Theses Lists

The History of the Theses Lists

The annual lists

Lists of historical theses completed in the universities and university colleges of the United Kingdom were printed in the journal History from 1920 to 1929 and in the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research from 1930 to 1932. From then until 1966 they were recorded in annual Theses Supplements to the Bulletin, with a second part added: a list of ‘Theses in Progress’ during each year.

See here for scans of the original history PhDs.

Beginning with Theses Supplement No. 15 (May 1954) the list of Theses in Progress was no longer printed but duplicated from typescript. In 1967 the list (No. 28) began to appear as a separate publication of the Institute, with the title Historical Research for University Degrees in the United Kingdom. From 1986 (List No. 47), with the inclusion of degrees granted by the Council for National Academic Awards, the title was altered to Historical Research for Higher Degrees in the United Kingdom. In 2010 for the first time we have included information on theses from universities in the Republic of Ireland, so the title has again been changed to reflect this.

The current annual lists of Theses Completed and in Progress are arranged under broad chronological and topographical headings, with an index of authors (and in the case of Theses Completed an index of universities and a detailed subject index). Both volumes give the title of each thesis, along with the names of the author and supervisor(s), the university and the degree for which the student is or was registered. The year of award is also provided for Theses Completed.

The lists do not simply include research which is being undertaken in history departments, but where possible include historical related theses which may be underway in, for example, politics or modern languages departments. Inevitably, some information will be missed, however, and we encourage postgraduate students to get in touch of their details haven’t been included.

Cumulative volumes and online provision

The Institute has published three cumulative volumes of Theses Completed, covering the period from 1901 to 1990. The growth in the number of theses being undertaking in the UK is immediately apparent: in the 20th century up to 1970 a total of 7,633 theses were listed as having been completed; for 1971-80 this figure rises to 4,416 and the volume for the 1980s includes details of 4,914. A similar cumulative volume has not been produced for the 1990s, or indeed the first decade of the 21st century, as information about new and completed research is now published online as part of the IHR’s History On-Line database. The legacy data from 1971 onwards will be added to this dataset within the next couple of months, allowing users to search across four decades to discover information about particular topics or individuals, or to begin to analyse trends in research over this period.

A final word of thanks

The IHR would never have been able to undertake the task of compiling this information, which offers a unique insight into the development of postgraduate historical research, without the assistance over the years of so many university registrars, heads of faculties and departments, and departmental and faculty administrators. We are enormously grateful to them all for their help and patience.