James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth – pioneering educational reformer

November 6, 2014 / Jane Ronson

Archives Hub feature for November 2014

Funded by a grant from the John Rylands Research Institute, we have recently catalogued the papers of celebrated Victorian educationist Sir James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth (1804-1877), opening up the rich content of this archive to researchers across the world.

Kay-Shuttleworth was born James Kay in Rochdale, Lancashire, into a textile manufacturing family. After qualifying as a doctor, he went on to have a distinguished career. He was a pioneer of public health, an influential civil servant, and played a key part in nineteenth-century educational reform, laying the groundwork for today’s system of national school education.

Kay-Shuttleworth’s career

After training at Edinburgh University, James Kay returned to practise as a doctor in Manchester in 1827. The following year, he co-founded the Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary, a charity based in one of the poorest areas of the city. Through this work, he witnessed the appalling living conditions of the urban poor, and became increasingly involved in public health initiatives.

In 1832, the year of the cholera epidemic, he published his seminal pamphlet, The Moral and Physical Condition of the Working Classes Employed in the Cotton Manufacture in Manchester. This predated by some 13 years Friedrich Engels’ better-known The Condition of the Working Class in England.

In 1835, he became an Assistant Poor Law Commissioner for Norfolk and Suffolk, a role which gave rise to his lifelong interest in education and his conviction that it held the key to society’s regeneration.

Image of pamphlet The Training of Pauper Children — The Training of Pauper Children (1839): Kay-Shuttleworth’s ideas about educational reform had their origins in his work with pauper children.

In 1839, he was appointed as Assistant Secretary to the Whig government’s Committee of the Privy Council on Education, which administered grants for public education, a post he held for nine years. He was a highly effective civil servant and much of what we take for granted today had its origins in his inspired reforms. In 1840, he established Battersea College, the first teacher training college in Britain. He created a school inspection system; he argued for state education; and he forced through regulations around how children were taught, the design of school buildings, the structure of the teaching profession and the ways in which schools were governed.

There are over 1,000 letters in Kay-Shuttleworth’s archive, reflecting his whole professional career. Correspondents include those involved in education and philanthropy like Matthew Arnold and Angela Burdett-Coutts, as well as many Liberal or Whig politicians, including Gladstone, W.E. Forster, Lord John Russell and John Bright. Most of his key publications are also represented.

Family ties

The archival material relating to Kay-Shuttleworth’s public life is complemented by extensive personal and family correspondence, providing a fascinating insight into family relationships, social and gender roles.

In 1842, he married Lady Janet Shuttleworth, the heiress of Gawthorpe Hall in Lancashire, and adopted her surname on marriage, becoming Kay-Shuttleworth. The couple had five children.

Photograph of Gawthorpe Hall — Gawthorpe Hall, Padiham, Lancashire. James Kay-Shuttleworth set his own stamp on his wife’s ancestral home, employing fashionable architect Charles Barry to undertake major renovations in the 1850s. Photograph courtesy of Lee Pilkington.

The letters between Kay-Shuttleworth and his son Ughtred James (1844-1939) show the closeness of their relationship. Ughtred inherited Gawthorpe Hall, and estate management is discussed in some detail, as is Ughtred’s early political career; he went on to become a successful Liberal MP.

Other relationships were less straightforward. Correspondence in the archive documents the young James Kay’s unsuccessful courtship of Helen Kennedy, daughter of a wealthy Manchester family. Later, he grew apart from his wife, Janet; in 1851 she moved permanently to the Continent, ultimately settling in Italy with her eldest child Janet, two youngest sons, and the family governess Rosa Poplawska.

Two of the Kay-Shuttleworth sons – Robert (known as Robin) and Stewart – caused ongoing anxiety to their father. Neither lived up to his expectations, either getting into debt or associating with people of whom their parents disapproved. Ultimately Kay-Shuttleworth arranged for Robin to travel to Australia and take up sheep-farming (although he proved a continued source of worry to his parents), and Stewart emigrated to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to run a plantation.

Literary circles

Kay-Shuttleworth’s literary aspirations are less well-known than his public career. Always passionate about literature, after his retirement he published two historical novels set in his home county of Lancashire, Scarsdale (1860) and Ribblesdale (1870). Correspondence and reviews relating to these two novels are included in his archive, as is the manuscript of a third novel, Cromwell in the North, which remained unpublished at his death, and his unpublished autobiography.

Image of a page from Gaskell’s manuscript of The Life of Charlotte Brontë — A page from Gaskell’s manuscript of The Life of Charlotte Brontë, from the Library’s Elizabeth Gaskell Collection

His own literary endeavours failed to attract much critical acclaim, and his greatest contribution to literature was probably his role in bringing together Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell. The two writers first met in August 1850, during a visit to the summer home of the Kay-Shuttleworths in the Lake District. Gaskell was already fascinated by what she knew of Brontë and her isolated life in Haworth, which was so different from Gaskell’s own bustling home in Manchester. Despite their many differences, the women immediately struck up a friendship which lasted until Brontë’s premature death in 1855. Gaskell went on to write the celebrated biography of her friend.

