Home Home
Search

Historiography Collections

Find out more about the historiography collections in the IHR Wohl Library. We collect monographs about various schools of historical thought as well as biographies of historians. Additionally we have in our collections radpidly growing holdings on memory, how history engages with society as well as digital methodologies are changing how historical research is produced and disseminated.

Search Catalogue
Michael Townsend (own photo)

Introduction

The library has an extensive and rapidly growing collection on general historiography in our general history collection. Within it you can find general works on historiography, historical methodologies and titles which look at specific kinds of sources.

We also have subject-specific historiography titles within each collections throughout the library. These sections can be found towards the beginning of a collection, marked with the shelf-mark 09 (e.g. EF.09 for French historiography and W.09 for the historiography of warfare)

Of course history is not exclusively an academic field but something everyone has a relationship with. Our collections reflect this with a growing number of titles acquired on memory and commemoration, nostalgia, heritage and history depicted in popular culture.

The main historiography collection is subdivided with the following in-house classification scheme:

  • E.142     Historical Methodologies
  • E.143     Historical Sources
  • E.144     Historiography
  • E.146     The Philosophy of History
  • E.1465        History and Society
  • E.1466        Memory and Commemoration
  • E.14665           Nostalgia
  • E.1467        History in literature, film, music and television
  • E.15       Quantitative methods in history
  • E.16       Digital Humanities and Digital Applications in History

We also subscribe to a number of periodicals relevant in this field.

Highlights from the Collections

General Works

We collect monographs that consider historiography, methodology and history's roles in society in its widest sense. As well as classics in the field, such as E. H. Carr's What is history, new titles are always being added to this section both in the general historiography holdings and in the library's other national and thematic collections. Below is a selection of titles from the general historiography collection.

Here are some of the general historiographical titles to be found in the library's other collections.

Periodicals

Medieval Historiography

Many of our titles on medieval historiography are held at shelf-mark E.1442. Here you can find general overviews of the subject as well as titles that consider specific aspects. Works on individual medieval historians are found in the respective national collection. Below is a selection of titles you can find in our collections.

Here is a selection of titles about specific medieval historians and contemporary specialists in the field which you can find in our other collections.

Early modern Historiography

Below are some of the general titles you can find in the main historiography collection.

Here is a selection of relevant titles in some of our other collections

Modern Historiography

We have quite a large collection of titles that consider developments in historiography since c. 1800. While most of the titles listed here can be found in the general historiography collection, many titles about the Annales School can be found in our French Collection.

Marxist Historiography and Historians

The Annales School

Postmodernism

Sources

Besides large holdings on various historiographical traditions the library has a significant collection of titles about the various types of sources employed by modern historians. These include written, visual and archaeological. Below you can find highlights from the main historiography collection, including titles about life-writing and biography and the methodology of oral history.

Life-writing, biography, egodocuments

Oral history

Visual and Material Sources

The Philosophy of History

Works on the philosophy of history can be found at shelf-mark E.146. These include well-known works by Frank Ankersmit, R. G. Collingwood, Paul Ricoeur and Hayden White. Below is a selection of titles currently available.

Teaching History

aa

History in Society

The books in this section explore how history is used, represented, disseminated and consumed outside of academia. The titles here explore a wide variety of subjects such as memory and commemoration, nostalgia and the creation of false historical narratives, history in popular culture and the growth of heritage tourism.

Memory and Commemoration

History and Heritage

Historical Depictions in Film, TV and Video Games

Theses

Our theses collection is kept in our closed stacks but any item is available to consult. Details about requesting our closed stack items can be found here. Many digitised copies of UK PhDs are also now available through the British Library's EThOS resource.

Periodicals

The library subscribes to a number of academic periodicals whose remit encompasses historical methodology and the philosophy of history. A number of electronic journals are also available but, due to licensing restrictions from the publishers, these are only available to most of our readers if one is physically within the IHR library.

Further Help

Contact us if you would like help on finding or using our collections, or if you have any comments or suggestions about the content of this guide. We are happy to help.

You can also book a tour or training sessionContact us if you would like help on finding or using our collections, or if you have any comments or suggestions about the content of this guide. We are happy to hel

Contact us if you would like help on finding or using our collections, or if you have any comments or suggestions about the content of this guide. We are happy to help.

You can also join the library and book a help session.

Public History

General Works

Below are a number of general titles which give an overview of public history, definiing what it is and highlighting some of the innovative projects teams have undertaken to communicate an understanding of pasts to various audiences.

From the main historiography collection

From the library's other collections

The Historian and Public Policy

Display, Performance and Interaction

The titles below explore the ways in which the past interacts with the societies of the present. Listed below are works on heritage and museum studies, historical re-enactments, the impact historical symbols such as statues and memorials have within public spaces and innovative ways in which groups, such as Fill in the Blanks, have fostered an historical dialogue with 

Statues and Monuments

Digital Humanities

General Works

Today's historical research is increasingly being shaped by digital methods. Digitisation, data-mining, social media, these are only a few of the methods that have helped produce new research and brought researchers and various audiences together. While there are an increasing number of vital online resources in this field, including The Programming Historian, below are some titles which outline the broad-field of digital humanities which you can find in our collection. You can find them at shelf-mark E.16 (earlier titles are kept in our closed stacks while more recent titles are on the open shelves)

Historical Research and Teaching in the Digital Age

Works in other Wohl Library Collections

Below are some additional titles which can be found in the library's other collections.

Learning to Programme

The library does not collect instructional manuals on the various programming languages currently used. However there are now available a number of online teaching tools and publications where you can learn the fundamentals of languages such as Python, R, C# and Java. Some available at present include:

In addition to these general resources see also The Programming Historian. It offers dozens of online tutorials in subjects such as Python, data management and manipulation, mapping and digital publishing.

Related content