Chloe R. Phillips

My PhD research focuses on Black histories of Cornwall, c1550-1900 and is funded through the University of Leicester's Future 100 scholarship programme. I joined Leicester in September 2022 after fifteen years working in the heritage sector in Cornwall, mostly as an archive engagement and learning officer. 

My PhD research focuses on Black histories in Cornwall before 1900. It uses a wide variety of archival sources to piece together the lives of Black sailors, servants, labourers and musicians who lived in Cornwall in the past, as well as situating them in wider historical, national and global contexts. 

I have recently also been carrying out research into a family who owned enslaved people in Nevis, but lived between Cornwall and other rural locations in southern Britain. 

Previously, I have carried out research on Cornish migration to America. 

Chloe R. Phillips, ‘Letters from America’, Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (2012)

My supervisors are Dr Angela Muir, Professor John Coffey and Professor Corinne Fowler.

I am passionate about celebrating and sharing Black history, especially in Cornwall. I am working with partners including Museum X and Black Voices Cornwall to build on an earlier project, To Whom Does This Belong? In my professional role at Kresen Kernow (Cornwall’s archive centre) I led a project to improve access to archival collections related to Black history, a case study of which can be viewed.

I have recently started volunteering for History Matters, an organisation which promotes Black history. I have also been employed by The Writers’ Block to create a school workshop celebrating Cornwall’s global majority histories for their Imagine project. I have fifteen years’ experience developing and delivering learning activities in the heritage sector in Cornwall, and I am interested in projects that involve deploying these skills in combination with my research interests.

• University of Leicester, Future 100 PhD scholarship (2022-2026)
• Cardew-Rendle History Prize (Royal Institution of Cornwall, 2012)
• Dr A G Little prize for Best Final Year History student (Cardiff University, 2006) 
• Clive Knowles prize for Best Performance in Medieval History for a 2nd year student (Cardiff University, 2005)

Associateship of the Museums Association (AMA)

• Awarded January 2020
• Assessed on twelve competencies including collections management and research, audience development, ethics, public engagement, collections care, history of museums, sector bodies and governance.

MA History (Distinction)

• Cardiff University, 2006-2007
• Leading on from my undergraduate study, my MA focused on Chinese history and the history of Chinese communities overseas, including in Britain. My dissertation ‘The Chinese Laundry Riots, Cardiff 1911’ used original archive research to examine causes of riots against the Chinese community in Cardiff.

BA (Hons) History Asian route (First Class)

• Cardiff University, 2003-2006
• Broad range of study with focus in the final years on modern Indian and Chinese history.