On Wednesday 13 March, members of the Society’s Council were in York to meet with historians from the universities of York and York St John.

The day brought together teaching staff, researchers and students, along with representatives of the city’s schools, museums, archives and civic trust to consider ‘History Matters’. Panels discussed the communication of history — to students, visitors and the city’s residents — and public perceptions of history with a focus on public history which connects York’s universities to its heritage industry.

‘History Matters’ was followed by a discussion on the role and work of the Royal Historical Society, and how the Society can best respond to the needs of historians, of all kinds, at the regional and national level.

The RHS Visit to York closed with a public lecture, ‘Why History Matters to Medicine. The Case of Face Transplants’, given by Fay Bound Alberti (King’s College London). In the lecture Fay discussed her work on this new area of surgery, and the importance of its historicisation to humanise a procedure whose emotional outcomes are little understood.

We are very grateful to historians at the University of York for hosting the Visit, and to colleagues from York St John, York College, The Borthwick Institute, Bar Convent Museum and York Civic Trust for taking part in ‘History Matters’. A special thanks to Fay Bound Alberti for her extremely powerful lecture on the need for the humanities in medical science.

The Society’s next Visit will be to historians at Brunel University on 23 May. This event will include a public lecture from Corinne Fowler (Leicester) on ‘Country Walks Through Colonial Britain’. The lecture is open to all and booking is now available.