Making the Case for History: A View from the Royal Historical Society
In April 2025, the Society’s President Lucy Noakes published the following article in History Workshop. The article is part of an occasional HW series exploring the scale, form and implications of cuts to history departments and courses in UK higher education. In her contribution, Lucy provided a perspective from the Royal Historical Society, drawing on recent surveys of RHS members on the impact of cuts for staff and students, and the wider community. We are very grateful to History Workshop for the opportunity to reproduce Lucy’s article in full on the RHS site
Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England
In this post Hannah Jeans introduces her new book—’Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England’—which is published in the Society’s ‘New Historical Perspectives’ series with University of London Press. Hannah’s book explores traditional views of reading in the seventeenth century and challenges the enduring binaries of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ literature or ‘active’ and ‘passive’ reading. In their place, Hannah views the activity from the multiple perspectives of seventeenth-century women readers. Through an investigation of women readers’ personal engagement with literature, the book extends our understanding of women’s reading habits and the place of reading in the development of self-identities. ‘Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England’ is the 22nd title in the Society’s New Historical Perspectives series and, like other NHP titles is published free, Open Access, and in paperback print.
Finding Women’s History in Schools – challenges for the curriculum review
Women’s and gender history are well-established and vibrant fields of research. In schools, by contrast, the presence of women is far more limited, especially for those teaching and studying the pre-modern period. In this post, Natasha Hodgson considers the scale of this deficit and some of the barriers preventing the take up of new work in schools history. As a co-founder of the Teaching Medieval Women group, Natasha considers the negative implications of school curricula that fail to pay sufficient attention to the place of women as subjects of historical study. In the midst of the government’s curriculum and assessment review, Natasha’s post also provides examples of Teaching Medieval Women’s engagement with schools to enhance students’ understanding of women’s place and prominence in pre-modern societies, and the value of this work.
Voice, Silence and Gender in South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Struggle: The Shadow of a Young Woman
In this post, Rachel E. Johnson introduces her new book — ‘Voice, Silence and Gender in South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Struggle. The Shadow of a Young Woman’ — which is published in the Society’s ‘New Historical Perspectives’ series with University of London Press. Central to the monograph is the figure of Mary Masabata Loate. Between 1976 and 1986, Masabata Loate appears in court records and newspaper articles as a school student activist, a beauty queen, a terrorism suspect, a political prisoner and finally a murder victim. While lacking lacked the materials to write a conventional life, Rachel has created what she terms ‘a shadow biography’ of this young woman. Rachel’s monograph is the 21st title in the Society’s ‘New Historical Perspectives’ series for early career historians.
Becoming a Member of the History Subject Panel for REF2029. An Introduction and Guide
The work of disciplinary sub-panels (including that for History) is fundamental to the Research Excellence Framework. Subject panels form the heart of REF, responsible for assessing and grading scholarly outputs, impact and research cultures across the UK HE sector. The steering group of REF2029 currently invites applications to join the sub-panels that will set the criteria and then assess submissions for the next research exercise. On 7 March, the Royal Historical Society held an information event to consider the role and workload of the REF2029 History sub-panel, and how historians interested in submitting for the our disciplinary sub-panel should proceed with an application. This post summarises a discussion between former History sub-panel members and prospective panellists, setting out both the rewards of panel membership and extent and burden of the work.
Rediscovering Hitavadi: A Forgotten Chapter in Telugu Print Culture
In this post Chakali Chandra Sekhar introduces his new article, ‘Rediscovering Hitavadi: A Forgotten Pioneer of Telugu Vernacular Print and Missionary Journalism’, recently published in ‘Transactions of the Royal Historical Society’. ‘Hitavadi’ was the first Telugu-language literary journal, founded in 1862 by Rev. John Edmund Sharkey of the Church Missionary Society. Emerging from the turbulence of post-1857 colonial India, ‘Hitavadi’ was conceived as more than a religious tract. It was a radical endeavour and a transformative force in shaping the vernacular public sphere in Telugu-speaking regions of colonial South Asia.
