HISTORY WORKSHOP AUDIO ARCHIVE (RS 5) ©Bishopsgate Institute Catalogued by Various, 2020. RS 5 History Workshop Audio Archive 1977-1991 Name of Creator: History Workshop Extent: 130 wav files Administrative/Biographical History: History Workshop was a popular movement for the democratisation of History which flourished in Britain from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s (with sporadic activity continuing into the 1990s). It emerged from Ruskin College Oxford where Raphael Samuel, the movement’s initiator and presiding spirit, taught history for many decades. In the course of the 1970s History Workshop spread across Britain, spawning dozens of regional and local initiatives, publishing many books, pamphlets and journals (including the still-extant History Workshop Journal), and acquiring influence throughout intellectual and educational circles. During these years the movement also went international, spawning sister workshops in Germany, France, Italy, South Africa and America. Its high point was reached in the late 1970s, and thereafter it went into a slow decline, although many of the developments it helped to foster (such as oral history and women’s history) continue to flourish today. The early workshops were Ruskin-based, participant-led events that drew on what Raphael Samuel described as a ‘fluid coalition of worker-students from Ruskin and other socialist historians’. The first one, ‘A Day with the Chartists’, held in 1967, was a modest affair with about 50 in attendance. But five years later a workshop on ‘Workers’ Control’ attracted over 700 and by the mid 1970s the workshops had become major festivals of history, attracting up to a thousand participants. While the themes explored varied widely, the events were primarily a showcase for history seen from a non-elite perspective, ‘people’s history’ as it was labelled. In the early years this meant primarily working-class history but over time, after some controversy, it expanded to include the new women’s history, for which the History Workshops were the primary seedbed. Custodial History: Transferred to Bishopsgate Institute from Ruskin College, 2012. Scope and Content: Audio archive of recordings at History Workshop events or of oral histories gathered in research for History Workshop publications, including: Audio recordings of talks given at History Workshop 11, 'Rank and File Movements', Ruskin College, 1977; Audio recording of the concluding session of History Workshop 12 'In Our Time, Britain, 1945-1978', Ruskin College, 1978; Audio recordings of talks and discussions at History Workshop 13, 'People's History and Socialist Theory', Ruskin College, 1979; Audio recordings of talks, discussions and oral histories compiled at the Miners' Dispute Weekend, Ruskin College, 1985; Audio recordings of talks and discussions at a History Workshop Centre for Social History summer school at Ruskin College on 'Aspects of Social History', 1985; Audio recordings of talks and discussions for the History Workshop Journal Teach-In on History, the Nation and the Schools, 1989; Audio recordings of talks and discussions at the History Workshop Recall Conference on 'History, the Nation and Schools', 1990; Audio recordings of talks and discussions at the third History Workshop conference on 'History, the Nation and Schools' on 'The Future of English', 1991; Oral history recordings undertaken in research for History Workshop publications, including interviews with Arthur Exell regarding work at Morris Motors, Oxford; and life interviews with Charles Mann, Winifred Stephenson, Len Hart and Sheila Rowbotham, 1978-1991. System of Arrangement: The History Workshop Audio Archive is divided into the following nine series: • RS 5/001-005: History Workshop 11, 21-22 May 1977, 'Rank and file movements' • RS 5/011: History Workshop 12, 10-12 Nov 1978, ‘In our time, Britain 1945-1978’ • RS 5/020-066: History Workshop 13, 30 Nov-2 Dec 1979, ‘Peoples’ History and Socialist Theory’ • RS 5/070-091: Miners’ dispute weekend, Ruskin College, 22-24 March 1985; ‘The Enemy Within’ • RS 5/101-112: History Workshop Centre for Social History (HWCSH), ‘Aspects of Social History’ • RS 5/121-124: ‘History, the Nation and Schools; History Workshop Journal Teach In’, 3 June 1989 • RS 5/125-136: ‘History, the Nation and Schools; HW Recall Conference’, 19 May 1990 • RS 5/137-157: ‘History, the Nation and the Schools/3; The Future of English’ 15-16 Jun 1991 • RS 5/161-171: Recorded interviews related to History Workshop publications Language/scripts of material: English Access conditions: OPEN Copying conditions: Photocopying, scanning and digital photography (without flash) is permitted for research purposes on