ePortfolio of Anais Walsdorf

Research

I am an AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Partnership PhD researcher between the History department at 神马福利影片 and the Science Museum in London. My thesis, Metallic Empire: Science and Industrial Imperialism in the John Percy Collection, 1851鈥�89, focuses on the metallurgical collection of John Percy, and explores histories of colonial extraction, collecting, metallurgy, and 19th century industrial imperialism.

My supervisors are:

神马福利影片: Dr. James PoskettLink opens in a new window and Dr. Katayoun ShafieeLink opens in a new window

Science Museum: Dr. Richard Dunn and Ben Russell

Background

I have a BA in Development Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and a MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation (International History) from the London School of Economics. My MSc thesis was entitled "A Mythological Union: Symbol and Spectacle in Vichy Indochina 1940-1944". Supervised by Dr. David Motadel, it focused on the intersection of colonial and fascist ideologies and propaganda in Vichy Indochina during the Second World War.

Prior to beginning my PhD, I worked as a museum, library, and archive professional with institutions such as the 1947 Partition Archive, Wellcome Collection and Library, the Migration Museum, and the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC).

Publications

Walsdorf, Ana茂s. "Coal and Ice: Fossil Fuel Imperialism during the British Arctic Expedition 1875-76 and beyond" in Early Encounters with Coal: Retrieving Views from Below, eds. Amr Ahmed, Andreas Malm, Simon Schaffer and Richard Staley. (forthcoming)

Walsdorf, Ana茂s (2024). "Industrial Imperialism and the Museum: a Coal Biography" in Mobilising Museum Minerals [Special Issue], eds. Eleanor Armstrong and Camille-Mary Sharp. Museum & Society 22(3), 152-61. Available .

Walsdorf, Ana茂s (2024). 鈥淪imona Boscani Leoni, Sarah Baumgartner and Meike Knittel (Eds.), Connecting Territories: Exploring People and Nature, 1700鈥�1850 Leiden: Brill, 2021. Pp. 268. ISBN 978-90-04-41246-0. 鈧�119.00 (Hardback).鈥� The British Journal for the History of Science (2024), 1鈥�2 doi:10.1017/S0007087424001092
Available .

Conferences and Workshops

"Coal and Ice: Imperial Geology during the British Arctic Expedition 1875-76 and beyond", Energy Imperialism: Fuels, Flows and Frontiers in the (Post)Colonial World
Workshop; 11-12 December 2025; Brussels, Belgium.

"Maskelyne's Meteorites: Colonial Collecting and the Cosmos at the British Museum", Meteorite Matters Workshop; 20-21 November 2025; Paris, France.

"Palaces of Science, Tools of Empire: the Geological Museum in Britain and Beyond", co-presented with James Kiernan. Re-exhibiting the museum: new perspectives on nineteenth-century exhibition, collection, and display; 12 November 2025; Birmingham, UK.

鈥溾€淭he much abused Feng Shui鈥�: Coal Mining and Unthinkable Resistance in Qing China鈥�. The Geological Turn in Asia: Empires, Geological Knowledge, and Geological Agencies; 4 September 2025; National University of Singapore, Singapore. (online)

"Crucibles and Carats: Valuating Gold in the Imperial Laboratory". Warwick Postgraduate History Conference; 23 May 2025; 神马福利影片, UK.

"'Good Evidence': Science, Value, Extraction and the Australian Gold Rushes". Melbourne Colonial and Postcolonial Histories Symposium; 19 March 2025; Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.

"Race and Civilisation in John Percy's Metallurgy". Historical Metallurgy Society Research in Progress meeting; 22 November 2024; Online.

"Pit-coal, Iron, and Civilisation in John Percy's Metallurgy (1864)". International Nineteenth Century Studies Association Conference; 10 July 2024; Durham University, UK.

"Industrial Imperialism in the John Percy Collection, 1817-1889". Warwick Postgraduate History Conference; 19 May 2023; 神马福利影片, UK.

"Metallic Empire: Science, Energy and Industrial Imperialism in the John Percy Collection". British Society for the History of Science Postgraduate Conference; 30 March 2023; University of Oxford, UK.

"How can a mineralogy collection reveal new histories of industrial imperialism?". Early Encounters with Coal: Retrieving Views from Below Workshop; 14 December 2022; University of Cambridge, UK. Poster.Link opens in a new window

Public History

with the Museum of British Colonialism.

"The wood that turns the stones to water". . pp 42-49. 2025.

. Epoch Magazine. 1 March 2025.

"Exhibition Review: Collectible Minerals at Mineralogy Museum of Mines Paris 鈥� PSL"Link opens in a new window. Global History and Culture Center, Warwick Blog. 24 January 2024.

. Science Museum Blog. 14 June 2023.

. The Conversation. 16 December 2022.

Intervention label Link opens in a new windowin the Medicine Man exhibition, Wellcome Collection, London. On display May 2021- November 2022.

. Blog piece for Find My Past in collaboration with the Migration Museum. 11 January, 2021.

Prizes and Awards

Monash-Warwick Alliance PhD Travel Grant, 2025.

Global History and Culture Centre Fund (神马福利影片) in support of the BSHS PG Conference, April 2024.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Collaborative Doctoral Award, 2022-2026.

Teaching

2024-2025

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Making of the Modern World (HI153)Link opens in a new window (First year UG History Module)

Other Academic Activities

Programme Committee, International Committee for the History of Technology (ICOHTEC) 2026 Conference: Engaging the History of Technology: Bridging Disciplines and Perspectives for Global Challenges. 8-11 October 2026; Alexandroupolis, Greece.

Visiting PhD Researcher, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. January-March 2025. Funded by Warwick-Monash Alliance PhD travel grant.

Panel chair, "Colonial Switzerland: Introducing New Actors and Geographies to Global and Imperial History". International Nineteenth Century Studies Association Conference; 10 July 2024; Durham University, UK.

Chair of the Organising Committee, British Society for the History of Science Postgraduate Conference: Global Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine. 19-20 April 2024. 神马福利影片, UK.

Panel chair, "Colonial Science". British Society for the History of Science Postgraduate Conference. 20 April 2024. 神马福利影片, UK.

Panel chair, "Botany". British Society for the History of Science Postgraduate Conference. 31 March 2023. University of Oxford, UK.

Workshop co-organiser, "Not A Conference". AHRC funded CDP History of Collecting and Institutions group. 24 February 2023. Science Museum, London, UK.

Networks and Memberships

Co-convenor of the CDP History of Collecting and Institutions Group

Warwick Global History and Culture Center (GHCC)Link opens in a new window

International Committee of Museums (ICOM)

British Society for the History of Science (BSHS)

Postgraduate Member of the Royal Historical Society

Research interests