Workshop preparation
Scroll down to each week to see what you need to do in preparation for each workshop
week 1 (1 October). What is community history? an introduction
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Learning outcomes:
- understanding the different definitions of 'community'
- developing an awareness of the different ways in which community and local history is studied in academic and public history
- developing an awareness of the different types of sources available for community history
Before the workshop, please read and make notes on:
- http://www.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/articles/community_history.html
- B. Deacon and M. Donald, ‘In search of community history’, Family & Community History, Vol. 7: 1 (May 2004), pp. 13-18
Ignore the jargon and complex references in the Deacon and Donald article - just try to work out what the different definitions of community and community history are, and what is microhistory.
During the workshop, we will be doing the following:
In this workshop, we will be discussing the following questions:
- How do historians define a 'community'?
- How has community history changed with online sources and social media?
- Why does the Heritage Lottery Fund give grants to local community projects, and what do they do?
Beginning our introduction to different ways of writing and presenting community & local history, we will examine the following:
- Toby Butler, The 1943 Bethnal Green Tube Shelter Disaster: an Oral history (University of East London, 2015), and the accompanying website and memorial campaign - http://www.stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org/
- a local community history project - Smallford railway station - http://smallford.org/bringing-the-history-of-smallford-station-to-life/
- a global history project -National Archives of Australia, 'case studies' from their migration archives - http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/family-history/case-studies/index.aspx
- how would you define 'community'?
- how do they differ?
- how are they similar?
- What sources does each project use?
- What do you think about such projects achieving Heritage Lottery Funding?
6hum1126_lecture_1_intro.pptx | |
File Size: | 1977 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
week 2 (8 October). Preparing our project. Introduction to different types of sources and projects. Choosing a place and a community and creating your webpage.
Learning objectives:
1. read: Dan Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig, Digital History, chapter 'Building an Audience', http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/audience/, especially the 'connecting with a community' section
2. Explore at least one of the following websites and sources. Pick out a page that interests you to discuss in the workshop, and answer the questions below:
Questions to answer:
During the workshop we will be setting up our own websites using weebly.com.
Learning objectives:
- ability to assess the effectiveness and use of how different types of online resources for local and community history are presented and searched
- developing practical skills in web design
- planning the parameters of the assessment project
1. read: Dan Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig, Digital History, chapter 'Building an Audience', http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/audience/, especially the 'connecting with a community' section
2. Explore at least one of the following websites and sources. Pick out a page that interests you to discuss in the workshop, and answer the questions below:
- Herts memories - http://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/
- Convict transportation lists - http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/family-history/convicts
- Mass Observation Online - available via UH Library Search
- Army records in The National Archives, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/army.htm
(see also the whole list of online resources by the National Archives that are available - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/?letter=&search=&research-category=online)
Questions to answer:
- Who made it/contributed to it?
- What sources does it have? Who put them there? Where are they from?
- Does it have contextual information?
- What problems might it raise for historians writing a local or community history?
During the workshop we will be setting up our own websites using weebly.com.
week 3 (15 October). What is local and regional history? How has the writing of local and regional history changed?
Learning objectives:
- awareness of the development of local and regional history writing since the 1950s
- understanding of the different geographical areas study, including counties, regions, localities
Workshop preparation:
Please read:
1. John Beckett, Writing Local History (2007, available as an ebook via Library Resources), chapter 8, 'new approaches: the region and community'
2. Sarah Lloyd and Julie Moore, 'Sedimented histories: Connections, Collaborations and Co-production in Regional History', History Workshop Journal, 80 (autumn 2015) - open access - http://hwj.oxfordjournals.org/content/80/1/234.full.pdf+html
Answer the following questions:
- what developments in local history since the 1950s does Beckett list? what different geographical areas of study does he list and what are their definitions?
- what is 'community co=production'?
- what challenges have Sarah and Julie faced in writing regional history?
During the workshop we will be doing the following:
1. Look at the Victoria County History Online - http://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/
See how it is arranged by county and parish. Choose one location to discuss in the workshop and bring your notes with you.
- What are the advantages of writing local history in this way?
- What are its disadvantages?
- what are the origins of Victoria County History and what do its own history tell us about the way in which it is arranged and written?
2. We will be examining a range of local histories, assessing their methodologies, sources, strengths and weaknesses. Feel free to find your own to discuss.
