Academic outputs February was a very successful month for the project in terms of academic outputs. We had submitted two papers to major 4* global academic journals and were given a revise and resubmission (R&R) for both of these. For non-academic colleagues, this means that we have been asked to make revisions to the articles […]
Research Update (March 2025) Read More »
Miss Rail News was a popular competition run by the Rail News newspaper. Launched in 1963, it served both the employees of British Rail (who received a free copy) and a wider community of rail aficionados (who paid 6d a copy). Rail News was launched at precisely the moment that a self-consciously modern national railway
Miss Rail News and Changing Times in 1960s Britain – Source of the Month (March 2025) Read More »
The John Lewis Partnership today is iconic for its distinctive business model: a partnership that is both owned and operated by its employees. However, this was not always the case. The transformation into this distinctive structure was initiated by John Spedan Lewis, the son of the founder. In stark contrast, the senior John Lewis had
In our eighteen months of study, no archive has rivalled the BBC’s behind-the-scenes insights into internal communication strategy. Spanning 1927 to 1989, its archive holds a collection of minutes and memos that tell a story of how the initiation of a magazine in 1927 evolved into a major organisational operation. An almost continuous run from
Yesterday, we explored how the Second World War drew attention to the importance of communication. After the war, internal communication underwent a series of significant transformations. One of these was an explosion in company magazines and readership. From an estimated 350 magazines in Britain in 1938 company magazines expanded to 1,000 in 1950, 1,500 in
Yesterday, we explored how magazines spread in the interwar years. With the Second World War, internal communication underwent significant transformations. The war itself led to backward steps in relation to the communication channels that had developed in the interwar years. Most notably, shortages of paper meant that many publications became slimmed down. Interestingly, internal communication
Yesterday’s post looked at the origins of the company magazine in the late nineteenth century. The First World War marked a significant turning point in the history of internal communication within organisations. The war itself was a stimulus for some companies to begin a magazine, a notable example being Boots, which used its Comrades in
As the Institute of Internal Communication marks its 75th anniversary, this blog post takes a step back in time to discover how internal communication has got to where it is today. Taking us from the first known dedicated company magazine in 1878 through to the launch of AI software, this story aims to be the
From Industrial Welfare, the magazine of the Industrial Society, in April 1965. What did you take as the message of this picture? For many of you, it was probably the environmental consequences of a throw-away culture. When this advert was produced in 1965, the complete opposite reaction was anticipated from readers. The hope was that
“Oh! please listen to what I say — For comfort and ease And your husband to please, Wash all your clothes in The Sunlight Way.” Mrs Howard, Keston, Kent. Progress magazine, November 1900, p. 592. The ‘Sunlight Way’ The above verse is more than advice on laundry. It reflects a new discourse made possible by
The Sunlight Way and the Dawn of Brand Communities – Source of the Month (December 2023) Read More »