{"id":11,"date":"2010-04-07T12:07:53","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T11:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"Dan Weinbren is Research Fellow for the History of The Open University project. He\u00a0has published extensively about the development of mutual aid, fraternal associations and the Labour Party. He has also contributed OU course materials about the roles of f"},"modified":"2012-05-03T10:18:20","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T09:18:20","slug":"who-we-are__trashed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/?page_id=11","title":{"rendered":"Who we are"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n
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The dummy is on the right<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Dan Weinbren is the History Of The Open University Project Research Fellow. He\u00a0has published extensively about the development of mutual aid, fraternal associations and the Labour Party.\u00a0Generating Socialism: recollections of life in the Labour Party<\/em>, Sutton, Stroud, 1997 was made \u2018book of the month\u2019 by the New Statesman<\/em> and described as \u2018fresh and entertaining\u2019 (The Times Higher<\/em>) \u2018a tremendously important piece of work both historically and politically\u2019 (Professor Paul Thompson) and \u2018absolutely wonderful\u2019 (Professor Jerry White). He has also written a number of businesses \"\"<\/a>including an account of the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield (right). \u00a0His study of the most influential friendly society <\/a>in the world was published in 2010. It is reviewed here<\/a>.\u00a0Of The Oddfellows<\/em>. 200 years of making friends and helping people<\/em>, Carnegie, Lancaster, 2010 reviewers wrote:<\/p>\n

\u2018A comprehensive study\u2026 There is a wealth of detail \u2026 important topics set out clearly in their own boxes on the page. The book is well illustrated, tables and figures used to good effect and there is a useful glossary and excellent footnotes (Family and Community History)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018fills an important and neglected aspect of our social and economic life … an invaluable source of information\u2019 (Journal of Co-operative Studies<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\u2018accessible\u2026 a thoroughly good read\u2026 Academically the book has clearly been meticulously researched\u2019 (Foresters\u2019 Heritage Trust)<\/p>\n

\u2018a rich text\u2026 detailed and important history [with] a significance beyond the Order\u2026.an admirable work of history\u2026. The Oddfellows offers a contextually rich, historiographically complex picture \u2026 superbly illustrated \u2026 an excellent summary of the current state of the fraternal history and an indicator of its future potential. (Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\u2018well written [and] well researched … full of illustrations… evokes a strong sense of the society and its appeal’ (North West Labour History<\/em>).<\/p>\n

He has written teaching material about the\u00a0First World War for BBC Education. His contributions to\u00a0OU course\u00a0materials include CDs for DA301, and most recently a chapter about the roles of families for A825 and material about virtual heritage<\/a>\u00a0for AD281. In 2010 his work on fraternity in Europe <\/a>over 700 years and\u00a0on British female friendly societies<\/a>\u00a0was published. The review in the\u00a0Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism\u00a0<\/em>stated:\u00a0‘the volume is highly interesting<\/a>, presenting predominantly significant recent research’. His work on William Beveridge’s Voluntary Action<\/a>,<\/em> was published in January 2011. It is ‘convincing<\/a>‘. His forthcoming chapter is\u00a0in a\u00a0‘historically grounded, internationally informed, and multidisciplinary analysis of the Big Society <\/a>policies’. A chapter on Freemasonry is expected later in the year. That will make seven chapters and a book since taking on an academic post in 2010.\u00a0Webpage<\/a>. Publications information: here <\/a><\/p>\n

He has been the recipient of 14 grants from a variety of bodies including the British Academy and the Nuffield Foundation. He is the founder and chair of the international Friendly Societies Research Group and he set up and ran the Labour Oral History Project for over a decade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘The establishment and success of the OU will be remembered as one of the greatest achievements of this century… It is a difficult task to evaluate its contribution to British Higher Education… the book which can do this is still to be written’. David Hencke (of the THES) in Studies in Higher Education<\/em> 1, 1, 1976, p. 91.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rachel Garnham was the Project Manager for the History of The Open University Project from its inception until February 2012. The post is now held by Kirsten Dwight.<\/p>\n

To contact us email history-of-the-ou@open.ac.uk<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The dummy is on the right Dan Weinbren is the History Of The Open University Project Research Fellow. He\u00a0has published extensively about the development of mutual aid, fraternal associations and the Labour Party.\u00a0Generating Socialism: recollections of life in the Labour Party, Sutton, Stroud, 1997 was made \u2018book of the month\u2019 by the New Statesman and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":2,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3316,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions\/3316"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}