History Workshop Journal’s 100th Issue: a celebration

In January 2026, History Workshop Journal publishes its 100th issue, as well as celebrating its 50th anniversary. From its origins at Ruskin College, Oxford in 1967, the History Workshop movement promoted ‘history from below’: history seen through the eyes of ordinary people rather than elites. It sought to move the study of history beyond universities into public gatherings, or ‘workshops’, open to anyone. The first issues of History Workshop Journal were self-published, cut and pasted together on editors’ kitchen tables. HWJ is now one of the world’s leading historical journals.

Issue 100 has contributions from founding or longstanding editors (Sally Alexander, Anna Davin, Catherine Hall, Bill Schwarz, Barbara Taylor) and writing by current more recent members of the editorial collective, showcasing History Workshop as a diverse and now global movement. It makes clear that, while much has changed about History Workshop since 1976, we remain committed to our founding principles of socially engaged, accessible history and collaborative ways of working.

Join us to discuss how history shapes our lives today, and how we might look for sources of radical hope and change in troubled times.

Raphael Samuel History Centre in partnership with History Workshop Journal.

For information contact Katy (k.pettit@bbk.ac.uk)