2021 will be the 50th anniversary of Hornsey Historical Society. One way in which we intend celebrating the remarkable progress of our well respected local history society is by highlighting important items in our Archive.
We are very fortunate to have The Old Schoolhouse in Tottenham Lane, N8, as our base and to have purpose-built archival space in which to store the 24,000+ items which have been donated or acquired. Amongst the many boxes stacked on the shelves are two containing all one hundred and sixty one Newsletters sent to Society members and affiliated organisations over the years.
The Newsletter has a history as long as the Society with the first edition dated July/August 1971. These were the days before digital printing and production of sufficient copies of each edition was laborious and difficult. Initially, newsletters were mostly produced monthly as A4 two-sided typed news sheets to keep members informed of meetings and activities. From December 1973 longer articles appeared in a journal called the Bulletin, published quarterly initially, then half yearly and once a year from 1981, the Society’s 10th anniversary.
From 1973 an annual printed card of the year’s programme of talks and events took over part of the Newsletter’s function so it was sent out annually from 1976 to 1978 and twice a year from March 1979. However, Conservation reports, members’ visits to places of historic interest and information about other societies filled the pages of each Newsletter and it retained its importance despite its more academic partner, the Bulletin appearing annually.
It was in 1987 that it became established as a quarterly feature of members’ subscriptions, not only to provide HHS news but also short notes of local historical interest, a focus on local issues of concern such as conservation of buildings and streets under the threat of modern development, and short articles based on the authors’ research. When the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society (LAMAS) initiated an award for the best local history society newsletter in 2016 HHS was the first recipient for Newsletter 149 edited by the then-editor Lesley Ramm.
We do hope that you will find the Newsletter articles which we’re choosing interesting. Our Newsletter editor, ">Brenda Griffith-Williams, is always looking for new material to publish in the quarterly editions. Here’s the opportunity to write up those past memories or a piece of your historical research for future publication.