Externally funded research projects
The London and Middlesex Hearth Tax: an analysis of the status and wealth of neighbourhoods and households on the eve of the Great Fire
Dr Matthew Davies, Dr Vanessa Harding (Birkbeck) and Dr Andrew Wareham (Roehampton/British Academy Hearth Tax Project)
- Funded by: AHRC (award no. AH/E008445/1) from 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2010
- Amount awarded: £87,683
Project Description
This project will lead to the publication of the 1666 Hearth Tax returns for the City of London and Middlesex - the largest and most complex set of hearth tax returns to survive from Restoration England. Data from the returns will be delivered online via British History Online, while a two-volume hard-copy edition will include a series of historical essays drawing on an analysis of the returns, as well as a critical edition of the text itself. These essays will examine the links between wealth and poverty, the built environment, urban topography, personal status, occupation and demography in relation to the City of London and its suburbs north of the Thames in the later Stuart age. Another strand of the project will involve the creation of a GIS to display and interrogate the information from the returns via maps of the City of London and its suburbs.
Digitisation of The National Archives’ Calendars of State Papers through British History Online
Professor David Bates, Dr Matthew Davies and Dr Jane Winters
- Funded by: the AHRC (AH/E008941/1) from from 1 August 2007 to 31 July 2009
- Amount awarded: £413,7921
- Project officers: to be appointed
- Project website: British History Online
Project Description
This project seeks to complete the digitisation of The National Archives Calendars of State Papers, a key resource for historians of England in the early modern period. The IHR has been funded by The Andrew W Mellon Foundation to digitise and publish the Calendars of State Papers, Domestic (1547-1704, 1760-75) and those for Scotland and Ireland. The addition of the remaining 293 volumes (Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic of Henry VIII; the State Papers, Foreign; the State Papers, Colonial; Treasury books and papers; and papers held in foreign archives) will make the entire series accessible to researchers in higher education and beyond. The calendars will be made available through the British History Online digital library (www.british-history.ac.uk) alongside other core primary and secondary sources for the early modern period, including the Journals of the Houses of Commons and Lords and the substantial part of the Victoria County History. The calendar texts will be fully cross-searchable with this range of complementary material, using a controlled vocabulary of subject terms, and personal and place names. The delivery of the calendars online will also present scholars with the opportunity to comment on and correct any errors or omissions in the texts, leading ultimately to what might be perceived as new 'editions'.
Victoria County History
- Funded by: research in the VCH counties funded by a range of organisations, including local councils and partner universities
- Amount awarded: research income generated through VCH work in its counties amounts to c.£1.7m annually (including c.£441,500 from local councils and c.£136,000 from partner universities)
- Project Website: Victoria County History
Project description
The VCH is an established research centre within the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. It was founded in 1899, but has been part of the University of London since 1932. The VCH is a national project, which operates on a federal principle with a central office in the IHR. The role of the VCH Central Office in the IHR, is to manage the overall project, which is currently operative in 15 counties, and to research, write and publish local/public history in hard copy and electronic form. The VCH is a unique enterprise dedicated to providing both authoritative analysis and encyclopaedic information about English history from earliest time to the present day uniformly across the country on county by county, place by place basis.
Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish History
Dr Ian Archer and Dr Jane Winters
- Funded by: the AHRC (AH/D503094/1) from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2009
- Amount awarded: £392,571
- Project officers: Peter Salt and Simon Baker
- Project website: RHS Bibliography
Project Description
The Royal Historical Society (RHS) Bibliography of British and Irish History has established itself as an essential guide to the available literature for all those interested in the history of Britain and Ireland and the British overseas, at all levels of expertise. Not only does it allow the construction of bibliographies tailored to individual requirements, but increasingly it acts as a gateway to online full text, and to other related resources. Key objectives in this phase are: to ensure that the Bibliography remains current by adding records covering new publications, normally indexing them and placing them online within a year of their publication; to enhance the Bibliography’s role as a gateway to other resources; to widen access to the data by exposing it to OAI (Open Archives Initiative) harvesters; to improve the operation of the online application; and to increase the Bibliography’s audience by developing online tutorials pitched at a variety of users.
AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Awards Scheme
Dr Matthew Davies and Dr Darryl McIntyre
- Three fully-funded studentships supported over three years, from October 2006.
Project Description
Collaboration between the CMH and the Department of Later Collections, Museum of London on the theme of 'London on display: civic identities, cultures and industry, 1851-1951'. The project is concerned with central issues in the social, cultural, and material history of London in the period c.1851-c.1951. The methodology envisaged is wholly drawn from the normal practice of historians and museum staff. The project is designed to extend knowledge and understanding of under-researched areas of metropolitan history, drawing on the rich, but underused collections of the Museum of London. The first studentship commenced in October 2006: Kathrin Pieren, 'Migration and identity constructions in an imperial metropolis: the representation of Jewish heritage in London between 1887 and 1956'.
Housing Environments and Health in Early Modern London, 1550-1750
Dr Vanessa Harding, Dr Matthew Davies and Professor Richard Smith
- Funded by: the Wellcome Trust from October 2006 to April 2008
- Amount awarded: £197,539
- Project officers: Dr Mark Merry, Philip Baker, Gill Newton
Project Description
This project, undertaken in partnership with Birkbeck (University of London) and the University of Cambridge, will build upon the work of the recently completed 'People in place' project. Employing the 'People in place' research team led by Dr Vanessa Harding (Birkbeck) and co-directed by Dr Matthew Davies (CMH) and Professor Richard Smith (Cambridge Group for the History of Population), it will examine the extent to which environmental factors and the social characteristics of individual, family and locality determined the disease and mortality profile of the pre-industrial city.
British History Online Phase II
IHR
- Funded by: the Andrew W Mellon Foundation from 1 August 2006 to 31 July 2008
- Amount awarded: US$900,000
- Project co-ordinator: Dr Jane Winters
- Project website: British History Online
Project Description
Phase II of the project, from 1 August 2006, will see the expansion of the British History Online digital library to include the National Archives Calendars of State Papers, Domestic (1547–1704, 1760–75), a further 40 volumes of the Victoria County History and a range of sources for the social, administrative, economic and political history of Britain.
Londoners and the Law
Dr Matthew Davies and Dr Hannes Kleineke
- Funded by: the AHRC (AR119247) from June 2006 to December 2008
- Amount awarded: £243,354
- Project officers: Dr Jonathan Mackman and Dr Matthew Stevens
Project Description
This project will seek to record and analyse pleaded cases involving Londoners contained in the plea rolls of the court of common pleas These are held in The National Archives, class CP40. The project’s originality lies in its systematic use of a major body of archival material, often avoided by historians on account of its unwieldiness, yet which is of undoubted importance for understanding the ways in which the common law was used by individuals and groups in late medieval England. Of particular importance for this project are the links between London and the regions, as represented by the commercial and other dealings that resulted in litigation at common law. The project aims to assess the nature of the litigation entered into by and against Londoners, both commercial and non-commercial, and any patterns that emerge, and to assess the importance of the common pleas in relation to the city courts. It will also be able to look at the lawyers employed as attorneys in the common pleas by Londoners. The main outputs of the project, in addition to annual reports, will be at least two published articles and a database of litigants and cases, which will be made available on British History Online.
History and Policy Pilot Project
Professor Pat Thane
- Funded by: the Philanthropic Collaborative from 15 March 2006 to 14 March 2009
- Amount awarded: £196,000, March 2006-March 2009 and US$ 170,000, September 2007-March 2009
- Project officer: Mel Porter
- Project website: History and Policy
Project Description
History & Policy is an independent initiative working for better public policy through an understanding of history. This three year pilot project aims to build on the success of the online History & Policy journal, to develop the channels of communication between historians, policymakers and the media and increase the involvement of historians and their research in contemporary policymaking. History & Policy was founded by historians in Cambridge and London and is based in the Centre for Contemporary British History at the IHR.
