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Staff Profiles

Dr Sarah Collins

Leverhulme Early Career Fellow

  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7846
  • Address: School of History, Classics and Archaeology
    Armstrong Building
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
Background

INTRODUCTION

I am a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology.

My project, Darkness, Fear, and Agency in the Nineteenth-Century City examines nocturnal fear - nyctophobia - as an historical phenomenon that resonates and shapes contemporary society. The research focuses on developing cities of the long nineteenth century in Britain and America.


EDUCATION

PhD History - Northumbria University

MA Historic Landscape Studies - University of York

BA (Hons) Archaeology - University of York


AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Landscape history

Eighteenth and nineteenth century British and American urban history

Historic cartography and GIS

Spatial/digital history

History of emotions

Night Studies

Research

Research Interests

I am an urban historian of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with specialisation in comparative spatial/digital history of London, Newcastle upon Tyne, Charleston (South Carolina), and New York City.

My current project highlights the need for interdisciplinary approaches to studies of the night by combining methods used in history, geography, and english literature to research street light installation and criminal activity during the long nineteenth century. I am combining analyses of historic sources with fiction, material culture, and digital humanities techniques to advance transnational understanding of the complex relationship between nyctophobia and fears over personal safety, urban spaces, and the adoption of light technologies to manage nocturnal behaviours.

The research will culminate in production of a monograph, Darkness, Fear, and Agency in the Nineteenth-Century City, expected 2025.  


Previous Research Projects

I have an interest in landscape history/archaeology more broadly, which has resulted in production of a number of previous research projects. These include:

Connected Treescapes - York Environmental Sustainability Institute, University of York

I worked as a researcher on the multi-institutional, interdisciplinary, 'Connected Treescapes' project between 2021 and 2022. The project (still ongoing) focuses on the role that trees and forests play in and around UK towns and cities to enhance social and cultural benefits whilst facing considerable environmental pressures. My research focused on the historic development of treescapes between c.1700 and the present using archival material and deep-mapping in GIS.


https://www.ncl.ac.uk/hca/projects/wastesandstraysthepastpresentandfutureofenglishurbancommons.html

I worked as a researcher on the 'Wastes and Strays' project between 2019 and 2021. The project examined the past, present and future of English urban commons, and my research considered the past dimension of the project through an analysis of four case studies: Town Moor, Newcastle; Mousehold Heath, Norwich; Valley Gardens, Brighton; and Clifton Down, Bristol.


 https://www.ncl.ac.uk/hca/projects/tynewearhistoriclandscapecharacterisationhlc.html

I was Project Manager of the Tyne & Wear Historic Landscape Characterisation project funded by Historic England as part of the National HLC initiative.


Parks and Gardens UK Project (University of York, Association of Gardens Trusts and HLF).

Norfolk Historic Landscape Characterisation Project (Norfolk County Council).


Publications