When was Past and Present journal founded?
Past and Present was founded in 1952. It was established as an alternative to mainstream political history journals by a combination of Marxist and non-Marxist historians.
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Past and Present was founded in 1952. It was established as an alternative to mainstream political history journals by a combination of Marxist and non-Marxist historians.
The founders included John Morris, who served as the first editor, along with members of the Communist Party Historians Group: E. P. Thompson, Christopher Hill, Eric Hobsbawm, Raphael Samuel, Rodney Hilton, and Dona Torr. Gordon Childe was also a founder member of the editorial board.
Past and Present is published four times a year by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Past and Present Society, a British historical membership association and registered charity.
History from Below is a method of historical inquiry championed by several of Past and Present's founding historians. It explains history through the lives of ordinary people, focusing on class, labour, and social relations rather than political or elite narratives.
After Thompson published The Making of the English Working Class in 1963, the influence of Past and Present expanded significantly across the historical discipline. The book demonstrated in practice the kind of social history the journal had been advocating since its founding.
Joanna Innes, the Winifred Holtby Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at Somerville College, University of Oxford, is the current chair of the editorial board.