We are sad to be saying goodbye to our brilliant editor, Vivien, but very excited for what lies ahead of them in Leiden and beyond!

Really enjoyed recording this with the @historyworkshop.org.uk podcast about the podcast we made about the Islington Nursery Strike, released on the Childcare Voices podcast

We’ve got some brilliant podcasts lined up for the autumn 🎙️👀🍂 In case you missed them, here’s a reminder of the episodes we released this summer!

Did you tune into this @historyworkshop.org.uk podcast? Check it out!

If you read one more article this week I would urge it to be this one! Thank you @echomikeromeo.bsky.social for writing such an important and insightful piece.

We’ve got some brilliant podcasts lined up for the autumn 🎙️👀🍂 In case you missed them, here’s a reminder of the episodes we released this summer!

How can trans history facilitate knowledge and solidarity beyond the 'existence' of trans people? Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo argues for trans history as a tool of political education, through the history of access to healthcare:

'I've been exploring the uses of trans history as a tool of political education: one that moves beyond questions of visibility, validity, or 'always being here'.' Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo on Imagining Trans Futures:

The summer has seen anti-trans campaigns across the UK & US, alongside a crisis in healthcare. But what use could trans history have in these times beyond proof 'we have always been here'? Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo reflects on Imagining Trans Futures: www.historyworkshop.org.uk/queer-histor...

'Instead, the trans past can be a tool for imagining how we might build liveable trans lives in community, outside of and without reference to the state and other institutions— and perhaps even in the face of, and in active resistance to, state violence and repression.'

🗃️ This whole post is considered, eloquent, and full of hope. Really worth reading for its own sake, but also for fellow scholars of the past thinking about how and why all of our work matters

'I've been exploring the uses of trans history as a tool of political education: one that moves beyond questions of visibility, validity, or 'always being here'.' Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo on Imagining Trans Futures:

How can trans history facilitate knowledge and solidarity beyond the 'existence' of trans people? Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo argues for trans history as a tool of political education, through the history of access to healthcare:

I wrote something quite personal about what use trans history In These Times:

The summer has seen anti-trans campaigns across the UK & US, alongside a crisis in healthcare. But what use could trans history have in these times beyond proof 'we have always been here'? Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo reflects on Imagining Trans Futures: www.historyworkshop.org.uk/queer-histor...

The summer has seen anti-trans campaigns across the UK and US, alongside a crisis in healthcare. But what use could trans history have in these time, beyond proving 'we have always been here'? Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo reflects on Imagining Trans Futures: www.historyworkshop....

OTD in 1840, the English diarist Anne Lister died. In this piece from the archive, Jill Liddington reflects on her own journey with Lister – from the heady days of initial discovery, to the phenomenal global success of Gentleman Jack.

I've just interviewed amazing historians for a podcast for History Workshop Journal's 100th issue, on doing history in turbulent times. It's made me more sure than ever that history is one of the most powerful tools for understanding & changing the world. Coming Jan 2026 on @historyworkshop.org.uk .

OTD 1790 Catherine Crowe, writer and spiritualist, was born. From the archive, Caroline Nielson on Crowe’s story of fame and triumph over adversity, but also a tragic history of the stigma around mental health problems: http://www.historywo...

OTD 1978, 57,000 workers in Ford plants across the country walked out over a measly pay offer in-line with government pay policy. From the archive, Joseph O' Kane looks to the trade union action of 1970s Britain:

The doomscroll of the neoliberal condition narrates history as a series of wins and losses. Lola Olufemi and Agnes Cameron explore how digitally reassembling the archive offers an intervention in the neoliberal landscape:

'The question for those interested in neoliberal crisis should be, what has this particular configuration...done to our sense of ourselves, our sense of history and the temporality we inhabit?' Lola Olufemi and Agnes Cameron on archives of 'weightless' history:

It's a huge honour for this piece by Lola and Agnes to be the final addition to the From Place to Place series. As my HW Fellowship draws to a close, I can't think of a more helpful reminder to keep finding new intimacies and continue feeling through my practice. I hope you've enjoyed the series!

What if history could be 'weightless'? Lola Olufemi and Agnes Cameron expand on their collaboration, This is a Temporal Landscape You Will Find No Direction Here, a digital assemblage for reimagining our relationship to the radical histories before us: www.historyworkshop.org.uk/practice-his...

