Writing University History for Aberdeen's Quincentenary

Universities are among the Western World's oldest institutions with continuous histories. Only the Roman Catholic church, the law courts of certain European countries, some army regiments, and a few town and craft corporations can claim similar longevity. What is interesting today is the way in which the history of these old institutions, the universities, is being written. University history has moved away from the once-dominant tradition of recording the stories of particular institutions and praising, famous forebearers, and instead tries to interpret the history of universities in its modest context – social, economic, political, intellectual and cultural. It is often a collaborative enterprise, and it frequently uses computer technology – though as one practitioner admits, it may do so with a 'mixture of enthusiasm, experimentation, scepticism and bewilderment'.