Events Archive

RHS Panel – ‘Finding the Funny in Public History’

‘Finding the Funny in Public History’

In conversation with Greg Jenner

 

Greg Jenner

in conversation with Emma Griffin
held on 2 February 2024
at the Mary Ward House, London, and online

 

 

 

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Abstract

One of the UK’s best known public historians, Greg has brought history to new audiences through his engagement with popular culture. In ‘Finding the Funny in Public History’, Greg discussed his approach to communicating history, via different broadcast technologies, and also through comedy which is a common theme in his public history. As Greg shows with reference to his own work, the relationship between historical subject, medium and format is key for effective engagement with a chosen audience. How these elements are chosen and combined is an essential part of a series’ success or otherwise.

As well as drawing on Greg’s own work and approach, our event also considered popular media more broadly as a vehicle for public history. How can formats constrained by running times, deadlines and budgets reflect the balance and nuance required of effective historical work? What is the place of the trained historian in popular media representations of the past? And what are the possible formats by which future audiences will engage with historical subjects? On Tuesday 20 February, Greg was in conversation with Emma Griffin, President of the Royal Historical Society.

Speaker Biography

Greg Jenner is a public historian, author, and broadcaster well known for his work in podcasts, radio, TV, and publishing. He is the host and creator of the chart-topping comedy BBC podcast You’re Dead to Me, as well as the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Past Forward: A Century of Sound, the BBC’s award-nominated children’s podcast Homeschool History, and the Audible series A Somewhat Complete History of Sitting Down. From 2008-2019, Greg was responsible for the research and historical accuracy of the BBC’s multiple-BAFTA and EMMY-award-winning TV comedy sketch series Horrible Histories, and its BAFTA-nominated spinoff film Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans.

Greg’s publications include Ask A Historian: 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know (2021) and Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity, From Bronze Age To Silver Screen (2020). His bestselling illustrated children’s book You Are History: From the Alarm Clock to the Toilet, the Amazing History of the Things You Use Every Day was published in 2022, and his new children’s book series ‘Totally Chaotic History’ – cowritten with expert historians – will be published by Walker Books in 2024. In 2021 Greg was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society for his contribution to historical scholarship and understanding.

 

RHS Lecture — ‘Convicts, Creolization and Cosmopolitanism: Aftermaths of penal transportation in the British Empire’

‘Convicts, Creolization and Cosmopolitanism: Aftermaths of penal transportation in the British Empire’

 

Clare Anderson (Leicester)

RHS Lecture
held on 23 January 2024
at the German Historical Institute, London and online

 

 

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Abstract

Between the late eighteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, the British transported over a quarter of a million convicts to colonies and settlements including in Australia, the Andaman Islands, Indian Ocean, and Southeast Asia. About one percent of the approximately 167,000 convicts shipped to the Australian colonies (1787-1868) were of Asian, African or Creole heritage; convicted either in Britain or British colonies. Most of the c. 108,000 convicts sent to penal settlements in Penang, Mauritius, Singapore, Malacca, Burma, and the Andamans (1789-1945) were from British India or Ceylon.

This paper will explore some of the histories and aftermaths of these convict flows, including their relationship to experiences and legacies of enslavement and other forms of imperial labour, and to Indigenous dispossession. It will draw on research in archives and with descendants and communities in Australia, Mauritius, Penang, and the Andamans to show how over time penal transportation broke and remade families, and to think through the ways in which economic, social, and cultural factors relating to race, ethnicity, religion and (for Hindus) caste, social background, education, and status intersected in the formation of convict and convict-descended societies. It will suggest that through genealogical research in recent years these societies have become connected to sending (and origin) locations and to sites of onward migration in Britain and the settler world. In some cases, descendants of ‘colonial’ descent are together creating new histories and forms of kinship to make sense of complex and sometimes elusive pasts.

Speaker Biography

Clare Anderson is a Professor of History at the University of Leicester, where she is dean for research excellence (interim) and director of the Leicester Institute of Advanced Studies (LIAS). Clare is a scholar of the history of empires and global history and focuses on the history and legacies of colonial prisons, penal colonies, and forced migration and labour. She has given public and keynote lectures in many countries and has been a visiting fellow at UT Sydney and the University of Tasmania. Clare has held both the Caird Research Fellowship and Sackler-Caird Senior Research Fellowship at the National Maritime Museum. She is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Higher Education Academy, and British Academy.

