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Welcome to the second edition of the British Association for Local History’s new e-newsletter.
Things may slowly be opening up for many of us, but with little prospect of life in the local history world returning to normal just yet, we do hope that you are continuing to enjoy the articles, resources and other activities that BALH has been offering over the last few weeks.
Archives and libraries may still be closed, but that doesn’t mean that those of us interested in local history can’t continue to conduct research, learn new skills or tell our stories. We are doing our best to keep the wheels turning, whether that be through our print journals, our website or our social media activities. So please do follow the stories below, and see what’s been happening in the local history world over the last few weeks.
If you have your own story to tell, an article to offer, a newsletter that you would like to reach a wider audience, or even a book to plug (!), please do get in touch, and we will do our best to help. And of course, we are always keen to welcome new members, so if you’re not already a member of BALH, please do visit our membership pages to see what BALH has to offer.
Introducing our 2020 Award Winners
Although our usual Local History Day had to be cancelled, that didn’t stop us from recognising the contributions of this year’s award winners via our website and social media. Further details will be appearing in our journals over the coming months, but details of all the winners can be found on our website, and are well worth a look.
BALH Social Media Fellowship
We are inviting applications to join the BALH team as our new Social Media Fellow. If you have experience of using social media platforms, and would like to help us to develop the profile of BALH and engage with our membership and the wider world, we would love to hear from you. Further details are available here. Deadline for applications is 27 July.
Ten Minute Talks
Our new Ten Minute Talk feature has proved extremely popular, and we now have ten talks and presentations available on the website, on subjects as diverse as nineteenth-century small businesses, marriage in early-modern Suffolk and the construction of a Cambridge gas holder.
In the latest instalment, Dr Andrew Jackson examines a very topical subject, the ‘Spanish’ influenza epidemic of 1918-19, so please do take a look at this and the other presentations, and if you would like to offer your own talk for the series, please do contact us.
Hampstead Manor Court Roll project
The Camden History Society have just completed a huge translation project bringing to light the contents of the Latin manor court rolls of the manor of Hampstead. This has been a massive and invaluable undertaking, and translations of the rolls between 1572 and 1732 are now freely available on their website. For details of the project, and a link to the website, click here.
Mapping the Centenary
This newly-launched portal from the Imperial War Museum is gathering together information about the dozens of individual projects undertaken by local historians to mark the centenaries of the events of the First World War. They are keen to hear about any project that has investigated and commemorated any aspect of the Great War, so if your group has information to share, or you would simply like to see what they have found, click here.
Radley History Club
Moving forward in time a little, the Radley History Club have developed a new feature looking at the experiences of their villagers during the Second World War. The first of these are now available on their website, and are available here.
‘A Disorderly Parish’
The Smarden Heritage Centre has produced a number of excellent short films looking at aspects of the history of their parish and its residents. The latest, looking at the fortunes of local men fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, has just been released, while another, a tale of local disorder, is available on their YouTube channel. Alternatively, to investigate life in Smarden during the Second World War through the memoir of a local woman, click here.
Take a (virtual) tour of Ayton Castle
Further north, the Scarborough Archaeological and Historical Society have also been busy with the video camera. In their first film, they have taken a tour of Ayton Castle near Scarborough with buildings expert Chris Hall. A must-watch for anyone interested in historic buildings and missing the opportunity to visit these sites in person.
Virtual VCH: An online mini-conference
The Victoria County History is one the most respected and established names in English local history, and is often the place that any budding local historian will start their research. On 10 June, the VCH held an online conference to showcase their current activities, and including presentations by two guest lecturers, one of which was BALH’s own Professor David Killingray. The conference was a huge success, and a video recording of the event, and links to further resources, are available via the VCH website.
FamilySearch Transcriptions – Volunteers Wanted!
The FamilySearch website is one of the key resources for family and local historians across the world. To help increase their range of records available through their free indexes, they are looking for volunteers to help with a range of different projects. If you are able to contribute your time and skills, please follow the links to visit their website.
More material is being added to our website all the time, so check back regularly!
The BALH team
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