On 23 November, Senate House Library and the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) hosted History Day 2023. History Day is a free annual event bringing together students, researchers and anyone with an interest in history with collections professionals from galleries, libraries, archives, museums and research organisations.

This year 64 organisations joined us to celebrate and explore library, museum, archive and history collections from across the UK and beyond. After being held online-only for the past few years, the event was held in-person on the ground and first floors of Senate House for the first time since 2019. 

The event opened with a session on “Discovering Historical collections”, chaired by Neil Stewart, Head of IHR Library and Digital, and featuring panellists from The National ArchivesArchives Portal EuropeCommunity Archives and Heritage Group and the IHR’s own Bibliography of British and Irish History

After the session, attendees were invited to browse the History Day fair, where they were given the opportunity to connect and discuss their research ideas with information professionals showcasing their collections. Judging by the feedback, the event was a great success:

Everyone on our team enjoyed themselves and we had some great chats with researchers” - Florence Dall (Archives Officer, Queen Mary University of London).

We made a lot of contacts both with people from the Archives world and history researchers” -Phyllis Vangelder (Trustee of Archive of Market and Social Research and editor of its quarterly newsletter).

Although this year’s History Day is now over, you can still explore history collections across the country at the Discover Collections gallery, or by visiting the History Day 2023 playlist. A recording of the session is available here.

Next year History Day celebrates its 10th anniversary. Join the History Day mailing list to hear about future events.