A British empire meant a global market for the history of England, says history professor emeritus Leslie Howsam. Her lecture, entitled “Good Business: England’s Past as Global History?” Wednesday, April 27, will celebrate her induction into the Royal Society of Canada.

“The pressures of the marketplace and the commercial exigencies of the book, periodical and newspaper trades did much to shape the way that histories were written, read, revised and replicated a century ago,” Dr. Howsam says, “in Britain, in Canada, and everywhere English was spoken and taught.”

The free public presentation will explore the challenges of using digital methodologies to structure and visualize the historiographical and bibliographical networks made up of readers, books, publishers, periodicals, and authors.

Sponsored by the Department of History and the Humanities Research Group, it is set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in McPherson Lounge, Alumni Hall.