Institute of Historical Research
Encyclopedia
Not to be confused with the Institute for Historical Review
Institute for Historical Review
The Institute for Historical Review , founded in 1978, is an American organization that describes itself as a "public-interest educational, research and publishing center dedicated to promoting greater public awareness of history." Critics have accused it of being an antisemitic "pseudo-scholarly...

, an American Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...

 organisation.


The Institute of Historical Research (or IHR) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study
School of Advanced Study
The School of Advanced Study, a postgraduate institution of the University of London, is the UK's national centre for the promotion and facilitation of research in the humanities and social sciences...

 in the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

 and is located at Senate House
Senate House (University of London)
Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London between the School of Oriental and African Studies to the north, with the British Museum to the south...

. The Institute was founded in 1921 by A. F. Pollard
Albert Pollard
Albert Frederick Pollard was a British historian who specialized in the Tudor period.-Life and career:Pollard was born in Ryde on the Isle of Wight. He was educated at Felsted School and Jesus College, Oxford where he achieved a first class honours in Modern History in 1891...

.

Foundation

The IHR was founded in 1921 by British historian Albert Pollard, a Professor of Constitutional History at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

. The IHR was directly administered by the Senate of the University of London, rather than being part of one of the federal colleges. It was the first organisation to be administered under such an arrangement, and as such provided the model for other Institutes—many of which later joined the IHR in the University of London's School of Advanced Study
School of Advanced Study
The School of Advanced Study, a postgraduate institution of the University of London, is the UK's national centre for the promotion and facilitation of research in the humanities and social sciences...

.

The IHR's first premises were in 'temporary' huts on Malet Street
Malet Street
Malet Street is a street in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, central London, England. It runs between Torrington Place and the British Museum, parallel to Gower Street and Tottenham Court Road...

, on a site now occupied by Birkbeck College
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It offers many Master's and Bachelor's degree programmes that can be studied either part-time or full-time, though nearly all teaching is...

. Despite the supposedly temporary nature of this accommodation, the IHR was not to move until 1947, when it took up residence in the north block of Senate House. Still occupying this position, many rooms in the IHR overlook the grass lawn in between Senate House
Senate House (University of London)
Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London between the School of Oriental and African Studies to the north, with the British Museum to the south...

 and SOAS
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...

, which is where Senate House's unbuilt fourth court would have been.

Role

The IHR's role comprises the following:

To promote the study of history and an appreciation of the importance of the past among academics and the general public, in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, in Britain and internationally, and to provide institutional support and individual leadership for this broad historical community




To offer a wide range of services which promote and facilitate excellence in historical research, teaching and scholarship in the UK, by means of its library, seminars, conferences, fellowships, training and publications (both print and digital)



To further high quality research into particular aspects of the past by its research centres – the Centre for Contemporary British History, the Centre for Metropolitan History and the Victoria County History of England
Victoria County History
The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 and was dedicated to Queen Victoria with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of...





To provide a welcoming environment where historians at all stages in their careers and from all parts of the world can meet formally and informally to exchange ideas and information, and to bring themselves up to date with current developments in historical scholarship

Functioning of the IHR

In order to fulfill its role as defined above, the IHR maintains different academic institutions, such as a library, the seminar programme as well as several integrated bodies and programmes. It also continues to publish high quality historical research.

Library

From the beginning the founders of the Institute of Historical Research envisaged a combination of scholarship and library. This tradition is continued in that the seminars still take place in the rooms of the library.
The library itself (its collection policy unaltered since the its foundation) collects sources for the History of Western Europe and areas affected by the European expansion. It now contains roughly 170,000 volumes. There are sizable holdings for the British Isles, as well as for Germany,
Austria, France, the Low countries,Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, the US and colonial history, ecclesiastical, Byzantine and crusader history as well as small holdings for Eastern Europe, Switzerland and Scandinavia.
The library is particularly good for sources on local history both of the British Isles and Europe. It contains the largest collection of Low Countries material outside of those countries (due to gifts from the Netherlands and research interests of scholars working there), the most complete collection of French cartularies outside of France as well as collections of poll books for the United Kingdom and a complete run of the Victoria County History books.
The collections have been supplemented by donations and bequests from many different scholars, such as the Wright collection (currently being integrated into the library holdings).

Seminar programme

The IHR supports and promotes a wide variety of seminars. They are accessible to all interested in the topic under discussion. Seminar topics range from the Early Middle Ages to Modern Britain, from the history of gardening to the philosophy of history. http://www.history.ac.uk/ihrseminars/index.php

Conferences

In addition to the seminars the IHR is also involved with a number of conference. Of these the Anglo-American conference is probably the largest, but there are also many others being run throughout the year.

Integrated bodies

Besides the core activities, several research centres are integrated into the Institute. These are:-*the Victoria County History, who have recently developed "England's Past for Everyone"
  • CCBH and History & Policy
  • Centre for Metropolitan History
    • The CCBH and the CMH offer taught M.A. and M.Phil.-- Ph.D. degrees can also be undertaken

Nazi book donation housed in the IHR Library

Among the IHR’s extensive collection of books on European history are a set of books donated to the University of London by the Nazis in 1937. The presentation was made by Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...

, who was at the time Nazi Germany’s Ambassador to Britain. These books are still complete with original bookplates marking them as a ‘Gift of the German Reich’.

James Bavington Jeffreys, a student at the LSE
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

 at the time, wrote an account of the attempt by University of London students to block the donation. Jeffreys attempted to rally support against the donation from the History teaching staff at the LSE
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

. Among the staff he spoke to were Sir Charles Webster and Richard Tawney, but he was unable to raise any support amongst the academics against the donation. Eventually it was left to the students themselves to make a stand. Around fifty students gathered outside Senate House
Senate House (University of London)
Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London between the School of Oriental and African Studies to the north, with the British Museum to the south...

, and demonstrated as Ribbentrop arrived to make the donation. Jeffreys noted: “…more than one college of the University was represented, to show it was not just the ‘left-wingers’ of the LSE”
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