Sedimented Histories : connections, collaborations and co-production in regional history

Abstract

This article considers recent developments in public history, particularly in a context of university-community partnerships. Since Raphael Samuel’s 1994 discussion of ‘unofficial’ histories, various academic and policy initiatives have generated fresh interest in collaborative projects and in research with, by and for communities (co-production). Drawing on our experience of working with local groups in the county of Hertfordshire, U.K., we propose a concept of ‘sedimented histories’ which can hold different accounts of the past alongside one another, accommodating both the histories that people choose to live by and the histories that everyone lives with.