In 2009 The Open University Archive started a project to review the catalogue records and formats of Open University video and audio programmes produced from 1971 onwards. The collection includes many thousands of programmes, often held on multiple physical tape formats.
Reels, tapes and discs from the university’s physical holdings.
The result of the project was the creation of the OU Digital Archive and an annual digitisation programme to select the most at-risk formats for digitisation. Unlike the earlier catalogue records held on the OU Library’s main catalogue, the Digital Archive had the functionality to playback a low-resolution “access” copy of the programme (made from the newly created digital archival master copy), and also the ability to present the programme in the hierarchical context of the OU teaching module.
The OU’s Digital Archive site showing a video programme entry.
Fast-forward 17 years and thousands of programmes have been digitised so far and viewing versions added to the Digital Archive. While most programmes are only viewable for OU staff, a growing selection have been made available for public access. As well as the records of audio and video programmes, the Digital Archive contains a range of publicly accessible online exhibitions and featured items, oral history collections and hundreds of historical images.
The homepage of the OU’s Digital Archive site showing the various collections.
Recently, the OU Archive Team – together with OU Library colleagues in the Systems and Metadata Teams – have been working on the next version of the Digital Archive and the next phase of digitisation work.
The current project will move all content from hard drives (on which they have historically been stored) to cloud-based storage. During the migration to the cloud, the master video programmes will also be migrated from AVI to FFV1 format. The decision to migrate to FFV1 has been taken due to a number of factors and after taking advice from members of the wider audio/visual archive community.
Rack of mobile shelving in the Archive vault, containing hundreds of hard drives.
Our Digital Archive uses the preservation-standard repository, Fedora Lyrasis. Fedora has a preservation-based file system and incorporates RDF. During the project Fedora will be upgraded to the most recent version of the software. We are also moving this infrastructure to the cloud.
The project also includes improvements to our web archiving activity. Much of The Open University’s teaching content is now presented to students online – through the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). For a number of years we have been using web archiving tools to capture the content of our online modules. We will now move this infrastructure and the captured web archive content to the cloud as well, and make the content accessible to OU staff through the Digital Archive.
Reel-to-reel player.
We’re happy to discuss our project further, please feel free to get in touch! ([email protected])
Ruth Cammies, University Archivist The Open University
The year is 1902 and you live in Halifax, Yorkshire. It’s 24 years before the first demonstration of a working television, and over 50 years before they become commonplace in homes. It’s 2 years before moving pictures will first be shown at the Victoria Hall in the town. What are you doing for entertainment?
Poster for Grand Theatre and Opera House, Halifax for the week commencing Monday 26 May 1902. From the Cyrus Dare archive; image courtesy of the British Music Hall Society.
Well, the week of 26 May 1902 you could go to the Grand Theatre and see Maggie Carr, a piquant comedienne and artistic banjoist; Ryder Sloane with his clever and effective character songs; Haidee Lee in refreshing comicalities, bright singing and neat dancing; Cyrus Dare, in whom lovers of refined mimicry will find an especial treat; De Vere and Kenwick in comic conversation and scraps of genuine comedy; Arthur Gilbert who sings with taste and discretion; and direct from Brussels, Bellonini, the most skillful juggler of the present century. The bill was topped by Vansart – the man with the grip of iron who tears tennis balls like matchwood.
Performances would be short, 5-10 minutes each, with acts other than the headliner often performing twice during the evening. A week later they’d be on to the next town, refining and repeating their act in the hope of hitting the big time. Earlier the same year Cyrus Dare had been at the Alhambra Hull alongside The Great Eretto and Tschernoff’s Dogs; in November we find him performing in Wakefield alongside Clark’s Comedy Cyclists. Performers lived itinerantly, moving between guest-houses by train, worrying about other performers stealing their act or sending letters to their songwriter urging them for new material.
Postcard of Vesta Tilley (1864-1952), one of the best known male impersonators of the music hall, whose wartime songs included “Girls, If You Want To Love A Soldier, You Can All Love Me”. Reference PCD/2228/18; image courtesy of the British Music Hall Society.
Music Hall was a uniquely British entertainment form which began in the 1850s. Performances were a mix of music and song (both serious and comic), stand-up and slapstick, cross-dressing, circus and acrobatics, magic, dance, animal acts, and sometimes a mix of all of the above. The forerunner of both Britain’s Got Talent and Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show, music hall was also an important contributor to Britain’s pantomime history, with stars such as Dan Leno renowned for their Dame roles.
Re-branded as variety, the entertainment form continued to flourish between the First and Second World Wars (despite increased competition from cinema and radio) before being slowly replaced in popularity by television. While some performers made the leap to the small screen, others continued working the seaside circuit or retired, often in poverty. The end of music hall and variety is usually dated either to the closure of the Moss Empires theatre chain in 1960, or the death of star performer Max Miller in 1963.
Suit owned by Max Miller (1894-1963), who was known as The Cheeky Chappie and famous for his risqué jokes. Reference MLR/001. Photograph (c) Andy Hollingworth Archive.
That same year, the British Music Hall Society (hereafter, BMHS) was formed to safeguard the cultural heritage of this art form, as the buildings where it had been performed were converted or bulldozed. Starting with an initial advertisement in The Stage asking for items of music hall interest to be sent to the Society for safe-keeping, the BMHS quietly amassed a significant archive of costumes, photographs, ephemera and documentary material. Although always open to researchers, over the last year the BMHS Archive has significantly improved access with both a physical move of the collection to Lambeth Archives, and the publication of our first online catalogues via Archives Hub.
Cataloguing of the archive is ongoing but significant collections already listed on Archives Hub include the archive of Glenn Melvyn (1918-1999), who Ronnie Barker credited as a huge influence on his career, and scrapbooks kept by Jenny Howard (1902-1996), whose later success in Australia led to an entry in the Australian Dictionary of National Biography. LGBTQ+ performers are well-represented within the collection, including openly gay singer Fred Barnes (1885-1938) and comic George Williams (1910-1995), as well as trans magician and comedian Terri Rogers (1935-1999).
Photograph of Fred Barnes (1885-1938), who was inspired to perform after seeing Vesta Tilley on stage. Reference C00140/002; image courtesy of the British Music Hall Society.
For many performers frustratingly little survives. However, brought together within the BMHS’ archive, these tiny scraps of information can start to create a large picture of the music hall world. Alongside the archives of the performers, records from the theatres, songwriters and guesthouses help us to understand the networks that enabled audiences to enjoy ‘a spot of laughter when you’re feeling blue’, as the 1934 song “Let’s All Go To The Music Hall” (Words by Ralph Butler and Harry Tilsley) promised.
Catalogues for around 10% of the BMHS Archive are currently available via Archives Hub, with new entries added regularly. The BMHS continues to promote, celebrate and preserve music hall traditions through its active programme of lectures and performances. The call for papers for its 2026 conference (with the title “Catering for People’s Desires and The Needs in the Music Hall’) is open until 30 June 2026.
Anna McNally Freelance Archivist British Music Hall Society
The Stirling District Asylum (SDA) Archive is one of our most used collections here at the University of Stirling, often catching the eye of undergraduate students who are searching for a dissertation topic, sometimes used by creative practitioners for inspiration, but mostly it is our key collection for attracting a non-academic audience through its wide use in family history research, conducted from all over the world.
Case notes volume
The collection, as it came to us in 2012, has all of the standard patient records you might expect – admission, death, and discharge registers – but also an incredible seam of case notes from the earliest patients through to 1916/1917. These volumes are vast, variously detailed, contain letters, medical charts, background information on the patient, newspaper clippings and, most crucially, very often, photographs. For anyone researching pre-WWI relatives, they’re invaluable and stunning – in all senses of the word.
The Passing Hour, April-May-June 1911
To supplement this era, we also have copies of The Passing Hour, the Asylum’s magazine which it sent out to subscribers to report on the more social aspects of life at SDA – the sporting fixtures, the plays, the celebrations, sharing poetry written by patients, publishing letters from staff and former patients, etc. The magazine halted its run in 1917 due to the paper shortage caused by the war, but until then, it was a beautiful (if rose-tinted) look at daily life. Digitised The Passing Hour issues are available on JSTOR.
The Passing Hour, April-May-June 1914
But rich and fascinating though this archive is, there have always been gaps in the collection – in existing runs of records like the patient admission registers and case note volumes, but also in a complete absence of other certain types of records, most notably any relating to staff at the asylum. This last has, in particular, always been a noticeable gap in the family history offering, with us being unable to track relatives who might have been nurses or attendants. But it is also a gap in the history of the institution, particularly a shame because SDA did so much to professionalise mental health nursing in the early twentieth century.
Now, thanks to a very generous donation of over 100 volumes and three boxes of documents from a private collection, we can begin to address some of these gaps. This material comes from the personal collection of a local antiques dealer whose passion for history drove him to build up a very impressive array of material indeed! Now that he has passed away, his family have very kindly donated the SDA material to us so that it can be consulted by the public.
Our first staff records
Some of these volumes date to before the asylum’s opening and detail the local tradesmen who built and kitted out the asylum, offering us a wonderful insight into SDA’s earliest days. There are many records relating to the Stirling District Board of Control – records which were so absent from our archive that we didn’t even know to look out for them! And finally – finally! – some staff records. At present these come in the form of salary ledgers which may not sound too exciting and certainly won’t offer lots of information on individual staff members, but they are a means to verify who worked at SDA which up until now we were completely unable to do.