- Paul Rusiecki, Under Fire: Essex and the Second World War, 1939-1945 (UH Press, 2015)
- K. D. M. Snell, 'Gravestones, Belonging and Local Attachment in England, 1700-2000', Past and Present, 179 (2003), 97-134
- Our Hatfield website - http://www.ourhatfield.org.uk/
- Christopher French, 'Who lived in suburbia? Surbiton in the second half of the 19th century', Family and Community History, 10: 2 (2007)
Further reading:
Jonathan Healey, lecture, 'Why Local History Matters', University of Oxford, 2012, https://www.academia.edu/2550380/Why_Local_History_Matters
Carol Kammen, On Doing Local History (London, 2014), chapter 1, 'local history's past' for an American perspective - available as an e-book via Library Catalogue
K.D.M. Snell, Parish and Belonging (Cambridge, 2006), chapter 1, ‘Introduction – belonging and local attachment’ - a wonderfully rich investigation of the meaning of local history
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/using-bho/local-guide - British History Online guide to sources
http://www.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/articles/local_history.html - IHR guide to the historiography of local history
J.D. Marshall, ‘The study of local and regional ‘communities’: some problems and possibilities’, Northern History, Vol. 17 (1981), pp.203-30.
J. D. Marshall, The Tyranny of the Discrete: A Discussion of the Problems of Local History in England (Aldershot, 1997)
Barry Reay, Microhistories: Demography, Society and Culture in Rural England, 1800-1939 (Cambridge, 1996)
C. Phythian-Adams, ‘Local history and national history: the quest for the peoples of England’, Rural History, Vol. 2 (1991), pp. 1-23.
6hum1126_lecture_3_local_history.pptx | |
File Size: | 152 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
week 4 (22 October). A practical session on local history
This week we are joined by a special guest, Jim Lewis, who is a very active local historian who has written about the Lea Valley.
learning objectives:
- understanding the challenges and rewards of researching and writing local history
- developing skills of defining what community to research
Before the session, please read:
1. Carol Kammen, On Doing Local History (London, 2014), chapter 6, 'researching local history'
2. Helen Rogers, blog post: https://manyheadedmonster.wordpress.com/2015/08/07/captured-voices-2/
- what are the practical elements of researching local history that you need to be aware of?
- how does Helen Rogers connect different types of sources together?
week 5 (29 October). Family history: how can we use the census and parish records?
This week we are exploring how digitised archives have transformed the study of family history, and how historians can use family history to study local communities.
Learning objectives:
- awareness of the census and parish records as sources for family and local history, and their flaws
- developing ability in nominal record linkage and demography
- awareness of the uses and weaknesses of digitised family history databases
Please read:
1. Wendy Bottero, ‘Who Do You Think They Were? How Family Historians Make Sense of Social Position and Inequality in the Past’, British Journal of Sociology, 63:1 (2012), 54-74
2. extract chapter about using the census from W. T. R. Pryce, From Family History to Community History (Cambridge, 1994) (PDF on studynet under week 5 of teaching resources).
What are some of the caveats and problems that you need to be aware of using the census and parish records?
3. just before the workshop, set up a free 14-day trial of one of the following sites. Remember to cancel it within 14 days or you will be charged!
ancestry.co.uk
findmypast.co.uk
If you do not wish to enter card details, you can go to any local library or record office and access the sites for free, or you can use my account during the workshop.
Workshop tasks:
1. using ancestry or findmypast and the further reading, consider the following questions:
- look at the types of records that the sites contain.
- how does the search facility work? How is it designed for family historians rather than academic historians?
- how can historians use the records to build up a picture of a local community?
2. practical task: Use the census and parish records to compile a demographic and social survey of the community you have chosen for your assignment. You may wish to start small - do the social, economic and demographic profile of one street in one particular year to start. Tabulate and compile the following factors:
a) the total population
b) the number of houses
c) the sex and age ratios of inhabitants, and family size
d) the range of occupations of inhabitants. Think about the different ways to classify their occupations into groups (use the secondary literature to help with this).
e) family links (who was related to who?)
f) other information from other types of sources (e.g. army records, criminal records)
Use an excel or Access database to compile your data.
If you wish to continue this as part of your project, look at how the secondary literature analyses change over time.
Further reading:
Family history at Hertfordshire archives - http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/leisculture/heritage1/hals/famhist/
Vision of Britain web resource with census reports - http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/census/
KRAMER, A.-M., 2011. Mediatizing memory: history, affect and identity in "Who Do You Think You Are?" European Journal of of Cultural Studies. 14(4), 428 - 445
KRAMER, A.-M., 2011. Kinship, affinity and connectedness: exploring the role of genealogy in personal lives Sociology. 45(3), 379-395
This week we are exploring how digitised archives have transformed the study of family history, and how historians can use family history to study local communities.
