Dr Alison Chand, University of the Highlands and Islands alison.chand@uhi.ac.uk Paul Thompson, in his pioneering book, The Voice of the Past: Oral History, wrote that, ‘It is no doubt here – for history in the community – that oral history has its most radical implications’, pointing to the role of oral history in ‘the discovery … Continued
Prof. Robert Gildea, University of Oxford robert.gildea@history.ox.ac.uk ‘But there’s no such thing as transnational resistance!’ exclaimed one of our colleagues at the first meeting of the research team in Belgrade, ‘the Slovak national rising was a national rising!’ The point was well taken. After all, the team was drawn from many different nationalities: French, Dutch, … Continued
Prof. Carolyn Conley, The University of Alabama at Birmingham cconley@uab.edu This book means a great deal to me in part because it was finished after I retired from teaching and moved to a city away from my life at the university. While I miss my students and colleagues, it was liberating to write for … Continued
Dr Lena Liapi, Keele University e.liapi@keele.ac.uk @LenaLiapi While doing research for my book on rogue pamphlets (narratives of criminals in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), I came upon the case of James Turner. As a solicitor who had defrauded many of his clients, Turner was an unlikeable character. Even more egregiously, he betrayed a friend’s … Continued
JC Niala, University of Oxford Jc.niala@stcatz.ox.ac.uk @jcniala The significance of the allotment in urban English history is inconsistent. In general, the allotment space is treated as marginal, yet simultaneously they remain inextricably linked to popular imaginations of significant periods of history, such as the Second World War. This link resurfaced with COVID-19 and is reflected … Continued
Dr Xun Zhou, University of Essex xzhoug@essex.ac.uk Located at the foothills of the Great Wall in northern China, just south of Mongolia, is Shanxi province. Sun’s village is just outside of Datong city in northern Shanxi, an old coal mining town also famous for the ancient Yungang Buddhist Grottoes. Until the 1950s, there had been … Continued
Edda Nicolson, University of Wolverhampton @Edda_Nicolson This blog by Edda Nicolson was commended in the 2020 SHS Postgraduate Prize. ‘May I ask the delegate, if he has any charge to make against the Gasworkers’ Union, to make it definitely? At the present moment I am the Chairman of the whole of the organisations in this … Continued
Joseph Saunders, University of Glasgow j.saunders.1@research.gla.ac.uk @joe_saunders1 This blog was commended in the 2020 SHS Postgraduate Prize. In her will of 1638 Anne, widow of James Boler bequeathed her husband’s estate to her children with ‘such increases and improvements’ as she had made. James had been a bookseller and member of the Company of Stationers, … Continued
Stephen Tate, Blackburn College University Centre stephen.tate@blackburn.ac.uk It’s an irony not lost on me that my book examining the history of the sports journalist was published in the same month that sport went into global lockdown. Athletes were sent home, fixtures suspended and stadiums emptied. Press boxes were under lock and key. To keep the … Continued
Ellen Smith, University of Leicester ecss3@leicester.ac.uk @EllenCSSmith We are pleased to share this blog by Ellen Smith, runner up in the 2020 SHS Postgraduate Prize. Several times during my research project, on family life in British India during the long nineteenth century, I have reflected on how privileged I am to read, almost daily, personal … Continued
