What is living history?

Living history groups are organizations or ensembles of individuals who recreate and enact historical events, lifestyles, and customs to provide an immersive educational experience. These groups aim to bring history to life, often through demonstrations, reenactments, and interpretive performances. Here are some key aspects of living history groups:

Purpose and Goals

1. Educational Outreach: Provide educational experiences to the public, helping people understand and appreciate historical events and lifestyles.
2. Preservation of Heritage: Preserve and promote cultural heritage, traditions, and historical knowledge.
3. Interactive Learning: Offer a hands-on, interactive approach to learning history, making it more engaging and accessible.

Activities and Practices

1. Historical Reenactments:

• Battle Reenactments: Recreating historical battles with period-accurate costumes, tactics, and equipment.
• Living History Encampments: Setting up historical campsites or settlements to demonstrate daily life during a specific era.

2. Demonstrations:

• Craftsmanship and Trades: Showcasing traditional crafts, trades, and skills such as blacksmithing, weaving, or cooking.
•  Cultural Practices: Demonstrating cultural practices, ceremonies, and social customs from different historical periods.

1. Interpretive Programs:

•  Character Portrayals: Individuals portraying historical figures or common people from a specific time period to provide first-person interpretations.
• Guided Tours:Conducting tours of historical sites with interpreters explaining the significance and context of various locations.

2. Educational Workshops:

• Hands-On Activities: Engaging participants in hands-on activities like candle making, archery, or period dance.

Lectures and Presentations: Offering lectures, presentations, and discussions on historical topics and research.

Types of Living History Groups

1. Military History Groups:

• Focus on specific military conflicts or periods, often involving detailed reenactments of battles and military life.

2. Cultural and Social History Groups:

• Emphasize daily life, cultural practices, and social customs of different historical eras, often setting up living history villages or communities.

3. Time Period-Specific Groups:

• Concentrate on specific time periods such as the Ancient / Medieval era, the War of the Roses, the Renaissance, or World War II.

Organization and Structure

• Membership: Typically composed of volunteers who share an interest in history and historical reenactment.
• Training: Members often undergo training to ensure historical accuracy in their portrayals and demonstrations.
• Costuming and Equipment: Authenticity is key, with members using period-accurate costumes, tools, and equipment.
• Collaboration: Often work in collaboration with museums, schools, historical sites, and other educational institutions.

Benefits of Living History Groups

1. Enhanced Historical Understanding: Offers a deeper understanding of history by experiencing it in a tangible, interactive way.
2. Community Engagement: Engages the local community and fosters an appreciation for historical heritage.
3. Preservation of Skills: Helps preserve traditional skills and crafts that might otherwise be lost.
4. Inspiring Interest in History: Sparks interest in historical research and education among both participants and audiences.

Examples of Living History Groups

• WW2 Reenactment Groups: Recreate battles, camps, and soldier life from WW2.
• Ancient / Medieval Reenactment Groups: Demonstrate medieval life, including knightly tournaments, feasts, and daily activities, Roman camps and battle tactics.
• War of the Roses: Focus on the war between the Roundheads and Cavaliers.

So what do I do?

I’m a member of Monty’s Misfits living history and educational group.

Monty’s Misfits are so named after Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery’s 6th Airborne Division, 21st Army group on and around 6th June 1944 into 1945.

We set the group up as a mix of units hence the name “Misfits”, as a group we wanted to be different to the other groups out there that portrayed a specific unit, such as Infantry, Airborne Infantry, German Army, German Paratroopers.

Our unit follows a semi-autocratic hierarchy, with everyone having a an equal voice and opinion, we wear appropriate ranks and conform to military naming conventions when displaying to the public.

Within the unit we comprise of No 2 S.A.S (Special Air Service), Parachute Regiment (Airborne Infantry), Royal Engineers, Royal Canadian Paratroopers, Army Catering Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps, French Resistance, Special Operations Executive (SOE), Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS, what the late Queen Elizabeth II was a member of as a Princess) and we also do the home front as well.

As a former Royal Engineer (colloquial known as Sappers), I’m the Airborne Engineer of 591 (County of Antrim) Parachute Field Squadron Royal Engineers, and hold the rank of Captain and I am the demolitions/explosive “expert”, I have a couple of boxes of props dummy explosives / hand grenades / Anti personnel mines / cutting charges / Plastic Explosives / Mouse Holing charge.

As well as the explosives, I have my personal uniform, carrying an original WW2 Mk3 Fairburn Sykes Fighting knife (Commando Dagger), a reproduction M1935 Browning 9mm Hi-Power Pistol, Mk4 No1 Lee Enfield Bayonet, Military clasp knife, Sten Mk 2 9mm Submachine gun, hand grenades (Dummy), fake Pipe and last but not least a spoon (have to be able to eat at anytime).

When at shows we sleep in original / reproduction heavy canvas tents (our beds/sleeping bags are generally modern, no point in being too uncomfortable), Yes we do sleep in them in any weather.

We all tend to wear our uniform all weekend (some of us even sleep in them).

Food is either cooked by the Army Catering Corps Sgt (nicknames “Death from within”), cooking up a all in one pot that we help ourselves from or we cook ourselves.

The last show I was eating Cold baked beans and sausages (don’t knock it until you have tried it) for an evening meal, for breakfast we had bread & butter, cheese and fried gammon/ham from a tin and spam, washed down with copious amounts of Tea.

We try to give the visitors a fully immersive experience, taking them through the battlefield, from Landing Zone/Drop Zone through a mine if we have trenches dug, we all visitors to climb in the trenches, wear helmets, have photos with the equipment (Such as reproduction fire arms or explosives), we have dummy wooden hand grenades that we teach both children and adults how to throw the WW2 way, we also have a small firing mortar so kids can have a go.

Some of the Weapons are original decommissioned with a 1928 Thompson Mk1 submachinegun (still as heavy as the day it was made) being the oldest in the unit, and some rifles. We also have blank firing weapons, these even though they are blank firers are extremely loud.

With all the weapons we treat them as ”Live” and ensure that other team members or members of the public do not point them at each other or mess about with them as with the real weapons they will bite if you don’t go careful.

In summary, living history groups play a vital role in making history accessible and engaging through immersive and interactive experiences. They provide valuable educational opportunities, preserve cultural heritage, and inspire interest in historical studies.

By Adam Dews

Adam Dews is Sr. Network Engineer at Skewb. To speak with him about this topic in more detail, you can connect with him on LinkedIn.