Russian police raid history project.

Rather quietly over Christmas, files belonging to the Memorial project have been raided by the Russian police. This worrying development has seen the Russian state intervene to obstruct the ground-breaking oral history project, which has interviewed thousands about life in Stalinist Russia. This has raised many (and answered some) interesting epistemological issues about knowledge and authoritarian regimes, but also revealing parts of the past which had been unrecoverable, and will soon be permanently lost as the witnesses and actors age. No dry academic research centre, Memorial (in English) blends human-rights advocacy and humanitarian undertakings with historical research.

Malcolm

Picture this

One of the most brilliant projects of which you may not have heard is The Public Catalogue Foundation. As the name suggests, the aim is to produce high-quality catalogues of all the fantastic art held in public collections in the UK. All sorts of closed collections, or holdings to which public access had hitherto been far from easy, have been opened up. Portraits in town halls, police stations, courts and schools, for example, have been photographed and are provided here in a handy format. This major project is likely to be of use to those researching local and art history alike, and will help improve access to these collections. When the project is complete, the catalogues will be made available online, including the images. Until then, the beautiful print catalogues will be your first port of call.

Malcolm

Lessons from history

Niall Ferguson considers the problems of the age of obligation with discussion of rather older ways of dealing with debt problems. This sort of past and present affair seems to be in vogue at the moment, as the high profile efforts of History & Policy with its snappy tagline promise of 'Connecting historians, policymakers and the media' attests. If you haven't seen it already, it's worth having a nose around in a spare half-hour over the festive period.

Malcolm

Edwardian Victorians

A video about stupid archival requests.

Steal this history of the book

The website of Steal this Film has an archive section where you can watch Elizabeth Eisenstein discussing the journey 'from scribal scarcity to the disruptive text'. Then there's a fascinating interview with Robert Darnton about - shock! - print and censorship in eighteenth-century France. If that isn't enough, there's loads more stuff on the history of copyright and information distribution.

End of the first term.

I hope that you enjoyed Cant and Slang as much as I did. It was great to have such a good turnout, and if you are still excited about cant and slang, then you might like to look at the first three volumes of Julie's History of Cant and Slang Dictionaries: 1, 2, 3.

Thanks for your support over the first term - it's hard to get things going, so it is has been very much appreciated. Things have gone so well that the wristbands have run out. Fear not - more are on their way.

I can't wait to give you the details of the new lab once they are confirmed. I think the new poster is even better than the old, and it will be unveiled here first. Have a good 'holiday', and I will see you all in the new year for season two. There will be updates here over the vacation, so do check back or subscribe. Any ideas of questions, please get back in touch.

Malcolm

Learning Latin

A student asks, 'How do I learn Latin using the Internet?' She receives good answers.

Also, don't forget that Dr Julie Coleman will be speaking about Slang History tomorrow. Do come along.

Technicals, 5/12/08

This Friday, Dr Julie Coleman of the Department of English is going to be talking to us about Slang History. Julie has written several books on the subject of cant and slang dictionaries, and her talk will offer much insight into an extremely valuable type of historical resource. This will also be a good opportunity to think about interdisciplinary history, and it would be great if everyone could turn-out to welcome a visiting speaker to our postgraduate community.

As usual, the key info is:

• 4.30-6pm: Jack Simmons Seminar Room, 1 Salisbury Road (map)
  
• Tea and cake before, pub after

See you on Friday,
Matt