As thousands gathered in London for right-wing demonstrations on Saturday, as well as the growing number of adhoc St Georges flags across the UK, we look to our archive for important context. See our (Anti)Fascism tag, as well as Kieran Connell's piece earlier this year:

Archaeology’s tools were forged in war: from spy planes to satellites, the line between research and militarisation has always been thin. Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) considers the role of Antoine Poidebard in pioneering aerial archaeology.

Fascinating piece on aerial archaeology and the man who explored France’s mandate (now Syria) and “revealing the ancient past hidden under the desert’s thin soil [] claimed that past for France – ‘the ancient Roman border as the spatial extension of a Western, civilised world into a savage East’”

I've written a piece about the bomber's view of the past: how aerial archaeologists of the Middle East have looked at the region's past through the eyes (and lenses) of people who bomb it in the present. In fact they're sometimes the same people. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decol...

As the new academic year begins, it's worth looking at what is on the history curriculum. In a piece from our archive, Ruth Mather writes about interrogating history curriculum bias in a school setting, and discusses the benefits to both students and educators of doing so.

Archaeology’s tools were forged in war: from spy planes to satellites, the line between research and militarisation has always been thin. Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) considers the role of Antoine Poidebard in pioneering aerial archaeology.

I’ve heard much about this project as it develops, and it is amazing! A preview of the bigger story here.

From spy planes to satellites, archaeology has long shared a sky with empire. What does that mean for the knowledge it produces? Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) considers the colonial history of aerial archaeology.

Aerial archaeology began not in neutral curiosity but in the violence of colonial Syria. Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) traces its entanglement with empire.

Aerial archaeology began not in neutral curiosity but in the violence of colonial Syria. Benjamin Thomas White (@btwhite.bsky.social) traces its entanglement with empire.

OTD in 1974, the Republic of Guinea-Bissau's independence from Portugal, was officially recognised, having been declared in 1973. In this article from our archive, Afonso Dias Ramos explores contemporary debates around discussing Portugal's colonial history.

The oldest surviving book owned by English speakers was a book made in North Africa. In this article from our archive, Alison Hudson traces how these radical fragments reveal that immigrants and cultural exchange have always been fundamental to Britain.

OTD in 2021, the Taliban declared control over Afghanistan after the fall of the Panjshir valley. From the HW archive, Elisabeth Leake (@emleake.bsky.social) on the past and future of Afghan nationhood and citizenship, forged by intellectuals, combatants and refugees.

Why would the conquistador Hernán Cortés lie about being the first person to sow wheat in the Americas? Dylan Cobban explores the life of Juan Garrido through his own account.

Why would the conquistador Hernán Cortés lie about being the first person to sow wheat in the Americas? Dylan Cobban explores the life of Juan Garrido through his own account.

'Garrido’s story reveals the complexities of race and survival throughout the early modern world and within the Spanish colonisation of the Americas'.

What does the story of Juan Garrido reveal about race and empire in the Americas in the sixteenth century? Dylan Cobban explores his probanza and the silences of the colonial archive.

'Garrido’s story reveals the complexities of race and survival throughout the early modern world and within the Spanish colonisation of the Americas'.

What does the story of Juan Garrido reveal about race and empire in the Americas in the sixteenth century? Dylan Cobban explores his probanza and the silences of the colonial archive.

📣 Call for participants 📣 Have you ever used any History Workshop Journal articles in your teaching practice? If so, we would love to hear from you! Please let us know by sending an email or feel free to DM.

📣 Call for participants 📣 Have you ever used any History Workshop Journal articles in your teaching practice? If so, we would love to hear from you! Please let us know by sending an email or feel free to DM.

OTD c.900 St. Eadwold died at Cerne, Dorset and is said to have been buried in his cell. Thomas Morcom uncovers a new theory about the identity of the Cerne Abbas giant in Dorset which links the figure with Eadwold of Cerne, the 9th-century hermit, Anglian Prince and patron saint of Cerne.

A really important project by my colleagues at Library and Archives Canada #cdnhist

"While it may not be possible for a national archive in a settler colonial state to truly decolonize; an archive can look to Indigenous communities to lead the way in creating new ways to engage with the effects of colonization." Read about Project Naming's approach to reclaiming Inuit history.

"While it may not be possible for a national archive in a settler colonial state to truly decolonize; an archive can look to Indigenous communities to lead the way in creating new ways to engage with the effects of colonization." Read about Project Naming's approach to reclaiming Inuit history.

How do we decolonise archives? In this collaborative piece, researchers Christina Williamson, Beth Greenhorn, and Carol Payne and Inuit Elder Ann Meekitjuk Hanson reflect on the role of names in the colonial archive.