This year's AGM was held virtually on Tuesday 2 June at 6.30pm. Thank you for being a member of the Historical Association. Your membership is what enables the HA to continue supporting the teaching, learning and enjoyment of history at all levels, for generations to come. As part of our membership community...

(and some planning ahead for 2027)  May is Local and Community History month. For 2026 we are linking it to the National Year of Reading by looking at the importance of writers and local records to historians for bringing a place to life. Places change: that is inevitable and also...

In March 2026 the British government published its policy paper on community cohesion: Protecting What Matters: Towards a more confident, cohesive and resilient United Kingdom. The paper asserts that ‘throughout our history, the UK’s ability to withstand external challenges has been underpinned by a strong social fabric’. It goes on...

2026 has been declared as the National Year of Reading, a timely reminder of the importance of literacy, but also the power of the written word.  Throughout recorded history the ability to read and write has been an important form of communication, often used to control access to power and...

The Historical Association was founded in 1906, with individual branches established in the months and years that followed. Some of those original—or near‑original—branches are still active today, making them historic Historical Association branches in their own right. One such branch is the Bath Branch, founded in 1926 during the interwar...

Eleanor Barraclough tells a richly detailed history of the Viking Age through the everyday objects and traces left by ordinary people, revealing the complex, lived realities behind the familiar saga‑era myths. Dr Eleanor Barraclough is a historian, author and broadcaster. Her most recent book, Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of...

Our 2026 annual conference is now over – join us at next year's conference in May 2027!  See the 2026 conference programme Catch a train to Newcastle upon Tyne and join us for our annual conference on 15-16 May 2026. In one of the oldest cities of English history (Romans onwards)...

March is Women’s History Month, which conveniently overlaps with International Women’s Day (IWD). This year’s IWD has the theme 'Give to Gain', emphasising that providing resources and opportunities to women and girls benefits everyone: ‘When women thrive, we all rise’. Where has this message come from? From the real-life experiences of women over generations, which is of...