We’ve rallied our fantastic student volunteers to help us prepare this donation for use – a team of them are currently cleaning the three boxes of documents, while one of our volunteers who was particularly interested in palaeography and transcription is listing them for addition to the catalogue. We also have a placement student from the University of Strathclyde spending a semester with us researching the function of the Stirling District Board of Control so that we can get a better handle on these records and how they fit into SDA’s history. Such a lot of wonderful work going on behind the scenes to enable us to add this material to our current Archives Hub Stirling District Asylum catalogue as soon as possible – watch this space!
Volunteer project to clean documents
We’re enormously grateful for the donation, for the donor’s foresight in saving these volumes and to all of our students busy working on opening up this wonderful addition to the archive!
Rosie Al-Mulla Taylor Assistant Archivist University of Stirling Archives & Special Collections
If you look on the information leaflet within a packet of aspirin today, you will see the statement “do not give to children aged under 16 years, unless on the advice of a doctor”. Behind this warning lies the story of Reye’s syndrome, and the important work of the National Reye’s Syndrome Foundation of the United Kingdom.
Reye’s syndrome was first named in Australia in 1963, as an often-fatal illness affecting the liver and brain which can appear in children after a viral infection such as flu or chickenpox. The exact cause of Reye’s syndrome remains unknown, but research in the US in the 1970s and 1980s reported a strong correlation between aspirin intake during viral illnesses and occurrence of Reye’s syndrome.
Despite cases of Reye’s syndrome peaking in the early 1980s, there was little information available to medical professionals or families encountering the illness in the UK. This was until the founding of the National Reye’s Syndrome Foundation of the United Kingdom (NRSF) in 1983 by parents Audrey and Clifford Harrington.
The NRSF aimed to fund research into Reye’s syndrome and raise public awareness of the condition. This included research and campaigning which led to the introduction of aspirin warning labelling in the UK in 1986, resulting in a dramatic decline of Reye’s syndrome cases.
The NRSF maintained strong ties with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), particularly through the efforts of Gordon Denney who took over the administration of the Foundation in the mid-1980s. Gordon and his wife Gillian lost their own son Jonathan to Reye’s syndrome and worked tirelessly to raise public awareness of the condition.
In 2012, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health assumed responsibility for the Foundation’s work and acknowledged the historical significance of the NRSF’s records, which not only document the organisation’s legacy, but also the history of Reye’s syndrome in the UK.
Gordon Denney not only donated the records of the NRSF to the College but also provided generous financial support to fund the work of a Project Archivist to catalogue the records making them accessible to researchers.
Between April and November 2025, the NRSF collection was catalogued, repackaged, and prepared for long-term preservation ensuring its accessibility for future researchers.
These photos show the transformation from shelves of mismatched boxes to a neatly organised and packaged collection.
Before cataloguing
After cataloguing
The collection offers a rich and varied insight into the NRSF’s work. It includes documents detailing its founding, personal papers of the chair of NRSF’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Board, and a wide array of public-facing materials such as posters, leaflets, and campaign literature.
The collection also includes personal accounts and experiences of Reye’s syndrome from families and clinicians encountering the effects of the illness, as well as recollections of the personal connections to Reye’s syndrome of those involved in the Foundation.
NRSF/007/001/003: Consider Reye’s poster for display in hospitals
NRSF/007/001/001: Leaflet providing information on Reye’s Syndrome and Reye-like illnesses
The NRSF collection provides a unique perspective on how charities have influenced child health in the UK, collaborating with Colleges like the RCPCH to drive change. The collection also highlights the vital role of determined individuals, who devote their life to improving health outcomes for children and young people, often because of the loss of a child.
The story told by the NRSF collection demonstrates how determined individuals can drive change that lasts for generations. Whilst there have been no known cases of classic Reye’s syndrome since 2002 in the UK, the work of the NRSF continues to have an impact on child health.
Namely, research and campaigns funded by the NRSF were instrumental in the introduction of warning labelling on aspirin products, which made visible the link between aspirin and Reye’s syndrome in children. These warnings are still used on aspirin products today.
Another lasting contribution of the NRSF was the development of clinical guidelines for managing decreased consciousness in children. This guideline continues to be updated and remains in use in hospitals today.
Whilst Reye’s syndrome in its classic form seems unlikely to reappear, new waves of viral illnesses such as seasonal flu, are a reminder that vigilance in child health is always necessary.
If you’ve ever been to Nottingham, you will have seen how Thomas Chambers Hine (1813-1899) shaped the city, even if you were not aware of it.
Originally from London, where he trained as an architect, Hine moved to Nottingham in his mid-twenties. In 1848 he was awarded first prize in the Society of Arts’ architecture competition to design an agricultural labourer’s cottage. This led to several important commissions and today, Hine is best remembered as the architect of many iconic buildings in Nottingham and around the East Midlands. Hine was versatile and proved this with a variety of styles for houses, hospitals, churches, and railway stations. His significant projects included renovating the fire-damaged Nottingham Castle into a Museum and art gallery, alterations to the Shire Hall (today the National Justice Museum), and designing several lace warehouses during the heyday of the Nottingham lace industry. Just over the county border in Derbyshire, he was commissioned for the rebuilding of Ogston Hall.
Index page of Autograph Letters, with a photograph of T. C. Hine. Ref: MS 575/1/1-8.
This large volume, titled ‘Autograph Letters from Kings Nobles Statesmen Churchmen Scientists Authors Artists Architects and Other Notabilities AD 1640 to 1889’, contains over 1000 letters, photographs, printed materials, and drawings. It is arranged according to themes, such as authors, scientists, architects, artists, and royalty; an idiosyncratic mix reflecting Hine’s interests, personality, and professional background.
Over 140 letters were addressed to Hine personally. It’s lovely to think of this well-respected middle-aged Victorian gentleman posting letters to people he admires and then carefully pasting their replies into his book. He also collected autographs and complete letters from people who didn’t correspond with him directly. When he wasn’t able to acquire a genuine document, he would instead paste in copies or printed versions. As a result, the scrapbook is a mix of original handwritten letters and his own sketches next to newspaper clippings and bits cut out of books. He added decorative borders and embellishments, making every page unique. It is a beautiful object and a real labour of love created over many decades.
Whilst the majority of the material dates from the 19th century, one the earliest items is the signature of Charles I, who was executed in 1649. Hine’s collection encompassed famous historical figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte and various French and German royals, up to notable individuals of his own time, like William Gladstone, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens.
Page relating to Nottingham Castle and a sketch of the Park Estate tunnel as sketched by Hine. Hine designed both but the W E Gladstone is the author or subject of most of the documents. Ref: MS 575/1/165-179.
The geographic range of the subjects is equally international. Places relating to Nottingham and the East Midlands are well represented, though the buildings he designed are featured almost incidentally. For example, a few items relating to his restoration of Nottingham Castle sit in the ‘Nobility’ section of the scrapbook. Even in the section dedicated to ‘Architects’ there is comparatively little about Hine’s own prolific and prestigious career, so this scrapbook is clearly not intended to be a record of his own achievements but a celebration of architects he admired and influenced him. One was Italian architect Alessandro Antonelli (1798-1888), who sent Hine an illustration of his then-unfinished Mole Antonelliana in Turin. Originally intended as a synagogue, construction was halted for a number of years due to the enormous budget overspend, and there were concerns that it would never be finished. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Hine had Antonelli’s illustration in mind when he remodelled Nottingham’s Shire Hall with its own dome.
Letters from Italian architects including, Alessandro Antonelli, to Hine with a printed section of the Mole Antonelliana. Ref: MS 575/1/819-827.
Manuscripts and Special Collections acquired the scrapbook along with some other material from the family in the 1990s but until very recently, the scrapbook was far too fragile to handle and the contents were largely unknown.
Hine had folded and overlaid items, gluing them to and over each other when he ran out of space on the page, and then inserting loose items. The leaves were heavily laden and brittle, and the binding had broken. This likely happened during Hine’s lifetime as efforts had been made to repair it with scraps bearing his office address or small details of architectural plans.
Scrapbook prior to conservation work showing its fragile condition.
However, there was a lot of interest in the scrapbook from people in Nottingham. Talks and guided walks of the buildings he designed are guaranteed to draw audiences, and so, with thanks to the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust, we began a conservation project in 2022. The scrapbook was disbound and every item cleaned and repaired where necessary, then photographed. The pages have been left disbound and placed between archival boards to support them, but the documents have been left in situ, interleaved with archival paper where necessary. The way Hine gathered and arranged this collection is equally as important as the collected items themselves.
Conservation cleaning as part of the NMCT project.
We know that Hine wanted his scrapbook to outlive him, as on the index page he wrote:
‘With the best wishes of the compiler this book is bequeathed by him as an heir loom to his direct lineal descendants.’
Now, thanks to the NMCT and our conservation and digitisation teams, and Research England who provided funding for a cataloguing archivist, it is more likely to survive for future generations.
Kathryn Steenson Senior Archivist Manuscripts and Special Collections University of Nottingham
Further Reading
Much of the archival material relating to T.C. Hine’s architectural work survives in other collections, most notably the Nottingham Park Estate, a wealthy residential area with many domestic properties designed by Hine.
“No one but you would have rushed hatless through the streets for four years spreading the gospel. The gratitude of everyone concerning [sic] with the movie should go to you.”
