BAC Bursary for Business History Research - Past Winners
Business History Bursary 2022
There were three winners of the 2022 BAC Bursary for Business History Research.
Chris Corker
Chris Corker is working on a business history of stainless steel, its adoption into production by the steel industry and its use in consumer goods, 1913-1936. He has been using the records of three steel producers in the Sheffield region – Cammell-Laird, Vickers and Thomas Firth – to examine the business and marketing decisions made by boards of directors. He was shortlisted for the BBC New Generation Thinkers scheme, with Radio 3 expressing an interest in developing content based on his research.
Lewis Smith
Lewis Smith is working on the history of the public and third sector using a number of different archives including the National Gas Archive, History of Advertising Trust and National Archives. One of the most interesting discoveries has been how contentious advertising has been for nationalised industries throughout the post-war period. Despite these industries consistently performing as innovative and forward thinking marketeers (often as good as, if not better than their private sector competitors), they were often undermined by the Government which saw advertising as wasteful and sometimes politically motivated against them.
Emma West
Emma West is using brewers’ records (London Metropolitan Archives, National Brewery Centre), trade periodicals (National Brewing Library) and artists papers (Cambridge University) to explore British brewers’ patronage of the arts from the 1920s to the 1960s. Much of what Emma’s looking at is ephemeral, whether pub performances, exhibitions, murals or inn signs, so photographs are often the only record of these activities. The best find so far has been an installation view of the 1948 Inn Crafts Exhibition, found in the journal the House of Whitbread. The signs were hung from the ceiling to replicate the effect they had on passers-by in the street: the photograph shows how pub exhibitions blurred the lines between art and commerce, the rarefied world of the gallery and the everyday environment of the public house.
Business History Bursary 2016
The winner of the 2016 BAC Bursary for Business History Research was Dr David Turner of the Centre of Lifelong Learning, University of York. His research project focussed on brewing and British railways, 1870 to 1914, exploring the evolving business relationship between British railway companies and two of its major customers; the breweries of Bass, Ratcliffe & Gretton of Burton-on-Trent and Whitbread of London. The on-going negotiations over cost, provision of transport services and the influence this had on business activities and performance of both was investigated. David used business records located at The National Archives, Kew, The National Brewery Centre in Burton-on-Trent, and the London Metropolitan Archives.
Business History Bursary 2015
The winner of the 2015 BAC Bursary for Business History Research was Sergio Castellanos-Gamboa of Bangor University. His research project investigated the origins and long-term development of consumer credit in Britain. He used the bursary to recoup relevant information from surviving records of the Committee of London Clearing Banks and the British Bankers Association stored at the London Metropolitan Archives. In turn the data was used as part of his dissertation and his research included cliometric analysis of lending practices. The award was announced by Mike Anson at the annual conference of the Association of Business Historians held in Exeter. Sergio was presented with a cheque for £1,000. Read Sergio's report.
Business History Bursary 2014
The winner of the 2014 BAC Bursary for Business History Research was Ioanna Iordanou of Warwick Business School. Ioanna used the bursary to look at the origins of organisations in the early modern era using the example of Venice. She used a range of diplomatic material held at The National Archives in Kew which reported on business practices in Venice.
Business History Bursary 2012
The winner of the 2012 BAC Business History Bursary was Eoin Drea of University College Cork. Eoin worked on 'Continuity and change in banking in Ireland 1922-1943: an Anglo-Irish context.' Eoin will use the bursary to investigate the role played by British financial institutions in financing the Irish economy. Eoin will visit the archives of the Bank of England and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Business History Bursary 2011
The winners of the 2011 BAC Business History Bursary were Professor Josephine Maltby and Dr Linda Perriton of York Management School. They used the bursary to research the archives of four savings banks in a project whose objective was to develop a fuller understanding of how these banks facilitated the activity of working-class women savers in England during the 19th and early 20th century.
Business History Bursary 2010
The Business Archives Council Business History Bursary for 2010 was awarded to Jonathan Silberstein-Loeb of the Said Business School at the University of Oxford. The bursary will support Dr Silberstein-Loeb's research "Puff pieces and circulation scams: how British newspapers and advertisers learned to cooperate in the twentieth century."
Business History Bursary 2009
The bursary for 2009 was awarded to two people: Dr Kevin Tennant and Dr Adrian Bailey.
Dr Kevin Tennent of LSE received his BAC bursary award from Terry Gourvish at the 'Philharmonic', Liverpool in July. The award is to support Dr Tennent's research on 'A Retail Revolution: Changes in Music Distribution and Retailing in the UK, 1950-80'.
Dr Adrian Bailey of the University of Exeter Business School received his BAC bursary from Terry Gourvish at LSE in August. The award supports his research on 'Regulating the supermarket in 1960s Britain: exploring the changing relationship of food manufacturers, retailers and consumers through the Cadbury archive'.
Business History Busary 2008
The Business Archives Council Business History Bursary for 2008 was awarded to Mr Felipe Tamega Fernandes, of the Economic History Department, London School of Economics. He will research "Telegraphs and Shipping: Shrinking the Economic Distances, 1850s-1914".
Business History Bursary 2007
The Business Archives Council Business History Bursary for 2007 was awarded to Drew Keeling, Adjunct Instructor in the University of Zurich History Department for his research into passenger fares of the Cunard Line and the business of mass migration across the North Atlantic.
Find out more about Drew Keeling's research.