Summer Offerings & News

Well, we've been busy over the start of the summer and I thought I would just bring you up-to-date with what's new and upcoming. Finally, we've put two offerings from respected Stalin scholar Prof. J. Arch Getty (UCLA) up. In one standard podcast, Professor Getty demystifies Stalin and The Great Terror, a subject upon which Professor Getty is one of the world's leading experts. In the other we have a 50 -minute interview with Professor Getty by our own Dr. James Harris (Leeds), another leading authority on Stalin. The two chat about Professor Getty's career, his influences, his interests and, of course, analyse the work that has brought him to international prominence.

We have also been fimlming a series of 5 methodological podcasts by Kevin Yuill (Sunderland) and Chris Prior (Leeds), looking at using the internet as a study resource, how to read and research as an historian, writing skills and much more... These will take slightly longer to edit and finish because of the embedded links, images and so on but should be up for the beginning of the new school year.

As if this wasn't enough, we have also just finished filming a series of other podcasts which are about to be edited and will go online towards the end of September (or hopefully earlier ;-)). They are:

Glenn Richardson (St. Mary's) - four podcasts looking at Henry VIII, his decisionmaking, and the times in which he reigned.
John Gooch (Leeds) - two podcasts looking at the outbreak of the First World War, and a further podcast on Mussolini and his Generals.
Malcolm Chase (Leeds) - a podcast on studying Labor History, and more specifically Chartism, on the internet - not simply methodological, the podcast also contains much historical context.
Moritz Foellmer (Leeds) - 2 podcasts focused upon Weimar Germany and one on the rise of The Nazi Party and Hitler.

Additionally, at the end of August we will be filming 3 podcasts from Natalie Mears (Durham) talking about Elizabethan and broader Tudor History.

Please keep your comments, requests, and feedback coming in. It is a very important part of what we do and helps us to help you.

Best wishes,

Jonathan.

Material Culture

If you could choose 5 objects to represent you and/or your family in a museum exhibition, what would you pick? Go over to the Forum to add yours...

Need some inspiration. Why not have a look at some museum displays:

"Magnificence of the Tsars" at the V&A

Chartwell National Trust Property - Home of Sir Winston Churchill

Harry S Truman Presidential Museum & Library

New Forum - Who's your favourite president?

We are trialling a new forum and to get us off the ground, the first question we want to hear from you on is: "who is your favourite US president and why"? The forum can be accessed through this portal. So why not have a look? Additionally, you can use this forum to ask our historians any questions that you might have. Hope to see you there. Jonathan.

Photographs

We have started a new project on Flickr to collect photographs of historical buildings, sites, battlefields etc. We're not so much worried about the quality of the photos (although, it would obviously be good if they weren't blurred and that you could make out the main focal point!) but want to build up as large a documentary record as possible. If you've been on a school trip or holiday and recorded anything historical, please go to The History Faculty's group page on Flikr (http://www.flickr.com/groups/historyfaculty/) and upload away! Please don't forget to tell us what the pictures are of, and, if you know what geotagging is, please geotag them (this is not compulsory). Let's see how large a record we can create...

Site Updates

Kevin Yuill has added further reading and weblinks to his podcast on US Immigration.

Why not follow us on Twitter for historic quotations, questions answered, or just to see who's following us (i.e. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, Alan Partridge) or who we're following (i.e. Snoop Dogg, Hillary Clinton, Alan Carr & JLC, Larry King, Dalai Lama, and many, many more)?

or

become a fan on facebook and add your photographs of historic sites, buildings etc. to our own.

That's all folks!

New Reading Lists

An update on new resources available onsite:

James Harris has added timelines, further reading and synopses to his podcasts on Stalin's Economic Transformation of the USSR & Stalin's Rise to Power.

Similarly, Alastair Kocho-Williams has added further reading an information to his podcast pages: Russia, Germany & the Alliance System, 1872-1914 & Stalin's Foreign Policy, 1917-1924.

Natalie Mears (University of Durham) has provided an extensive reading list focused upon the Tudors.

Kate Ferris (University of Durham) has put together some introductory reading for the study of Modern Italy and, specifically, Mussolini.

Gaby Treglia (University of Durham) has provided a reading list to aid the study of Native American History.

Additionally, we continue to add online resources and web links to our resources page (which is now searchable, along with the podcasts).

Please don't forget to submit a resource if you think that it could help and/or interest someone else.

DVDs Now Available

Just to let you all know that you can now purchase dvds of our podcasts for use in classroom activities. They are all available in HD and currently we are waiving postage and packing. You can find them here or purchase them from their corresponding homepages on The History Faculty site, such as here.

Latest Podcasts

We have just finished filming 4 British History podcasts from Hester Barron (University of Sussex) on subjects including the 1926 General Strike, 4 podcasts from Chris Prior (University of Leeds) looking at British Imperial history, notably the Boer War, and 3 further podcasts from Simon Hall (University of Leeds) that will compliment his first podcast focused on Civil Rights, with commentary on John Kennedy's relationship with Civil Rights, the Black Panthers and much more... They should be up on the site and available via the feed by the end of January.

The Forum is now up and running and an ideal place to debate the issues that interest you and ask those questions that are proving difficult.

As ever, if you have any questions or would like to suggest podcasts that we need to record, let me know: Jonathan