Origins

The Suffolk Local History Council (SLHC) was founded in 1953.  It is a county federation of local societies, groups and bodies interested in local history.  Its origins lie back in 1950 with the informal meetings of the Local History Committee, a sub-committee of the Rural Community Council for Suffolk.

Independence

The SLHC continued to operate under the protective umbrella of the Community Council for many years, but became an independent entity in 1986.  However, it continued to receive support from the Community Council and its successor organization, Suffolk ACRE, including office accommodation in their headquarters in Ipswich.  A committee meets four times a year to co-ordinate the affairs of SLHC.

Aims

	To create a network for local historians in the county
	To provide a forum for the exchange of ideas
	To administer the Local History Recorder Scheme throughout the county.
	To help those who... simply want to find out a little more about where they live want to study a little deeper - perhaps researching at a Local Record Office need advice and encouragement on researching and publishing a substantial work. Note: we are not involved in any way with genealogical research but we do provide links to organizations that are.

Good Ideas

The SLHC was often involved in the beginnings of what turned out to be good ideas.  These include the formation of a Museum of East Anglian Life and the setting up of a Suffolk Photographic Survey.  These two projects were developed and taken further by other organizations, but the Local History Recording Scheme was started by SLHC and has remained an important part of its work.

The web site content  was provided by members of the Committee; Jonathan Abson, Ed Button and Daphne Lloyd.  The site design was jointly developed  by those committee members and by Linn Barringer.

The design of the horse-drawn plough used in the page header is based on a weather vane, manufactured by Flairmet.  We acknowledge Flairmet's design and are grateful for their permission to use it as the basis for our graphic design.

The design of the sailing barge used in the page header is based on a photograph on page 57 of the book "Woodbridge & Beyond" by Robert Simper, published by Creekside Publishing, Suffolk, ISBN 0 900227 07 9.  The photograph is from the Suffolk Photo Survey.