Jim Phillips introduces his new oral history of the miners’ strike in Scotland, its aftermath, and the long but eventually successful campaign to right the wrongs of 1984-85. Continue reading Coalfield Justice: listening to veteran strikers
The Society for the Study of Labour History has created a resource pack and guide to sources on the history of the 1984-85 miners’ strike. Compiled by the Society’s Archives and Resources Committee, the guide includes information on the major archives and their holdings on this topic. Updated February 2025. Download it in PDF format. Find out more about the SSLH-Archives and Resources Committee. Continue reading Sources for the 1984-85 miners’ strike
Runing until 20 October 2024, Radical Halifax is a unique art exhibition, historical enquiry, and political intervention that seeks to recover hidden histories of the Yorkshire town’s radical past and demonstrate how people from, or with a strong connection to, Halifax have played important roles in transformative movements that sought to build a better world. The exhibition will include artworks by local artist Marcus Jack, … Continue reading Radical Halifax exhibition: from the Luddites to peace campaigners
The OAB (Centre de Recherches Anglophones, Paris Nanterre) and CREW (Sorbonne Nouvelle) are jointly organizing a study day titled Protest movements, political protests and social struggles in Great Britain (1811-1914) on 31 January 2025. The day will be held on the Paris Nanterre University site, Max Weber Building. Continue reading Study day: Protest movements, political dissent and social struggles in Britain, 1811-1914
Forty years ago Brenda Prince was one of four women photographers commissioned to do an exhibition titled Striking Women. Made up of more than 40 large black and white panels, it was shown at the Photographers Gallery in London in 1985 – but has since disappeared. Now, with the anniversary of the miners’ strike very much to the fore, Ms Prince is trying to track … Continue reading In search of Striking Women: can you help find the exhibition?
The organisers of this year’s HistoryLab+ conference report back from an event focused on human exploitation and its legacies. The day was supported by the Society for the Study of Labour History. This year’s HistoryLab+ conference took place at the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), and focused on the histories of human exploitation and its legacies. The event took place … Continue reading Legacies of colonialism and enslavement: HistoryLab+ annual conference 2024
The October 2024 issue of our members’ newsletter is out now. If you are a member of the Society for the Study of Labour History, you will have received this in a PDF document by email. You can also download it from the Members’ Resources page here on the website. The newsletter is not sent to non-members, who are, instead, invited to join us. Continue reading SSLH members’ newsletter, October 2024
The Society for the Study of Labour History has reissued all five of the labour history subject guides compiled by our Archives and Resources Committee, making them available to download in PDF format. Each guide includes details of the main archives in which relevant material can be found, the archives’ holdings, and current contact details. The five guides cover: Find out more about the work … Continue reading SSLH reissues subject guides for researchers
Six months into the Preston lock-out, the most famous novelist of the day visited the town in search of a story for Household Words and inspiration for his novel-in-progress, Hard Times. After three days at the Bull Hotel Charles Dickens declared Preston a ‘nasty place’ and the whole situation a ‘deplorable calamity’. He returned to London with his suspicions of trade union leaders intact and … Continue reading Transactions: 170th anniversary of the Preston strike and lock-out of 1853–1854
Just over half way through its three-year project to conserve and catalogue the archives of the National Union of Mineworkers, the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick has published the first five catalogues relating to early workers’ organisations in the mining industry. The vast archive collection, previously held at the NUM headquarters in Barnsley, was relocated to Warwick in January 2023 following specialist … Continue reading First tranche of NUM archives now indexed online in huge Warwick MRC project
Society for the Study of Labour History 