 

RHS Lecture — ‘Charting Authority after Empire: Documentary Culture and Political Legitimacy in Post-Carolingian Europe’

‘Charting Authority after Empire: Documentary Culture and Political Legitimacy in Post-Carolingian Europe’

 

 

Levi Roach (Exeter)

RHS Lecture
held on 1 February 2024
at Mary Ward House, London, and online

 

 

 

 

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Abstract

Research over the past three decades has transformed our understanding western Europe in the years between the late ninth and early eleventh centuries. It was in this period that recognisable kingdoms of France, Germany, England and (to an extent) Italy were born; it was also in this period that many of the dynasties which would shape the future of the European mainland were established. Above all, it was in these years that the Carolingian dynasty which had ruled much of western Europe since the mid-eighth century was decisively eclipsed.

But while elements of these transitions are now well understood, models of change continue to be constructed primarily within the context of national master narratives: the weak origins of France, the precocity of urban associations in Italy, the fateful experiments with empire in Germany. Truly comparative work, though growing in volume, continues to represent the exception. This is unfortunate, since many of the shifts observable clearly spanned what Heinrich Fichtenau memorably called ‘the sometime Carolingian Empire’ (das einstige Karolingerreich), a massive region encompassing France, Germany, the Low Countries, Switzerland, Austria and Northern Italy.

In this lecture, Levi Roach uses the charters issued by rulers of these regions as a window into the processes whereby new dynasties and kingdoms established themselves on the basis of existing traditions. In doing so, he focuses on a remarkable set of shared changes in the layout and appearance in these documents, which reveal much about the nature and significance of these transitions.

Speaker Biography

Levi Roach studied at the universities of Cambridge and Heidelberg, earning his PhD at the former in 2011. Since 2012, he has lectured at the University of Exeter, where he is presently Associate Professor (Reader) of Medieval History and Deputy Head of the newly constituted Department of Archaeology and History (and Head of Discipline for History within this). His research interests lie in the political and religious history of western Europe in the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries, often from a comparative perspective.

Levi has published three research monographs, Kingship and Consent in Anglo-Saxon England (CUP, 2013), Æthelred ‘the Unready’ (Longman-History Today Prize 2017; Labarge Prize 2017); and (Yale UP, 2016) and Forgery and Memory at the End of the First Millennium (Princeton University Press, 2021). He has also recently published a popular history of the Normans (Princeton UP, 2021). He is presently at the early stages of preparing a new edition of the royal charters of the rulers of East Francia/Germany from the years 911 to 1002 for the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Munich).

 

RHS Presidential Lecture — ‘European Exploration, Empires, and the Making of the Modern World’

European Exploration, Empires, and the Making of the Modern World’

 

 

Emma Griffin

RHS 2023 Presidential Lecture
held on 24 November 2023
at Mary Ward House, London, and online

 

 

 

Abstract

The British industrial revolution has long, and rightly, been regarded as a turning point in world history, and the question of why it all began in Britain has produced a large and lively literature.

In the past twenty years, our understanding has been considerably enhanced by the repositioning of events in eighteenth-century Britain within global history frameworks. Yet this has resulted in some unwieldy comparisons between Britain, a small island, on the one hand; and very large, continental land masses – India, China, and North America – on the other.

In this lecture, Emma Griffin suggests a far more meaningful comparative approach may be developed by turning to some of Britain’s nearest neighbours in continental Europe. By looking at European nations, similar in size, existing outside Britain’s empire, and indeed in some instances with imperial holdings and ambitions of their own, it is possible to shed new light on the complex and contested relationship between empire and industrialisation, and offer new answers as to why Britain industrialised first.

Emma Griffin is President of the Royal Historical Society, and Professor of British History and Head of School at Queen Mary University of London.

 

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RHS Public History Lecture — ‘Pilgrimages, Pandemics and the Past’

‘Pilgrimages, Pandemics and the Past’

 

Tom Holland

RHS 2023 Public History Lecture
on 7 November 2023

 

 

 

 

Abstract

The Society’s 2023 Public History Lecture, held in association with Gresham College, is given by the historian and broadcaster Tom Holland. In this lecture Tom reflects on walking in London during the Covid pandemic, and how this experience might inform historians better appreciate and understand the perspectives and expectations of those who undertook pilgrimages in the past.

 

 

RHS Panel — ‘Black British History. Where Now, Why Next?’

RHS Panel ‘Black British History. Where Now, Why Next?’, 24 October 2023

 

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‘Black British History. Where Now, Where Next?’ (24 October 2023) was an opportunity to reflect on the major themes currently being pursued in Black British History, and their development in recent years. It’s also chance to propose new areas of research in the years to come.

In addition, panellists and audience members explore the infrastructure that supports the study of Black British History in UK Higher Education and beyond. Recent years have seen welcome advances, including the creation of posts dedicated to teaching and research. At the same time, the subject fights to establish itself in many university History curricula, while departmental cuts and the cost of a first or further degree create restrictions for those seeking to study in this area, and impede many who seek to pursue postgraduate research. Our panel and audience discussion also considered the health of the discipline outside Higher Education, in community projects and the media.

This event, held in UK Black History Month, brings together historians to consider the present and future of Black British History. Led by Professor Bill Schwarz, a longtime commentator and writer in this field, the event takes place on the fifth anniversary of the publication of the Royal Historical Society’s report, Race, Ethnicity and Equality in UK Higher Education (October 2018).

Speakers

  • Hannah Elias is a Lecturer in Black British History at Goldsmiths, University of London. Hannah is cultural historian of Britain in the twentieth century researching Black British histories, religion, media and public history. She is Chair of the IHR’s Equality Working Group and a co-convenor of the Institute’s Black British History seminar, which is actively engaged in the promotion and facilitation of learning, debates and conversation about new currents in this developing field of study.
  • Kesewa John is a scholar of Caribbean people’s intellectual and political histories, with a doctorate on collaborations between French and English-speaking Caribbean activists in the decades prior to the Windrush docking. A former PhD student of Hakim Adi, and a History Matters conference organiser, Kesewa previously taught at the Université des Antilles in Martinique and Guadeloupe. She joined Goldsmiths, University of London, as Lecturer in Black British History in September 2023.
  • Liam Liburd is Assistant Professor in Black British History at Durham University and a historian of ‘race’ and racism, and empire and decolonisation, and their legacies in modern Britain. His publications include: ‘The Politics of Race and the Future of British Political History’, Political Quarterly (2023).
  • Bill Schwarz is Professor of English at Queen Mary University of London. Bill’s many publications include his Memories of Empire trilogy and his contribution to Stuart Hall’s Familiar Stranger. A Life between Two Islands (2017). With Catherine Hall, Bill is also General Editor of the Duke University Press series, The Writings of Stuart Hall.

The event was introduced by Emma Griffin, President of the Royal Historical Society and Professor of Modern British History at Queen Mary, University of London.

 

RHS Panel discussion — ‘Writing and Publishing Trade History’

 

‘Writing and Publishing Trade History’, with Yale University Press – 10 October 2023

 

 

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‘Writing and Publishing Trade History’ (10 October 2023) was jointly hosted by Yale University Press and the Royal Historical Society. It brought together publishers, editors, authors and literary agents to discuss trade publishing in History. At this event, panellists discussed their experience of writing for and publishing trade history and provided guidance for those considering working with a trade publisher for their next book.

Topics covered included: What is trade publishing; how does it differ from an academic monograph? Why publish a trade book? How do you propose and pitch to a publisher of trade History? What does an editor wish to see? What are authors’ experience of writing a trade book? Who are your readers? What’s the future for History trade books, and how do publishers seek to ensure diversity and inclusion in History trade publishing?

 

Speakers at this event
  • Rebecca Clifford, Professor of Transnational and European History at Durham University. Rebecca’s publications include her 2020 book Survivors: Children’s Lives After the Holocaust (Yale University Press).
  • Robert Gildea, Professor of History at Oxford University. Robert’s most recent book is Backbone of the Nation. Mining Communities and the Great Strike of 1984-85 (2023, Yale University Press)
  • Heather McCallum, Managing Director of Yale University Press London with responsibility for commissioning medieval, early modern and modern history
  • James Pullen, literary agent at the Wylie Agency
  • Simon Winder, Publishing Director at Penguin Books

‘Writing and Publishing Trade History’ was introduced by Emma Griffin, President of the Royal Historical Society and Professor of Modern British History at Queen Mary, University of London.

The event was held to mark ‘Yale 50’, celebrating 50 years of Yale University Press publishing in London.

