On History

News, articles & research from the
Institute of Historical Research

Latest posts

Place-based public history in the Highlands and Islands 

Place-based public history in the Highlands and Islands 

Juliette Desportes has recently finished a collaborative internship between the IHR’s Centre for the History of People, Place and Community and the University of the Highlands and Island’s Centre for History. In this blog post she reflects on the findings of this...

Henry VIII and the IHR Library

Henry VIII and the IHR Library

This blog post was written by Sophia Benko, Graduate Trainee Library Assistant at the IHR Wohl Library. While librarians always live in fear of fire destroying their collections, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, I would like to...

Spotlight

Features & Articles

Pre-Raphaelite Outsider: James Smetham (1821-1889)

Pre-Raphaelite Outsider: James Smetham (1821-1889)

Since 2019 a team of archivists, creative practitioners, curators, and researchers have been exploring the life and work of the little-known artist and devout Methodist James Smetham. In this blog post, Dr Ruth Slatter (IHR Lecturer in Historic Environment and...

IHR Summer Reading Series

IHR Summer Reading Series

Volume 6 During the month of August we will be sharing summer reading lists, experiences, and suggestions from the IHR community. If you’d like to share your own, please Tweet (X) us @ihr_history. In this blog, we hear from IHR Fellows. Philippa Joseph Although most...

IHR Summer Reading Series

IHR Summer Reading Series

Volume 5 During the month of August we will be sharing summer reading lists, experiences, and suggestions from the IHR community. If you'd like to share your own, please Tweet (X) us @ihr_history. In this blog, we hear from Neil Stewart, Head of the IHR Library. Willa...

IHR Summer Reading Series

IHR Summer Reading Series

Volume 4 During the month of August we will be sharing summer reading lists, experiences, and suggestions from the IHR community. If you'd like to share your own, please Tweet (X) us @ihr_history. Daniel Snowman has been a Senior Research Fellow at the IHR since...

Publications News

VCH Outstanding Contribution Awards 2023

VCH Outstanding Contribution Awards 2023

Earlier this year we were delighted to make our second annual round of VCH Outstanding Contribution Awards, nominated by the VCH community. We would like to thank everyone who submitted a nomination. These aren’t long service awards—though some of the recipients have...

Bringing the VCH Past to Wikipedia Present

Bringing the VCH Past to Wikipedia Present

  In this blog, VCH General Editor, Adam Chapman and IHR Collections Librarian, Michael Townsend, introduce the VCH Archive and how it is being used to broaden other projects (including Wikipedia). As you might imagine, like any 123-year-old organisation, The...

VCH Outstanding Contribution Awards 2022

VCH Outstanding Contribution Awards 2022

On 12 October, 2022, we were delighted to make our inaugural round of VCH Outstanding Contribution Awards, nominated by the VCH community. They’re a chance for us to thank colleagues for their exceptional work on this national local history project, and to share...

Supporting Early-Career Historians: The Victoria County History

Supporting Early-Career Historians: The Victoria County History

This post was written by Adam Chapman, the General Editor of the Victoria County History, and Lecturer in Medieval History at the Institute of Historical Research.[Working for the VCH] sparked my long-forgotten childhood curiosity around the history of place, what...

Research & Resources News

Learning from the Windrush Scandal Oral History Archives

Learning from the Windrush Scandal Oral History Archives

This summer Destinie Reynolds completed a three-month internship with the IHR's History & Policy research team. In this blog, Destinie shares her experience of working on the AHRC-funded oral history project “The Windrush Scandal in a Transnational and...

Gender and Bathing in Antiquity 

Gender and Bathing in Antiquity 

This blog was written by Dr Giacomo Savani, an expert in Roman baths and ancient senses, and a recent intern looking at gender histories in the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH). A version of this text was posted on the Women’s History Network blog in...

Bibliography of British and Irish History: October 2023 update 

Bibliography of British and Irish History: October 2023 update 

What’s new in BBIH?   The October 2023 update to the Bibliography of British and Irish History adds 4,091 new publications. The new update includes books, journal articles, book chapters, and edited collections covering all areas of British and Irish history,...