A Reflection on History and Archives in Practice 2026

This blog post was written by Sasha Pond and Sarah Snelling, the 2025-2026 Graduate Trainee Library Assistants at the IHR Wohl Library.

On Thursday 16 April a group of four of us from the IHR attended this year’s History and Archives in Practice conference. The conference was jointly organised by the Royal Historical Society, The National Archives, and the IHR, partnered with the University of Sheffield Library for a fascinating day of talks and workshops. This year’s theme was Shaping Societies, Improving Lives: The Impact of Archives and Historical Research. This theme brought into sharp focus the tangible ways that the heritage sector, archives, and historians can impact and work alongside communities.

After some networking and an introduction to the conference by Angela Haighton of the University of Sheffield Library, the first session of the day began in earnest. In this blog, we’ve reflected on some of the sessions we attended throughout the day.

At the panel Navigating the Politics of/within the Archive we heard from Kevin Harris on his research into the British Union of Fascists and Oswald Mosley’s archives held at the University of Sheffield. We also heard from Julie Melrose and Dr Lyndsey Jenkins on their project based at Bruce Castle Museum in Haringey on Joyce Butler. Both projects touched on the role of archives in providing a voice to marginalised groups (or perceived marginalised groups) and the question of which voices are included or excluded from archives.

The second session discussed the ways in which identity and community can be made, reinforced and legitimised through the archive. Speakers included Professor Vanessa Toulmin and Sheldon Chadwick both on the University of Sheffield’s National Fairground and Circus Archive and what it meant to the showmen community, of which they are both members of. The other speaker was Sarah Broadhurst who spoke about the University of Sheffield Library’s exhibition More than a Degree: 120 Years of Life at the Student Union, which we were lucky enough to visit on our lunch break. Over lunch we also visited the HAP26 Showcase, where a variety of northern universities and heritage organisations showcased their work. Highlights included the University of Bradford’s J. B. Priestly Archive and a project at Heritage Quay celebrating the forgotten history of Women’s Rugby League.

Following lunch there were three more sessions. During the first session the IHR’s own Professor Claire Langhamer chaired the panel Working Together to Drive Change: From Collaboration to Co-Production where we heard about how to bring people into archival, curation and heritage projects. Professor Abigail Harrison Moore’s talk on her work with the Preservative Party at Leeds City Museum and the true nature of participatory action research with young people was particularly interesting. The Fourth session also had a member of the IHR Team chairing a panel. Neil Stewart, Head of Library and Digital, chaired Class identities, community histories and collaborative practices. In the panel we heard from Dr Sarah Hughes of the University of Warwick’s Modern Record Centre (MRC) on her and Liz Wood’s work on National Union of Mineworkers archives which have moved from Miner’s Hall in Barnsley to the MRC. The second speaker Bea Tailby Hardstaff spoke on her ongoing PhD project on understanding young people’s engagement (or lack thereof) with the Working-Class Movement Library.

There was also a session titled Participatory Approaches: Meaningful Engagement and Lived Experience, which gave a fascinating insight into the impact archive projects can have on their communities. The three case studies presented by Chelsea Collison, Laura Yeoman, Kate Jarman and Laura Owen, worked with local groups on homelessness, mental health and Covid-19 respectively. It was interesting to hear how different projects used different ways of participatory approaches to mobilise communities, and the impact these have had on people’s lives and public policy.

One of the panels in our final session of the day was Mobilising Partnerships for Civic Good: Equity, Collaboration and Co-Design, whichwas a fantastic way to round out a fascinating day. We heard from Dr Jesús Sanjurjo, Dr Jason Griffiths, and Olivia Majumdar on their work collaborating with other institutions and/or their own communities. They provided real insight into how to achieve this with great success in a variety of different places such as Havana, Hackney, and the Forest of Dean. The day was rounded out by closing remarks by Professor Lucy Noakes of the Royal Historical Society.

Firth Court, the beautiful building where the conference took place, was home to a myriad of discussions on archives and history. It was wonderful to bear witness to so many discussions of history as process and history as social good. Overall, it was an affirming day when looking at the future and the work of historians and those in the GLAM sector.

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