Key Concepts
Foundational ideas and theories that come up across many articles. A great place to start.
The Great Cat Massacre: A Guide to Cultural History
What can the massacre of cats by eighteenth-century Parisian printing apprentices tell us about how cultural history works? From Robert Darnton to Saidiya Hartman, this is a guide to the field.
What were the "Non-Naturals"?
Learn about the six non-naturals—air, food, sleep, exercise, evacuation, and emotions—that shaped preventive medicine for centuries.
What is the 'Doctrine of Signatures'?
Discover how Renaissance physicians believed plants revealed their healing powers through shape, color, and resemblance to body parts.
What is the ‘Wandering Womb’?
Discover the ancient Greek theory of the 'wandering womb'—an animal inside an animal, moving through the body in search of moisture.
Humoral Theory: How the Four Humours Shaped Medicine for 2,000 Years
Blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile — the four humours formed the foundation of Western medicine from ancient Greece to the 18th century.
What is Gender History?
From Virginia Woolf's lament to second-wave feminism—discover how gender history emerged to challenge incomplete narratives and rewrite the past.
What is Cultural History?
Explore cultural history—not just the history of culture, but how people made meaning of their world through symbols, rituals, and everyday life.
What are Secrets of Women?
Discover 'secrets of women'—early modern medical recipes for conception, menstruation, and childbirth, hidden in the mysterious feminine body.