December 2025 will see both the 40th anniversary of screenwriter Philip Mackie’s death and the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of The Naked Civil Servant, arguably his most famous work. Mackie’s adaptation of Quentin Crisp’s autobiography portrayed the discrimination and violence faced by a young man who refused to hide his homosexuality. This TV film has been widely praised; it won the prestigious Prix Italia in 1976 and was rated the fourth best programme of the 20th Century by the BFI. But the project had been around for several years and rejected multiple times before it was picked up and produced by Thames TV. Mackie himself, as Crisp’s quotation above indicates, shouldered much of the burden of finding a broadcaster to take it on. The Philip Mackie Collection at Southampton Solent University (SSU) Library helps tell this story, through its draft scripts and notes for the film, and through Mackie’s correspondence with Crisp, director Jack Gold, and TV executives – notably a pair of letters from the BBC, the first rejecting the script, the second congratulating Mackie on the excellence of the eventual production.
Philip Mackie was born in 1918; after graduating from UCL and serving in the army, he worked as a film producer for the Ministry of Information; from the 1950s until his death in 1985 he worked in television as a writer and occasional producer. He was one of the leading television writers of the 1970s and 80s, and he also wrote films, plays, an autobiographical novel, short stories, and verse. The Philip Mackie Collection, which was donated to SSU Library by Mackie’s family in 2006, measures sixteen linear metres and consists mainly of scripts, notes and correspondence relating to his literary career. Since it was added to Archives Hub late in 2022, it has generated interest from around the world and from the general public as well as academics. Naturally, most of the sub-series in the collection relate to Mackie’s successes, such as the TV series Raffles, An Englishman’s Castle, The Organisation. But some of the most interesting items in the archive relate to works that never made it into production, where initial rejection was followed, not by success – as in the case of The Naked Civil Servant – but by further rejection.
One such project is an adaptation of the Kingsley Amis novel The Anti Death League, which Mackie was working on with director Cliff Owen for many years. Amis himself was on board with the project, and our archive includes a typescript of Amis’ updating of Operation Apollo to suit the contemporary political situation. Nevertheless, the project met with repeated rejection, which Mackie attributed to a squeamishness about death among TV executives:
“I guess DEATH is the taboo subject of our time – far more than homosexuality and so forth … I seem to be getting into a Naked Civil Servant situation again, I hope with a similar result; except that gays came into fashion, whereas I don’t know if death will ever come into fashion in the same way.”
The Omega Factor, broadcast on the BBC in 1979, is sometimes described as a forerunner of The X-Files. It follows journalist Tom Crane as he is co-opted into a secret government department investigating psychic phenomena such as telekinesis and brainwashing. Mackie was commissioned to write an episode, but his script was rejected, perhaps because it undercut the depiction of psychic and occultic powers with humour in a way that is quite unlike the eventual series. A little more of Mackie’s humour might have helped the series deflect the criticisms of Mary Whitehouse, who asked the BBC to take “expert psychiatric and theological advice” before making such programmes again (quoted in Glasgow Herald, 21st August 1979).
Possibly Mary Whitehouse would have approved of CBS’s Program Practices department, whose notes on Mackie’s script for Nanking Road, an adaptation of Vicki Baum’s novel Hotel Shanghai, include the deletion of “Christ,” “hell,” “damn,” and the comment, “the bubbles in the tub should be sufficiently high and thick that Helen’s breasts are not exposed” (Gloria Valdes, letter to John Pringle, 17th December 1982, MAC/1/37). Thus, these items illustrate one of the more obvious differences between US and UK television at the time. Still, there is no indication that these “minor and rather absurd deletions” (John Pringle, letter to Mackie, 19th January 1983, MAC/1/37) were the reason the show was never produced. It is noticeable that at this period Mackie was involved in several US-based projects. Though none of these came to fruition, the recognition from US broadcasters – a result perhaps of the international success of The Naked Civil Servant – is a mark of his status in his profession by this point.
Moving to the other end of Mackie’s career, one of his early successes was The Girl at the Next Table, a comic teleplay broadcast by the BBC in 1957 and starring Ian Carmichael. Mackie converted it into a stage musical, in which Carmichael agreed to reprise his role from the teleplay. The project was never realised, but our archive contains correspondence with potential lyricists, including Bamber Gascoigne, by that time already presenting University Challenge. Mackie and Gascoigne could not reach consensus on the approach required, so the collaboration was abandoned. Their firm but good-natured disagreement is exemplified by the openings of their correspondence:
“Dear Bamber, Once more with feeling. I love your enthusiasm, I like your lyrics, I can’t take your Act Two.”
“Dear Philip, Once more with feeling. I love your enthusiasm, I like your attitude to the lyrics, I can’t take your Act Two.”
At SSU Library, the Philip Mackie Collection is complemented by two other archival collections. Our material from film-director Ken Russell is mainly photographic, but there are several papers relating to unrealised projects in this collection too. Earlier this year we accessioned the professional archive of comedy writer Andrew Marshall; it will be fully catalogued soon. For information about access, see our Special Collections LibGuide.
James Clark Library Systems and Discovery Manager Southampton Solent University
The University of Brighton Design Archives has launched a new catalogue of the archive of graphic designer Willy de Majo, one of a number of émigré designers’ archives held at Brighton, which include those of FHK Henrion and Arnold Rothholz.
William Maks de Majo, known as Willy de Majo, was born in Vienna on the 25th of July, 1917 to Yugoslav parents. He trained at the Vienna Handelsakademie, a specialist trade school in Austria focusing on business and economics, with a plan to join his father’s textile business. After practising graphic design in his own time, he instead went on to establish a design consultancy in Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia, in 1935. His archive, which was transferred to Brighton in 2009, includes a small amount of materials from these early years in Yugoslavia for clients such as the local Scout movement.
WDM-3-6-1-5. Willy de Majo Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.
As a member of the Jewish community, de Majo was forced to flee Nazi persecution. He arrived in England just before the Second World War in 1939, when the profession of graphic design was still in its infancy, to become one of a number of émigrés who changed the course of British design. During the war, he served with the Royal Yugoslav Air Force, later transferring to the RAF, and was awarded a military MBE. De Majo married Veronica Booker (1919-1992) in 1941. She was a graphic designer and a sculptor in her own right and assisted Willy with many of his projects. The couple had three children.
After the war, he re-established his design business in London working in graphic, industrial and exhibition design, as well as corporate identity, packaging and product development with multiple clients such as Charles Letts & Co Ltd (diaries), Miles-Martin Pen Company (Biro pen), Ronson (lighters), British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), Baden-Powell (Scouts) and John Millar & Sons (sweets packaging and corporate design), for whom his designs are particularly full of whimsical joy with a playful use of colour, illustrations and font.
WDM-2-2-8-1 (left) and WDM-2-2-8-2 (right). Willy de Majo Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.
During the 1950s, de Majo was the Co-ordinating Designer of the ‘Ulster Farm and Factory’ exhibition, part of the Festival of Britain, in Castlereagh in Belfast in 1951. His wife Veronica also designed an outdoor mobile for the exhibition. The materials relating to de Majo’s work for the Festival of Britain connect him with other archives housed at Brighton, including that of James Gardner, whose work on the Festival Pleasure Gardens at Battersea in London are visually documented within his collection; and the archive of the Design Council, one of the organisers of the Festival, which includes a notable selection of black and white photographic prints.
WDM-3-7-4-1. Willy de Majo Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.
De Majo’s ability to speak multiple languages made him an effective advocate for the designer profession over the course of his career. In 1953 he made a guest presentation to the Aspen International Design Conference in Colorado, which led to the formation of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID, now WDO – World Design Organisation) in 1957. De Majo also went on to become the Founder President of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda) – now ICO-D – which he established with Peter Kneebone in London in 1963, and in which he continued to play an active role in until his death in 1994. The archives of both these design organisations also reside at the University of Brighton Design Archives. In 1969, de Majo was awarded the Minerva Medal, an accolade for “a lifetime’s achievement and outstanding contribution in any field of design” by the Chartered Society of Designers for his work in the field of Graphic Design.
WDM-2-4-4-1. Willy de Majo Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.
De Majo was a skilled designer, lecturer and speaker. He contributed to a number of international design conferences and congresses during his lifetime and was a meticulous record keeper, with extensive work-related material in the archive often duplicated and cross-referenced. There are many visual records documenting commissions carried out for multiple clients from his base in London. These include black and white and colour photography of packaging and corporate identity work; original artwork, sketches and drawings; and text-based documentation – which contains papers from his involvement with Icograda, amongst others. All of these materials give a real insight into the design processes in the early days of graphic design, as well as to de Majo’s evolving life as a consultant designer.
As the archive’s cataloguer, I was intrigued by how much de Majo kept of his work and I thought about the possible reasons behind the meticulous recordkeeping. Perhaps it was because his émigré experience gave him a need for stability and order, or was it simply to ensure his legacy lived on? This new catalogue allows researchers to begin to explore his archive and decide for themselves.
WDM-2-3-1-1. Willy de Majo Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.
