CHPPC Events
We organise a range of imaginative events and activities, from large special public events to a regular seminar series. All welcome - please check event listings for any booking requirements.
Please browse the listings below to explore upcoming events, and to find details of any booking required. If you have an idea for an event in partnership with the Centre, please get in touch!
IHR - In this section
About the People, Place and Community seminar
The Centre for the History of People, Place and Community's (CHPPC) seminar series builds on IHR strengths in both local history and in urban and metropolitan history, bringing together academics, heritage professionals, creative practitioners and others to present new work and forge new approaches to making histories of place and people. It seeks to bridge disciplinary silos and foster comparative, connected conversations, and to identify opportunities to make both theoretical and practice-led interventions in contemporary debates around space and place.
Our Seminar Convenors:
- Melissa Bennett, Higher Education Programme Manager, Museum of London
- Matt Bristow, Victoria County History, Institute of Historical Research / Senior Investigator, Historic England
- Adam Chapman, Victoria County History, Institute of Historical Research
- Catherine Clarke, Chair in the History of People, Place and Community, Institute of Historical Research
- Matthew Davies, Professor of Urban History and Executive Dean, School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy, Birkbeck University of London; Director of ‘Layers of London’ project
- Michael Eades, Public Engagement Manager and Cultural Contexts Research Fellow; ‘Being Human’ Festival Curator, School of Advanced Study, University of London
- Chris Lewis, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Historical Research
- Ben Wilcock, Academic Research and Engagement Coordinator (North of England portfolio), National Trust
Seminar Manager:
- Olwen Myhill, Institute of Historical Research
Autumn 2019 Seminar Series
History and Place-Making: A Panel Discussion
Wednesday 25 September, 6pm
Booking required: to book your free place, see the event page.
Nino Strachey, National Head of Research, National Trust
Owain Lloyd-James, National Head of Places Strategy, Historic England
Nayan Kulkarni, Site-specific / Public Realm Artist and Researcher
Leanne O’Boyle, Head of Cultural and Visitor Strategy, City of London Corporation
How is history mobilised in place-making strategies today? How is heritage used to regenerate spaces, drive economic development or shape community identities? How does the past enrich and shape a sense of place? And what limitations, lines of exclusion, or challenges should we be alert to? Whether you’re a researcher, practitioner, or interested in your own community, join the panel in conversation with Catherine Clarke, IHR Professor in the History of People, Place and Community, for a critical discussion of history in place-making strategies today. This event also launches the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community, with a wine reception. Please join us to celebrate!
Places, Protest and Power: Commemorating the Peterloo Massacre at the National Trust
Wednesday 9 October, 5.30pm
Ben Wilcock, Academic Research and Engagement Coordinator, North-West Region, National Trust
2019 marks the bicentenary of the Peterloo Massacre, and throughout the year cultural organisations in and around Manchester are commemorating the violent suppression of the peaceful protest at St Peter’s Fields. Two of the properties that the National Trust looks after in the North have a strong connection to the Massacre: the Greg family who owned Quarry Bank were eyewitnesses and spoke out against the militia’s brutality in the subsequent trial; while at Dunham Massey the Earl of Stamford – George Grey – was the head of the militia that led the charge. At the Trust, we’ve been working with our research-active volunteers to delve into the property-specific archives relating to the massacre; with academic researchers to contextualise this research; and with artists who have developed a creative response to tell these stories in an engaging and responsible way to our visitors.
Creative Mapping Workshop
Wednesday 23 October, 5.30pm
Booking required: to book your free place, see the event page.
Led by Tom Woolley, artist, illustrator and mapmaker (www.tomwoolley.com)
Are you interested in the history and heritage of place? Do you use maps in your research or practice? Artist Tom Woolley creates maps for heritage sites, visitor attractions, towns and cities. His work includes maps for Sherwood Forest, Leeds Industrial Museum, the City of Birmingham, the St Thomas Way and Bolton Abbey, as well as independent projects such as ‘Myths & Legends of the British Isles’. In this workshop, Tom will share and reflect on his practice, then lead a hands-on map-making workshop. How could creative mapping help you to think in fresh ways about your place-based research? How could creative maps form an interpretation or public engagement tool? Come and have a go – no artistic experience or talent necessary!
Chance encounters, 1891: a Kent Methodist farmer, Cape Muslim pilgrims, and an imperial queen
Wednesday 6 November, 5.30pm
David Killingray, Emeritus Professor at Goldsmiths; Senior Research Fellow in the School of Advanced Study, University of London
Every day can be an adventure: where will we go, who might we meet, what will we talk about, and what could we learn? In 1891 Percyvall Bowen, a Kent farmer, took a holiday in the Canary Islands. When he boarded the ship to return home, he met a group of South African Muslim pilgrims bound for Mecca via London. While sightseeing in London the Malays were seen by Queen Victoria who commanded them to come to tea. What do these encounters tell us about people, place and communities in a hierarchical and racially ordered imperial world?
England’s Histories: Unboxed! (in partnership with the Being Human Festival 2019)
Wednesday 20 November, from 4.30pm
Booking required: to book your free place, see the event page.
The Victoria County History – an ongoing project to write the history of every county in England – is famous for its iconic ‘Red Books’. This year, we’re celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Victoria County History with VCH Red Boxes. Counties across England have filled special Red Boxes with objects which represent their history in quirky or surprising ways. What secrets and stories will we discover? Join us for our ‘Unboxing’ party (from 4.30pm), with exhibition, object handling and live 3D printing; and panel discussion (5.30-7pm). A great opportunity to encounter some secret histories, explore public history practice, and learn more about the VCH project and how you could get involved. Free drinks and nibbles provided.
London’s ‘shared place’: rethinking the Museum of London
Wednesday 4 December, 5.30pm
Annette Day, Head of Content Delivery, Museum of London
Alex Werner, Lead Curator, New Museum at the Museum of London
In conversation with Matthew Davies, Professor of Urban History and Executive Dean, School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London
This meeting of the seminar will focus on the opportunities and challenges involved in the development of the new Museum of London, which will move to a new site in the General Market buildings in West Smithfield in 2023. Through presentations and a panel discussion, the seminar will explore some of the thinking behind the Museum masterplan, the use of the new spaces, the opening up of the Museum’s collections, and the engagement with Londoners to communicate the stories of people and places across more than 2,000 years of the capital’s history.
