General Strike 100: planning for the centenary

As the centenary of the 1926 General Strike approaches, the Society for the Study of Labour History has joined a group of museums, libraries, archives, and history groups in a national collaboration to mark the occasion. The General Strike 100 project is working in partnership with the trade union and wider labour movement to develop an interactive map of sites for public visitation throughout 2026. This … Continue reading General Strike 100: planning for the centenary

John Halstead Memorial Lecture 2025: reserve your place

Professor Peter Gurney will deliver the fourth John L. Halstead Memorial Lecture at the John Rylands Library, Deansgate, Manchester, on Saturday 14 June 2025. He will be speaking on ‘The Chartist Revolution’. Book a free ticket for this event. The lecture is held annually in memory of the late John Halstead, who was among the earliest members of the Society for the Study of Labour … Continue reading John Halstead Memorial Lecture 2025: reserve your place

BME Small Grants: 2025 Recipients

We are delighted to announce the results of the latest round of the BME small grants funding scheme. This scheme is administered by the Social History Society in partnership with the Society for the Study of Labour History, Economic History Society, History UK, History of Education Society (UK), History Workshop Journal, Royal Historical Society, and Women’s History Network. It was set up in 2019 in … Continue reading BME Small Grants: 2025 Recipients

Victory in campaign to save historic wills from destruction

Ministers have ditched proposals made under the previous government to destroy millions of wills dating back to 1858 as a money-saving measure. The Society for the Study of Labour History was among 1,600 organisations and individuals to respond to a Ministry of Justice consultation document, issued in December 2023, which put forward proposals to digitise 110 million wills before destroying the original documents in a … Continue reading Victory in campaign to save historic wills from destruction

SSLH members’ newsletter, January 2025

The January 2025 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, January 2025

A labour history of Ireland’s film industry

In Screen Workers and the Irish Film Industry, Dr Denis Murphy traces the evolution since the 1950s of screen production industries on the island of Ireland. More specifically he looks at the people who work in its film, television dramas, documentary and animation industries – how they have shaped the work they do and the conditions under which that work is carried out. This is … Continue reading A labour history of Ireland’s film industry

Video: Remembering the Strike: the miners’ strike of 1984-5 in popular memory

Dr Natalie Thomlinson delivered the Society’s third annual John Halstead Memorial Lecture, Remembering the Strike: the miners’ strike of 1984-5 in popular memory at the University of Huddersfield on Saturday 9 November 2024. The lecture can be viewed on YouTube here. Dr Thomlinson is Associate Professor of Modern British Cultural History at the University of Reading, and co-author of Women and the Miners’ Strike (2023). She has … Continue reading Video: Remembering the Strike: the miners’ strike of 1984-5 in popular memory