• Historical archives courses
  
• Information technology courses
  
• Language and palaeography courses
  
• Historical skills courses
  

Besides its postgraduate degrees the IHR offers a comprehensive programme of short training courses in research skills for historians. Taking advantage of both the unparalleled concentration of historical expertise available in the University of London, and the wealth of archival materials in and round the capital, the Institute's long-established and highly successful courses are widely recognised as the best means of developing and extending both essential and more specialised research skills. The IHR's specialised historical skills training programme is complemented for SAS students by central SAS Research Training, which covers generic and transferable skills common to all the humanities, and sits alongside similar specialised disciplinary skills training programmes organised by other member institutes of SAS, some of which may also be of interest to historians. The IHR training programme is primarily aimed at postgraduate historians (and is intended to help in meeting the training demands of the Research Councils and other funding bodies, where necessary), but also welcomes established historians and independent researchers and writers of all sorts. Course fees have been set at a level to render the programme affordable to all students, and there are discounts available to staff and students of the IHR and School of Advanced Study.

Postgraduates may also be interested in The History Lab, a way to meet others involved in historical research and share ideas on a more informal basis.

The following courses will run in the 2009-10 academic year. Links to full information and application forms will be available very soon. Please note that further details and new courses may be announced throughout the year: return regularly to this page to keep abreast.

Historical archives courses

These courses introduce students to the fundamental skills of conducting original historical research, guiding them through the processes of compiling bibliography, locating primary source materials and using archives and repositories. As well as being introduced to the printed and online tools available, the group will visit the most important archives and libraries for their field of interest, learning about their collections and how to use them, and meeting the specialist archivists who will help them in their work.

• Methods and sources for historical research
  

  23 - 27 November 2009, 12  - 16 April 2010 and 5-9 July 2010
  A week-long intensive introduction to archives and libraries for historical sources post-1500 (runs three times a year)

• Visual sources for historians
  

  Tuesdays, 9 February - 9 March 2010
  An introduction to the use of art, photography, film and other visual sources by historians (post-1500).

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Information technology courses

• Databases for historians I
  

  15-18 December 2009 & 15 - 18 June 2010
  An introduction to creating, using and maintaining databases for research projects

• Databases for historians II
  

  14 - 16 July 2010
  Develops the more advanced practical skills necessary for constructing and fully exploiting a database for use in historical research.

• The internet for historical research
  

  7 December 2009, 8 March 2010 & 8 June 2010
  An introduction to using the internet as a tool for historical research

• See also Working with Maps and Geographical Information, Basic Statistics for Historians and Qualitative Data Analysis Workshop below

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Language and palaeography courses

• An introduction to medieval and renaissance Latin I
  

  Tuesdays, 13 October - 8 December 2009
  Nine weekly sessions will gently introduce the complete beginner or relative novice to the grammar and vocabulary necessary to read post-classical Latin documents

• An introduction to medieval and renaissance Latin II
  

  Tuesdays, 12 January - 9 March 2010
  Following on from the first course, this further develops knowledge of the language and reading skills, but at a reasonable pace for relative newcomers to Latin.

• Palaeography and diplomatic
  

  Tuesdays, Autumn term 2009 and Spring term 2010
  This course provides an introduction to the history of script from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance and also practical instruction in reading manuscripts and understanding the context in which they were written.

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Historical skills courses

These offer training in a variety of specialised skills used by historians in the course of their work.

• Interviewing for researchers
  

  10 May 2010
  An introduction to conducting interviews with officials and specific types of subject (i.e. civil servants, government ministers, politicians, clinicians, businessmen and dissidents)

• Freedom of Information: a practical guide for historians
  

  19 April 2010
  A practical guide to using the Freedom of Information act to find historical source material

• An introduction to oral history
  

  Mondays, 18 January - 29 March 2010
  This course is a practical introduction to the use of oral testimony by historians.

• Basic statistics for historians

  TBA
  Taught over two terms, this is an introduction to statistical methods and quantitative techniques for historical research.

• An Introduction to Historical Theory
  

  Thursdays, 22 April - 24 June 2010
  A critical introduction to current approaches to historical explanation.

• Dealing with the media

  Friday, 4 December 2009
  A one-day intensive training session showing historians how to make the most of their work in printed and broadcast mass media. This course is run in association with the History and Policy initiative, and enquiries should be directed to them in the initial instance.

• Qualitative Data Analysis Workshop
  

  Monday, 25 January 2010
  Researchers in the social sciences and humanities are increasingly using computers to manage, organise and analyse non-numerical data from textual sources. This one-day workshop introduces historians to this rapidly growing field and will furnish participants with a good working grasp of the NVivo 7 software package and its uses for all historical research projects.

• Working with Maps and Geographical Information

  TBA
  An introduction for historians, archivists, etc, to working with maps and geographical information defined very broadly: any historical source containing a lot of place-names. Will cover appraising sources and different strategies for developing projects, mainly computer-based but not necessarily using Geographical Information Systems software. Not a hands-on course, but will help you decide what to learn.

For further details and application forms for any course, see the links above, or contact:

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