The academic study of "local" history has emerged from two interconnected debates in the second half of the twentieth century. The first debate, that of validity, floods the pages of first, "The Amateur Historian," then, from 1968, "The Local Historian," the changing nomenclature of the journal itself reflecting new views. The second debate, that of methodology and approach, has been explored by historians of "the Leicester school" and their critics. This article does not intend to go over old ground but instead to examine a third area hitherto under-represented, that of the extra-mural role in the new history. It contends that adult education tutors and students have played a major part in the "localisation" of history and, further, that this part was played out in the years after the Second World War because of wider social change that created a climate favourable to local historical study.