History, as an academic discipline, has a problem with its lack of diversity. This is a real issue for a field of scholarly activity where seeking to understand the world as it appears from very different perspectives underpins much of what we do.

As Meleisa Ono-George noted in the plenary session of our recent conference (which you can watch here), amongst the 6.1% BME academic staff in UK university History departments there are only 15 black historians. Until this month, there was no black and female History Professor in the country.

That changed when Dr Olivette Otele was promoted from Reader to Professor at Bath Spa University…

The Historic England Archive has recently completed a 12 month project to conserve, digitise, and catalogue 4,071 photographic prints in the Topical Press Agency Medical Collection. The collection of prints show nursing, healthcare, social care and medicine in Britain between 1938 and 1943. Most were very well annotated, providing a remarkable insight into medical treatments … Continued

We were sad to hear recently of the death of Professor Alun Howkins.

Alun left school at 15 for a host of manual and other jobs before returning to education in his early 20s via Ruskin College. After further studies at Oxford and completing a PhD at Essex University, he embarked on a career in which he made a real contribution to the field of social history.

We share some memories from those who knew him.

It can’t have escaped your attention that the National Health Service celebrated its 70th anniversary this week. The NHS came into being on 5 July 1948. It promised universal healthcare, free at the point of use. The story of the NHS is closely bound to the contemporary British history. So it is no surprise that … Continued

A new digital archive chronicling the history of disability arts in the UK has launched to the public. The National Disability Arts Collection and Archive (NDACA) is the first archive in the world to offer a major retrospective of disabled people’s art and activism. Built by Shape Arts with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts … Continued

History UK, the independent national body promoting and monitoring History in UK Higher Education, is working in partnership with The National Archives to revise and update the 2015 ‘Guide to collaboration between archive and Higher Education sectors‘. The updated guidance will inform partnership working between archives and higher education institutions, both in terms of research … Continued

Over a period of two years Black Country Visual Arts has brought together an exciting collection of 2000 photographs exploring Punjabi migration to Wolverhampton from the 1960s to the 1980s. The project won them ‘Best New Group’ at the recent 2017 Community Archive & Heritage Awards. Between 13 January and 18 March 2018, these photographs … Continued