Learning objectives:
- awareness of the census and parish records as sources for family and local history, and their flaws
- developing ability in nominal record linkage and demography
- awareness of the uses and weaknesses of digitised family history databases
Please read:
1. Wendy Bottero, ‘Who Do You Think They Were? How Family Historians Make Sense of Social Position and Inequality in the Past’, British Journal of Sociology, 63:1 (2012), 54-74
2. extract chapter about using the census from W. T. R. Pryce, From Family History to Community History (Cambridge, 1994) (PDF on studynet under week 5 of teaching resources).
What are some of the caveats and problems that you need to be aware of using the census and parish records?
3. just before the workshop, set up a free 14-day trial of one of the following sites. Remember to cancel it within 14 days or you will be charged!
ancestry.co.uk
findmypast.co.uk
If you do not wish to enter card details, you can go to any local library or record office and access the sites for free, or you can use my account during the workshop.
Workshop tasks:
1. using ancestry or findmypast and the further reading, consider the following questions:
- look at the types of records that the sites contain.
- how does the search facility work? How is it designed for family historians rather than academic historians?
- how can historians use the records to build up a picture of a local community?
2. practical task: Use the census and parish records to compile a demographic and social survey of the community you have chosen for your assignment. You may wish to start small - do the social, economic and demographic profile of one street in one particular year to start. Tabulate and compile the following factors:
a) the total population
b) the number of houses
c) the sex and age ratios of inhabitants, and family size
d) the range of occupations of inhabitants. Think about the different ways to classify their occupations into groups (use the secondary literature to help with this).
e) family links (who was related to who?)
f) other information from other types of sources (e.g. army records, criminal records)
Use an excel or Access database to compile your data.
If you wish to continue this as part of your project, look at how the secondary literature analyses change over time.
Further reading:
Family history at Hertfordshire archives - http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/leisculture/heritage1/hals/famhist/
Vision of Britain web resource with census reports - http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/census/
KRAMER, A.-M., 2011. Mediatizing memory: history, affect and identity in "Who Do You Think You Are?" European Journal of of Cultural Studies. 14(4), 428 - 445
KRAMER, A.-M., 2011. Kinship, affinity and connectedness: exploring the role of genealogy in personal lives Sociology. 45(3), 379-395
week 6 (5 November). Histories of immigration and communities - how do we study people who moved in?
Learning objectives:
- understanding the history of immigration into Britain
- awareness of the different sources for studying immigration history
Workshop preparation
Please read:
1. One of the following articles (or both!). What sources do the authors use for understanding immigrant communities in their town? What methods and theories do they describe?
a) Avram Taylor, ‘ In Glasgow but not quite of it ’ ? Eastern European Jewish immigrants in a provincial Jewish community from c.1890 to c.1945', Continuity and Change, 28: 3 (2013), 451–477
OR
b) M.A Busteed and R. I. Hodgson, 'Irish Migrant Responses to Urban Life in Early Nineteenth-Century Manchester,' The Geographical Journal,Vol. 162, No. 2 (Jul., 1996), pp. 139-153
AND
2. Read the extracts from Pryce, From Family to Community History, chapters on the Irish and internal migration in Britain (PDFs on studynet)
Workshop task:
In the workshop we will be examining the different sources you may wish to use to find out about immigrant communities in your area. Look at how they are organised? How might some of the more family-history oriented sites be difficult to use if you are researching a particular place?
Sources:
The National Archives:
the now archived 'Moving Here' website - http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.movinghere.org.uk/
Go to Ancestry or FindmyPast to use the census to find out the places of birth of inhabitants in your community:
Full list of available online sources, including those on Ancestry and Findmypast - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/?letter=&search=&research-category=online
Further reading:
John Herson, Divergent Paths: Family Histories of Irish Emigrants in Britain, 1820-1920 (Manchester University Press, 2015)
Learning objectives:
- understanding the history of immigration into Britain
- awareness of the different sources for studying immigration history
Workshop preparation
Please read:
1. One of the following articles (or both!). What sources do the authors use for understanding immigrant communities in their town? What methods and theories do they describe?
a) Avram Taylor, ‘ In Glasgow but not quite of it ’ ? Eastern European Jewish immigrants in a provincial Jewish community from c.1890 to c.1945', Continuity and Change, 28: 3 (2013), 451–477
OR
b) M.A Busteed and R. I. Hodgson, 'Irish Migrant Responses to Urban Life in Early Nineteenth-Century Manchester,' The Geographical Journal,Vol. 162, No. 2 (Jul., 1996), pp. 139-153
AND
2. Read the extracts from Pryce, From Family to Community History, chapters on the Irish and internal migration in Britain (PDFs on studynet)
Workshop task:
In the workshop we will be examining the different sources you may wish to use to find out about immigrant communities in your area. Look at how they are organised? How might some of the more family-history oriented sites be difficult to use if you are researching a particular place?
