The Voluntary Action History Society (VAHS) is a learned society that was established in 1991 to promote the historical study and understanding of charity, philanthropy and voluntary organisations. The society is based in the UK but has members and supporters internationally. The society was founded by a group of individuals working in both academia and the voluntary sector, including Colin Rochester (now an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London) and Justin Davis Smith (now the Chief Executive of Volunteering England), who felt that the history of voluntary action and charities was being forgotten or ignored.
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History
VAHS was formed because voluntary action was not seen as a subject its own right, often considered only as a minor part of social policy. Where it was studied historically it was as an insignificant aspect of social history. The founders believed that all too often studies undertaken were left to academics with little thought of the relevance to those active as researchers and practitioners in the voluntary sector. While some excellent histories of charities were available, they were rarely disseminated in the voluntary sector.
Since its inception the society has carried out a number of activities including running a series of seminars on the history of voluntary action, hosting conferences and workshops. VAHS became a registered charity in March 1995. VAHS has also engaged with particular issues affecting the historical study of voluntary action, including the problems facing the archiving of charity history. In the 1990s VAHS conducted a survey of major voluntary organisations which revealed a number of challenges facing such organisations in archiving their records. In 2011 VAHS launched a new campaign for charity archives.
Activities
Today, the Voluntary Action History Society carries out a number of activities including: