"This article is intended as an exercise in‘reflective practice’ rather than a piece of academic writing. It describes an innovative and successful oral history project at Frome in Somerset, which resulted in the publication of a book called Working Memories, reviewed elsewhere in this edition of Regional Historian.The article covers the background to the project;the choice of sample of 90 people interviewed;the collection of photos and memorabilia; the editing of the interviews; how oral history relates to other forms of history; and some substantive and methodological conclusions that might be drawn from the project".
Tag: World War Two
Stolen Paradise: Civilian squatters in military camps in and around postwar Bristol
During the summer of 1946, thousands of British families took the law into their own hands to temporarily solve their housing problems by "requisitioning" empty military camps. Eugene Byrne takes a look at the mass-squatting movement that swept the city and surrounding area, which took up almost all of the country's vacant military sites in two weeks from its ignition.
Engineering Work, Politics and Industrial Relations
The research discussed in this article is about 'work, society, and politics with a focus on engineering from the mid-1920s to the mid-1970s. Its starting point is earlier research on the 'labour process' specifically the influence of Taylorism and 'scientific management' in Britain. The broader aim is now to connect what Burawoy called 'the politics of production' with the politics of the wider society. It also deals with some integral research questions and key themes'.
A soldier’s letters
In this article, Williamson describes the process of tracking down the descendants of Stanley Charles Booker in modern day Bristol, a process stemming from a project given to pupils at his school. It covers many of the important processes embarked upon to discover family heritage, especially if technology proves to be unhelpful.
St Thomas’ Church, Bristol: From Medieval Splendour to Classical elegance
'There were 18 parish churches crowded in and around the walls of medieval Bristol. Churchwardens' accounts and other sources show that these churches continued to be well-maintained throughout the 16th and 17th centuries , in spite of the destruction of many furnishings of great beauty and value during all the upheavals of the Reformation'. Joseph Bettey looks at the maintenance of parish churches in the Bristol area, and how congregations approached physical alterations to the skin of the building.