Sources:
The National Archives:
- Aliens registration cards, 1918-1957: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/aliens-registration-cards-1918-1957/
- Naturalisation case papers, 1801-71: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/naturalisation-case-papers-1801-1871/
the now archived 'Moving Here' website - http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.movinghere.org.uk/
Go to Ancestry or FindmyPast to use the census to find out the places of birth of inhabitants in your community:
Full list of available online sources, including those on Ancestry and Findmypast - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/?letter=&search=&research-category=online
Further reading:
John Herson, Divergent Paths: Family Histories of Irish Emigrants in Britain, 1820-1920 (Manchester University Press, 2015)
week 7 (12 November). HistoryPin workshop - how we crowd-source community photographs
A practical workshop using HistoryPin and the census & parish records, led by Helen Tyler, a Herts University graduate now working in the heritage sector and for the Heritage Hub.
HistoryPin - https://www.historypin.org, 'Hertfordshire on the Map' channel - https://www.historypin.org/project/55-hertfordshire-on-the-map/
Before the workshop, please read:
John Beckett, Writing Local History (2007 - available as an ebook via Library Resources), chapter 10, 'the sources revolution'
week 8 (19 November). Histories of emigration - how do we trace people who left?
This week we are examining migrant communities abroad.
Learning objectives:
- understanding the 'push and pull' factors for migration
- building statistical skills in collating and analysing data about migrants
Before the workshop, please read:
1. Robin Haines, Margrette Kleinig, Deborah Oxley and Eric Richards, 'Migration and opportunity: an antipodean perspective', International Review of Social History, Vol. 43: 2 (1998), pp. 235-63.
2. Introduction to records in the National Archives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/migration.htm
In the workshop, we will be using the following online resources:
Using the above sources, answer the following questions:
- what sorts of people migrated from Britain to Australia AND/OR America? How can historians categorise them in different types?
- what were the experiences of migrants? How did they build their own communities?
Further reading:
E. Richards, Britannia’s children (Hambledon: London, 2004)
Stephen Nicholas and Peter Shergold, 'Convicts as Migrants', chapter 4 in Convict Workers: Reinterpreting Australia's Past, ed. Stephen Nicholas (Cambridge, 1988)
Robert Tyler, ed., The Welsh in an Australian Gold Town (Cardiff, 2010)
Learning objectives:
- understanding the 'push and pull' factors for migration
- building statistical skills in collating and analysing data about migrants
Before the workshop, please read:
1. Robin Haines, Margrette Kleinig, Deborah Oxley and Eric Richards, 'Migration and opportunity: an antipodean perspective', International Review of Social History, Vol. 43: 2 (1998), pp. 235-63.
2. Introduction to records in the National Archives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/migration.htm
In the workshop, we will be using the following online resources:
- Australia passenger lists, http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Scripts/PassengerSearch.asp
- Convict transportation lists - http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/family-history/convicts
- America passenger lists, https://familysearch.org/us-immigration-naturalization/
- Trove - Australian archives - http://trove.nla.gov.au/
Using the above sources, answer the following questions:
- what sorts of people migrated from Britain to Australia AND/OR America? How can historians categorise them in different types?
- what were the experiences of migrants? How did they build their own communities?
Further reading:
E. Richards, Britannia’s children (Hambledon: London, 2004)
Stephen Nicholas and Peter Shergold, 'Convicts as Migrants', chapter 4 in Convict Workers: Reinterpreting Australia's Past, ed. Stephen Nicholas (Cambridge, 1988)
Robert Tyler, ed., The Welsh in an Australian Gold Town (Cardiff, 2010)
week 9 (26 November). Using criminal records for local and community history
This week we are examining what criminal records can tell us about the history of places and communities.
