Joe Saunders MA (Hons) MPhil FSAScot AFHEA has being doing his own family history for twenty years and now works as a freelance historical researcher helping people with family and property histories. He is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an Associate of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA). He also produces the Really Useful Podcast for the Family History Federation.
With a long-standing passion for local history, Joe is proud to be a Trustee of the British Association for Local History (BALH) and since 2022 has served as Vice-Chair. Read his blog post: Why do Local History? In 2025 Joe worked as a Research Assistant for the Historic Town's Trust on their project mapping London on the Eve of the Great Fire.
Joe co-runs a blog How-to History which shares advice on historical practice. He also is one of the editors of The Historian, magazine of the Historical Association, with responsibility for local and family history.
Holding undergraduate and masters degrees in history from the University of Glasgow, Joe is a doctoral researcher at the University of York working on a social history of the print trade in seventeenth century England and has published peer-reviewed work in this field. He has taught undergraduates at the university and through their Centre for Lifelong Learning and holds Associate Fellowship of Advance HE.