 

RHS Lecture — ‘Migrant Voices in the Multilingual City’

‘Migrant Voices in the Multilingual City’

 

 

Dr John Gallagher

(University of Leeds)

RHS Lecture on 15 September 2023

 

 

 

 

Abstract

Early modern London was multilingual, and early modern urban life was shaped by linguistic diversity. The reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) witnessed an important ‘migration moment’, with substantial numbers of migrants and refugees coming to England as a consequence of religious and political conflict on the continent. In London, a rapidly growing urban capital, the voices of migrants mingled audibly with the other languages of the city, shaping a multilingual oral culture which had to be navigated by strangers and Londoners alike.

This lecture draws on the multilingual archives of Elizabethan London’s ‘stranger churches’ – Protestant congregations which catered to the needs of French-, Dutch-, and Italian-speaking migrants (among others) at a moment of significant migration to England from continental Europe – to explore how linguistic diversity shaped social relations in the early modern city. 

 

RHS Sponsored Lecture — ‘The Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved African People in Restoration in England’

 

‘The Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved African People and the Emergence of New Relationships between State and Commerce in Restoration in England’

 

 

Professor William Pettigrew

(Lancaster University)

RHS Sponsored Lecture on 11 September 2023
Held at Canterbury Christ Church University

 

 

 

 

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Abstract

This lecture assesses the role of an often-forgotten founder of England’s contribution to the transatlantic trade in enslaved African people, the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa. It defines the company, considers its significance for the history of the slave trade, and reflects on what the company can teach us about the role of the slave trade in British history.

Proceeding from a full prosopographical survey of the founders and investors in the company, this lecture will examine the role of the English monarchy in establishing the slave trade, as well as how the changing membership of the company records a shifting relationship between landed and commercial wealth that had important repercussions not just for the slave trade but for economic growth in this period.

The lecture also examines the interconnections between the investors in the Company of Royal Adventurers and the Royal Navy. The lecture will offer a deep and full appreciation of the role of monarchy, court, merchants, and state in laying the foundations for Britain’s contribution to the transatlantic trade in enslaved African people.

Professor Pettigrew’s lecture was given as part of the Society’s Visit to historians at Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Kent. Our thanks to those at both departments for hosting this day visit and lecture.

 

About the speaker

Professor William Pettigrew teaches at Lancaster University. An expert on early modern English trading corporations, he has written two monographs, Freedom’s Debt: The Royal African Company and the Politics of the Atlantic Slave Trade (2013) and Global Trade and the Shaping of English Freedom (2023) and edited three more. He has led multiple large scale research projects and is currently the editor of the Register of British Slave Traders a collaborative project examining all of the (c. 12,000) investors in the transatlantic trade in enslaved African people who were based in Britain.

 

Scholarly Editing for Historians: An Introduction and Guide to Working with Primary Texts

RHS Workshop — ‘Scholarly Editing for Historians: An Introduction and Guide to Working with Primary Texts, 18 July 2023

 

In this Workshop, the editors of the RHS Camden Series — Richard Gaunt and Siobhan Talbott — share their extensive knowledge of producing scholarly editions and working with editors as they prepare primary texts for publication. They were joined by Jayne Gifford and Daniel Patterson who, as a recent contributors to the Camden Series, share their experience of identifying and producing a scholarly edition.

Part One of the Workshop (Video 1/3) offers a guide to getting started on a scholarly edition. Part Two offers more focused guidance for those currently working with a text for publication. Video 2/3 (‘Pre-1800’) covers working with medieval and early modern texts. Video 3/3 (‘Post-1800’) covers working with modern sources.

Speakers
  • Richard Gaunt is Associate Professor in Modern British History at the University of Nottingham. With Siobhan Talbott, he is a Series Editor for the Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series — a collection of scholarly primary editions, edited by specialist historians.
  • Siobhan Talbott is Reader in Early Modern History at Keele University and, with Richard, is Series Editor for the RHS Camden Series, with responsibility for pre-modern content.
  • Jayne Gifford is Lecturer in Modern History and a specialist on British imperial rule in the twentieth century. She is co-editor of the Sir Earle Page’s British War Cabinet Diary, 1941-42 (2021), as part of the Society’s Camden Series.
  • Daniel Patterson is an Independent Scholar and the editor of The Diary of George Lloyd (1642-1718), for the Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series, published in 2022.