Huntington Library names Steve Hindle as director of research

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Steve Hindle, a distinguished professor of history and head of the history department at the University of Warwick in Britain, has been named the W.M. Keck Foundation director of research at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens. He is scheduled to take up the new position on July 1.

He succeeds Robert ‘Roy’ Ritchie, who’s stepping down from the post at the end of June.

According to the Huntington, Hindle’s scholarly specialty has been the ‘micro-history’ of small communities in England from about 1500 to 1750, a period historians regard as the formative era of the English working class.

Last fall, Hindle was recognized with Britain’s prestigious Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship.

‘Humanities research at The Huntington is at the core of our mission, and Steve’s vision for what can be accomplished comes with a great track record, extraordinary intellectual capacity, endless enthusiasm and energy, and a very broad world view,’ Steven S. Koblik, president of the Huntington, said in prepared statement.

Hindle was born and educated in Warrington (Lancashire), England. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Cambridge, his master’s in history and political science from the University of Minnesota, and his doctorate in history from the University of Cambridge.

He’s the author of ‘The State and Social Change in Early Modern England’ (2000) and ‘On the Parish? The Micro-Politics of Poor Relief in Rural England, c. 1550–1750’ (2004). He is also managing editor of the Economic History Review.

-- Reed Johnson