Further reading
Breakell, Sue and Whitworth, Lesley (2013) ‘Émigré designers in the University of Brighton Design Archives’. Journal of Design History, 28(1), 83-97 https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/ept006
Whitworth, Lesley (2021) ‘Flights of Fancy: Willy de Majo and the Youthful Foundations of a Lifelong Design Practice’ in Shapira, Elana Designing Transformation: Jews and Cultural Identity in Central European Modernism (Bloomsbury). DOI: 10.5040/9781350172326.ch-11
Sirpa Kutilainen Preservation and Digital Resources Coordinator University of Brighton Design Archives
This blog post forms part of History Day, a day of online interactive events for students, researchers and history enthusiasts to explore library, museum, archive and history collections across the UK and beyond.
Use Archives Hub, a free resource provided by Jisc, to find unique sources for your research, both physical and digital. Search across over 3.4 million descriptions of archives, held at over 440 institutions and organisations across the UK.
Peter Tatchell Papers: Peter Tatchell was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1952. In 1972 he emigrated to Britain to avoid being drafted to the Vietnam War, which he had actively opposed. He worked freelance in design and display whilst studying for a BSc in Sociology at the Polytechnic of North London; 1974-1977. During this period, Tatchell attended meetings of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and soon became actively involved in gay politics. He acted as the GLF delegate to the World Youth Festival in East Berlin in 1973. Following his graduation in 1977, Tatchell became a social worker with the North Lambeth housing agency in Waterloo. In 1978 Tatchell founded the UK AIDS Vigil Organisation, the first group to campaign for the civil liberties of those with AIDS. This was followed in 1989 by his creation of the London Act Up (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power). Outrage! was founded in May 1990 by Martin Corbitt, Simon Watney, Peter Tatchell and other gay rights activists. In 2000, Peter Tatchell stood unsuccessfully as an Independent candidate for the new Greater London Assembly. Held by Labour History Archive and Study Centre.
Feature: Cathlin du Sautoy and Hermione Blackwood: personal papers at the Royal College of Nursing Archives – Cathlin du Sautoy was born in 1875 to John and Annie du Sautoy. Her father was a civil engineer and the family lived in Yorkshire. After study of Domestic Science at Cardiff College she was appointed as lecturing sister at Tredegar House, the training school for nurses for the London Hospital, followed by training at Guy’s Hospital. A career in nursing and nurse teaching followed. Cathlin was deeply involved with nursing in France during and after the First World War, organising Red Cross units in the UK and in France, and helping to set up an English-style District Nurse programme in Reims after the end of the war. During the First World War, when she was in her late 30s, she met Lady Hermione Blackwood, who was a VAD in France. They would become lifelong companions, settling in the Vale of Health in Hampstead with their two adopted French children, Victor and Yvette, after the war. The couple acted as air-raid wardens during the Second World War and were active in the local area and hospital. Cathlin died in 1968, eight years after the death of Hermione. Collection held by Royal College of Nursing Archives.
Alan Turing Collection: Alan Turing (1912-1954) made two outstandingly original contributions to the development of computer science: his paper On Computable Numbers (1936) outlined a theoretical universal machine (or Turing machine), an idea which was more fully developed in his brilliant design for the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE), built after the Second World War at the National Physical Laboratory. He was also an important figure in the Colossus codebreaking operations at Bletchley Park during the War; made contributions to programming the Manchester University Mark I computer in the early 1950s; researched the subject of morphogenesis in plants at Manchester University; and from time to time explored the problem of machine intelligence. Held by University of Manchester Library
Tessa Boffin Archive: Tessa Boffin was born 24 December 1960. She was a lesbian photographer, writer, editor, and performance artist. Her work was at the front-line of international queer culture and politics. She initially studied photography in the mid 1980s at the Polytechnic of Central London, then undertook an MA in Critical Theory at the University of Sussex in 1987-1988. Her teaching was as a part time photography lecturer at the following institutions from 1986 to 1990: Adult Education, London; Oxford Polytechnic; West Surrey College of Art and Design; Polytechnic of Central London; Kent institute of Art and Design. Boffin’s work was sex and sexual fantasy, and explored lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender issues. She edited Ecstatic Antibodies in 1990 with Sunil Gupta, and co-curated the exhibition, which contributed to understanding of the role images played in the AIDS crisis, and in 1991 edited Stolen Glances: Lesbians Take Photographs, with Jean Fraser, which is contemporary lesbian photography. She was the first British lesbian doing political work around AIDS as early as 1985. Held by University for the Creative Arts Archives & Special Collections.
Noël Coward Collection: Noël Pierce Coward was born on 16 December 1899, the second of three sons of Arthur Sabin Coward, clerk, and Violet Agnes, daughter of Henry Gordon Veitch, captain and surveyor in the Royal Navy. His education was interrupted by his pursuit of a stage career, although he attended the Chapel Royal School in Clapham between 1908 and 1909. He also took lessons at Janet Thomas’ Dancing Academy in Hanover Square. He made his first professional stage appearance in 1911 in The Goldfish. Coward recorded some of his best-known songs between 1929 and 1936. However, his health was affected by his self-imposed workload, the pressures of public fame and his private life, and he had another psychological breakdown in 1926 and had to take an extended holiday to recover. He was in a relationship during the 1920s with John (Jack) C. Wilson, who had also become his manager, and had a series of brief affairs during the 1930s, but, at a time when homosexual relationships were illegal, had to be circumspect about this large area of his personal life. Held by University of Birmingham, Cadbury Research Library, Special Collections.
Papers of Vera (Jack) Holme: Vera Louise Holme (1881-1969) was born in Lancashire in 1881, the daughter of Richard Holme, a timber merchant, and his wife Mary Louisa Crowe. Holme was sent away from home as a young girl to be educated at a convent school in Belgium. As a young woman she was based in London, and began performing with touring acting companies, often as a male impersonator. She adopted a masculine style of dress, short hair and took on the nickname Jack or Jacko. She became a member of the D’Olyly Carte Opera company around 1906, performing in productions of Gilbert & Sullivan at the Savoy Opera House. She joined the Women’s Social & Political Union (WSPU) in 1908 and was active in suffrage propaganda work. The archive consists of diaries, correspondence, photographs and memorabilia relating to Holme’s activities as a suffragette; her work with the Women’s Volunteer Reserve and the Scottish Women’s Hospital Unit during the First World War; her visits to and relief work in Serbia / Yugoslavia; and her personal life and friendships. Many items across the collection relate to her girlfriend Evelina Haverfield. Held by the Women’s Library Archives.
Stonewall: Stonewall was founded in 1989 by a small group of women and men who had been active in the struggle against Section 28 of the Local Government Act. Section 28 was an offensive piece of legislation designed to prevent the so-called ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools; as well as stigmatising lesbian, gay and bisexual people it also galvanised the LGBT community. The aim from the outset was to create a professional lobbying group that would prevent such attacks on lesbians, gay men and bisexual people from ever occurring again. Stonewall has subsequently put the case for equality on the mainstream political agenda by winning support within all the main political parties and now has offices in England, Scotland and Wales. Stonewall is renowned for its campaigning and lobbying. The collection comprises 66 boxes, posters and other loose items (1976-2016). Held by Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives.
Campaign for Homosexual Equality – Lancaster and Morecambe Branch: CHE evolved from the North-Western Homosexual Law Reform Committee, founded in 1963, and became a national organisation in 1969. It fights for: acceptance of homosexual and bisexual people by society as fully entitled to lead their lives openly; social and legal equality between all men and women; reform of laws which deny this equality; the eradication of the prejudice and hostility faced by the homosexual; the creation of social meeting places where homosexual men and women and heterosexual men and women may gather in a congenial atmosphere. The Lancaster and Morecambe branch of CHE was founded in 1975. 2 boxes of material, dated 1974-1996. Held by Lancashire Archives.
OutRage! Established in May 1990 after the murder of gay actor Michael Boothe, OutRage! was founded by Keith Alcorn (who came up with the name), Chris Woods, Simon Watney and Peter Tatchell (who drew up the first draft of what became the group’s Statement of Aims, and became one of its chief spokespersons throughout the next 20 years). According to its website, OutRage! is ‘a broad based group of queers committed to radical, non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to assert the dignity and human rights of queers; fight homophobia, discrimination and violence directed against [gays]; affirm [the] right to sexual freedom, choice and self-determination.’ OutRage! works to take up the cases of individuals suffering discrimination, provides information, advice and referrals, promotes awareness and education about lesbian and gay issues, and investigates and researches anti-gay discrimination. 15 boxes of material (1988-1999) held by Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives.
Records of St Andrews LGBT Society: 7 series consisting of minutes, administrative records, campaign materials relating to Section 28, factsheets and information booklets, newspaper cuttings and publicity including display relating to 1977 ‘Citizen-gate’ incident. The collection contains 1 box and 8 laminated posters, covering the period 1977-2010. Held by Glasgow Women’s Library.
Gay Medical Association: ‘GLADD: the Association of LGBT Doctors and Dentists’ had its roots in the Gay Medics and Dentals Group, a society of the University of London Students Union, established in 1976. The aims of the Gay Medics and Dentals Group was to support gay and lesbian clinical students in the University, and to promote the needs of homosexual patients to medical staff in London. One of their last actions, in December 1977, was to deliver a ‘Guide to counselling agencies for homosexual people in London’ to over 10,000 general practitioners and hospital specialists in London. The group was re-established in 1980 following the refusal of an advertisement by Scottish gay doctors in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). In 1983 the Society changed name to the Gay Medical Association (GMA) at which point they reported membership to be approximately 150 people. Around this time, GMA published its first leaflet ‘AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome’. Possibly the first of its kind in the UK, the leaflet was left in clubs and pubs with the aim of educating gay men and lesbians about the disease. At time of deposit (2016) the organisation was known as ‘GLADD, the Association of LGBT Doctors and Dentists’. Held by Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives.
