The Centre for Metropolitan History
The Centre for Metropolitan History (CMH), established by the Institute in 1988, is one of the world’s leading centres for the study of the history of London and other metropolises. It specialises in innovative research projects, covering a wide range of periods, themes and problems in metropolitan history, publishing the results and data online and in print. The Centre runs a seminar, and organises workshops and conferences on many different topics in metropolitan and urban history. Staff at the Centre supervise more than a dozen PhD students and are involved in the Institute’s MA programme.
CMH News
CMH Highlights
New online mapping resource: Locating London's Past
The Locating London's Past website is now available at: www.locatinglondon.org. The website enables users to map information from a vast array of sources, including trial accounts from the Old Bailey, hearth tax, plague deaths and population data and even archaeological records, on to John Rocque’s 1746 map of London, now fully referenced to modern geographical coordinates. This new resource is the result of a collaborative project, funded by JISC, involving the CMH, the Universities of Sheffield and Hertfordshire, and Museum of London Archaeology (see CMH project page for details).
Metropolitan History Seminar
The 2011-12 programme for the Metropolitan History Seminar is now available on the IHR website. The seminar will be held on alternate Wednesdays in the Autumn and Spring terms at 5.30 pm in room G34, Ground Floor, Senate House South Block.
Mary Lester's paper on 15 February is: '“It is so essentially a London district, though it has grown to the dignity of a borough in itself.” The making of suburban identities in east London, c.1885-1925.' On 29 February Matthew Neale (IHR) will speak on 'The prevention of crime in late eighteenth-century Bristol: policing, the public, and the city.
New Book: Cities into Battlefields (ed. Stefan Goebel and Derek Keene)
Arising from the Centre's 2004 'Metropolitan catastrophes' conference on cities' role in warfare, Ashgate have just published Cities into Battlefields: Metropolitan Scenarios, Experiences and Commemorations of Total War. The volume explores the cultural imprint of military conflict on metropolises world wide in the era of the First and Second World Wars and examines how the emergence of 'total' warfare blurred the boundaries between home and front. With contributions from Susan Grayzel, Peter Stansky, Patrice Higonnet, Eyal Ginio, Maureen Healey, Tim Cole, Antony Beevor, Lisa Yoneyama, Julie Higashi and Jay Winter, it is currently available at the reduced price of £58.50 (normally £65) from the Ashgate website.
'The Last of the Jobbers'
‘Big Bang’ in 1986 signalled the end of the historic jobbing system of the London Stock Exchange. Jobbers were market-makers who acted as intermediaries between stockbrokers on the floor of the exchange. Few written records are left of their activities. In 1990 the CMH undertook a series of interviews - predominantly with former jobbers but augmented by those from the point of view of brokers and financial journalists - which now form a rare resource for the history of this distinctive part of the financial life of the City.
The tapes and transcripts of the 42 interviews were originally deposited at the British Library Sound Archive (ref no. C463) for permanent archiving but they are now also available online via the University of London School of Advanced Study’s e-repository, SAS-Space. To access the collection visit http://www.history.ac.uk/projects/jobbing.
New CMH working papers volume: Tides and Floods
The five papers in Tides and floods: new research on London and the tidal Thames from the middle ages to the twentieth century (ed. James A. Galloway; CMH Working papers series no. 4) arise from a conference held in October 2009, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council as part of the London and the tidal Thames 1250-1550 research project. Written by archaeologists, historians and historical geographers, they present up-to-date work on the flood threat from the later middle ages to the 20th century, focusing upon the changing political, institutional and economic response to this environmental challenge. Also included is a preliminary report on the medieval tidal mills recently uncovered at Greenwich and Northfleet and an overview of the multi-faceted work of the Thames Discovery Programme. 80pp (illus); price £5 + £2 postage. Order a copy from the IHR Bookshop.
Metropolitan History Seminar Podcasts
In conjunction with IHR Digital, podcasts are now available for seven seminars: Kyle Roberts, 'Faith in the antebellum urban order: religion and the making of early nineteenth-century New York City'; Peter Andersson, 'The Constable and the crowd. Policing public behaviour in late-Victorian London'; Tim Reinke-Williams, 'Gender and sociability in early modern London'; Dhan Singh, 'Exploring the cultural history of Buenos Aires underground railways (c.1886-1945)'; Carry van Lieshout, ' Water management in eighteenth-century London'; Joanna Marchant, 'London's museum environments and civic identity 1851-1914'; and Philip Davies, 'Lost London: managing change in a World City'.
To access these podcasts, click here
Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs
Want
to investigate markets and fairs? Take a look at our Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 - the first systematic national survey of the establishment and operation of markets and fairs from c.900. It contains entries for 2,400 places and lists details for more than 2,600 markets and nearly 3,000 fairs.
