On History
News, articles & research from the
Institute of Historical Research
Latest posts
Michaelmas
This blog post was written by IHR Associate Fellow Michael Carter. St Michael’s Day—Michaelmas—on 29 September is upon us. St Michael is one of the most interesting of all saints, or to go medieval ‘the holy company of heaven’ (ok, I might be biased, I’m named after...
Five things that I’ve learned writing my first trade history book
This blog post was written by IHR Fellow Edward Armston-Sheret. I’ve recently published my first trade history book, The Grip of the Ice: Scott, Shackleton and Survival on the Frozen Frontier. The book tells the story of the British National Antarctic Expedition –...
The Cambridge Prehistory of Partitions: Learning through a Cambridge Walk and Podcast
Cambridge is a city of quiet quadrangles and soft light, designed for the unhurried pursuit of knowledge, polite debates over High Table, the preservation of tradition, and the education of the country’s youthful elites. Yet between the cobblestones of Trinity Street...
Spotlight
Conflict and climate change in the Arctic: what the seventeenth century suggests about the future
By Dagomar Degroot Environment & History, essay no. 13 In the final article of our ‘Environment & History’ series, Professor Dagomar Degroot looks to early modern climate change to ask whether arctic warming necessarily results in violent...
Features & Articles
Michaelmas
This blog post was written by IHR Associate Fellow Michael Carter. St Michael’s Day—Michaelmas—on 29 September is upon us. St Michael is one of the most interesting of all saints, or to go medieval ‘the holy company of heaven’ (ok, I might be biased, I’m named after...
Five things that I’ve learned writing my first trade history book
This blog post was written by IHR Fellow Edward Armston-Sheret. I’ve recently published my first trade history book, The Grip of the Ice: Scott, Shackleton and Survival on the Frozen Frontier. The book tells the story of the British National Antarctic Expedition –...
The Cambridge Prehistory of Partitions: Learning through a Cambridge Walk and Podcast
Cambridge is a city of quiet quadrangles and soft light, designed for the unhurried pursuit of knowledge, polite debates over High Table, the preservation of tradition, and the education of the country’s youthful elites. Yet between the cobblestones of Trinity Street...
London’s Surprising Medieval Ban on Tennis Balls
This blog has been written by Eliot Benbow During Wimbledon season one discovery from our AHRC/DFG funded project London’s medieval customs accounts seems particularly intriguing. We have been struck by the sheer variety of goods and commodities that were imported and...
Publications News
John Aubrey and the Victoria County History: Parallel Endeavours in Systematic Local History
In this blog post, Dr Louise Ryland-Epton describes the gestation of the latest Victoria County History (VCH), publications for Wiltshire, which focus on Chippenham and its neighbourhood. In looking at how this work was informed by earlier scholarship—notably that of...
Soho at Noon: Satire, Stratification, and Urbanisation in William Hogarth’s London
Daisy Mansfield is a volunteer with Victoria County History (VCH) London, focusing on artists in Soho. In this blog, she discusses what we can learn about Soho in the eighteenth century from the work of the renowned artist and chronicler of London life, William...
The Value of Encouraging Neurodivergent Participation in Community Research Initiatives for the Victoria County History of England
This blog post was written by Dr Christopher Tinmouth, Victoria County History (VCH) Cumbria Participatory Research Officer Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, photo by Christopher Tinmouth Autistic representation in academia, and in community participation in research...
Domesday at the IHR
In this blog, IHR Fellow Chris Lewis writes about a new publication Domesday Book is justly famous as England’s oldest public record, the source of a teeming mass of information about every aspect of English government and society around the time of the Norman...
Research & Resources News
Pathways, Environmental History, and BBIH
Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) Intern in Environmental Histories Zoë Jackson uses two petitions as a starting point to reflect on environmental history as a field, and the usefulness of BBIH to this research. Petitions and...
Researching the Histories of Medicine and Health in the Bibliography of British and Irish History
In this blog post, Rachel Peacock (Queen’s University, Canada) and Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal (BBIH editor) discuss how the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) can be used to research and teach the histories of medicine and...
Bibliography of British and Irish History February 2026 update
What’s new in BBIH? The February 2026 update to the Bibliography of British and Irish History adds over 4,000 new publications. The new update includes books, journal articles, book chapters, and...
Researching the History of Emotions in the Bibliography of British and Irish History
In this blog post, Dr Eloise Grey (University of Aberdeen) and Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal (editor of BBIH) discuss how the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) can be used to research and teach the History of Emotions. BBIH and the History of Emotions BBIH is...