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.
New Historical Perspectives book series publishes its 20th title
New Historical Perspectives (NHP) is the Royal Historical Society’s book series for early career historians. In late November, the series published its 20th title, the edited collection ‘Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z’. The series is a partnership between the Society, the Institute of Historical Research and University of London Press. All titles in the series are published in print and online as free Open Access editions, with publishing costs covered by the institutional partners. NHP titles have now been downloaded more than 150,000 times. In this post we look back on previous titles and forward to new monographs in 2025. We also welcome proposals for future monographs or edited collections from early career historians.
Histories of Adulthood in Britain and the United States
Adulthood has a history. In this post, Maria Cannon and Laura Tisdall introduce their new edited collection, ‘Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z’, which explores how concepts of adulthood have changed over time in Britain and the United States. Expectations for adults have altered over time, just as other age-categories such as childhood, adolescence and old age have been shaped by their cultural and social context. Collectively, the volume’s authors consider four key ideas: adulthood as both burden and benefit; adulthood as a relational category; collective versus individual definitions of adulthood; and adulthood as a static definition. ‘Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z’ (November 2024) is the 20th volume in the Society’s New Historical Perspectives series published by the University of London Press.
A Workshop in Ruins
Last month, academic historians and heritage professions gathered at Scotney Castle, Kent, for ‘A Workshop in Ruins’. Funded by the Royal Historical Society and hosted by The National Trust, this two-day event brought together museum and heritage site curators, ecologists, art, architectural, and documentary historians to consider the changing uses and perceptions of ruins in and with their surroundings. In this post, Claire Kennan reports on the workshop, its findings and the project’s development of online resources for heritage professions working with architectural ruins.
The Value of History: a new briefing from the Royal Historical Society
In October 2024 the Royal Historical Society published ‘The Value of History in Higher Education and Society’. This briefing offers views on the state, and value, of history in the UK university sector. A vibrant discipline has traditionally indicated a flourishing profession. However, in recent years the Society has witnessed a divergence between the popularity of history—as a subject of study and public interest—and the security of historians within UK higher education. ‘The Value of History’, introduced here by the Society’s President, Emma Griffin, highlights the extent of cuts and closures facing departments, as well as history’s many strengths, in terms of student enrolments, satisfaction, and graduate outcomes. It also considers what we risk losing if cuts continue.
Jinty Nelson – a memoir
The Royal Historical Society was deeply saddened to learn last week of the death of the historian and former RHS President, Dame Jinty Nelson FBA. In this post, her close friend, colleague and fellow RHS Councillor, Professor Pauline Stafford, offers a memoir of Jinty as a champion of history, a teacher, scholar and collaborator with so many across the discipline. We are very grateful to Professor Stafford for this article and her observations on Jinty Nelson as RHS President and Jinty’s enormous contribution to the Society.
Mapping the State: English Boundaries and the 1832 Reform Act
The 1832 Reform Act was a landmark moment in the development of modern British politics. In his new book — ‘Mapping the State: English Boundaries and the 1832 Reform Act’ — Martin Spychal rethinks the Act. ‘Mapping the State’ provides a major reassessment of why and how the 1832 Reform Act passed, its impact on reformed politics both at Westminster and in the constituencies, and its significance to the expansion of the modern British state. Martin’s book, published in September 2024, is the 19th title in the Royal Historical Society’s ‘New Historical Perspectives’ series for early career historians, published by University of London Press. As with all books in the series, ‘Mapping the State’ is available in print and as a free open access download.
Present and Precedent in the Church Councils of Late Antique Iberia
In this post, Graham Barrett and Jamie Wood outline their recent workshop on the compact between Church and Crown in late-antique Iberia. This event, funded by the Society’s Workshop Grant programme, enabled participants to collaborate in an investigation of the agreements surrounding the Visigothic kingdom, know as the ‘Hispana’. Written in dense and difficult Latin, the Hispana has never been translated into English, nor the modern critical edition into any language. With the workshop, the project seeks to form a research network to make the Hispana accessible through English translation, annotation, and contextual studies. RHS Workshop Grants are awarded annually to enable historians to meet together to develop research ideas or projects; the next call for applications will be in late 2024.
The Royal Historical Society’s new Members’ Directory: a guide to use
In September 2024 the Royal Historical Society (RHS) launched its Members’ Directory. This is a new online resource for current Fellows and Members of the Society, enabling them to search for other historians who belong to the RHS by a range of attributes, including research interests and areas of study. We hope creation of the Directory provides RHS Fellows, Associate Fellows, Members and Postgraduate Members with opportunities to make connections in order to pursue historical projects and research. This post offers a brief guide to using the Directory with suggested searches that members of the Society may undertake.
Literary Cricket, Intellectual Culture and Edwardian In-Groups
How can studies of group activities inform our understanding of historical figures? In this post, Ollie Randall introduces his new article,’Cricket, Literary Culture and In-Groups in Early Twentieth-Century Britain’, published this month in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. The social and literary role of the ‘Authors Eleven’, a cricket side of London-based writers active between 1899 and 1912, is explored through case studies of the writers George Ives, E. W. Hornung and P. G. Wodehouse. Each saw their involvement in cricket, and particularly the Authors Eleven in-group, as an essential component of their social status. Shared physical activity and embodied sociability, encapsulated in sports teams, offer ways to understand the development and cultural significance of individual lives.
History and Sustainability: Learning together with ICT students
In this post, Laura Harrison describes her recent project at the University of the West of England to introduce History content to undergraduate courses in Information, Communications and Technology (ICT). As Laura notes, historians think long and hard about the benefits of teaching their subject to History undergraduates. But what about the educational experiences of the wider student population; what value might History hold for them? Laura, and her project partners, were holders of an RHS Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowship for the academic year 2023-24. These fellowships support the development of new teaching practices in History in Higher Education. Recipients of Fellowships for 2024-25 will be announced this autumn.
STUDENT NUMBERS FOR HISTORY A-LEVELS, GCSEs, AND SCOTTISH ADVANCED HIGHER, HIGHER AND NATIONAL 5 EXAMS, 2024
August is exam results season in the UK. In 2024, A-Level results, for students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, were released on 15 August. They followed the 2024 results for Scottish Advanced Higher, Higher and National 5 exams published on 6 August. GCSE results for History were released on 22 August 2024. This post provides a summary of key data for 2024 in terms of History student enrolments. Each data set provides current trends on the uptake and relative popularity of History in 2023-24. For further guides to History in UK Higher Education, please see the Royal Historical Society’s ‘Toolkit for Historians’ and our listing on ‘Data on the UK Historical Discipline and Profession’.