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Welcome to the 5th edition of the British Association for Local History’s e-newsletter.
2021 may be off to a slightly strange start but at BALH we’ve been working hard to develop our digital initiatives so that you can still enjoy local history from your home. There are lots of exciting upcoming BALH events that will develop your knowledge of local history and your skills as local historians. Please join us at our forthcoming events and we look forward to seeing you there.
BALH encourages participation from all our members and we welcome all your ideas. If you have a local history story you would like to share – be it a blog post, talk, article or project – please do get in contact with us. For those wishing to become a BALH member, information about what BALH has to offer is available on our membership pages. Hope to hear from you soon!
BALH 2021 Survey
There’s still time to fill out the BALH 2021 Survey. Over the last few years, BALH has been working on responding to the needs of our membership and, more recently, developing our digital engagement. The survey is where you can help us keep improving what we offer.
This survey is open to anyone – you do not need to have BALH membership to fill this out.
You can also fill this out as an individual or as a representative of your local history society. There is also the option to include additional comments and is a great space to include anything that might not have been covered by the survey.
Have your say today by filling out the BALH Survey and tell us your thoughts about BALH’s initiatives and the state of local history in Britain.
Thank you for taking the time to do this. The result of the Survey will be published at our Local History Day and AGM on Saturday 12th June 2021.
BALH Publications – The Local Historian and Local History News
Our latest editions of The Local Historian and Local History News are now available and on their way to you. Full of fascinating local history content, articles include:
The game of camping in eastern England by David Dymond
In this essay, David Dymond examines the ball-game camping s to review the game’s history in its later, more commercialised phase during the nineteenth century. He analyses sources such as advertisements for matches in regional newspapers, for examples.
Campaigning for and against women’s suffrage in Edwardian Basingstoke 1908-1914 by Roger Ottewill
Divisions with the suffragette movement are the main focus of Roger Ottewill’s article. Press reports provide the basis for this article and give an insight into the major issues that contemporaries would have engaged with.
From Local History News you may be interested in:
Letchworth Settlement celebrates its centenary - by Kate Thompson
Katie Thompson’s piece celebrates the Letchworth Adult Educational Settlement 100-year anniversary and what this institution offered adults.
Telling Our Story by Kim Mansell
The Royal British Legion are celebrating their 100-year anniversary and are asking for volunteers to help uncover their rich history.
For non-members get your copy of The Local Historian and Local History News today to find out the latest about what’s going in the local history world today.
Introducing Local History Matters – The BALH Podcast
Our podcast Local History Matters launched on 4th January 2021 and is hosted by BALH’s Digital Engagement Fellow, Dr Claire Kennan. The BALH Local History Matters podcast is a bi-monthly programme featuring Dr Claire Kennan in conversation with key people from the local history world. Podcasts feature:
Dr Amy Blakeway from the University of St Andrews, who discusses what life was like in Scotland during the 1540s.
Jessamy Carlson from The National Archives, who discusses how to use national records to research local history and the 1921 census.
Emma Warren who tells us all about the fascinating objects and collections held at Chertsey Museum. This episode explores what it’s like to work in a local museum and how they can help local history researchers.
The podcast is available to listen either through the BALH website or search for 'Local History Matters' in your favourite podcast player. It is also available via Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Local History Hour – BALH Lecture Series
As part of our digital engagement initiatives, BALH will be hosting a monthly lecture series, ‘Local History Hour’, organised by Joe Saunders and Adrian Webb. The series opens with Rebellion in Medieval Kent: Jack Cade, the Battle of Solefields and Knole House on Thursday 25th February.
Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh will be introducing medieval Kent to set the context for Dr Gillian Draper's local study of Cade's Rebellion, the Battle of Solefields and Knole House.
Keep an eye on our events pages for details and booking.
BALH Digital Workshops – Spring Series
Our programme of digital workshops and webinars kicked off in January with a well-attended talk by BALH Web Manager Paul Carter. Over 160 attendees gained some insight into how to set up a local history website, with guidance on pitfalls to avoid. As it proved so popular and we've received lots of requests from those who missed it, Paul will be repeating this talk later in the year.
The programme continues with a series of exciting workshops and webinars, including:
Saturday 13th February 10.00-12.00 – ‘How To Get Your Local History Research Out There!’ a student special with Claire Kennan
This workshop will offer practical guidance on how academic research can be communicated to wider audiences, the opportunities that are available for collaborative and partnership working and how your research can have an impact in the wider world. In particular, it will focus on the specific support and opportunities offered by BALH ranging from writing blog posts to producing podcasts, working with teachers, local history societies, museums and much more.
Please note that this session is only available to students registered on a recognised Masters or PhD course of study at an HEI. ECRs who are within 5 years of completing their PhD are also welcome to attend.
Booking is open until 9:00am Wednesday 10th February
Wednesday 10th March 18.00-19.00 – ‘How To Grow Your Local History Social Media Presence’ with Daniella Gonzalez
BALH’s Social Media Fellow, Daniella Gonzalez will provide an introduction to the various social media platforms available and how local history societies can best use them to promote their work and engage with the wider history community.
