TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘History taught in the pageant way’
T2 - Education and historical performace in twentieth-century Britain
AU - Bartie, Angela
AU - Fleming, Linda
AU - Freeman, Mark
AU - Hulme, Tom
AU - Hutton, Alexander
AU - Readman, Paul
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Historical pageants were important sites of popular engagement with the past in twentieth-century Britain. They took place in many places and sometimes on a large scale, in settings ranging from small villages to industrial cities. They were staged by schools, churches, professional organisations, women’s groups and political parties—and other organisations too—and were among the many informal educational activities that occupied British associational life in the twentieth century. This article examines the involvement of educational organisations in historical pageantry, and the sometimes uneasy relationship that pageants had with academic history. It draws on contemporary studies of heritage and performance to explore the blend of history, myth and fiction that characterised pageants, and the ways in which they both shaped and reflected the self-image of local communities. Pageants lived long in the memories of those who performed in and watched them, and were themselves often commemorated in memorials and subsequent events. They were important channels of popular education as well as entertainment and, although they are sometimes seen as backward-looking and conservative spectacles, this article argues that pageants could be an effective means of enlisting the past in the service of the present and future.
AB - Historical pageants were important sites of popular engagement with the past in twentieth-century Britain. They took place in many places and sometimes on a large scale, in settings ranging from small villages to industrial cities. They were staged by schools, churches, professional organisations, women’s groups and political parties—and other organisations too—and were among the many informal educational activities that occupied British associational life in the twentieth century. This article examines the involvement of educational organisations in historical pageantry, and the sometimes uneasy relationship that pageants had with academic history. It draws on contemporary studies of heritage and performance to explore the blend of history, myth and fiction that characterised pageants, and the ways in which they both shaped and reflected the self-image of local communities. Pageants lived long in the memories of those who performed in and watched them, and were themselves often commemorated in memorials and subsequent events. They were important channels of popular education as well as entertainment and, although they are sometimes seen as backward-looking and conservative spectacles, this article argues that pageants could be an effective means of enlisting the past in the service of the present and future.
KW - Community theatre
KW - Drama
KW - Historical pageants
KW - History education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055354569&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/0046760X.2018.1516811
DO - 10.1080/0046760X.2018.1516811
M3 - Article
SN - 0046-760X
VL - 48
SP - 156
EP - 179
JO - History Of Education
JF - History Of Education
IS - 2
ER -