Learning objectives:
- awareness of the different types of sources relating to historical criminal activity
- how to use criminal records in local and community history
In preparation for the workshop, read:
1. Tim Hitchcock and Robert Shoemaker, 'Making History Online', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 25 (2015), 75-93. Don't caught up in the digital history critique; rather, look at the illustrations and examples of how to connect a person's life from the criminal record to the census and emigration records
2. Timothy Shakesheff, Rural Conflict, Crime and Protest : Herefordshire, 1800-1860 (Boydell & Brewer, 2003), chapter 4, 'rustlers, sheep-stealers or common thieves', [available as an ebook via Library Resources]
- skim read - what sources does he use? what does the history of rural crime tell us about his chosen county of Herefordshire?
Workshop tasks:
We will be exploring and critiquing the following resources:
Primary sources:
- Old Bailey Online - http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
- Find my Past criminal records - http://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/england-and-wales-crime-prisons-and-punishment-1770-1935
- Victoria (Australia) - female prisoner records - http://access.prov.vic.gov.au/
Task:
- can you connect the three sources together using nominal record linkage?
- do a small statistical sample of the types of crimes committed by women in one locality using all three of the sites.
Further reading:
V.A.C. Gatrell and T.B. Hadden, ‘Criminal statistics and their interpretation’ in E.A. Wrigley, ed., Nineteenth-century society. Essays in the use of quantitative methods for the study of social data.
Cynthia Herrup, 'new shoes and mutton pies:investigative responses to theft in seventeenth-century East Sussex', Historical Journal, 27: 4 (1984)
week 10 (3 December). Speaking from the heart? oral histories, diaries and letters
This week we are examining the use of oral history, diaries and autobiographies in community history.
Learning objectives:
- understanding the advantages and flaws of oral and personal archives
Workshop preparation:
Read:
1.M. Williams, Researching Local History: the Human Journey (2014, available as an ebook via Library Resources), chapter 2, 'Given in Evidence'.
- what does Williams argue are the benefits of oral interviews?
- what are the drawbacks?
2. the short PDF of 'how to do oral history' (attached below)
- what are the ethical implications you need to think of when doing oral history?
- what are the different types of interview you can conduct?
- what are the ways in which we can use diaries and autobiographies in community history?
We will be examining more interviews from the Mass Observation Archive online (accessible via Library Online).
More resources:
Oral History Society guides: http://www.ohs.org.uk/advice/getting-started/
Raphael Samuel, 'Local History and Oral History,' History Workshop Journal, 1 (1976), 191-208
Ann Burke and Mary Corbett, Looking at Life: learning in groups through oral history: a toolkit (UH Press 2004)
Critique of Mass Observation: Annebella Pollen, 'Research Methodology in Mass Observation Past and Present: ‘Scientifically, about as valuable as a chimpanzee’s tea party at the zoo’'. History Workshop Journal, 75 (2013) pp. 213-235
Carolyn Steedman, An Everyday Life of the English Working Class: Work, Self and Sociability in the Early Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, 2013)
(see Steedman's interview about the book here - http://www.cambridgeblog.org/2013/11/carolyn-steedman-interview-everyday-life-of-english-working-class/)
This week we are examining the use of oral history, diaries and autobiographies in community history.
Learning objectives:
- understanding the advantages and flaws of oral and personal archives
Workshop preparation:
Read:
1.M. Williams, Researching Local History: the Human Journey (2014, available as an ebook via Library Resources), chapter 2, 'Given in Evidence'.
- what does Williams argue are the benefits of oral interviews?
- what are the drawbacks?
2. the short PDF of 'how to do oral history' (attached below)
- what are the ethical implications you need to think of when doing oral history?
- what are the different types of interview you can conduct?
- what are the ways in which we can use diaries and autobiographies in community history?
We will be examining more interviews from the Mass Observation Archive online (accessible via Library Online).
More resources:
Oral History Society guides: http://www.ohs.org.uk/advice/getting-started/
Raphael Samuel, 'Local History and Oral History,' History Workshop Journal, 1 (1976), 191-208
Ann Burke and Mary Corbett, Looking at Life: learning in groups through oral history: a toolkit (UH Press 2004)
Critique of Mass Observation: Annebella Pollen, 'Research Methodology in Mass Observation Past and Present: ‘Scientifically, about as valuable as a chimpanzee’s tea party at the zoo’'. History Workshop Journal, 75 (2013) pp. 213-235
Carolyn Steedman, An Everyday Life of the English Working Class: Work, Self and Sociability in the Early Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, 2013)
(see Steedman's interview about the book here - http://www.cambridgeblog.org/2013/11/carolyn-steedman-interview-everyday-life-of-english-working-class/)
week 11 (10 December). Sketching the landscape: using maps and field observations
week 12 (17 December): presentation of websites