Untold Stories: Challenging research behaviours for studying the past

Untold Stories challenges current research prejudices regarding how certain groups of individuals in the past remain underrepresented in historical and social research. The project aims to tell their stories using a cross-disciplinary approach that promotes collaboration between the sciences, arts and humanities. Untold Stories will address these aims through a cross-disciplinary study of the 19th century working-class patients of Bristol Royal Infirmary. These individuals were part of the diverse Victorian society that powered the industrial revolution whose stories are often not heard. The skeletal remains of the individuals will be analysed using tools and methods from science, engineering, anthropology, and archaeology to obtain stories from the individuals themselves. Methods will include long bone biomechanical analysis, using Geometric Morphometrics and Finite Element analysis, and isotopic analysis to showcase origin and diet. Untold Stories will enhance collaboration between science, arts and humanities, and provide a unique perspective on storytelling with a window into the lifeways of each individual. Simultaneously, a blueprint methodology, of how these stories should be investigated, will be created and publicised, using both analytical tools and anthropological research.