Joe Baker

Public Engagement Assistant

jmpbaker@histparl.ac.uk

Current Research/Role

I am a Public Engagement Assistant, having joined the History in 2024. Before that, I was a Project Intern at Beckford’s Tower and Museum, working on their Our Tower: Reconnecting Beckford’s Tower for all project, redeveloping the Museum building and reinterpreting their collection. Previous to this I completed my Public History MA at the University of York. 

I have written pieces for the History of Parliament on parliamentary links to the transatlantic slave trade, including articles on the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act and the Somerset v Stewart case of 1772.

Research Interests

My wider interests include the transatlantic slave trade, public history, interpretation and popular memory. I have given two papers at the IPUP Public History Grad Conference in York, speaking on biopic film and national memory, as well as on my experiences reinterpreting the life of William Beckford, collector and owner of enslaved people – namesake of Beckford’s Tower and Museum