Overview
Unknown to many, Dona Torr was a quietly influential twentieth-century intellectual. She was a translator and editor, including of works by Marx and Engels, and a biographer of Tom Mann. She was also a mentor to some of the most important historians, including E. P. Thompson and Christopher Hill. Torr's archive has only recently come to light and has now been catalogued by the Marx Memorial Library (MML) in London.
Professor Davis is the first person to study the MML Torr archive and has shown that Torr's influence ran much deeper than previously thought. Davis's talk will look at Torr's central role in controversies and debates over the transformation from feudalism to capitalism, as well as 'history from below', which shaped much of twentieth-century scholarship.
Speaker
Mary Davis is Visiting Professor of Labour History at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is author of numerous articles and books, including Sylvia Pankhurst: A Life in Radical Politics (1999), and co-author of UNITE History, Volume 1 (1880–1931) (2021).
Details
This event is open to all, free to attend and there is no need to book.
Organised in collaboration with the Centre for the Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements.
Access
This event will take place in the Gatsby Room on the first floor of the Chancellor's Centre. It has step-free access with a lift and there is an accessible toilet located each floor of the building.
Contact
If you have any questions, please contact our events team - events@wolfson.cam.ac.uk
