PublicPast · Journal of Public History
Articles from this region.
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The modern world is closely related to the precise measurement of time . Everyday activities revolves around clocks, schedules and timetables across the globe. The article focuses on the history of timekeeping in Europe from the appearance of early mechanical clocks in the late Middle Ages to the standardization of time in the nineteenth century. The mechanical clock became important because it was gradually integrated into everyday urban life. It influenced commerce, transport, work, and individual behaviour. The article focuses on different temporal arrangements that were made before the rise of mechanized clocks. It describes how public clocks and timekeeping became more widespread throughout European cities. It also discusses the increasing economic relevance of strict time division and regulation. The article highlights innovations that made individuals responsible for measuring time as a new phenomenon that required society to think about regulating time on a larger scale. It concludes that modernity involved a fundamental change in temporal organization and a revaluation of the role of time measurement in societies.
There is a question that has grown more insistent with each passing decade, and it sits at the heart of what this journal intends to pursue: who, exactly, does public history belong to? The question is not merely academic. It is political, ethical, and deeply personal. It concerns the monuments that line our avenues, the museums that school children file through on rainy mornings, the community elders whose testimonies go unrecorded, and the algorithms that now decide which version of the past reaches us first. It concerns power, in other words, and the uneven distribution of the authority to narrate.
Before a vaccine arrived, a hulking steel cylinder was the difference between life and death for thousands of children. The iron lung was not elegant, and it was not small. But for a few terrifying decades, it was the most important machine in medicine.
Association football is the most widely played and watched sport on Earth, yet its origins stretch back far beyond the modern pitches of Europe and South America. This article traces the development of the game from early ball-kicking cultures in ancient China, Greece, and Rome, through the violent folk games of medieval Britain, to the codification of the Laws of the Game in 1863 and the eventual formation of FIFA in 1904. It examines the social forces, including class conflict, industrialization, and colonialism, that shaped how football spread across the globe, and considers the sport's transformation into a commercial and cultural phenomenon over the twentieth century. Written for a general audience, the article draws on historical scholarship to offer a clear, accessible, and evidence-based account of how a simple act, kicking a ball, became a shared human language
The automobile is one of the most consequential inventions of the modern era, reshaping not only transportation but also urban landscapes, social structures, economies, and cultures around the world. This article offers an accessible overview of the history of the car, tracing its development from the earliest steam-powered vehicles of the eighteenth century through the rise of mass production in the twentieth century and into the era of electric and autonomous vehicles. Drawing on established historical scholarship, this article aims to make the sweep of automotive history legible and engaging for general readers. Key themes include the role of individual inventors and large corporations, the social impacts of widespread car ownership, the environmental consequences of fossil fuel dependence, and the technological disruptions now reshaping the industry. Understanding this history helps us make sense of current debates about mobility, sustainability, and public space.
