Department of History, Birkbeck
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| Department of History, Birkbeck | |
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| Name | Department of History, Birkbeck |
| Established | 1823 (Birkbeck College 1823) |
| Type | Public research department |
| City | London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Parent | Birkbeck, University of London |
Department of History, Birkbeck is an academic unit within Birkbeck, University of London, specialising in historical teaching and research with a focus on part-time and evening study. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs, supports doctoral research, and participates in collaborative projects with British and international institutions.
History
The department traces its institutional roots to Birkbeck, University of London and the founding ethos of George Birkbeck and the Mechanics' Institutes movement, developing through the Victorian era alongside figures associated with Queen Victoria, Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone, John Stuart Mill, and the Reform Act 1832. In the 20th century the department engaged with debates linked to World War I, World War II, the Russian Revolution, the Treaty of Versailles, Winston Churchill, Vladimir Lenin, Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd George, Emmeline Pankhurst, and the International Brigades. Twentieth- and twenty-first-century research at Birkbeck has addressed themes related to Cold War, European Union, Decolonisation, Indian Independence Act 1947, Apartheid, and United Nations histories.
Academic programs
The department offers BA, MA, and PhD pathways, professional development and distance-learning options informed by curricula that reference primary sources from periods such as Ancient Rome, Byzantine Empire, Medieval England, Tudor period, Stuart period, English Civil War, Glorious Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Victorian era, Ottoman Empire, Ming dynasty, Qing dynasty, Meiji Restoration, Spanish Civil War, Cold War, and Postcolonialism (postcolonialism) studies. Course modules commonly incorporate case studies on Magna Carta, Magellan, Martin Luther, French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Margaret Thatcher, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara, Simón Bolívar, Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, Charlemagne, Alexander the Great, Hammurabi, Suleiman the Magnificent, Saladin, Genghis Khan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Sukarno, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Aung San Suu Kyi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Edmund Burke, Antonio Gramsci, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas, and Edward Said.
Research and centres
Research themes span social, political, cultural, economic and global histories, with centres and initiatives that have partnered with British Library, National Archives (United Kingdom), Wellcome Trust, Arts and Humanities Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Leverhulme Trust, European Research Council, Royal Historical Society, Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, British Museum, Tate Modern, Museum of London, Imperial War Museums, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Maritime Museum, Oxford University, Cambridge University, University College London, King's College London, and international partners such as Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, University of Toronto, Australian National University, and University of Cape Town. Projects have examined archives connected to Slave Trade Act 1807, Slavery Abolition Act 1833, Great Reform Act, Factory Acts, Irish War of Independence, Partition of India (1947), Sykes–Picot Agreement, Treaty of Tordesillas, Marshall Plan, and European Coal and Steel Community.
Faculty and staff
The department's faculty include historians specialising in periods from antiquity to the contemporary era and in regional studies of Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America, and Middle East. Staff scholarship has engaged with the works and archives of figures like Eric Hobsbawm, E.P. Thompson, Fernand Braudel, Marc Bloch, Jacques Le Goff, Natalie Zemon Davis, Christopher Hill, Simon Schama, Mary Beard, Niall Ferguson, Lisa Jardine, A. J. P. Taylor, Catherine Hall, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Ranajit Guha, Orlando Figes, Timothy Snyder, Lynne Olson, Geraldine Brooks, Jill Lepore, Annette Gordon-Reed, Ian Kershaw, Richard Evans, Antony Beevor, Max Hastings, Dominic Sandbrook, Tom Holland, Peter Frankopan, and Yuval Noah Harari.
Student body and admissions
Students include full-time, part-time, evening and distance learners drawn from London and international populations including applicants referencing study or exchanges with British Council, Chevening Scholarship, Commonwealth Scholarship, Erasmus Programme, Fulbright Program, Rhodes Scholarship, Marshall Scholarship, Leverhulme Trust Studentship, Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Wellcome Trust Studentship, and professional affiliations to institutions such as National Health Service, Civil Service (United Kingdom), House of Commons, House of Lords, Greater London Authority, City of London Corporation, BBC, Financial Times, The Guardian, and The Times. Admissions consider prior qualifications like A-levels, International Baccalaureate, Scottish Highers, European Baccalaureate, and equivalent international diplomas.
Facilities and resources
Teaching and research are supported by access to facilities and collections at Birkbeck Main Building (Malet Street), the Birkbeck Library, and partnerships granting use of resources at the British Library, National Archives (United Kingdom), Senate House Library, UCL Special Collections, Museum of London Docklands, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Kensington Palace Archives, Guildhall Library, and digital resources from JSTOR, Project MUSE, Google Books, HathiTrust, and Europeana. Seminar spaces host lectures connected to civic institutions such as City of Westminster, London School of Economics, Royal Courts of Justice, Bar Council, National Gallery, and Royal Opera House.
Notable alumni and contributions
Alumni and affiliates have included public intellectuals, politicians, writers and activists active in contexts linked to Parliament of the United Kingdom, European Parliament, United Nations, Council of Europe, International Criminal Court, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, BBC, Channel 4, Sky News, The Economist, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent (UK newspaper), Labour Party (UK), Conservative Party (UK), Liberal Democrats (UK), Green Party of England and Wales, Trade Union Congress, National Union of Students (UK), British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Modern, and civic campaigns linked to Suffragette movement, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Stop the War Coalition, Black Lives Matter, and Extinction Rebellion. The department's scholarship has contributed to public history exhibitions, documentary consultancy, policy briefs, and archival editions relating to History of the United Kingdom, British Empire, Transatlantic Slave Trade, Industrial Revolution, Victorian Britain, Modern Europe, Cold War, and Globalisation.
Category:Departments of Birkbeck, University of London