The Victoria County History is one of the world's longest-running research projects, exploring England's rich local history.
The Victoria County History (VCH) was founded in 1899 as a national project to write the history of every county in England. At its inception, the project was dedicated to Queen Victoria, which is how it derives its name.
The VCH aims to complete authoritative, encyclopaedic histories of each county, from the earliest archaeological records to the present day, as well as topics such as topography, landscape and the built environment. Some VCH volumes were published over a century ago, while others are now in progress or planned for the future.
The Victoria County History is a series of publications: the iconic Red Books of county history, as well as the VCH Shorts, and VCH Partnership Publications, which focus on single parishes and towns, as well as other themes in place-based history and heritage.
The VCH is also a vast, diverse and lively community of historians, researchers and local groups, working on county histories across England. The project is led and managed in London at the Institute for Historical Research, but is driven by local County Trusts and their members, most of whom are volunteers. We are pleased to recognise outstanding contributions to the project.
Contact us to find out how you could get involved.
Twitter: @VCH_London
Bluesky: @VCH_London
This blog post was written by Ruth Slatter and Adam Chapman, Co-General Editors of the VCH. The Victoria County History (VCH), is delighted to announce that its national network of place-based history is growing! 125 years after the VCH was founded, over the last few months it has welcomed four new and evolving VCH projects […]
The post Four New Victoria County History Projects appeared first on On History.
With the nights drawing in, it’s the season for storytelling. This curious and disconcerting letter was found recently in the archive of the Victoria County History of England (addressed to then-General Editor, William Page) and is published here for the first time. Some identifying details have been redacted. November, 1914 Dear Mr Page, […]
The post VCH Ghost Story appeared first on On History.
In this second of two blog posts, Anne-Marie Harvatt, VCH Digitisation Summer Intern 2024, reflects on the challenges and potentials of digitising historical sources. As discussed in the earlier of these posts, digitising a VCH Big Red Book is far from straightforward and in many ways the experience is a microcosm for the digitisation of […]
The post Digitising Red Books: the rigours and rewards of increasing online access to Victoria County History volumes (Part 2) appeared first on On History.
In this blog post, Anne-Marie Harvatt, VCH Digitisation Summer Intern 2024, reflects on the process of digitising VCH volumes for British History Online. My time as an intern at the IHR, working on one small part of the process of preparing Victoria County History volumes (non-born-digital historical sources) to be accessible online, has been […]
The post Digitising Red Books: the rigours and rewards of increasing online access to Victoria County History volumes (Part 1) appeared first on On History.