Peer Review of Digital Resources for the Arts and Humanities
Professor David Bates, Professor Jinty Nelson, Professor Charlotte Roueché and Dr Jane Winters
- Funded by: the AHRC (no. 112508) under its ICT Strategy Programme from 1 October 2005 to 30 September 2006
- Amount awarded: £38,860
- Project officer: Catherine Wright
- Project website: Peer Review of Digital Resources for the Arts and Humanities
Project Description
The mechanisms for the evaluation and peer review of the traditional print outputs of scholarly research in the arts and humanities are well established, but no equivalent exists for assessing the value of digital resources and of the scholarly work which leads to their creation. This project aimed to establish a framework for evaluating the quality, sustainability and impact over time of digital resources for the arts and humanities, using History, in its broadest sense, as a case study.
England’s Past for Everyone
Victoria County History
- Funded by: the Heritage Lottery Fund for five years from February 2005 to February 2010
- Amount awarded: £3,374,000
- Project team: see website for details
- Project website: England's Past for Everyone
Project Description
England’s Past for Everyone (EPE) is a Heritage Lottery funded local history project, run by the Victoria County History and involving communities across the country. Volunteers are working alongside authors and researchers in 10 counties to bring local history to life. Their topics include the history of ethnic minorities in Bristol, life and work in the lower Medway Valley, and the origins and townscape of Sunderland. The research will result in an interactive website and fifteen paperback books, which will provide an insight into the way history is investigated and help inspire people to do their own research. The website will allow users to search images, audio visual materials and historical documents as we discover them. EPE is also working with schools to produce curriculum materials linked to the interactive website.
Survey of London Online
Bruce Tate
- Funded by: the English Heritage Historic Environment Enabling Programme (4553 MAIN) from 1 July 2005 to 15 September 2008
- Amount awarded: £60,367
- Project officers: Bruce Tate and Dr Peter Webster
- Project website: Survey of London
Project Description
The 45 volumes of the Survey of London will made freely available as part of the British History Online digital library. Each volume contains a wealth of historical and architectural information for the capital, and is illustrated with archive and contemporary photographs, maps, plans, and measured drawings. The Survey is being published alongside important historical series such as the Victoria County History and the records of the History of Parliament Trust. This joint availability will open up new ways of exploring certain subjects for researchers, and will highlight useful connections between the different sources.
British History Online Phase I
IHR
- Funded by: the Andrew W Mellon Foundation from 1 June 2004 to 31 July 2006
- Amount awarded: US$900,000
- Project co-ordinator: Dr Jane Winters
- Project website: British History Online
Project Description
British History Online is a digital library of some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and early modern history of the British Isles. Material published as part of the project includes such central resources as the Victoria County History of England, and the Journals of the Houses of Commons and Lords. Particular areas of strength are in local history, ecclesiastical and religious history, administrative and parliamentary history, economic and taxation history, and urban and metropolitan history. The resources published through BHO have been selected both for their centrality to historical research and for their interconnection.
Views of Hosts
Dr Matthew Davies
- Funded by: the ESRC (RES00220628) from April 2004 to September 2005
- Amount awarded: £36,645
- Project officer: Dr Helen Bradley
Project Description
The 'Views of Hosts' comprise returns sent to the Exchequer under a statute of 1439, which made aliens fully accountable to English-born hosts for their private business transactions. The explosion of detailed information generated by observance of the statute is of incomparable value for studies of the trade, society and attitudes of the mid-fifteenth century. It was the product of a policy of deliberate identification and targeting of alien communities for economic restriction, reinforced by social exclusion from spheres where their participation was previously tolerated. In this sense it constitutes an early and highly important example of government efforts to control and track the activities of particular groups, and the relationship between official economic policy and popular attitudes. The aims of the project are to produce a full, annotated transcript in Anglo-Norman French and Latin, freely accessible on the internet; an online database of the transactions, and a translation into English, with an introduction, index of persons and glossary of merchandise, published as a volume by the London Record Society in 2006/7.
