The Royal Historical Society's conference on the crisis in Higher Education and its implications for history

 I have just seen the RHS's notice of this conference to be held in conjunction with the Institute of Historical Research. The e-mail I reproduce below was sent by me to Jane Whittle (University of Exeter) in June, 1621 and is still relevant in my view.

 

Christopher Thompson

I think that there is a need for academic historians and its practitioners to be more ambitious in opening up the discipline to the large number of former staff, postgraduates and well-informed graduates still committed to its study but without university posts. I set out some ideas on how to begin this process some years ago starting with a website offering:
News
Access to academic journals
Books (e.g. from the Internet Archive or from Google)
Book reviews (e.g. from H-Albion or the IHR)
Documents
Audio and Video recordings
Comments and Debates between historians
Weblogs
Jobs
Forthcoming publications
Conferences
Seminars
Details on historians
Papers available on-line (e.g. from Academia.edu)
Discussions between historians utilising Skype

Recent observations from government ministers about the humanities, including history, do not reflect its immense value to this and other societies. New networks need to be built now in case we are ever faced with its disappearance from universities in the U.K.

 

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