Category: Oral history

Conferences, Seminars and Events, 20th century history, Contemporary History, Elections, Local History, Modern, Oral history, Social history

From the Grassroots exhibition launched

We were delighted to formally open our ‘From the Grassroots’ exhibition last week at the Forum, University of Exeter. ‘From the Grassroots’ has, with the generous support of the HLF, been collecting memories of political activism in Devon since 1945. Here our project coordinator, Dr Kayleigh Milden, shares her thoughts on the exhibition… Creating the exhibition from scratch has been a wonderful experience. Standing back … Continue reading From the Grassroots exhibition launched

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Contemporary History, 20th century history, Elections, Modern, Oral history, Parties

MPs’ memories of candidate selection

Today’s blogpost is from one of our Oral History Project interviewers, Emme Ledgerwood, who has used our archive to explore the experience of candidate selection… The vast majority of MPs arrive at Westminster on a party ticket, and one of the most critical junctures on that road remains getting selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate for a political party. Candidate selection is governed only by … Continue reading MPs’ memories of candidate selection

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Conferences, Seminars and Events, 20th century history, Modern, Oral history

Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Priscila Pivatto & Emma Peplow, ‘MPs in their own words: the History of Parliament’s oral history project’

Our last ‘Parliaments, Politics and People’ seminar was an internal affair, as Priscila Pivatto and Emma Peplow spoke on the History of Parliament’s own national oral history project, which is recording MPs’ memories in their own words. We began by introducing the project and our progress so far (you can find out more here), before discussing some preliminary findings from our project for post-war British … Continue reading Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Priscila Pivatto & Emma Peplow, ‘MPs in their own words: the History of Parliament’s oral history project’

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Conferences, Seminars and Events, 20th century history, Contemporary History, Elections, Local History, Modern, Oral history, Parties

Exeter elections in the 1990s: Witness Seminar

On 27 October we held our first ‘witness seminar’ at the Devon Heritage Centre as part of From the Grassroots: an oral history of community politics in Devon. The aim of a witness seminar is to bring together a small group of people who were involved in particular event or organisation to share their memories. The result is different from a one-on-one oral history interview … Continue reading Exeter elections in the 1990s: Witness Seminar

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Contemporary History, 20th century history, Diplomacy and International Relations, Elections, Factions, Modern, Oral history, Parties

Defection, by-elections and Europe… in the 1970s.

In tomorrow’s by-election in Clacton, former Conservative MP Douglas Carswell will contest his previous seat after defection to UKIP. Carswell’s strong difference of opinion with his party over the issue of Europe has echoes of a different by-election – Lincoln in 1973 – but the parties and positions were reversed. When Britain was applying to join the then European Economic Community (EEC) in the 1960s … Continue reading Defection, by-elections and Europe… in the 1970s.

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Contemporary History, 20th century history, Modern, Oral history

More memories from Westminster: New oral history material added to historyofparliamentonline.org

Our national oral history project has now interviewed more than 100 former MPs, and to celebrate we have added some more webpages dedicated to our interviewees. These pages include brief biographies, full interview summaries and extracts from the interviews themselves. The six new MPs added – Kenneth Baker, Patrick Jenkin, John Osborn, Christopher Price, James Prior and Sir Teddy Taylor – were also photographed by … Continue reading More memories from Westminster: New oral history material added to historyofparliamentonline.org

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Modern, 20th century history, Conferences, Seminars and Events, Elections, Local History, Oral history, Social history

New website launched for ‘From the Grassroots’

Today, we are delighted to launch our new, interactive website for our HLF-funded project From the Grassroots: An Oral History of Community Politics in Devon. The project is creating a sound archive of people involved in local politics within the county from 1945 until the present day. The website will showcase our interviews and research, as well as being an excellent way to keep you … Continue reading New website launched for ‘From the Grassroots’

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Modern, 20th century history, Irish History, Oral history

MPs and the Troubles

Thirty years ago today (17 June 1974) a bomb exploded in Westminster Hall at about 8.28am, which led to a large fire in the medieval hall. Six minutes before police had received a warning using a recognised Irish Republican Army (IRA) code word. David Steel, then Liberal chief whip, was in the Palace of Westminster at the time and later told the BBC: “the whole … Continue reading MPs and the Troubles

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Contemporary History, 20th century history, Modern, Oral history, Social history

The Miners’ Strike: 30 years on

Thirty years ago this month the miners’ strike began. One of the defining moments of modern British history and Margaret Thatcher’s government, in March 1984 Arthur Scargill led the National Union of Mineworkers out on strike in protest against proposed mine closures. The strike has been viewed as a stark battle between the Thatcher government, determined to privatise the British coal industry and undermine the … Continue reading The Miners’ Strike: 30 years on

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20th century history, Conferences, Seminars and Events, Elections, Local History, Modern, Oral history, Parties, Social history

From the Grassroots: The official launch

Last week we made the trip down to the wonderful Devon Heritage Centre for the official launch of our new oral history project, ‘From the Grassroots’. You will probably know by now that we have been fortunate enough to receive a HLF grant to run an oral history project on local politics in Devon after WWII. If you don’t, you can read all about it … Continue reading From the Grassroots: The official launch

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