British History Study Abroad Program in London: Fall 2012 Report

Tour of the Liverpool Football Club, September 2012 with the students. From left: Megan Mahoney ’13, Megan McCauley ’14, Samantha Simmons ’14, TF Kathryn Lamontagne, Karina Reddy ’14, Paul Coppola ’14.

At BU’s London Study Abroad campus in South Kensington the second intake of British History Track students enjoyed a fantastic Fall semester. This new program allows students interested in studying British history in Graduate school an opportunity to complete a graduate level research paper while doing primary source research at the National Archives at Kew, The British Library, and the exclusive London Library. While in London, the students complete coursework in British cultural and social history fulfilling course requirements for the History major. They also take advantage of their residence in the UK by taking fieldtrips to Liverpool, Oxford, and historic sites in London itself. This year, students studied areas as diverse as the Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924; the Whit Sunday Riots of ’64; Housing in the 1948 London Olympics; Mary Quant; and Auxiliary Fire services during the Blitz.. Taught by British academics such as Michael Peplar, Director of Studies in London; Richard Weight (Patriots: National Identity in Britain 1940-2000); Michael Thornhill (Road to Suez: The Battle of the Canal Zone); and London-based BU Teaching Fellow Kathryn Lamontagne, the course is for those who would like to have a truly unique, rigorous academic experience while Abroad. This year the students were lucky enough to be treated to a lecture on the Blitz and tour of the Churchill War Rooms at Whitehall by the IHI and History Department’s own Prof. Cathal Nolan.

For those who would like further information on the program, feel free to contact BU Study Abroad or have a look at http://www.bu.edu/abroad/find-programs/by-destination/london-england/. The program is also open to students from other institutions.

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