Instead, we made the most of new technologies and hosted the AGM online – I repeat, BALH WENT VIRTUAL! Starting at 2pm on Saturday 12th September, the AGM took place on the video and web conferencing platform Zoom, where we could make our physical event virtual.

Professor Caroline Barron opened up the AGM with a very warm welcome, encouraging our attendees to let us know where they were from. This was a hit and the 113 attendees that participated were from across the United Kingdom – places included, but were not limited to, Ashbourne, Badsey, Banbury, Bicester, Birmingham, Chicester, Edinburgh, Fleet, Gloucester, Ham, Orkney, Stockwell, Trisant, Wandsworth and Watford – and even further afield in the United States. It was amazing to have so many people join us and engaging with our event by asking questions after Professor Catherine Clarke’s talk ‘What is Local History?’.

Starting us off, Professor Barron gave an introduction as to why the AGM was taking place virtually and the initiatives that BALH had implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic. During this introduction we heard from several BALH Officers and Committee members who gave updates about what BALH has been up to over the past few months. We heard from Professor David Killingray (Vice Chair), Dr Iain Taylor (Treasurer), Dr Jessica Lutkin (Chair) and Dr Tim Lomas (Outreach Committee). Professor Killingray, especially, highlighted what BALH had been up to in the last year, showing how BALH has supported others and adapted as a result of Covid-19.

Dr Lutkin also took the opportunity to introduce BALH’s two new Fellows, who said a few words about what they’ll be doing and their plans for the coming year. The Social Media Fellow is responsible for our various social media platforms, and the Digital Engagement Fellow is tasked with aiming to create a variety of digital media for BALH. Watch this space for some fantastic projects coming your way!

One of our exciting projects is our Local History Teacher Fellowship Programme, jointly run with the Historical Association, which Dr Tim Lomas said a few words about. This Programme is a wonderful way to make links with younger people and raise standards of local history, as well as promote collaboration between teachers and BALH in order to produce resources to enhance the study of local history within the classroom. Teachers who are successful and awarded the Fellowship will also receive the title Teacher Fellow for up to three years and there’ll be plenty of opportunities for them to be put forward in the future for BALH awards for their dedication to local history.

Of course, key to the AGM was a tea break – so important for people to have their tea, coffee and biscuits (of course!) in anticipation of Professor Clarke’s talk. Feeling recharged and refreshed, Professor Clarke dived into her talk, asking the important and challenging question ‘What is Local History?’. She also posed a sub-question to the audience: ‘And how do we know when we’re doing it?’.

As part of this, she provided a variety of terms – one-place study, microhistory, translocal history and psychogeography are just a few of these – that interact with local history. By adopting these methodologies, those interested in and/or researching the field of local studies can offer a new, more interdisciplinary insight.

Projects that Professor Clarke had played a key role in were also a vital part of her talk and outlined various approaches taken to study local history. Her projects included ‘Mapping Medieval Chester’ and ‘City Witness’. The latter, especially, showed the audience what digital methods are able to tell us about perspectives of spatial understandings and spatial practices. We were also treated to an example from the project. The example Professor Clarke used was that of William Cragh, a Welshman who had lived in early fourteenth-century Swansea and who had been hanged but miraculously restored to life. This fantastical example thus gives us an idea of spatial practices in the medieval urban world and lets us explore questions of place and perspective. 

This project also highlighted the need for interdisciplinary approaches when it comes to researching local history and the necessary expertise in carrying out these endeavours. It demonstrated how local history takes us beyond the study of history and, more broadly, the Humanities, delving us into a world where we need computer technologies and the input of those from disciplines outside of our own comfort zone. This is vital if we are to incorporate a richer corpus of materials into our work on local history – objects are an excellent example and these items have the potential to tell us fun and quirky local history stories.

Professor Clarke highlighted just how important it is for us to enlarge what we do together and concluded by yet again raising the her initial question ‘what constitutes local history?’, adding the thought-provoking caveat ‘How do we reach the next generation?’ and the importance of ‘the local’ as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her conclusions naturally led on to questions and discussion with the audience, who highlighted the importance of diversifying history and engaging with the history of black and ethnic minority people in the localities. Linked to this was discussion focusing on how we ensure ‘that these differing and vital perspectives remain available for future research, reflection and elaboration’, as well as how dialogues can be started with groups like town planners and local communities (this was a great chance to talk lots about the ‘Know Your Place’ project that provides access to Bristol’s history and historic items such as maps of the City).

The AGM was a fantastic way to hear peoples’ perspective about local history and find out the different ways we can approach this amazing research area. If you’d like to find out more about Professor Clarke’s talk and local history click here, where you’ll be able to find her talk on the BALH website.

The virtual AGM is just one example of how BALH have thought outside the box, been creative and continued to be innovative in promoting the importance of local history. If you want to find out more about BALH, check out our website and membership – the more the merrier and it would be great to see you at our next meet up! You can also find us on our social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the British Association for Local History (BALH). Any content provided by our contributors is of their own opinion and is not intended to malign any individual, group, organisation, or entity.