The Lesbian Archive: The Lesbian Archive and Information Centre (LAIC) was set up in London in 1984 to collect material about lesbian lives, activism and achievements, primarily in the UK. The Archive relocated to Glasgow Women’s Library in 1995. LAIC was established as The Lesbian Archives Collective in 1984, receiving grant funding from the Greater London Council. After the withdrawal of this funding, the collections were sent to the Glasgow Women’s Library. In 1996, LAIC accepted the archives and library of the Camden Lesbian Centre and Black Lesbian Group as a complete collection. Jackie Forster, broadcaster, comedian, lesbian activist and founder of Sappho magazine was an active member of the LAIC Management Committee from 1992 until her death in 1998. In 1997 a BBC film crew came to the archive to film Jackie for a programme about her life which was to be part of ‘The Day That Changed My Life’ series. Her work has made a huge impact on shaping the archive. You can hire this inspiring documentary on video from the Library. 5 metres of material, from 1984 to present. Held by Glasgow Women’s Library.
Research and publications
James Henry Lynch: The Rt. Hon. Lady Eleanor Butler & Miss Ponsonby ‘The Ladies of Llangollen’. A portrait from the Welsh Portrait Collection at the National Library of Wales. Image in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons. From the feature Researching LGBTQ+ History at North East Wales Archives.
Queering the Quarantine Project: Queering the Quarantine was a project run by queer/disrupt, a research collective of students and early career researchers based at the University of Warwick who describe themselves as “a queer community based in the UK, giving space and voice to members of the LGBTQ+ family and marginalised groups both locally and worldwide.” Queering the Quarantine brought together a collection of creative responses to the experience of Covid-19 quarantine. The submissions were international in scope and include images, text, audio and audio visual pieces (dated 2020-2021). The collection consists of 213 digital files. Held by Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.
Gay News Photographic Archive: Gay News was a fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE). At the newspaper’s height, circulation was approximately 18,000 copies. Amongst Gay News’ early “Special Friends” were Graham Chapman of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, his partner David Sherlock, and Antony Grey, secretary of the UK Homosexual Law Reform Society from 1962 to 1970. Gay News was the response to a nationwide demand by lesbians and gay men for news of the burgeoning liberation movement. The paper played a pivotal role in the struggle for gay rights in the 1970s in the UK. The paper and it’s editors were often in the courts, being charged with obstruction (1972), obscenity (1974) and blasphemy (1976). Despite this, a successful campaign was launched by various gay groups to force WH Smith, who largely controlled newspaper distribution in the UK, to distribute and sell the paper. Gay News Ltd ceased trading on 15 April 1983. 37 folders of material (1972-1988). Held by Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives.
University of Birmingham Student (Alumni) Papers: Papers of Janet Batsleer: Janet Batsleer studied English at Cambridge and was a research student at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham. She worked as a youth and community worker before taking up a post as Lecturer in Youth and Community Work at Manchester Polytechnic in 1986. She has published on informal groupwork responses to young people who self-harm; on groupwork with South Asian women survivors of domestic violence; on arts-based practice with young men who are on the edge of the sex industry; as well as on lesbian, gay, queer and trans youth work. She has completed project evaluations with The Blue Room, on the place of creativity in responses to young men who sell sex, and with Groundwork UK on developing strategies to increase the diversity of groups with whom they engage, including offering resources to people with long-term mental health difficulties, lesbian and gay communities, and to small minority ethnic communities in predominantly white areas. Held by University of Birmingham, Cadbury Research Library, Special Collections.
Lesbian and Gay News media Archive: Over 80,000 newspaper and journal cuttings from national and local press, 1930s-1990s, covering all aspects of gay life from the 1930s to the present time. The range of topics covered in the collection is very broad and includes arts and the media (film, television, theatre, literature, and entertainment), censorship and obscenity laws, counselling and sex education, employment, international and British lesbian and gay organisations, sexual law reform, trials, prisons, lesbian and gay politics, ‘the pink economy’, religion, transsexuals, transvestism, sex education, health and biographies. The collection is of prime interest to those studying visual culture and the influence of the media on public and private attitudes, but also to law students, twentieth century historians, psychologists and social scientists. The collection also includes a complete bound set of Gay News and its photograph collection, a nearly complete set of Gay Times, and a collection of banners (including those of OutRage!), badges, T-shirts and other artefacts. Held by Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives. Held by: Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives.
Online Resource: Independent Voices: Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.
LGBTQ+ Celebration Event in Conwy: 11 digital images taken at Conwy’s LGBTQ+ History Month Celebration Event in 2023. The event was hosted by Conwy Museum’s Officer Rachel Evans and featured Norena Shopland who discussed the LGBTQ+ County Timeline Project; Anglican Priest Sarah Hildreth-Osborn who discussed her personal stories; these talks were followed by a performance of ‘Two Welshmen in Rome: The Story of John Gibson RA of Conwy’ by Jane Hoy and Helen Sandler of Queer Tales From Wales. Held by Gwasanaeth Archifau Conwy / Conwy Archive Service.
Civil Partnership Collection: In response to the change of legislation, which allowed gay and lesbian couples to form civil partnerships, The Women’s Library invited some of those lesbians who celebrated civil partnerships shortly after this was introduced to deposit material relating to the ceremonies. This collection (2003-2008) consists of items relating to Civil Partnership ceremonies in 2006: photographs, invitations, audio-visual recordings, celebration menus, registration forms, council registrar booklets. It also includes the participants’ answers to a questionnaire about their civil partnership. The documented ceremonies and celebrations include those held in Kent (on International Women’s Day, 2006); at Bromley Town Hall in Bow; in Hertfordshire and at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London. It also includes one folder of Civil Partnership ephemera. Held by Women’s Library Archives.
Pride Portraits, Carmarthen: A collection of portraits of members of the Carmarthen LGBTQ+ community. The images were captured by the Welsh photographer Mohamed Hassan in partnership with LocalMotion Carmarthen, during the local PRIDE events in 2024. The collection consists of 54 A4 printed portraits in a mix of colour and black and white. There are also an additional 249 images saved on a USB. LocalMotion Carmarthen comprises people from the third sector, arts and youth organisations and educational establishments. The goal is to create the happiest and most prosperous town in Wales, with creativity and culture at the root of improving people’s well-being and delivering a more equitable and inclusive economy for everyone. Mohamed Hassan is from Alexandria, but now lives and works in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Held by Archifau Sir Gaerfyrddin / Carmarthenshire Archives.
Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM): Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM): Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) originated from a collection made at the 1984 Pride March for the striking miners. Shortly afterwards a meeting was held at the University of London Union with speakers from the South Wales National Union of Miners (NUM), this led to the formation of LGSM. LGSM was a single-issue group, which sought to support the miners and their communities in their fight against Thatcherism. The organisation lasted only for the duration of the 1984-5 miners’ strike. A sub-group called Lesbians Against Pit Closures (LPAC) formed a few months after LGSM was established. This was partly because many women in the group felt intimidated by the gay men who formed the bulk of the membership. Both groups had strong links with the mining community of Dulais, South Wales. Exchange visits were arranged and benefits organised, the money collected went to support striking miners and their families. Held by Labour History Archive and Study Centre.
Join our mailing list: to receive updates about the latest collections and contributors on Archives Hub and tips for using archives in your research – visit our jiscmail list to sign up
Collections of George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson (1790-1883): George Stephenson, the ‘Father of the Railways’, was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. His son, Robert Stephenson, worked with him and also developed his own independent career in civil and mechanical engineering. His work took him to South America where he helped to develop infrastructure there. George Robert Stephenson, was George Stephenson’s nephew and also an engineer. Held by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Archive.
Records of the Glasgow District Subway Co, Glasgow, Scotland (1894): Glasgow was the third city in the world to build an underground rail system, after London, England, and Budapest, Hungary. In August 1890, the Glasgow District Subway Co was given authority to build a 6.5 mile long route under the streets of Glasgow. The circular line is formed of parallel pair of tunnels built by tunnelling or cut and cover. The system uses an unusual gauge of 4 feet (about 1200mm), with the tunnels just 11 feet in diameter. The underground was opened on 14 December 1896, but a collision that day meant that the network did not open again until 21 January 1897. Held by University of Glasgow Archive Services.
Drawings of the Midland Railway Extension to London St Pancras (1867-1871): the collection comprises 33 architectural and engineering drawings as used or designed by contractors to the Midland Railway, covering architectural elements of St Pancras and Finchley Road Stations, various bridges and approaches and the design and emplacement of working equipment such as cranes and traversers. It represents a very small part of what must have been a much more extensive set of drawings. Held by: National Railway Museum Archive.
Online Resource:Rail Map Online (circa 1750 – to date): a free website that provides interactive maps of past and present to explore UK and Ireland railways, US West railroads and UK and Irish canals and more. There are options for exploring via layers (such as narrow gauge, Metro, historic tramways), legend (companies) and places (stations). The resource also features a range of tools, including ability to select which coordinate system to display positions with.