A Saga and Other Stories: the Australian Historical Association
What are the strengths of and threats to historical research in Australia today? In this post we hear from Michelle Arrow and Kate Fullagar, President and Vice-President respectively of the Australian Historical Association, about the experience of being a historian and the broader landscape in which research is currently undertaken. As in the UK, teaching and researching history and the humanities in Australia are currently at risk, due to political decisions and narratives, and structural changes within higher education. At the same time, AHA members continue to produce world-class research that not only advances but often leads global historical endeavours. This post is the first in an occasional series on the Society’s blog — ‘Global Histories: Disciplinary Perspectives from International Subject Associations’ — in which we’ll hear from the leaders of national historical associations, worldwide.
Answering the call for REF2029’s History subject panel
The next Research Excellence Framework takes place in 2029, with work now underway to create the structures that will determine the form and scope of latest next ‘REF’ assessment. Most recently, the REF2029 steering group has issued a call for applications to join one of the 34 subject panels, including History, whose members will assess submissions in four years’ time. In this post, the Society reviews changes to the appointment method for subject panels, and considers how REF2029’s bid for more diverse panel membership sits with the realities of growing inequality of opportunity for historians within UK higher education.
The Household Accounts of Robert and Katherine Greville
In this post, co-editors Stewart Beale, Andrew Hopper and Ann Hughes introduce their new volume in the Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series: ‘The Household Accounts of Robert and Katherine Greville, Lord and Lady Brooke, at Holborn and Warwick, 1640–1649’ (December 2024). Robert Greville, 2nd Lord Brooke, was a prominent figure among the aristocratic opposition to Charles I, a religious radical and intellectual who emerged as a successful popular leader in the early months of the English Civil War. This volume publishes the richly detailed household accounts kept for Brooke and then for his widow, Katherine, on an annual basis between 1640 and 1649. These texts make an illuminating source for Brooke’s capacious intellectual, religious, and political networks, and for his mobilisation of popular support for Parliament in 1642.
Accepted applicants to study History in UK Universities: UCAS end-of-cycle data 2019-2024
Last week UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, released its end of cycle data for the 2024 applications round to UK higher education. This release provides information on numbers of applications, offers and accepted applicants for degree subjects, including History. This post highlights selected data for accepted applications in History, in 2024, and for annual cycles since 2019. Trends for the past five years are provided for accepted applicants, with refinement to consider accepted applications by students’ age, gender and place of residence. UCAS figures for applications and offers to study History, 2019-2024, are also included for context at the end of the post.
REF2029 and Open Access – what’s in, what’s out, and what comes next
On 11 December 2024, the steering group for REF2029 published its final Open Access policy relating to research outputs submitted for assessment. The policy follows an initial set of proposals and an accompanying consultation phase over the summer. REF’s assessment of the consultation was also published on 11 December. This post offers a brief summary of key responses to the consultation; decisions drawn from these; and the resulting terms and extent of the Open Access policy for REF2029. The post closes with a note on REF plans to broaden the Open Access mandate for future assessment exercises, and what form work to this end might take. This summary is primarily intended for historians but we hope will also be of use to others publishing in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Rethinking Transnational Activism – and Rethinking Article-Writing for History Journals
This post outlines the genesis of ‘Rethinking Transnational Activism through Regional Perspectives: Reflections, Literatures and Cases’, an article in the 2024 volume of ‘Transactions of the Royal Historical Society’. As a coming together of scholars in this field, the article explores through case studies the regional dimensions that influence historical transnational movements. Here, Daniel Laqua and Thomas Davies—who organised an initial workshop and served as lead authors—share the background and experiences connected to this article, which assembled the perspectives and voices of ten historians. The 2024 volume of ‘Transactions of the Royal Historical Society’ is now available online, published by Cambridge University Press.