Further details and booking
Wednesday 17th March 18.00-19.30 – ‘Using Zoom for Local History’ with the BALH Digital Team
Due to popular demand the BALH Digital Team will be running a webinar on how to use Zoom to host online meetings and lectures for local history societies. The team will take participants through the basics of using Zoom, the differences between the various licences and some top tips for running successful meetings and lectures online.
Further details and booking
Late Night Local History
In January we launched BALH’s first-ever Late Night Local History Hour on Twitter. Dr Daniella Gonzalez, BALH’s Social Media Fellow, on the BALH Twitter profile, hosted this digital event during which she interviewed Dr Audrey Thorstad of the University of North Texas. For an hour, they discussed the local history of early modern Wales and Dr Thorstad’s latest research into sixteenth-century Wales, Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, his tenants, and the Stafford’s family archive.
Our next Late Night Local History Hour will be at 7:30pm on Thursday 18th February 2021, where Joanna Baines, Senior Library Assistant at Special Collections & Archives at the University of Kent, will discuss the archives local history collection.
Latest on the blog
We have some fantastic new blog posts on our website.
In ‘Scrapbook Time Travel’, Carolyn O’Hara takes us on a journey through the town of Ayr during the 19th century. Dr Philippa Mesiano’s ‘Medieval Graffiti in Canterbury Cathedral: A Local Experience of Becket’s Cult’, highlights the local context of St Thomas Becket’s cult and what graffiti in Canterbury Cathedral’s Eastern and Western Crypts can tell us about the Kentish locals who visited his shrine.
Would you like to share your local history stories in a blog post? Click here to find out more about our blog and how to get in contact.
Ten-Minute Talks
Our Ten-Minute Talks are a great way to enjoy local history from home during a time that we can’t all get together to hear people’s wonderful research. Some of our latest talks include:
Lucienne Boyce: ‘Miss Browne’s Pluck: A Suffragette in North Wales’
Val Hart: ‘The Middlemore Emigration Homes, Birmingham’
Isobel Watson: ‘A Place in the Sun’
See these and our growing collection of Ten-Minute Talks on our website.
Would you like to share a local history story as a Ten-Minute Talk? Find out more and get in contact.
BALH Members: New logos available
You asked and we have listened. Highlight your membership of BALH with our new member logos. Available in the members' section of the website, the logo is in two formats, with both code to easily add to your website as well as higher quality variants to use in print or PDF.
Lives of our Ancestors: Recent and Long-standing Local History Sources
BALH’s Dr Gill Draper is giving a talk for the Society of Genealogists on Saturday 6th March. In the talk, Gill will focus on valuable resources, especially as new indexes of names, places and occupations become available.
Details and booking
FHF REALLY USEFUL Family History Show Saturday 10th April 2021
The Family History Federation have announced a second virtual family history show. taking place on Saturday 10th April 2021 at 10am.
BALH are taking part with a virtual stand and our very own Dr Gillian Draper, Events & Development Officer, will be giving a talk titled ‘'Pauper Prisons, Pauper Palaces: life in the workhouse'.
See more
Institute of Historical Research’s Upcoming Seminars
The Institute of Historical Research’s People, Place and Community research seminar has an excellent programme of research seminars talks being given over the coming weeks. These include:
‘Viæ Regiæ: Mapping the Transport Network of England & Wales, 1540-1660’ by Stephen Gadd and Colin Greenstreet (details here)
‘Celebrating the industrial past: Regional commemorations of British railways’ by Sophie Vohra (details here)
The History Café
The History Café offers a variety of podcasts by Jon Rosebank and Penelope Middleboe based on key moments throughout history. You can listen to them on a variety of podcast feeds. Interested? See the History Café website for more information and their latest podcast episodes.
Was your ancestor an apprentice?
The My Ancestor Was an Apprentice Project is looking for family historians who have found their ancestors across various British towns and cities. If you have identified an ancestor of yours in one of the lists of apprentices in London or any other British town or city (or village!), then you could make a valuable contribution. To find out more about the project, click here.
Machine Reading Medieval Latin Texts: the Launch of the UCL/Toronto Transkribus model
If you’re interested in reading medieval Latin texts, this is the event for you! Teams from the Bentham Project, University College London, and the DEEDS (Documents of Early England Data Set) project, University of Toronto, are hosting a webinar on 3rd March 2021 at 6pm, during which they will be showcasing the DEEDS and Transkribus platform and the accurate machine-reading of medieval Latin texts. More information is available from the Royal Historical Society.
Tudors and Stuarts History Weekend
Tudors and Stuarts History Weekend, taking place 27th-28th March, comprises 13 online events; mostly lectures, and two films. Participants can select what they wish to attend on a pick-and-mix basis, and book their chosen events on the History Weekend website.
Find out more about this event
Nottinghamshire Archives Film Screening
The Nottinghamshire Archives will be screening The Colour of Love on 13th February 2021 at 2pm. This film uncovers stories of the lives of mixed-race couples in the not-so-distant past, couples who found love and built lives and families together against the background of a British society prone to view mixed-race relationships with muted tolerance at best.
Tickets and details
More material is being added to our website all the time, so check back regularly!
The BALH Digital Team
digitalteam@balh.org.uk
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