About the Making History project

Making History is the product of a one-year Institute of Historical Research (IHR) project (funded by the University of London’s Vice-Chancellor’s Development Fund).

Aims and content

The aim of the project was to develop a major online resource tracing the ‘Making of History’ in the past century and more, including audio recordings of interviews with historians, statistical material, an image gallery, and newly-commissioned contextual essays and studies.

It should be stressed that the selection of particular historians, journals, organisations, projects and even themes is recognised as being necessarily highly subjective, and certainly does not indicate that any IHR stamp of approval is being conferred on those represented here.

Rather, the intention has been to provide an introduction to the development of the subject and, it is hoped, to open a debate as to further inclusions, as to the criteria behind the selections and indeed as to the value of the resource per se. Suggestions and feedback are very welcome.

Coverage

Four main areas have been focused upon:

Historians – the individuals who have loomed large in the discipline, and shaped its progression and development, for example the great economic historians of the 1920s and 1930s, many of whom were based in the University of London, and the leading lights behind the foundation of the journal Past and Present in the 1950s.

Organisations and projects – the institutions and organisations which have played a leading role in the practice and teaching of history, from the ground-breaking department of local history established at the University of Leicester in 1948 to the IHR itself, as well as the great research projects in the development of the discipline, including the History of Parliament and the Victoria County History.

Journals – the most significant organs in the development of the modern historical profession, from the English Historical Review to Past and Present and the History Workshop Journal.

Themes – the dominant themes and movements which have emerged since the beginning of the 20th century, including the question of the future and the lessons can the profession draw from its own history.

Project organisation

The project officer (Danny Millum) has been responsible for commissioning articles, conducting interviews and assembling content for the resource, under the supervision of Dr Matthew Davies (Centre for Metropolitan History, IHR) and Dr Jane Winters (Publications Department, IHR), and reporting to an Advisory Board including representatives from the Royal Historical Society and the University of London Heads of History.

The design and implementation of the website have been performed by the IHR Web Team, and particularly Martin Steer.

Contributors

The help of the following in providing the articles and interviews found on this website is gratefully acknowledged:

Interviewees

• Christopher Brooke
• David Cannadine
• Penelope Corfield
• Martin Daunton
• James Dunkerley
• Sir John Elliott
• Sir Roderick Floud
• Ralph Griffiths
• Eric Hobsbawm
• Sir James Holt
• Sir Michael Howard
• Derek Keene
• Sir Ian Kershaw
• John Morrrill
• Dame Janet L. Nelson
• Michael Prestwich
• Susan Reynolds
• Quentin Skinner

Authors

• Ian Anderson
• Ian Archer
• Suzanne Bardgett
• Alan Booth
• Paul Brand
• Michelle Brown
• David Cannadine
• Vanessa Carr
• Kathy Chater
• Stefan Collini
• Molly Conisbee
• Tim Cooper
• Penelope Corfield
• Alex Cowan
• Matthew Cragoe
• Sean Cunningham
• Matthew Dimmock
• Chris Dyer
• Christopher Elrington
• Eric Evans
• Ruth Evans
• Steven Fielding
• Patrick Finney
• Richard Fisher
• Keith Flett
• Peter Furtado
• Lawrence Goldman
• June Hannam
• Negley Harte
• Claire Haynes
• Mike Heffernan
• Tim Hitchcock
• Stephen Howe
• Rob Iliffe
• Norman James
• Michael Kandiah
• Derek Keene
• Chris Kitching
• Andrew Lambert
• Peter Lambert
• Chris Lewis
• Maggie Loughran
• Rodney Lowe
• Claire Morton
• Bernard Nurse
• Patrick O'Brien
• John Pickstone
• Andrew Prescott
• Virginia Preston
• Alistair Reid
• Dave Renton
• Miri Rubin
• Paul Seaward
• Paul Slack
• Graham Smith
• Justin Smith
• Richard Smith
• Howard Spencer
• Simon Szreter
• Roey Sweet
• Barbara Taylor
• Michael Thompson
• Michael Twaddle
• Alison Twells
• Peter Webster
• Alex Werner
• Jane Winters
• Chris Wrigley

Copyright

All rights in the pages and contents of this website are reserved by the University of London or individual authors. No part of this website or its contents may be reproduced or distributed in any form other than for private use or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and any amending legislation. All reproductions require an acknowledgement of the source and the author of the work.

The permission to reproduce protected University of London Research material does not extend to any material on this site which is identified as being the copyright of a third party. Authorisation to reproduce such material must be obtained from the copyright holders concerned.