Writing Local History - Beckett, John

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Résumé :
List of illustrations Abbreviations Acknowledgements Preface I Introduction IIThe origins of local history The chorographic tradition William Camden Christopher Saxton County histories Dugdale and Thoroton Natural history III Antiquaries at large: the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Topographical studies Archaeology Collaborative county histories IV The parish and the town Parish histories Town histories of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Town histories of the eighteenth century Town histories of the nineteenth century V Local history marginalised Clubs and societies Professional history National history VI Local History and national History, 1880-1945 The study of the village Economic history, local history and adult education The Victoria County History Record publishing VII W.G. Hoskins and the founding of modern local history The Annales School W.G. Hoskins The Making of the English Landscape Post-war developments Local history and the parish The Midland Peasant Farming regions Regions without boundaries VIII New Approaches: the region and the community Counties and parishes Microhistory Regions Pays Settlement Regional flexibility Regions and industrialising society Cultural identity Post-modernism IX New Approaches: family history, towns, landscape and other specialisms Family history Urban history Landscape history Vernacular architecture Industrial archaeology Oral testimony Place-names Heritage X The sources revolution The National Archives County archive offices Local studies libraries The family The land The house Source materials and the VCH XI Local history today Defining local history Understanding past communities Training Guidebooks Group research Good local history Issues, geographies and time periods XII Conclusion Bibliography Index...

Biographie:
John Beckett is Professor of English Regional History at the University of Nottingham and Director of the Victoria County History at the University of London...

Sommaire:
This fascinating book looks at how local history developed from the antiquarian county studies of the sixteenth century through the growth of 'professional' history in the nineteenth century, to the recent past. Concentrating on the past sixty years, it looks at the opening of archive offices, the invigorating influence of family history, the impact of adult education and other forms of lifelong learning. The author considers the debates generated by academics, including the divergence of views over local and regional issues, and the importance of standards set by the Victoria County History (VCH). Also discussed is the fragmentation of the subject. The antiquarian tradition included various subject areas that are now separate disciplines, among them industrial archaeology, name studies, family, landscape and urban history. This is an authoritative account of how local history has come to be one of the most popular and productive intellectual pastimes in our modern society. Written by a practitioner who has spent more than twenty years teaching local history to undergraduates and M.A. students, as well as lecturing to local history societies, John Beckett is currently Director of the VCH. A remarkable book that will be of great interest to students and scholars of local history as well as amateur and professional genealogists....