Harold Perkin

Harold James Perkin (11 November 1926 – 16 October 2004) was a distinguished English social historian. Transport was among his main interests. He founded the Social History Society in 1976.

Background[]

Perkin was born in Hanley, Staffordshire of humble origins. He attended Hanley High School and won a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge from 1945, gaining a starred First Class degree in 1948. After National Service in the RAF, he was rejected by his Cambridge college to study for a PhD. He began extramural history teaching from 1950 with the University of Manchester.^{[1][2][3] [4]}

Academic career[]

Perkin was a Lecturer in Social History at the University of Manchester (1951–1965), then a Senior Lecturer (1965–1967), a Professor (1967–1984) in Social History and Director of the Centre for Social History (1974–84) at the University of Lancaster, and an Emeritus Professor of History at Northwestern University, Illinois (1985–1997). In addition, he held a visiting professorship at Rice University, founded and chaired the Social History Society, and served as chief salary negotiator for the Association of University Teachers, of which he was later President. Perkin was a distinguished, pioneering social historian.^[5]

Publications[]

• New Universities in the United Kingdom, Case Studies on Innovation in Higher Education, Paris: OECD, 1969^[6]
• Key Profession: History of the Association of University Teachers, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969 ISBN 0-7100-6501-9
• The Origins of Modern English Society 1780–1880, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969 ISBN 0-7100-4567-0
• The Age of the Railway, UK: Panther Books, 1970
• History (Outline), Law Book Co of Australasia, 1970, ISBN 0-7100-6814-X
• Age of the Automobile, UK: Quartet Books, 1976, ISBN 0-7043-2112-2
• The Structured Crowd: Essays in English Social History, UK: Harvester Books, 1981, ISBN 0-85527-413-1
• The Rise of Professional Society, England Since 1880, London; New York: Routledge, 1989 ISBN 0-415-30178-5
• The Third Revolution: Professional Elites in the Modern World, London: Routledge, 1996 ISBN 0-415-14337-3
• The Making of a Social Historian, (autobiography) UK: Athena Press, 2002 ISBN 1-84401-014-7

Television[]

Television shows for Granada TV

• The Age of the Railway, 1970
• The Age of the Automobile, 1976

Both were later issued in book form.

References[]

External links[]

• Harold Perkin Entry at 'Making History' website, Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Accessed December 2011