, inaccessible publications, and the creeping marketisation of academia, EPOCH is a sanctuary for emerging historians seeking to share their ideas with new audiences. Long may it continue.
