Chile Solidarity Campaign: fiftieth anniversary archive open day

The People’s History Museum is marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Chilean military coup of 1973, by offering an opportunity to join the Manchester museum’s archive team to delve into material from the Chile Solidarity Campaign (CSC) collection. The event runs from 11am to 3pm on Saturday 9 September. Find out more and book a ticket. The coup led to international outcry. In its aftermath, … Continue reading Chile Solidarity Campaign: fiftieth anniversary archive open day

Celebrating 50 years of the Modern Records Centre

The Modern Records Centre (MRC) at the University of Warwick celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year. Founded in 1973, the MRC boasts more than 1,500 collections specialising in political, economic, and social history – in particular industrial relations and industrial politics, including the archive collections of numerous trade unions. To celebrate this milestone, the MRC is hosting a number of events in the coming months: The … Continue reading Celebrating 50 years of the Modern Records Centre

How Oldham found the funny thanks to Sam Fitton

Funding from the Society for the Study of Labour History helped to enable Gallery Oldham to take working-class history and Lancashire dialect to new audiences, as Karen Heatley explains. This year marks the centenary of Sam Fitton’s death. Fitton was fun-loving and multi-talented, his career started in the local textile mills but he went on to make a living as a skilled illustrator, poet, dialect … Continue reading How Oldham found the funny thanks to Sam Fitton

Working-Class Anti-Imperialism, the Global Left and Beyond

European Labour History Network (ELHN) conference University of Uppsala, 11-13 June 2024. Labour & Empire Working Group – Call for Papers. In the wake of the one-day conference “Working-Class Anti-Imperialism and the Global Left: New Directions of Study” held at the University of Bristol on 30 June 2023, the Labour & Empire Working Group is eager to further explore the rich and complex questions debated … Continue reading Working-Class Anti-Imperialism, the Global Left and Beyond

Report: Working-class Anti-imperialism and the Global Left: New Directions of Study

The Labour and Empire Working Group has held conferences and other events for nearly ten years as part of the European Labour History Network (ELHN). In 2023, the Group held a one-day conference titled ‘Working-class Anti-imperialism and the Global Left: New Directions of Study’ at the University of Bristol, which we were able to attend thanks to travel bursaries made possible by the Society for … Continue reading Report: Working-class Anti-imperialism and the Global Left: New Directions of Study

Writing up a storm in Paris and London: G.W.M. Reynolds

G.W.M. Reynolds emerged as a significant figure in London Chartism in the spring of 1848, and would later gain a substantial level of fame as the publisher of radical newspapers and author of gothic novels. In an evening meeting at London’s Bow Street Police Museum titled Writing Up a Storm in Paris and London: GWM Reynolds, Dickens’ Radical Rival on Thursday 20 July, Dr Jennifer … Continue reading Writing up a storm in Paris and London: G.W.M. Reynolds

Chartism Day 2023 report: ‘You tyrants of England! Your race may soon be run…’

This year’s Chartism Day was in Sheffield, with papers on the land plan, the poet Thomas Cooper, the ‘paper pantheon’, Chartism’s first historian of the modern era, and the lives of Chartists in France Held on Saturday 17 June, Chartism Day 2023 opened with a fitting tribute to Stephen Roberts – the organiser of the first such event in 1995, and a leading Chartist historian … Continue reading Chartism Day 2023 report: ‘You tyrants of England! Your race may soon be run…’

Waiting for Wesley: torn between church and rebellion

Set during the events of August 1842 in the Calder Valley, the specially written play Waiting for Wesley is to be performed this summer at Halifax Museum. Commissioned by Heptonstall Museum, written by Michael Crowley and first performed in August 2022 by The Brutish Multitude Theatre Company, the play has since been developed as a result of audience feedback to include the character of Ben … Continue reading Waiting for Wesley: torn between church and rebellion

Moral Economy at the Crossroads of History and Social Sciences: Finding Customs in Common?

Call for papers: a workshop on Moral Economy at the Crossroads of History and Social Science is to take place at the University of Strathclyde in November 2023. Contributions are invited from academic researchers, practitioners, and activists. Abstracts of 250 words are due by 31 August. The event is supported by the Society for the Study of Labour History and the University of Strathclyde. Download … Continue reading Moral Economy at the Crossroads of History and Social Sciences: Finding Customs in Common?

‘Singing Sweet Liberty’: Michael Sanders’ inaugural professorial lecture

Mike Sanders, Professor of Nineteenth Century Literature & Culture at the University of Manchester and a member of the Society’s executive committee, delivered his inaugural professorial lecture at the John Rylands Library on Wednesday 31 May. The lecture was titled ‘Singing Sweet Liberty’: John Stafford and the creation of radical memory from Luddism to Chartism. The lecture explored the role played by song in creating … Continue reading ‘Singing Sweet Liberty’: Michael Sanders’ inaugural professorial lecture