Young Historians
The history of childhood and the promotion of historical understanding among young people were among Raphael Samuel’s leading concerns. He wrote widely on these matters, and in the 1980s he worked with teachers, school students, academic historians and policy-makers to influence the shape and status of History in the national curriculum. The RSHC continues this work today. In 2006, we established the RSHC History & Schools Working Group composed of university and community historians, history teachers, and the Education Manager of the Historical Association. This group has worked closely with students from three London secondary schools, and aims now to expand this student involvement through several new initiatives. Any History teacher interested in joining the group is encouraged to contact our administrator, Katy Pettit, at k.pettit@uel.ac.uk
In 2008, the Centre held an event, ‘Bad Kids? The Politics of Childhood, Past and Present’ at which school students, historians, educationalists and policy-makers discussed the difficulties faced by children over the last two centuries. Click here for details.
Raphael Samuel's archive at the Bishopsgate Institute includes over 140 audio cassettes of recorded oral history interviews. The interviews were conducted by Samuel and others over the length of his career. Samuel’s belief in the value of oral testimony is reflected in the outreach activities of the Centre today: between 2004 and 2008 Visiting Research Fellow Michelle Johansen helped to develop and run an inter-generational oral history project in east London called 'Up the Manor!' Click here to learn more.