Administrative/Biographical History

History Workshop Journal (HWJ) was founded in 1976, as an outgrowth of a series of "history workshops" held at Ruskin College, where Raphael Samuel was a history tutor.

The first editors of HWJ – Sally Alexander, Susan Bullock, Anna Davin, Alun Howkins, Andrew Lincoln, Tim Mason, Raphael Samuel, Stan Shipley, Gareth Stedman Jones, and Anne Summers – were all History Workshop activists. The launch "manifesto" issued for the journal in 1975, reproduced in the editorial for the first issue, called for the democratisation of history, its deprofessionalisation and politicisation.

The journal was subtitled "a journal of socialist historians", with the "editorial collective" – as it was, and is, known – declaring itself committed to a socialist standpoint, "neither prophetic nor exclusive", which would inform both the journal's content and its presentation. Six years later another editorial, even more militant in tone, announced the inclusion of "feminist" on the journal's masthead, where it remained until 1995 when the entire subtitle, "a journal of socialist and feminist historians", was deleted.

History Workshop Journal continues to be one of the world's leading journals of radical history. Its commitments to innovative scholarship, accessible writing, and lively engagement with the politics of historical knowledge continue to attract readers within and beyond the academic community.

Scope and Content

Papers relating to the publication and administration of History Workshop Journal, collected by Raphael Samuel and other editors (including Sally Alexander, Barbara Taylor, and others), including: editorial collective minutes, correspondence, log sheets, comments on contributions, publicity material, drafts of articles, financial papers, subscription papers, notes and papers regarding publication and publishers, 1975-2008.

Quantity

143 files