Unmarried Motherhood in England and Wales, 1918–90
Professor Pat Thane
- Funded by: the ESRC from 1 May 2004 to 30 April 2007
- Amount awarded: £139,468
- Project officer: Dr Tanya Evans
Project Description
New data sources, in particular the archive of the National Council for One Parent Families, will be used to investigate the experience of, attitudes to, and legislation pertaining to unmarried motherhood in England and Wales since 1918.
Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish History
Dr Ian Archer and Dr Jane Winters
- Funded by: the AHRC (RE/AR 15510) from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2006
- Amount awarded: £316,422
- Project officers: Peter Salt and Simon Baker
- Project website: RHS Bibliography
Project Description
The Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish history is a database containing some 420,000 bibliographical records relating to British and Irish history, and to the British and Irish abroad, at all periods for which written evidence survives. This phase of the project aimed to develop further interoperability with other online resources, especially the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and the National Register of Archives, as well as facilitating links to full-text versions of articles where available online. The Bibliography will continue to be updated, with the addition of approximately 6,900 records per year.
People in Place
Dr Vanessa Harding, Dr Matthew Davies and Dr Richard Smith
- Funded by: the AHRB/C (RG/AN4417/APN16429) from October 2003 to October 2006
- Amount awarded: £309,485
- Project officers: Dr Mark Merry, Philip Baker, Gill Newton
- Project website: People in Place
Project Description
This project, undertaken in partnership with Birkbeck (University of London) and the University of Cambridge, is examining the crucial role of family and household in the social and economic transformations that took place in London in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Population growth, immigration, urbanisation and commercialisation produced new patterns of sociability, gender relations, employment, and domestic lifestyle. The family was central to all these developments, but has been little studied in detail. The project will reconstruct and analyse the dense matrix of families, households, properties, and buildings in sample areas of the capital (Cheapside, Aldgate and Clerkenwell), and trace their evolution over time, gaining new insights into social structures and the agents and circumstances of change.
Mellon Dissertation and Pre-dissertation Fellowships
Professor David Cannadine
- Funded by: initially these were funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation from 1 October 2002 to 30 September 2005. Further funds were made available by the Foundation to continue the programme between 1 October 2005 and 30 September 2008.
- Amount awarded: $480,000 (first grant); $629,000 (second grant)
- Project officer: James Lees
Project description:
These grants from the Mellon Foundation funded the first six years of a
fellowship programme designed to enable doctoral students registered at
North American universities, and working on humanities subjects, to utilise
archives in the UK. Initially this allowed five one-year dissertation and
five two-month pre-dissertation fellowships to be awarded, but there have
now been substantial increases in both the number and value of fellowships
awarded.
For further information, see Awards
and Funding for History
London’s Past Online: a Bibliography of London History
Heather Creaton
- Funded by: the AHRB/C (AN8717/APN13604) from 1 May 2002 to 30 September 2004
- Amount awarded: £216,919. Supplemented September 2005–March 2006 with a grant of £6,000 (Mercers’ Company and Goldsmiths’ Company) to add over 3,000 archaeological records to the database
- Project officers: David Tomkins and Eileen Sanderson
- Project website: London's Past Online
Project Description
London’s Past Online is a fully searchable, online bibliography of published material relating to the history of Greater London. The data, comprising approximately 30,000 records, went online towards the end of 2002 and can be searched in combination with relevant RHS Bibliography records that have been tagged as 'London' records. It is estimated that over 40,000 records are now available through the London’s Past Online database, inclusive of 'shared' records, though a number of these will be duplicates.
Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish History
Dr Ian Archer
- Funded by: the AHRB/C (B/RE/11708) from 1 May 2001 to 31 December 2003
- Amount awarded: £246,596
- Project officers: Peter Salt and Dr Austin Gee
- Project website: RHS Bibliography
Project Description
This initial grant from the AHRC supported the development of a free online version of the RHS Bibliography of British and Irish History.