Placed there, historians are told that they have to write a national history, to be given to people who are becoming citizens of that state, that will tell them everything they need to know, and be acceptable to all interested parties. Every day they submit a new draft; every day it is thrown back to them. They beg instead to be given the task of pushing a bloody great rock up a hill, only to see it roll down again, just to get something easier and less frustrating to do.

One has, therefore, to sympathise with Sir Bernard Crick, “a biographer of George Orwell and former mentor to David Blunkett”, who got the job of writing a pamphlet guide to the history of Britain for immigrants.

The Historical Association, which represents historians at schools and universities, is outraged at some of the “facts” in the booklet and is proposing to write its own account — but is hampered by the very concept of having official historical accounts at all. “Official histories are a bad thing because they can be used for establishing government purposes and can be reinvented to support the official Establishment,” Barry Coward, president of the Historical Association, said. “This has been shown throughout history, as we saw in Hitler’s Germany. We think this is the thin end of the wedge and that history shouldn’t be used as a tool of Government.”

True, but then at the end of the day, perhaps someone does have to write such a document.

They might at least get some help in that, however, with the news that British History Online has got a further tranche of money from the Andrew W Mellon Foundation. From an email source (doesn’t seem to be online):

“Phase II of the project, from 1 August 2006, will see the expansion of the British History Online digital library to include the National Archives Calendars of State Papers, Domestic (1547-1704, 1760-75), a further 40 volumes of the Victoria County History and a range of sources for the social, administrative, economic and political history of Britain.”

That swiching noise you can hear is my rubbing my hands together with glee. I’ve often wished those State Papers were online, particularly when dealing with inadequately footnoted stuff from the Twenties and Thirties.