completion of the Library's Copyright Declaration form and with respect to current UK copyright law. Finding Aids: Copy of handlist available in researcher’s area. Rules and Conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. RS 5/001- History Workshop 11, 21-22 May 1977, 1977 005 'Rank and file movements' Audio recordings of talks given at History Workshop 11, 'Rank and File Movements', which took place at Ruskin College, 21-22 May 1977, 1977. OPEN RS 5/001 Pat Murray: Co-operation between unions 1977 within Fords in Europe [Side A] OPEN RS 5/002 Keith Withall: Organising [dance band] 1977 musicians in the 1930s [A] OPEN RS 5/003 Bob Doyle: Printers [Side A] 1977 OPEN RS 5/004 T Friedman: Firemen [A + B, not on 1977 programme]; Ken Terry: Sheffield shop stewards’ movement [Side B] OPEN RS 5/005 David Sullivan: ‘London gondoliers’ – 19th 1977 century London cabmen as wageless trade unionists [A] OPEN RS 5/011 History Workshop 12, 10-12 Nov 1978, 1978 ‘In our time, Britain 1945-1978’: concluding session only Audio recording of the concluding session of History Workshop 12 'In Our Time, Britain, 1945- 1978', held at Ruskin College, 10-12 November 1978, 1978. OPEN RS 5/020- History Workshop 13, 30 Nov-2 Dec 1979 066 1979, ‘Peoples’ History and Socialist Theory’ Audio recordings of talks and discussions at History Workshop 13, 'People's History and Socialist Theory', which took place at Ruskin College, 30 November-2 December 1979, 1979. OPEN RS 5/020 30 Nov: Peter Burke: Origins of peoples’ 1979 history; [A]; Christopher Hill: Religion and the rise of capitalism [A, B] OPEN RS 5/021 30 Nov: (Anna Davin, Kenny Morton chair) 1979 Peter Burke: Peoples’ history or total history?; Franco Andrucci: History of the Italian communist party; John Cook: Origins of socialist history in George Eliot. Discussion and questions OPEN RS 5/022 30 Nov: Further discussion; R Samuel: 1979 British Labour history; Ruskin Students Collective: Theories of knowledge OPEN RS 5/023 30 Nov: Ruskin Students Collective contd; 1979 Tom Mole: ‘A worker looks at history’ (Mark Starr); discussion from the floor includes R Samuel, Steve Talliday, Judy Bloomfield, Eddy Frow OPEN RS 5/024 1 Dec, evening: (Stephen Yeo chairs, R 1979 Samuel asks for funds) Stuart Hall: E P Thompson’s ‘The poverty of theory’; Richard Johnson: Critique of theoretical absolutism OPEN RS 5/025 1 Dec, evening: R Johnson contd; Edward 1979 Thompson responds; Stephen Yeo, Gavin Kitchen intervene; discussion OPEN RS 5/026 1 Dec evening: discussion, including: R 1979 Samuel, John Saville, S Yeo, Julian Harbar, Keith McClelland, J Bloomfield, Jane Caplan, Nicholas Garnem, Judy Kimble, Logie Barrow, Philip Corrigan, Gareth Stedman- Jones OPEN RS 5/027 1 Dec, evening: discussion continues, 1979 unidentified speakers OPEN RS 5/028 1 Dec, a.m.: Catherine Hall, Eve Hostettler: 1979 Feminist history and politics OPEN RS 5/029 1 Dec, a.m./p.m., E Hostettler contd; Tinne 1979 Vanne : Feminist history in Denmark; Anne Marie Troger: Feminist history in Germany OPEN RS 5/030 1 Dec a.m./p.m., Paola Di Cori: Feminist 1979 history in Italy; Selma Leyersdorf: Feminist history in Holland OPEN RS 5/031 1 Dec p.m. Ellen Ross: Feminist history in 1979 the USA; discussion OPEN RS 5/032 1 Dec p.m.: Feminism and labour history: 1979 discussion, summing up OPEN RS 5/033 1 Dec a.m.: African history, Thomas 1979 Hodgkin: Colonialism, nationalism, radicalism in African historiography; Robin Law, Shula Marks: Anthropology & history as alternate perspectives; discussion OPEN RS 5/034 1 Dec a.m./p.m.: African history, discussion; 1979 Richard Rathbone: Slavery; discussion OPEN RS 5/035 1 Dec p.m.: African history: John Tosh 1979 (standing in for John Lonsdale): [?] East African history; discussion OPEN RS 5/036 1 Dec a.m., Labour history; Royden Harrison, 1979 Making of Webbs’ history of trade unionism; Dave Douglass, Franz Bruggmeier: Miners’ histories in Britain and Germany OPEN RS 5/037 1 Dec a.m., R Harrison, contd. 1979 OPEN RS 5/038 1 Dec a.m., Miners’ histories, contd; Sheila 1979 Rowbotham, Anna Davin: Feminism and labour history OPEN RS 5/039 1 Dec, a.m.: Peasant studies, Bob Scribner, 1979 Peter Worsley, Ian Carter, discussion OPEN RS 5/040 1 Dec a.m., Peasant studies, discussion (R 1979 Samuel, K Eberhard [?]) OPEN RS 5/041 1 Dec a.m., Peasant studies, discussion 1979 (unidentified voices) OPEN RS 5/042 1 Dec a.m., Peasant studies, discussion, 1979 contd. OPEN RS 5/043 1 Dec a.m., Paul Thompson: Problems of oral 1979 history OPEN RS 5/044 1 Dec a.m., Ireland; Claude Robinot, Rayner 1979 Lysaght: Class struggle and nationalism 1900-1922 OPEN RS 5/045 1 Dec p.m., Ireland; discussion (G 1979 McCormick [?]) OPEN RS 5/046 1 Dec