Register of Research in Progress
The Centre's register of research in progress on the history of London has just been updated with information on theses completed in 2009, along with some thirty new topics currently being studied. We would like the register to be as comprehensive as possible, so if you are actively researching an aspect of London history and you wish to be added to the list, please email the Centre providing details of your research and indicating whether you are willing for your email address to be included in the entry.
London and Urban News and events
Reopening of Hackney Archives
Hackney Archives has now opened at its new premises at the Dalston CLR James Library, Dalston Square, Dalston Lane, London E8 3BZ . See website for details.
Walking Tour of London's Coffeehouses
Saturday 11 February 2012 14:30-16:00 | Starting at St Michael's Church, Cornhill.
Join actors, musicians, and Dr Matthew Green for a caffeinated tour of London’s original – and best – coffeehouses: from the City’s warren of medieval streets, through St Paul’s Churchyard, down historic Fleet Street, and into the cobbled courtyards of the Temple. Free shots of black and gritty coffee, brewed after the 18th-century fashion, included. £8.00. For more information please see here.
Archives for London seminar: London's luxury archives and the Second World War
Thursday 8 March at 6:00 pm | Huntley Room, London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R 0HB
Design historian Neil Taylor will reveal hidden lives of luxury enjoyed by some war-time Londoners. Advance booking essential - see details.
Exhibition: Mapping the London Blitz
Until 29 March 2012 | London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R 0HB
The LCC created a series of maps which graphically illustrate the destruction of many streets, houses, factories and shops and provide an essential record for understanding the chaos and turmoil faced by Londoners just seventy years ago. Talking the damage recorded on the maps as a starting point, this exhibition will present a number of other sources from the archives to reveal the experience of life in London during the Blitz. Free.
Exhibition: Lambeth Prospects - images from the collection at Lambeth Archives from the 17th to the 21st centuries
9-23 February 2012, weekdays 11am-5pm | Morley Gallery, Morley College, 61 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7HT
Admission free. Contact gallery for late nights and weekend opening times (gallery@morleycollege.ac.uk; 020 7450 1826).
Call for Papers: Inventing and reinventing the modern city (Teesside University, 7-8 September 2012)
Organised by the Centre for Regional and Local Historical Research at Teesside University, in collaboration with the North East England History Institute' and bringing together specialists in urban history, proposals are invited (c.200 words) for this conference. Themes include: changes in urban planning, government and infrastructure of cities, ethnic and social diversity, aspirational cities, and economic transformation. Deadline for proposals: 30 April 2012, see details.
Website: Sporting Endeavours: celebrating sport in London's archives
Funded by the Heritage Lottery fund, Archives for London has worked with archives to showcase historic documents, press cuttings, visual material and ephemera relating to the 1908 and 1948 Olympic Games and the 1948 Paralympics. The Winning Endeavours website helps people browse and search newly digitized original sources for leisure and commercial interests. See website.
Book: Whitechapel, 1600-1800: A social history of an early-modern London inner suburb (Derek Morris)
This new book by Derek Morris, published by the East London History Society, features the rich and the poor, the churches and chapels, criminals, merchants, the nurseries, the sugar refiners, brewers, the hay market, the militia and the London Hospital of this east London suburb in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. £12.60 (plus p&p). Further details and order form on the East London History Society website.
Podcast (The National Archives): The Metropolitan Police: an introduction to records of service 1829-1958
This talk by Chris Heather provides a basic outline of the surviving records of service for Metropolitan Police officers, with examples from the records, and an overview of the origins of the service. Podcast link
Exploring 20th-Century London
A new website bringing together the 20th-century collections of 12 London museums
Historic Hospital Admissions Records Project (HHARP)
This project provides online access to nearly 120,000 individual admission records between 1852 and 1914 for three London children's hospitals: Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Evelina Hospital and the Alexandra Hospital for Children with Hip Disease, as well as the recently added Royal Glasgow Children's Hospital. Website
London Metropolitan Archives - new opening times
From 14 November 2011, London Metropolitan Archives will be open: Monday 9.30am - 4.45pm; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 9.30am - 7.30pm; Friday Closed. The Archives will also be open on the following Saturdays (from 9.30 am - 4.45 pm) in 2012: 14 January, 11 February, 10 March, 14 April, 12 May, 9 June, 14 July, 8 September, 13 October and 8 December. Full information is available on the LMA website.
Wandsworth Historical Society: Wandsworth Historian Digital Archive (1971-2011)
The Wandsworth Historical Society has digitised the entire 40-year run of its popular journal, Wandsworth Historian and made it available in the form of a searchable DVD. The Wandsworth Historian Digital Archive 1971-2011 is available at £5.00 plus £1.50 postage from WHS, 119 Heythorp Street, London SW18 5BT. Cheques payable to 'Wandsworth Historical Society'. Further details.