Photograph of Elizabeth Gaskell — Elizabeth Gaskell, c. 1864. Photograph by Alexander McGlashon

Having been refused access to the manuscript of Brontë’s unpublished novel, The Professor, by her widower, the Rev. Arthur Nicholls, Gaskell recruited Kay Shuttleworth’s assistance. They visited the parsonage at Haworth together in July 1856. The forceful personality of Sir James overcame the misgivings of Nicholls. He and Gaskell came away not only with The Professor manuscript, but also the fragment of a novel called Emma which Brontë had been working on before her marriage, and the now-famous miniature ‘Gondal’ and ‘Angria’ manuscripts created by Brontë and her siblings.

Fran Baker (Archivist) and Jane Speller (Project Archivist), The University of Manchester Library

Find out more and explore the collection:

Papers of Sir James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth – http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb133-jks

Engineering and innovation during the First World War

October 9, 2014 / Jane Ronson

Archives Hub feature for October 2014

Woman worker, making the Napier Aero engine

The centenary of the First World War is rightly being commemorated by a wide range of people and organisations. At the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, we have been investigating how the war sparked a technological battle for the best weapons, infrastructure and defences, and what this meant for engineering. New innovations include the tank and the gun mounted aircraft. The loss of workforces to the front saw women being employed in aspects of engineering, such as munitions, like never before.

Women workers

Press photograph of women factory workers during WW1

In 1918 Olive Monkhouse presented a paper at the Institution on the employment of women in munitions, the first women to do so. The discussion that followed highlights professional thinking on women workers prevalent at the time. It was generally accepted that the women had shown themselves to be good and reliable employees but there was real concern for their welfare (due to male colleagues potential wandering hands and teasing!) and the welfare of the nation: women as homemakers and the primary care givers were seen as the linchpin of society; the glue that held the nation together. Photographs in our collections give a glimpse into the conditions and working lives of these women, showing them both on the shop floor and in research areas and therefore, working at a variety of technological and skill levels.

Technological advances

Side elevation of Maughan’s tripod for a Vicker’s gun, showing variant gun positionings

As for technological advances, several of our records make it clear that the army and other national organisations did not always solicit, or indeed welcome, invention. Lieutenant Walton Maughan of the Tank’s Corps, in response to an article in The Times, designed a new machine gun mounting. He took the invention to the forces, pushing hard for trials- you can almost hear him shouting at them off the pages how urgent the need for the mount is. The invention was put into production and used with Vicker’s guns; it updated an obsolete mount and allowed machine guns to be more efficiently targeted. Maughan was injured during the tank advance at Cambrai. The tank being another key innovation of the war, although its full capacity was not felt until the Panzer divisions of the Second World War used it.

Destroyer fitted with a type ‘N’ paravane

Other inventions include paravanes, these were hung from boats and used against marine mines to clear shipping lanes; design drawings at the Institution show how different destruction/tow methods were used and thus how quickly such items were developed. The drawings are rather exquisite and show how even technical draughtsman thought about aesthetics, as well as giving detailed information.

Caledonian Railway elevations for the moving of heavy guns

Already existing infrastructure was also mobilised, elevations show how the railways were adapted for the carrying of heavy guns to ports etc. On the Continent, the railway transporters could themselves become integral to the gun; instead of moving these cumbersome items they were fired from the railway line. In both advancing existing designs and creating the need for innovations the war advanced engineering and this had an impact on future conflicts.

Mercedes model and 3D photography project

We hold a more curious First World War item, a model of Marshal Otto Liman von Sanders Mercedes. Sanders was a German general who served as adviser and military commander to the Ottoman Empire during the conflict. So far not so strange but the model was made by German prisoners of war in Palestine during 1918, as a present to the British Major Pinder Commander 347 MT Coy Royal Army Service Corps. Pinder is an elusive figure and represents how searching for, even ranked officers, can be difficult. He is quite possibly EC Pinder, a Captain and temporary Major who was Mentioned in Dispatches 24^th Dec 1917. The model is fine, with upholstery, a turning door handle, a bonnet that opens to reveal workings and turning wheels. It was donated by Pinder in 1939 but has no contextual information recorded about it. The car has also been the basis of our new 3D photography project, tests of which are available (http://engineersatwar.imeche.org/docs/default-source/Resources/object.swf?sfvrsn=2). The project aims to allow access to items mainly in storage.