Mumbles Railway Records (1804-1959): The Swansea and Mumbles railway ran from Swansea to Mumbles. In 1804 the Oystermouth Railway and Tramroad Company was incorporated and work began on building the line. In 1806 goods traffic began to pass over the line in waggons pulled by horses. The main cargo was limestone at this stage. However, as Mumbles began to lose its industrial character and started to develop as a tourist resort, freight lessened and in 1807 the line became unique as providing the first regular rail passenger service in the world. Held by: Swansea University Archives.
Online Resource:IMechE Virtual Archive (c 1720-1985): you can access the story of the world’s first railway to rely exclusively on steam power – the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Photographs reveal how the Bhore Ghat incline, India was constructed and show where workers lived. Artefacts include unique carved railway tokens used by George Stephenson to travel the railway lines he helped to build. Provided the by Institution of Mechanical Engineers Archive.
Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) 1861-2018: The Engine Drivers’ and Firemen’s United Society was founded in 1865 and claimed a membership of over 10,000 by 1866 when they made initial demands for a 10 hour day and payment of overtime as well as an increase in pay. With the establishment of the ASRS in 1872, there was some dilution of membership but the ASRS was regarded as too conciliatory and eventually the demand for a more militant and focused union led to the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen which was formed in Leeds in February 1880. Held by: Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.
Papers of Brian Tinley Shepherd Simpson (1936-1963): Brian Tinley Shepherd Simpson (1912-1997), was a priest of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and was Canon of St John’s Cathedral, Oban 1978-80. He retired in 1980, thereafter being Honorary Canon of Oban Cathedral until his death on 10 February 1997. The collection comprises his voluminous correspondence, and wealth of material, including photographs and correspondence with the Rev. W. Awdry, author of Thomas the Tank Engine stories, relating to his passionate interest in railway transport. Held by: University of St Andrews Special Collections.
‘Orient Express‘ (1991-2007), part of the Gavin Mark Stamp Archive: Gavin Mark Stamp (1948-2017) was a British architectural historian, writer, journalist, and campaigner. Stamp presented a number of television programmes for Channel 5, including a five-part architectural travel series ‘Gavin Stamp’s Orient Express‘, in which he travelled by train from London, via Vienna to Istanbul. The show examines art and architecture alongside the cities’ historical and political contexts, to present how the history of Eastern Europe is told through its buildings. WagTV produced the series with Steven Green as Director, and Eliya Aman as Producer. The series was filmed between 12 Jun-15 Jul 2006, and aired on Channel 5 in 2007. Held by: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
The Cambridge Antiquarian Society Glaisher Collection of aeronautical engravings and pictures: The collection (dated 1693-1928) is principally one created by James Glaisher and slightly augmented by his son, James Whitbread Lee Glaisher. It consists of a series of scrapbooks containing newspaper cuttings on eighteenth and nineteenth century balloon ascents, loose newspaper cuttings on ballooning, nineteenth century journals and periodicals featuring articles on ballooning and aeronautical flights, scientific papers principally concerned with James Glaisher’s experiments for the British Association for the Advancement of Science, nineteenth century posters featuring balloons, and hand-drawn illustrations of balloons. Held by Cambridge University Library.
Feature: Planes, pilots and politics: National Aerospace Library’s collections fly onto Archives Hub: The human race has always wanted to fly, and the National Aerospace Library’s collection shows how we have pursued those dreams to conquer and then perfect flight; from aeroplanes to hovercraft, air travel to satellites, and missiles to man carrying kites. Their earliest book, from 1515, looks at how objects travel through the air and they are still collecting material on cutting edge aero engineering.
National Collection of Aerial Photography: NCAP is the official place of deposit for declassifed and released UK government aerial imagery, holding over 30 million aerial images of areas around the world.
Cathay Pacific 192 boxes of material (1945-1986). Cathay Pacific Airways was founded by pilots, Roy Farrell and Sydney de Kantzow, on 24 September 1946 and registered in Hong Kong. In the same year, John – “Jock” – Kidston Swire (1893-1983), became Chairman of John Swire & Sons. Determined to find new opportunities for the firm and recognising that air transport was the key to the future, Jock Swire looked for ways of involving Swire in this industry. In 1948 Swire bought a management stake in Cathay Pacific Airways. By this time, the airline had grown from its original single US Army surplus DC3 (Dakota), Betsy, to a fleet of six DC3s and a Catalina flying boat. From then on, the growth of Hong Kong’s airline was to become Jock Swire’s special pride. In 1980 Cathay Pacific went international. At the end of a decade of rapid expansion, the airline acquired its first Boeing 747-200 “jumbo jet” and the following year began a non-stop service to London. Cathay Pacific currently holds the title of the world’s third largest airline. John Swire & Sons remain a major shareholder today alongside Air China. Held by School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Archives, University of London. Forms part of the John Swire & Sons Ltd Archive.
Online Resource: Guide to the Archives of UK Aircraft Manufacturers The guide covers UK-based businesses for which archives survive (c 1900 – ongoing) that have at some point manufactured powered heavier-than-air (fixed-wing and rotary-wing) and lighter-than-air (balloons and airships) aircraft that were capable of carrying people. The guide also covers trade and professional bodies, past and present, which represented the interests of aircraft manufacturers and their employees or which supported aeronautical research.
Archive of Jersey Airport: The first aeroplane to land in Jersey touched down on the beach at West Park, on the Island’s south coast in August 1912. However, it was to be another 25 years before Jersey had an airport on dry land. Recognising the growing importance and popularity of air travel, the Jersey Chamber of Commerce pushed for a purpose-built airport and, in 1934, the States of Jersey agreed to the purchase of privately-owned field in St Peter, towards the west of the Island. The new Jersey Airport was officially opened on 10 March 1937. Within a year of opening, an estimated 20,000 visitors had flown to Jersey, many of them holidaying from mainland UK. The collection (1937-1994) includes papers relating to the establishment of the airport in 1937 and diaries, movement records and log books from the Air Traffic Control department. Held by Jersey Archive
Feature: Come Fly With Me: The Archives of Sir Freddie Laker: Sir Freddie Laker recognised the inaccessibility of air travel for the general public and identified a gap in the market dominated by British Airways and Pan Am. He subsequently founded Laker Airways and its multiple subsidiaries, which allowed tens of thousands of people to fly transatlantic for the very first time. The feature is by West Sussex Record Office.
File. Helicopters: Includes information on helicopter communications, helicopter observer training, helicopters flying by night, insurance cover for police officers required to use aircraft, police use of helicopters, air reconnaissance courses, assistance to police and fire services, military assistance to civil authorities, carriage of external loads by helicopters, report on ‘Communications Aspects of Major Emergencies’ Apr 1969, memorandum ‘DAS Memorandum No5/1973: Guidance Notes on the Use of Helicopters in Rescue Operations at Civil Aircraft Accidents’ Nov 1973, Army Air Corps training document ‘Helicopter Observer Training for Police Officers’ Jan 1976. 3 files of material (1967-1976), held by Hull University Archives, Hull History Centre. Forms part of Records of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
Professor Anthony Robert Southey Bramwell: Born in 1927, Bramwell began his career as a commercial artist illustrating RAF technical manuals, then undertook various jobs at Royal Aeronautical Establishment; wrote doctoral thesis on helicopter stability and went on to teach at Bedford Technical College; appointed Senior Lecturer, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, City University, 1966; appointed Head of Department, 1977; also carried out research into helicopter dynamics, acted as a consultant to the Ministry of Defence and to industry, and served as a member of the Helicopter Research Advisory Group; died in 1981. Publications: Helicopter dynamics (Arnold, London, 1976). Collection held by Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King’s College London.
Records of The Castletown (Isle of Man) Steam Navigation Company: In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, the Isle of Man experienced a rapid expansion in the tourism industry. Towns like Douglas (with its natural harbour) were developed, made more accessible for seaborne passenger traffic and by the 1830s a Manx Steamship Company was operating out of Douglas harbour. During the latter half of the nineteenth century the capital town of Castletown (Douglas became the capital in 1869) decided it was necessary for the district to establish a steam boat communication system between Castletown and the rest of the British Isles. In 1853 a steamship company was formed and named ‘The Castletown Isle of Man Steam Navigation Company’, with a capital sum of £12,000 in 1,200 shares of £10 each. The Company commissioned Birkenhead based ship builders John Laird and Co. Ltd to construct its first steamer: named the Ellan Vannin it was completed in June 1854. Held by Manx National Heritage Library and Archives.
Feature: For those in peril on the sea – Seamen’s Missions archives at Hull History Centre – Since their inception, the work of both the Missions to Seamen and Apostleship of the Sea organisations has been fundamentally the same: to minister, both spiritually and physically, to the needs of seafarers who find themselves away from home and family because of work.
Records of Scotts’ Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland: In 1711 John Scott established a small business to build herring busses and other craft. Later, his sons expanded the business and, in 1790, the firm acquired the Greenock Foundry, Greenock, Scotland, and began trading as Scott, Sinclair & Co. In 1859 they became known as the Greenock Foundry Co, but also traded variously as John Scott & Sons and Scott & Co. In 1899 the firm was incorporated as a limited liability company, Scotts’ Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, and it absorbed the Greenock Foundry Co in 1904. The company took over Scott & Sons (Bowling) Ltd in 1965 and Greenock Dockyard Co Ltd in 1966. In 1970 the company merged with Lithgows Ltd, Port Glasgow, Scotland, to form Scott Lithgow Ltd, Greenock. The new company was nationalised in 1977 as part of British Shipbuilders, and sold to Trafalgar House plc in 1984. Scott Lithgow plc continued trading until 1992 when their operations ceased. The collection consists of 110.8 metres of material. Held by University of Glasgow Archive Services.
