Dr Priscila Pivatto
Honorary Fellow, Contemporary History
Current Research/Role
I am an honorary fellow in the Contemporary History section, having joined the History in 2011. Before that I completed a doctorate in public law at the University of São Paulo, specialising in the history of political and constitutional thought in the First Republic in Brazil (1889-1930).
I have been a key member of the team leading on the oral history project from its inception. Together with Dr Paul Seaward and Dr Rob Perks, I took part in the crucial initial decisions that shaped the project: who to interview, what methodological approach we would use, which topics to include in our semi-structured questionnaire, how to organise our database and time-coded summaries, and the legal documentation needed. The project is now well established and we have already built a large archive of personal reflections on British politics, with more than 200 interviews.
Working until 2020 as the coordinator of the project, I managed a big team of oral history interviewers and had trained around fifty-five people. In this role, besides conducting interviews myself, I did research and offered the interviewers background information on their subjects, I regularly discussed methodological issues with them and provided individual feedback, ensuring that interviews are kept in accordance with the project’s guidelines. I was also responsible for processing, indexing and archiving our digital collection before the material was deposited with the British Library.
Working as a researcher, together with Dr Emma Peplow, in 2020 I published the book The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs: An Oral History of Parliament, where we analyse the content of more than 175 ‘life story’ interviews. This book showcases the HPT sound archive and can be used as a guide for researchers. With Peplow, I also published articles in academic journals, book chapters and presented numerous conferences papers, lectures and seminars on politics and oral history. We recently launched a six episodes podcast based on the project: ‘Tales from the Green Benches – An Oral History of Parliament’. I am currently researching for a piece on the implications of ‘shared authority’ when interviewing elite politicians.
Research Interests
My research interests lie at oral history as a methodological approach for understanding political narratives and exploring the history of parliament. My work emphasizes the importance of personal testimonies and experiences of MPs as sources that challenge the conventional knowledge and provide new historical perspectives.
Publications
Book
The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs: An Oral History of Parliament (London: Bloomsbury, 2020) [with E. Peplow]
Chapters in Books
‘“Its got to be possible”: Women’s political careers and family lives since the 1960s as told to the History of Parliament Trust’s Oral History Project’, in L. Jenkins, R. Davidson, F. Khanhum Hussain and A. Muggeridge (eds.), Women, Power and Politics in Britain, 1945-1997 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming) [with E. Peplow]
Journal Articles
‘A different approach to legislative bodies: reflections on the History of Parliament Oral History Project and laws around abortion’, Rechtsgeschichte – Legal History 29 (2021) [with E. Peplow]
‘Life Stories from the House of Commons: The History of Parliament Oral History Project’, Oral History Society Journal 47 (2019), pp.95-105. [with E. Peplow]
Conference Papers
‘Sharing authority when interviewing elite actors: thoughts from the HPT oral history project’, Oral History Society Conference, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 06-07 June 2025.
‘Interviewing Elite Politicians: Reflections from the History of Parliament Trust’s Oral History Project’, Oral History and Politics Workshop, University College London, 28 June 2024.
‘Memories of motherhood from Labour women MPs’, Royal Historical Society Transactions workshop, Queen Mary University of London, 17 November 2023.
‘Memories from inside Westminster: An Oral History of the British Parliament’, International Summer School, Luxembourg, 3-6 July 2023.
‘Making Histories with Volunteers: the History of Parliament Trust Sound Archive’, Oral History Society Conference, Nottingham Trent University, 22-24 June 2023.
‘Parliamentarians on their Past: The 1983 Election’, Houses of Parliament, 20 June 2023.
‘That was how politics started for me: memories on motivations from the History of Parliament Trust’s Sound Archive’, Institute for Historical Research, 18 October 2022
‘Outsiders on the Inside: Reflections from Women Parliamentarians’, Queen Mary University of London, 15-17 September 2022.
‘I am really a prisoner of my upbringing: the role of home in shaping future politicians’, Oral History Society Conference, London Metroplian University, 7-9 July 2022.
‘The History of Parliament’s Oral History Project’, University of Cambridge, 24 May 2022.
‘The History of Parliament’s Oral History Project: Memories from Women MPs’, University of Oxford, 19 May 2021.
‘A place decided on by men for men: oral histories from women MPs, 1966-2001’, International Women’s Day Lecture, Houses of Parliament, 17 Mar 2021.
‘A prep school, ‘Dracula’s castle’, or where they belonged? First impressions of Westminster from the History of Parliament’s oral history project’, Institute for Historical Research, 17 November 2020.
‘Women in the UK Parliament: Oral History narratives about the House of Commons’, Oral History Association, United States, 21 October 2020.
‘Women & Parliament: from the Shadows to the Front’, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil, 9 October 2019.
‘Oral histories of politics: achievements and challenges interviewing British MPs’ (Political Studies Association International Conference, Nottingham, 10 May 2019.
‘History Inside Out: Interviewing in the Senate and House of Commons’, Columbia University, New York, 5 December 2018.
‘Member’s only: Oral History narratives about gendered spaces in the House of Commons’, A Century of Women MPs, 1918-2018, Houses of Parliamnent, 5-7 Sep 2018.
‘History of Parliament’s Oral History Project: Women in Westminster, London Metropolitan Archives, 4 July 2018.
‘The uses of Oral Sources in the History of Parliaments: The Oral History Project’, Max-Planck-Institut für Europäische Rechtsgeschicht, 19-20 February 2018.
‘Speaking in Parliament: voices from the History of Parliament’s Oral History Project’, History, Politics, Rhetoric Conference, Queen Mary University London, 6-7 April 2016.
‘The History of Parliament’s Oral History Project’, Oral History and the study of contemporary British Politics, British Library, 25 November 2015.
‘Oral History’, Making Constitutions, Building Parliaments, International Commission for the History of Representative Parliamentary Institutions Conference, Houses of Parliament), 30 June-3 July 2015.
‘Building a new archive: achievements and challenges interviewing British MPs’, Writing Parliamentary History: Perceptions and Memories of MPs in Europe, Institute for Contemporary History, Czech Republic, 27 February 2015.
‘Why Politicians? Democracy and Oral Histories of Political Elites’, International Congress of Oral History, Universitat de Barcelona, 9-12 July 2014.
‘MPs in their own words: The History of Parliament Oral History Project’: Parliaments, Politics and People Seminar, Institute for Historical Research, 2 December 2014.
‘Politicians tell stories: the History of Parliament oral history project’, Oral History Society Conference, University of Sussex, UK, 5-6 July 2013.
‘(Wo)Men in the UK Parliament: Gender representation in The House Magazine profiles’, XIXth European Forum for Young Legal Historians, 15-18 May 2013.
Specialisms: Seventeenth Century; History of Parliament; Political History; History of Political Thought; History of historical thought; Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon; History of Institutions
Read more in ‘Contemporary History’
Stay in touch