On 22 October, members of the Society’s Council visited historians at the University of Suffolk: to learn more about the department, and historical studies across the institution; discuss shared priorities and concerns; and to consider how the Society can best support the work of historians within and beyond higher education.
Our focus for the visit was ‘Working with Heritage Partners’ which built on the department’s distinctive and very close and creative relationship with Suffolk Archives, where the visit was based. The discussions brought together historians from across the region (University of East Anglia, Anglia Ruskin, Essex and Cambridge) with representatives from archives and museums, including the Ipswich and Colchester Museums, The Food Museum, Britten Pears Arts and Suffolk County Council.
These sessions considered the practice and benefit of historians and heritage professionals working collaboratively, and consideration of how the Royal Historical Society best supports historians in both sectors. The visit also included a tour of The Hold, home of Suffolk Archives, which opened in 2020.
The day closed with a public lecture given by our guest speaker, Professor Tim Grady, from the University of Chester, held in the Auditorium of The Hold, the home of Suffolk Archives
Tim’s lecture — ‘Unravelling the Tapestry of Death: Britain and the Memory of the Two World Wars’ — revealed the many thousands of non-British service people who were buried in the UK during the First and Second World Wars. With a focus on the German war dead, Tim explored the motivations for holding funerals and tending graves, the involvement of local communities in this, and the impact of a programme of exhumation in the 1950s and 1960s which saw graves relocated to national cemeteries such as Madingley (United States) and Cannock Chase (Germany). Tim’s lecture was preceded by a reception and chance for Council members to meet Fellows and Members of the Society from the region.
Our great thanks to Tim for his excellent lecture, and to Dr Harvey Osborne at the University of Suffolk and Judith Berry at Suffolk Archives, for organising the visit and their welcome.
Forthcoming Society Visits
The Society’s next visit is to historians at the UCL Institute of Education and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on Wednesday 10 December.
This visit will focus on working as a historian outside a traditional history department. The event will include a public lecture by Dr Heather Ellis (School of Education, University of Sheffield) who will speak on ‘Hunger, Health and Hope: A History of School Meals in Britain’.
This lecture — which takes place at 6pm at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine — considers how policy, practice, and lived experience have shaped school dining in Britain across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. With reference to new oral histories, archival evidence, and ethnographic studies in contemporary schools, the lecture highlights the emotional and sensory dimensions of mealtimes as well as their wider social and cultural meanings.
Booking to attend is now open to all and, again, we look forward to welcoming RHS Fellows and Members from the region to the lecture and reception which follows. Visits will be attended by the Society’s President, Professor Lucy Noakes, and members of the RHS Council.
The Society’s Visits for 2026 open, on Wednesday 18 February, with a joint meeting of historians from Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield. Our public lecture on this occasion will be given by Professor David Stack (Reading).