''Past & Present'' is a British historical

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

, which has been a leading force in the development of

social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...

. Founded in 1952, the journal is published four times a year by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

on behalf of the Past and Present Society, a British historical membership association and

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

. The society also publishes a book series (Past and Present Publications), and sponsors occasional conferences and appoints

postdoctoral fellows A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academ ...

. The current chair of the editorial board is Joanna Innes, the Winifred Holtby Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at

Somerville College Somerville College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The college's liberal tone derives from its f ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

History

After the end of the Second World War, an emerging subfield of

gradually became popular in history departments. ''Past & Present'' thus emerged in 1952 as an alternative to mainstream political history journals. It was founded by a combination of

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

and non-Marxist historians, including John Morris. The Marxist historians included members of the

Communist Party Historians Group The Communist Party Historians' Group (CPHG) was a subdivision of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) that formed a highly influential cluster of United Kingdom, British Marxist historiography, Marxist historians. The Historians' Group de ...

, including

E. P. Thompson Edward Palmer Thompson (3 February 1924 – 28 August 1993) was an English historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner. He is best known for his historical work on the radical movements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in partic ...

, Christopher Hill,

Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (''Th ...

Raphael Samuel Raphael Elkan Samuel (26 December 19349 December 1996) was a British Marxist historian and author, described by Stuart Hall as "one of the most outstanding, original intellectuals of his generation". Samuel helped create the History Workshop m ...

Rodney Hilton Rodney Howard Hilton (17 November 1916 – 7 June 2002) was an English Marxist historian of the late medieval period and the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Biography Hilton was born in Middleton in Lancashire. His father, John ...

, and

Dona Torr Dona Ruth Anne Torr (April 28, 1883January 8, 1957) was a British Marxist historian, and a major influence on the famous Communist Party Historians Group. Aside from her translations of many Marxist classics into English, she is perhaps best kn ...

Gordon Childe Vere Gordon Childe (14 April 189219 October 1957) was an Australian archaeologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. He spent most of his life in the United Kingdom, working as an academic for the University of Edinburgh and ...

was a founder member of the board. The journal previously had the subtitled ''A Journal of Scientific History''. These figures often advocated ''History from Below'' in explaining the history of class, labour, and social relations. Morris was the editor from 1952 until 1960 and remained as chairman of the editorial board until 1972. ''Past & Present'' was simultaneously influenced by the ''Annales'' school of historians, which aimed to write history in its totality. The History Workshop movement, founded in the 1960s, aimed to become a platform for the study of "ordinary people". The influence of ''Past & Present'' greatly expanded in the historical discipline after the publication of Thompson's ''

The Making of the English Working Class ''The Making of the English Working Class'' is a work of English social history written by E. P. Thompson, a New Left historian. It was first published in 1963 by Victor Gollancz Ltd, and republished in revised form in 1968 by Pelican, after ...

'' in 1963.

References

External links

*
Past and Present society homepage
History journals Academic journals established in 1952 Oxford University Press academic journals Quarterly journals English-language journals Charities based in England Communist Party Historians Group {{history-journal-stub

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links