Latest Publications
from the Institute of Historical Research
Spotlight
Four New Victoria County History Projects
This blog post was written by Ruth Slatter and Adam Chapman, Co-General Editors of the VCH. The Victoria County History (VCH), is delighted to announce that its national network of place-based history is growing! 125 years after the VCH was founded, over the last few...
Historical Research
The Evil May Day riot of 1517 and the European Union elections of 2014: Writing about the history of anti-immigrant politics
Brodie Waddell’s latest article The Evil May Day riot of 1517 and the popular politics of anti-immigrant hostility in early modern London is published in the latest issue of Historical Research. Here Brodie explains the development of that research. In the Spring of...
London coffee houses of the late eighteenth century
Anna Brinkman-Schwartz’s latest article 'The heart of the maritime world: London’s ‘mercantile’ coffee houses in the Seven Years’ War and the American War of Independence, 1756–83' (open access) is published in the latest issue of Historical Research. Here she...
Henry Knighton, the Commons and the Crisis of Governance in the 1380s
Gwilym Dodd's latest article 'Henry Knighton, the Commons and the Crisis of Governance in the 1380s' is published in the latest issue of Historical Research. Here he explains more about this subject, and the problems with analysing historical writing. ‘To our...
Rehabilitating the past: the former ruling house of Germany wants financial compensation
In this post, Karina Urbach, Senior Research Fellow at the IHR, introduces ‘Useful idiots: the Hohenzollerns and Hitler’, her new article for the Institute’s journal, Historical Research.
Victoria County History
Four New Victoria County History Projects
This blog post was written by Ruth Slatter and Adam Chapman, Co-General Editors of the VCH. The Victoria County History (VCH), is delighted to announce that its national network of place-based history is growing! 125 years after the VCH was founded, over the last few...
The collaborative and volunteer-led process of researching and writing the VCH short Southend, Victorian Town and Resort
In this blog post, Ken Crowe, Chairman of the Essex Victoria County History Trust and editor of the newest VCH Short ‘Southend, Victorian Town and Resort’, reflects on the collaborative volunteer-led process of researching and writing this book. How did it all...
VCH Ghost Story
With the nights drawing in, it’s the season for storytelling. This curious and disconcerting letter was found recently in the archive of the Victoria County History of England (addressed to then-General Editor, William Page) and is published here for the first time....
Digitising Red Books: the rigours and rewards of increasing online access to Victoria County History volumes (Part 2)
In this second of two blog posts, Anne-Marie Harvatt, VCH Digitisation Summer Intern 2024, reflects on the challenges and potentials of digitising historical sources. As discussed in the earlier of these posts, digitising a VCH Big Red Book is far from straightforward...
Bibliography of British and Irish History
Doing historical research in the age of generative artificial intelligence (AI): some points to consider
In every aspect of our lives, there are discussions happening about generative artificial intelligence, its benefits and its potential drawbacks. Undertaking historical research is no exception. It’s therefore important for historians to consider some of the following...
Emotion and Space in the Mid-Victorian Women’s Suffrage Movement in the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH)
Lucy McCormick recently completed a summer internship at the IHR, in which she focused on representations of social class in the Bibliography of British and Irish History. In this blog, she explores how anti-suffragists weaponised emotion in relation to politicised...
Using Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) Data to Stimulate Classroom Discussion: The Case of the Peasants’ Revolt
This blog post was written by BBIH user Gordon McKelvie. History lecturers need to see the BBIH as more than a convenient tool for updating reading lists. Using the example of revolts through English history, this blog uses BBIH to produce data that can frame...
Bibliography of British and Irish History October 2024 update
What’s new in BBIH? The October 2024 update to the Bibliography of British and Irish History adds 4,622 new publications. The new update includes books, journal articles, book chapters and edited collections covering all areas of British and Irish history, from...
Reviews in History
Reviews in History – Mini reviews
The IHR's online book review journal, Reviews in History, would love you to send us a short review on a recent History book, article, chapter, film, exhibit, event, podcast, seminar, etc. that’s really impressed you. How to take part … Once you’ve chosen a piece to...
Becoming a Historian: Further Thoughts
This blog post was written by Tim Hitchcock and Penelope J. Corfield, authors of Becoming a Historian: An Informal Guide. In it they respond to questions from IHR students and Early Career Fellows. Recently, we published our ‘informal guide’ to Becoming a...
Strange Times Indeed: Writing on Cold War Britain in Contemporary Lebanon
In this blog post by Matthew Gerth we hear from the author of a recent University of London Press publication, Anti-communism in Britain during the Early Cold War, published as part of the New Historical Perspectives series, in association with the IHR and the Royal...
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...
Open Access Publishing
#OpenAccess at the IHR: five new publishing initiatives
For OpenAccess Week 2018 (21-28 October), five initiatives from the IHR on disseminating its scholarly content and new forms of publishing for historians.
Open Access Week 2017: share and aware
Researcher awareness and engagement with open access data and sharing is increasing, that is according to a 2017 State of Open Data Report published by Figshare this week. This does not come as a surprise to me and, as a publisher of open access research in a variety...
A new open access series with the Royal Historical Society
The IHR has the great pleasure of announcing our partnership with the Royal Historical Society (RHS) to publish a new, open access series of monographs and shorter form works, further solidifying our commitment to open access. New Historical Perspectives will seek to...
Digital development: a commitment to OA
When I joined the IHR in early August, I did so with the challenging assignment of helping to further the Institute’s mission to embrace the opportunities of digital content delivery and enable greater access to knowledge, in line with the School’s Statement on Open...