Great Orme Lighthouse and Telegraph Station Logbooks: The lighthouse, located two miles from the centre of the historic Victorian seaside resort of Llandudno, North Wales, was constructed in 1862 by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, which built the fortress like building using dressed limestone and large amounts of Canadian pitch pine. It acted as a beacon providing a continuous warning of danger to seafarers until March 1985 when the optic was removed. Today it is the site of a visitor centre on the summit of the Great Orme. On entering the lighthouse, visitors see the impressive Keepers’ Hall with its 6 metre pitch pine panelling and gallery, built to allow privacy between the two keepers and their families. This collection contains logbooks maintained by the employees of Great Orme Lighthouse (17 items). Held by: Archifdy Prifysgol Bangor / Bangor University Archives.
Duke of Bridgewater Archive: Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, the ‘Canal Duke’, inherited his title at the age of 11. After a broken engagement to Elizabeth Gunning, he devoted himself to his vast estates, especially Worsley, which were rich in coal. The Duke and his agent in Worsley, John Gilbert, determined to build a canal from Worsley to Manchester and Salford to convey coal to these expanding markets. James Brindley was engaged as engineer for the project. The first Bridgewater Canal Act was passed in 1759, and the canal reached Manchester in 1764. The canal was extended to Runcorn in 1776, linking Manchester with the Mersey estuary. The Duke died in 1803 and is buried at Little Gaddesden, near Ashridge in Hertfordshire. The collection covers the period 1737-1939 and comprises 900 individual items. Held by University of Salford Archives & Special Collections.
Landing book of the Cromford Canal Company, Derbyshire, 1825: In July 1789, Parliament authorised the construction of the Cromford Canal to link the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill to Sir Richard Arkwright’s cotton mill at Cromford. The canal was opened in July 1794. The canal was also used for the transportation of local coal, limestone and ironstone, farm produce and passenger boats. The canal opened with a branch to Pinxton Mill, and the privately owned Lea Wood branch was opened in 1802. After years of success and profitability, the Cromford Canal Company sold the canal to the Manchester Buxton Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway Company in 1847 which took over the running of the canal in 1852. All but a half mile stretch of the Cromford Canal was officially closed in 1944. Held by University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections.
Copy Photograph: Memorial at Holyhead to the victims of the submarine Thetis. Thetis was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, England and launched on 29 June 1938. Thetis left Birkenhead for Liverpool Bay to conduct her final diving trials, accompanied by the tug Grebe Cock. As well as her normal complement of 59 men she was carrying technical observers from Cammell Laird and other naval personnel, a total of 103 men. She sank with the loss of 99 lives. She was salvaged, repaired and recommissioned as HMS Thunderbolt serving in the Atlantic and Mediterranean theatres until she was lost with all hands on 14 March 1943. This makes Thetis one of the few military vessels that have been lost twice with their crews in their service history. Held by Archifau Ynys Môn / Anglesey Archives.
On yer bike!
Papers of George Hewitt, cyclist: George Hewitt was born in Oldham in 1906 and died in 1991 in St Albans. He cycled virtually all his life and was closely involved in the founding and development of various CTC sections, notably the Oldham Section. He also belonged at various times to the West Manchester, Aylesbury, Southport and South London Sections and South Bucks DA. He was a keen youth hosteller and went away most weekends in the 1940s and 1950s, clocking up huge mileages. After WWII he went to new Zealand for a while and cycled around both islands. He also spent some time in Australia where he did the gruelling ride over the Nullabor plain alone. He also visited Lapland, Algeria, Corsica, Ireland and Switzerland. 1 box of material, c1928-c1985. Held by Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.
Ebor Cycling Club: The Ebor Cycling Club was founded in 1931 with a membership of 18. By 1935, their membership had reached 60. The collection (2 boxes of material, covering the period 1931-2010) comprises: minutes, correspondence, financial papers, publicity materials and details of social events held by the Ebor Cycling Club. Held by Explore York Archives.
Papers of Charles Messenger relating to the British League of Racing Cyclists: The British League of Racing Cyclists was formed at an inaugural meeting at Buxton, 11 November 1942. In 1959 it amalgamated with the National Cyclists’ Union to become the British Cycling Federation. These records were held by Charles Messenger. The collection consists of twenty two files of minutes, accounts, a membership list, correspondence, extracts from cycling magazines, details of races, etc., 1939-1959, 1972, 1994, including contacts with other cycling associations. Held by Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.
Papers of Sydney and Maude Buckman relating to the Rational Dress Movement and Cycling for Women: Founded in February 1897 the first meeting of the Western Rational Dress Club was held at the home of its secretary, Sydney Buckman, in Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, on 6 May 1897. At least seven such clubs were in existence by September of that year, and notable national supporters included Lady Colin Campbell, Lady Randolph Churchill, the Countess of Warwick and WT Stead. The basic aim was to promote dress reform whereby ‘women may enjoy greater movement and less fatigue’, especially when engaged in sporting activities, such as cycling, tennis and golf’. It sought to highlight accidents and dangers caused by women wearing impractical clothing. The campaign attracted much press comment, and was part of the wider movement for women’s emancipation. The Western Rational Dress Club disbanded in 1899. Held by Hull University Archives, Hull History Centre.
Cycling papers of Keith Robins: Papers relating to the licensing, manufacture and sale of the safety cycling habit skirt by Charles Henry Hart, trading as Hart & Son, ladies’ tailor, 1896-1903. Reproductions of early cycling prints, 1986, c. 1980s, by Beehay Designs. Cycling Club material received by Keith Robins, 1926-1952. Held by Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.
Alma Johnson/Skid Skinner Collection: Alma ‘Dare Devil’ Skinner worked working at Butlins in Skegness when a wall-of-death show was brought in to entertain the visitors. Eager to earn more money, she became proficient as a stunt rider in just two weeks becoming quite a novelty as a female rider. Alma toured as a Wall of Death rider across the UK and also Scandinavia and Germany. Whilst working abroad, she me her husband, Horace ‘Skid’ Skinner, who was also a Wall of Death rider. The outbreak of the Second World War brought her career to an end, although she continued riding motorbikes until the age of 80. Skid Skinner was killed in a hunting accident in 1944. The collection contains 674 images (1930s). Held by National Fairground and Circus Archive, University of Sheffield Library.
Billy Bellhouse Collection: Billy Bellhouse was a former Sheffield Speedway rider who between 1932 and 1935 travelled throughout Europe on a Wall of Death show. His main speciality was in fact the Globe of Death, on which he performed gravity defying leaps on his ‘Indian’ motorbike. Whilst performing in Spain in 1935, Billy Bellhouse had an accident and had to travel back to England. Although his love of motorbikes continued, he never performed on the Wall of Death again and opened a fish and chip shop business in Sheffield, a trade which his son Jim has continued. The collection contains 633 photographs and 2 boxes of ephemera, from the 1930s. Held by National Fairground and Circus Archive, University of Sheffield Library.
Records of the Glasgow University Motorcycle Club, student society, University of Glasgow, Scotland: The Glasgow University Motorcycle Club existed between 1930 and 1937. It was founded by members of the Faculty of Engineering and supported by John Dewar Cormack, Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Dr J C Morrison. The Club took part in competitions at Varsity and Scottish level. The main competitions of the year were the Cormack Quaich Trial and the open scramble held annually at Drumclog Moor, near Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Other events in which various members competed were trials, scrambles, hill climbs and sand racing. Held by University of Glasgow Archive Services.
Whitehouse collection: Frederick Charles Whitehouse was involved in the development of the Shilovsky Gyrocar, a two-wheeled gyroscopically balanced vehicle. It was designed by the Russian Count Dr Peter Schilovski and was built after Schilovski approached Wolseley, but was destroyed after WWII. Whitehouse allegedly helped to design the caterpillar tracks on the motorised sledges used by Captain Scott on his last expedition, and worked on the design of tank tracks in the WWI. He also designed and built a side-car for his motorbike so that his wife could accompany him on trips. The papers include engineering training materials, notes, exam papers and handbooks (1 box of material, c1901-1935). Held by National Motor Museum Motoring Archives.
Bluebird Collection: Records (1927-2001) relating to the various Blue Bird cars with which Malcolm Campbell challenged for the World Land Speed Record; and also the Bluebird cars and boats with which Donald Campbell challenged for the World Land and Water Speed Records. Includes blueprints, press clippings, photographs, reports and other papers. Held by National Motor Museum Motoring Archives.
Feature: The Frederick Lanchester archive at Coventry University The work of car manufacturer, engineer, scientist and inventor Frederick Lanchester (1868-1946) is being celebrated by the Lanchester Interactive Archive project at Coventry University. He was one of the UK’s leading automobile engineers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and creator in 1895 of the first all-British four-wheel petrol driven motor car.
MG Car Company, Abingdon: The MG Car Company Ltd was set up in a factory on property belonging to Pavlova Leather Company in Abingdon in 1929, to take over the production of MG cars from Morris Garages Ltd of Oxford. In 1935 MG was sold to Morris Motors Limited, and in 1968 British Leyland became the parent company. The factory continued to produce cars until its closure in 1980. The collection comprises 7 boxes of material (1926-1981). Held by Oxfordshire History Centre.
