Welcome to this episode in the new series of Local History Matters, the podcast run by the British Association for Local History (BALH) to highlight hidden local histories. In this series, we will be discussing with researchers how they got into their field of study, and what their topic can tell us about local history more generally. In this episode, our Social Media Fellow Megan Kelleher chats with Dr Eric Tourigny, who is a Lecturer in Historical Archaeology at the University of Newcastle. Eric’s research interests include the identification and analysis of animal bones, the archaeologies of food and human-animal relationships, the treatment of pets in the post-medieval period and the British settlement of Canada between the 17th and 19th Centuries. His current research looks into the archaeology of the animal welfare movement, and in this episode he discusses these topics and more in order to explain how archaeology and material culture can be used when studying local history. You can follow along with the conversation about this podcast by using the hashtag #LocalHistoryMatters, and keep up to date with the work the BALH does by visiting our website https://www.balh.org.uk/ or following us on social media @BALHNews. Music credits: Trendsetter, Mood Maze, Uppbeat.io