On History
News, articles & research from the
Institute of Historical Research
Latest posts
The history of a communication problem: conflict between Dutch nature conservation and agriculture
By Kristian Mennen Environment & History, essay no. 5 In the next post in our 'Environment & History' series, Dr Kristian Mennen takes us into the twentieth century to consider how the perception of an inherent conflict between agriculturalists and...
A Farm in February – reading the agricultural past in a picture
This blog draws on that research and examines the English farming landscape in the years after the Second World War as drawn by Ronald Lampitt, an artist best known for his work in the Ladybird series of children’s books. This precise landscape may never have existed – it could be Kent, but the distant mountains might stand for the Malvern hills – but the story told is a national one.
January acquisitions for the IHR Library: oral histories
In this post, Alex Kither — the IHR’s Graduate Trainee Library Assistant — discusses some of the latest acquisitions for the Library. Here Alex considers notable additions to the Library’s collections in oral history.
Spotlight
IHR resources for research and teaching in Black History
At the start of the UK’s Black History Month, 2020, this post offers a listing of forthcoming events and resources recently gathered by the IHR to assist in the study and research of Black History, and histories of race, migration and empire, in the UK and beyond.
Features & Articles
The history of a communication problem: conflict between Dutch nature conservation and agriculture
By Kristian Mennen Environment & History, essay no. 5 In the next post in our 'Environment & History' series, Dr Kristian Mennen takes us into the twentieth century to consider how the perception of an inherent conflict between agriculturalists and...
Using climate history to bear witness: North Atlantic environmental history in comparative perspective
In this, the fourth in our series of posts on new histories of the environment, Dr Sharla Chittick discusses her comparative research on the Wabanaki and Hebridean peoples of the western and eastern Atlantic coasts, between the eras of deglaciation and colonial settlement. Sharla’s work demonstrates the very different impacts of historical climate change, settlement, and commercial exploitation for these two communities and their environment, and draws lessons for the better management of the contemporary climate emergency.
Hydropower & salmon: historical case-studies for modern-day problem solving
In the third part of our ‘Environment & History’ series, PhD researcher Ian Jackson discusses his research into the history of hydropower on the River Derwent. Inspired by his involvement in a local sustainability group, Ian’s research investigates past hurdles and successes in England’s use of hydropower to ask how we might make better use of our sustainable resources today.
Recycling and upcycling waste in the late medieval urban economy
In the second part of our ‘Environment & History’ series, historians James Davis, Catherine Casson and John Lee share their research on the re-circulation of waste and by-products in medieval England. Their study forms part of a unique trans-disciplinary collaboration between medieval historians and academics in the field of sustainability. How might this inform current models of transformational environmental change?
Publications News
The history of a communication problem: conflict between Dutch nature conservation and agriculture
By Kristian Mennen Environment & History, essay no. 5 In the next post in our 'Environment & History' series, Dr Kristian Mennen takes us into the twentieth century to consider how the perception of an inherent conflict between agriculturalists and...
A Farm in February – reading the agricultural past in a picture
This blog draws on that research and examines the English farming landscape in the years after the Second World War as drawn by Ronald Lampitt, an artist best known for his work in the Ladybird series of children’s books. This precise landscape may never have existed – it could be Kent, but the distant mountains might stand for the Malvern hills – but the story told is a national one.
Using climate history to bear witness: North Atlantic environmental history in comparative perspective
In this, the fourth in our series of posts on new histories of the environment, Dr Sharla Chittick discusses her comparative research on the Wabanaki and Hebridean peoples of the western and eastern Atlantic coasts, between the eras of deglaciation and colonial settlement. Sharla’s work demonstrates the very different impacts of historical climate change, settlement, and commercial exploitation for these two communities and their environment, and draws lessons for the better management of the contemporary climate emergency.
Hydropower & salmon: historical case-studies for modern-day problem solving
In the third part of our ‘Environment & History’ series, PhD researcher Ian Jackson discusses his research into the history of hydropower on the River Derwent. Inspired by his involvement in a local sustainability group, Ian’s research investigates past hurdles and successes in England’s use of hydropower to ask how we might make better use of our sustainable resources today.
Research & Resources News
A Farm in February – reading the agricultural past in a picture
This blog draws on that research and examines the English farming landscape in the years after the Second World War as drawn by Ronald Lampitt, an artist best known for his work in the Ladybird series of children’s books. This precise landscape may never have existed – it could be Kent, but the distant mountains might stand for the Malvern hills – but the story told is a national one.
Bibliography of British and Irish History: February 2021 update adds records of 4670 recent publications
The ‘Bibliography of British and Irish History’ (BBIH) is a record of over 627,000 books, articles and essays relating to the British and Irish past, worldwide. The Bibliography is updated three times each year with curated records of the recent publications. The February 2021 update is now out, adding detailed records for 4670 new titles, the great majority of which are for recent works published between 2019 and 2021.
PhD –> BHO –> BL –> PhD: linking British History Online’s thesis data to the British Library
In summer 2020 we began a project to add records of 30,000 UK PhD theses to British History Online. In this post (the third in a series on this subject), Jonathan Blaney explains a recently completed matching and linking exercise to connect post-1970 theses to their corresponding listings in the British Library’s EThOS catalogue, allowing users to click through from BHO record to BL to an online version of the complete thesis.
Letting the people speak: 2526 early modern petitions on British History Online
The IHR’s ‘British History Online’ has recently completed a project to digitise and publish over 2500 petitions from early modern England. Working with ‘The Power of Petitioning’ project, BHO is now building a web interface, allowing this rich dataset to be explored in new ways – for research and teaching.