Welcome to Social History

Nicola Smith (Strand Leader)

n.l.smith@brighton.ac.uk/

Thinking historically

• The strand will enable you to develop as historians

• think about how history is shown on television or in films

• Examine historical stories in newspapers or TV news

• Look around at the town in which you live & the building you pass everyday for the clues they have to the past

• Most importantly enjoy history

Social History strand

• Takes a social history approach English history from c.1800-2000 studied from the perspective of southern England.

• Small group of 10-15 students

• Studied alongside either English Literature or Sociology

• We encourage students to work with historical sources from the beginning of the course

Social history

• Concerned with every day life- society

• How big historical events- wars, political changes impact daily lives

• Looks at change and development & its underlying causes

• Considers how certain factors influence every day life

• e.g.Class, ethnicity, gender, age, creation of identity.

Course Structure: Social History

Level Semester 1 Semester 2

Level 4

HC410 Studying social history

HC111 Social & political change 1800-2000

UC401 Approaches to learning UC402 Subject approaches

Level 5HC280 Personal Histories

HC281 Leisure in Southern England

Level 6HC340 Public History

HC341 Conflict and change in 20th c.

Semester 1 Semester 2

Level 4

HC410

HC111

UC401 Approaches to Learning

UC402 Subject approaches

Level 5 HC280 UC501 Learning through practice

HC281 UC 502 Research practices

Level 6 HC340 UC601 Dissertation

HC341 UC601 Dissertation

Social History & common modules

Birmingham Pals

1915 Seven young men pose in their new uniforms in Sutton Park , Birmingham

Photo copyright Birmingham Libraries.

Sources for Social History

• Census returns

• Local & national newspapers

• Professional press

• Organisational records

• Personal writings.

‘Pets of the City’

• Something might also be done if the authorities would facilitate the raising of a battalion of non-manual workers. Splendid material is available, and we do not doubt that such a battalion, if associated with in some way with the name of the city, would fill rapidly.

• Birmingham Daily Post editorial 28 August, 1914,

• [The army has been]…leavened ... immeasurably… in the future the army must become a calling as highly respected as it is at the present moment and to secure this the friends of temperance and purity must bestir themselves to clear the temptation out of the way.

• Robert K. Dent, "Lecture on Temperance, c1916," Lecture notes and other manuscripts Vol. 1. [c.1890-1920], Birmingham City Archives,

An example of sources used for research

Bearing in mind that the work of public libraries is the very negation of war….we are confident that librarians will show as keen a sense of patriotism and love of country as those of other callings”

Library Assistant 11, 1914, p.183

Reading from left to right of the photograph are:

• (Standing: W. W. Howe, Assistant Constitution Hill Library; enlisted 11 September 1914. promoted Lt. Reg No 922

• Frank T. Izard enlisted 11 September 1914. Branch Assistant Librarian, Handsworth. Died 4 October 1917 aged 27. Reg No. 925

• Kneeling: Thomas Riley enlisted 11 September 1914. Assistant Reference Library. Missing in action 22 July, 1916, aged 24. Reg. no. 976

• Frederick J. Patrick. Assistant Reference Library, . Enlisted 5 September 1914.. promoted Sgt. Reg.No 3

• Sitting: G.H. Dyer, Birchfield Library; enlisted 11 September 1914. Reg. No 874

• Henry W. Checketts enlisted 11 September 1914. Branch Librarian Constitution Hill Library Died 3 September 1916, aged 30. Reg. no. 873

• Percy Albert Garner. Enlisted 5 September 1914. Assistant Reference Library. Died 23 July 1916 aged 25. Reg, No 7

She left the web, she left the loom;She made three paces thro' the room, She saw the water-lily [16] bloom, She saw the helmet and the plume, She look'd down to Camelot. Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror crack'd from side to side; "The curse is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott.

Lord Tennyson, The lady of Shalot

“A web was woven at the Loom of Fate;Enmeshed we were within its subtle strands,Til torn asunder by War’s ruthless hands..”

Harry Checketts, 1915.

Poets or clerks?

Perfect gentle knights or reliable sober clerks?

“Character: Good, A good clerk, honest, reliable and sober”.

Discharge report of William Howard Reeves, senior assistant, Reference Library, enlisted in November, 1915 at the age of 40, and served with Royal Army Service Corps in France until March 1917.

A“.. ‘verie perfect knight’... who laid down his life for England on the Western Front…”

W.C. Berwick-Sayers, Obituary of Henry Wilfred Checketts, The library world, 19, 1916,17, p.122.

Degree structure

• Each strand contributes 40 CATs points on each level of the degree

• E.g. Two Social History+two Eng. Lit. or Sociology +two common or one common in Level 6.

• To progress at the end of each level a student needs 120 CATs points achieved by passing 6 modules

• Important to work hard at each strand as all three strands contribute equally to the final award.

Module organisation

• First year (level 4): modules run across both semesters

• 26 teaching weeks- two hour sessions

• Informal lecture followed by seminar discussion or activity

• Students prepare for each session by doing the readings or preparing for the activity

• Close to assessments we have sessions that focus on what is required

• Module staff are available for tutorial support

• Level 5 & 6 one history module each semester

• 13 teaching weeks- three hour sessions

Personal tutoring

• Everyone has a personal tutor

• Staff will see personal tutees once a semester.

• Students can request an appointment to see their tutor at any point in the semester.