Conversations with workers at the former Linwood car plant: A series of interviews with former employees at the motor manufacturing complex at Linwood, Renfrewshire, which closed in May 1981 after an extended series of industrial disputes and economic downturn in the UK car manufacturing industry. Several interviewers were involved in the project, in particular Clifford Lockyer and an unidentified woman. In Lockyer’s words, the project “sought to record the life of the Linwood factory from shadow war factory to closure”. The collection contains original recordings (1981-1985) and digital copies (2016). Held by University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections.
Kenya Armoured Car Regiment: At the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, it was decided that information was needed on Italian activities on the borders between Kenya and Abyssinia/Italian Somalia. A scout platoon of fourteen Kenyan settlers was therefore set up to undertake patrol and reconnaissance work. The platoon was later transferred to Nairobi, where it formed the nucleus of the East African Reconnaissance Squadron, comprising HQ and four troops. When Italy finally declared war, the troops were sent to patrol the Northern Frontier District, Kenya with bases at Wajir and Garissa. Engineers in Nairobi constructed armoured vehicles for the squadron. Subsequently, its name was altered to the East African Armoured Car Regiment. In 1941 it was re-named the Kenya Armoured Car Regiment. Held by Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
Motor Taxation Records, 1904-1977: Under the Motor Car Act 1903, all motor vehicles and motor cycles had to be licensed by their local county for use on public roads, and were assigned a unique registration number. Drivers of motor vehicles were also licensed by their local authority. Local authority powers were consolidated by the Roads Act 1920. There were 17 registration authorities in Wales, who acted as agents for the Ministry of Transport. A new system of central administration was started in 1965, but the transition from local authority control to the new central office, based in Swansea, took until 1978. Local offices across the UK dealt mainly with the registration of new and imported vehicles. Held by Gwynedd Archives Service – Caernarfon Record Office / Gwasanaeth Archifau Gwynedd, Archifdy Caernarfon.
Bradford City Transport: Material (1897-1986) relating to bus and tram operator Bradford City Transport. The collection comprises vehicle artefacts and 47 files, including: engineering, finance, governance, legal, operations, publications, and public relations and marketing. Held by: The Bus Archive.
Iconic London buses at night in traffic. Photo by Ubeyonroadon on Pexels.
Records of the South Wales Transport Company: This collection (1835-1982) is a comprehensive resource for bus, railway and tramway transportation in South Wales, mainly for Swansea and the surrounding areas. The collection includes records from bus companies which were acquired by the South Wales Transport Company Limited; J James and Sons Limited, Neath and Cardiff Luxury Coaches Limited, United Welsh Services Limited and Thomas Bros (Port Talbot) Limited. Other notable businesses represented in the archive are Western Welsh Omnibus Company Limited, The Tramways and Light Estates Company and Llanelly District Traction company. Held by Swansea University Archives.
Lord Ashfield: Reports and Memoranda on Country Buses: This series contains reports and memoranda on the buses, including details of wages cheques, statements on the financial position of Green Line Coaches, financial results, services and complaints, painting, ‘Q’ type vehicles, a cost comparison of single and double deck coaches, replacement programme and coaches used as wartime ambulances and hired coaches. 10 folders of material, covering the period 1933-1947. Held by Transport for London Corporate Archives.
Among some of the more unusual items in our collections there is a dustbin lid repurposed as a shield and photographs of a group of women in long tunics dancing at the Acropolis in Athens.
These items open a window into Revived Greek Dance, a dance method based on Ancient Greek culture which evolved and flourished during the early twentieth century. It influenced a generation of dance educators and practitioners, including the founders of the Guildford School of Acting, Bice Bellairs and Pauline Grant.
The Guildford School of Acting (GSA), now part of the University of Surrey, celebrates its 90th anniversary this year and to mark this milestone, we created a display here on campus which explored the origins of Revived Greek Dance.
In this feature post, we introduce our collections which link to Revived Greek Dance: the Bice Bellairs Collection and the Classical Greek Dance Collection and showcase some of the highlights we used for our display, exploring the roots of this fascinating dance technique and how it influenced the study of dance and drama here at the University of Surrey.
Revived Greek Dance
Revived Greek Dance, later known as Classical Greek Dance, was a dance method founded by Ruby Ginner (1886-1978), a dancer and dance educator.
As a young student, Ginner trained under Elsie Fogerty, founder of the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art. Ginner developed an interest in ancient Greek culture, drawing inspiration from the art and sculptures held at the British Museum. Ginner’s research led her to investigate how ancient dances evolved out of everyday occupations such as sowing, weaving or fishing. She identified different styles of movement from Greek art and drama and developed these into a system of dance: for example, Bacchic (uninhibited and improvised dance based on Dionysiac ritual) or Choric (a group of dancers moving as one as the chorus in Greek plays). Ginner put an emphasis on silent dance, with dancers suggesting emotion through gesture. Music was used selectively or not at all, with musicians following the dance rather than leading it
In the 1910s, Ginner founded the company ‘Grecian Dancers’, which began giving performances in London and across the country. Around the same time, she began teaching her technique of Revived Greek Dance, first under Fogerty and later starting the Ruby Ginner School of Dance, with a studio in the Royal Albert Hall.
Of this period, Ginner would later say: “We were all very young and very bad but we gave performances at Cambridge, Eastbourne and the old Tivoli, London, and met with success everywhere’. (Ginner, 1925, ‘The Link’, Vol 1 No. 3, p.26, Ref. BB/K/1/3)
This period also saw the beginning of Ginner’s collaboration with Irene Mawer (1893-1962). Mawer was initially one of Ginner’s Greek Dance students and it became clear that she had a natural talent for mime and conveying emotion without words. The two women began working together, with Ginner providing the dance expertise and Mawer leading on mime and drama. With their shared strengths, they created and performed their own productions, such as the mime play Et Puis Bonsoir in 1916. They also choreographed and performed the dances for revivals of Greek tragedies such as Medea with Sybil Thorndike in 1920.
Ginner’s school grew throughout the mid-1910s and by 1916, Ginner had partnered with Mawer to form the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama. Based originally in London, the school was evacuated to Devon during the war and finally moved to Cheltenham. Ginner and Mawer’s students were mostly girls and young women, who often joined the Ginner-Mawer Company after their studies. The youngest children were nicknamed ‘Bobblies’ and included among their number Bice (pronounced ‘Beechy’) Bellairs, who with Pauline Grant, also an alumna of the Ginner-Mawer School, founded the GSA in 1935.
In creating the display for the GSA anniversary, we wanted to provide a window into the world in which Bellairs and Grant had developed their skills. Fortunately, we have a wealth of information about Revived Greek Dance, in the form of the Bice Bellairs and Classical Greek Dance Collections.
The Bice Bellairs Collection contains material given by Ruby Ginner to Bellairs or collected by Bellairs herself as a former student. It includes photograph albums, scrap books and programmes.
The Classical Greek Dance Collection was created in 2008 by the National Resource Centre for Dance (NRCD) at the University of Surrey to house material collected by pupils of Ruby Ginner. Equally rich, it includes programmes, photographs and pupil’s lesson notes relating to Classical Greek Dance.
For information about the growth of Revived Greek Dance, we looked at the varied resources of the press cuttings and programmes that were collected into scrapbooks (ref. BB/N). Here we found not just performance details, but also how the movement was perceived by the wider world: by 1915, Revived Greek Dance was clearly getting noticed enough for one newspaper to produce a cartoon highlighting the perils of the weather affecting their outside performances!
While the programmes and cuttings gave information, the photographic records provided depth. The early days of the Revived Greek Dance movement were homegrown, and we are lucky enough to have photos, notably from the Pauline Grant Album (ref. BB/F/1), capturing Ginner, Mawer and their pupils practicing or performing in gardens and parks, barefoot and wearing simple tunics.
The photographic resources also include a wonderful album documenting the Ginner-Mawer Company’s visit to Greece in 1930 to perform at a dance festival. For the company, this visit represented a pilgrimage to the ancient sites that had inspired the creation of the Revived Greek Dance technique, and photographs show the company performing in theatres and temples.
We’re also incredibly lucky to have as part of the Classical Greek Dance Collection some original props used by dancers. This sword and shield are thought to have been made by Freda Crockett, an alumna of the Ginner-Mawer School who was well-known for making her own props. The shield is probably a repurposed dustbin lid, and with the sword would have been used to stage pyrrhic dances – military-style dances based on original depictions of warriors.
Lastly, we linked the modern Guildford School of Acting with its early roots in Revived Greek Dance. GSA founder Bice Bellairs appears as a young performer – one of the ‘Bobblies’ – in several of the Ginner-Mawer Company programmes.
Bellairs used the training she had undergone as a pupil of Ginner and Mawer and applied it to her own teaching methods. Over fifty years later, the GSA mounted a recreation of On Mount Lycaeus based on Bellairs’ memories of the dance first performed in 1930 by the Ginner-Mawer Company.
These collections provide a fascinating insight into a little-known part of early 20th century British dance history, which still has relevance today. We hope that it will continue to be used by dance, education and social researchers and historians.
Rachel White Principal Archivist Archives and Special Collections University of Surrey
![Photograph of a visit paid to Bishop Rock lighthouse by Missions to Seamen representatives for the Scilly Isles [U DMS].](https://blog.archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2019/01/seam_visit.jpg)
