The VAHS blog aims to provide a space for sharing and discussing the latest research, developments and insights in the history of charity, campaigning and civil society.
Topics covered include book reviews and conference reports, discussions of current policy issues such as the government’s big society agenda, as well as insights from some of the latest research into the history of philanthropy and the voluntary sector. Some blog posts tie in to the other VAHS activities, including our London seminars, our charity archives campaign or our work encouraging the development of transnational histories.
The VAHS blog’s contributors range from postgraduate students to senior scholars, as well as archivists and others. The posts themselves are up to c.1,000 words, with minimal references and should be written in an accessible style.
If you are interested in contributing or would like further information, please contact the editor, Dr George Campbell Gosling, at:
Latest contributors
Dr Georgina Brewis is a research officer at the University of London’s Institute of Historical Research and a research associate at the Institute of Volunteering Research. She completed her PhD on ‘An imperial ideal of service: Britian and India before 1914′ at the University of East London in 2009. She is also a VAHS committee member. Her contributions have been on the impact of public spending cuts on voluntary sector archives; voluntary action history sites and museums in London; the campaign to protect charity archives with Brenda Weeden; and on student volunteering a century ago.
Dr Pat Starkey is now Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool and is a former Chair of the VAHS. She has published widely on the history of social work, child welfare and the voluntary sector. Her contribution to this blog was on the ‘problem family’, past and present.
Dr Robert Howes was a member of the Westminster group of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, 1978-80 and has been a member of the local Gay West group since 1985. A librarian by profession, he is currently a Research Associate at King’s College London. He has published a book and articles on Portuguese history and on LGBT culture in Brazil. His contribution to this blog was on voluntary action and the LGBT movement since the 1960s.
Top 10 most read blog essays
1. That Was The Year That Was: Farewell to 2011!
Colin Rochester and Meta Zimmeck, Birkbeck College London and R2Z Wisdom
Posted on 2 January 2012
2. Locating Female Philanthropy: Past and Present
Dr Eve Colpus, New College, University of Oxford
Posted on 12 December 2011
3. A New Campaign for Charity Archives
Dr Georgina Brewis, Institute of Education, University of London, and
Brenda Weeden, University of Westminster
Posted on 28 November 2011
4. The Compact: We’ve Lost It!
Colin Rochester and Meta Zimmeck, Birkbeck College London and R2Z Wisdom
Posted on 12 September 2011
5. Transnational Histories of Voluntary Action
Dr George Campbell Gosling, Oxford Brookes University, UK and
Dr Melanie Oppenheimer, University of New England, Australia
Posted on 9 January 2012
6. Occupy Oral History: Documenting History in the Making
Dr Graham Smith, Royal Holloway, London
Posted on 30 January 2012
7. Healthcare, Voluntarism and the State in 20th-century Ireland and Britain
Dr George Campbell Gosling, Oxford Brookes University
Posted on 5 September 2011
8. The ‘Big Society’ and the Challenges of History
Dr Glen O’Hara, Oxford Brookes University
Posted on 24 October 2011
9. Review: Beveridge and the Roots of Voluntary Action
Anjelica Finnegan, University of Southampton
Posted on 21 November 2011
10. How New is the New Philanthropy?
Professor Hugh Cunningham, University of Kent
Posted on 5 December 2011