Honour Roll research

Propeller from the Lusitania

Another key project has been researching our Honour Roll. In common with many places, we have a board with a list of names. Using this and contemporaneous journals we have been able to piece together the stories behind those names. We also added details of two civilian casualties: William Martin-Davey went down alongside Colin Stanley Fenton on RMS Lusitania when she was torpedoed by a German submarine; both were involved in munitions work. The Roll reveals that engineers worked at every level of the campaign, from privates moving transport to one of Lord Kitchener’s men who died on the HMS Hampshire with him. It also illuminates the ‘world’ aspect of the conflict, with engineers from as far afield as Canada, Nigeria and India taking part. Members were encouraged to invest in war bonds and join new military divisions that were seeking engineers.

Occupation of the Institution’s headquarters

The Institution’s headquarters building also did its bit: almost immediately, the top floor was taken over by the Prince of Wales’ National Relief Fund; then rooms on the third floor were occupied by the Office of Works for the Explosives Department (Ministry of Munitions), who soon spread to the fourth floor; next the meeting hall was occupied; and in June 1915 the whole of the building was given over to the Office of Works. It was returned in 1919.

‘Engineers at War: from battle front to home front’

To more fully tell the story of engineering during the war, we are collaborating with the Institution of Civil Engineers and The Institution of Engineering and Technology. ‘Engineers at War: from battle front to home front’ (http://engineersatwar.imeche.org ) looks at ways engineers supported the war effort through infrastructure, defence/weaponry and at home; some personal stories are also told. Pieces from guests (starting May 2015) on specific related areas will rotate. Launched officially on the 11^th Nov 2014, it is available now. The war allows an opportunity for us all to reflect on how we view our records: an event with such devastating consequences makes us remember that what we sometimes view as informational transactions in fact have a human side; archives can be intimately related to people’s lives, minds and deaths.

Karyn Stuckey, Archivist
Institution of Mechanical Engineers

All images copyright the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holder.

Kettle’s Yard Archive

September 8, 2014 / Jane Ronson

Archives Hub feature for September 2014

Kettle’s Yard House, University of Cambridge

Kettle’s Yard – A Way of Life

Kettle’s Yard is a unique and special place. It is so much more than a house, a museum or a gallery, and it invariably leaves a lasting impression with those who visit.

Between 1958 and 1973, Kettle’s Yard was the home of Jim and Helen Ede. In the 1920s and 30s, Jim had been a curator at the Tate Gallery in London. It was during this time that he formed friendships with artists and other like-minded people, which allowed him to gather a remarkable collection of works by artists such as Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Alfred Wallis, Christopher Wood, David Jones and Joan Miro, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Ede also shared with many of his artist friends a fascination for beautiful natural objects such as pebbles, weathered wood, shells or feathers, which he also collected.

Jim carefully positioned artworks alongside furniture, glass, ceramics and natural objects, with the aim of creating a perfectly balanced whole. His vision was of a place that should not be

“an art gallery or museum, nor … simply a collection of works of art reflecting my taste or the taste of a given period. It is, rather, a continuing way of life from these last fifty years, in which stray objects, stones, glass, pictures, sculpture, in light and in space, have been used to make manifest the underlying stability.”

Jim Ede’s bedroom table – Kettle’s Yard,  University of Cambridge. Photo: Paul Allitt.

Jim originally envisaged making a home for his collection in quite a grand house, but unable to find a suitable property, he opted instead to remodel four derelict 19th century cottages and convert them into a single house.

Kettle’s Yard was conceived with students in mind, as ‘a living place where works of art could be enjoyed . . . where young people could be at home unhampered by the greater austerity of the museum or public art gallery.’ Jim Ede kept ‘open house’ every afternoon of term, personally guiding his visitors around his home. This experience is still faithfully recreated as visitors ring the bell at the front door, and are welcomed into the house.

Jim Ede at Kettle’s Yard – Kettle’s Yard,  University of Cambridge

In 1966 Jim gave the house and its contents to the University of Cambridge, though he continued to occupy and run it until 1973. In 1970, the house was extended, and an exhibition gallery added to ensure that there would always be a dynamic element to Kettle’s Yard, with space for contemporary exhibitions, music recitals and other public events.

The archive

If Kettle’s Yard is the ultimate expression of a way of life developed over 50 years and more, the archive adds an extra dimension by documenting the rich story of how that philosophy evolved. At its core are Jim Ede’s personal papers, which chart a wide range of influences throughout his life, from his experience of World War I, through the ‘open house’ the Ede’s kept in Hampstead through the late 1920s and early 1930s and the vibrant set who attended their parties; the weekend retreats for servicemen on leave from Gibraltar at the Ede’s house in Tangier at the end of World War II; the ‘lecturer in search of an audience’ who travelled to the US in the early 1940s; the prolific correspondence not just with artist friends, but figures such as T E Lawrence; and the development of Kettle’s Yard and its collections.

Thanks to the support of the Newton Trust, we are now half way through a 2-year project to improve access to the archive and support research by producing a digital catalogue of the collections, putting in place proper preservation strategies, and establishing procedures for public access. This work builds on the foundations laid by the dedicated archive volunteers, who continue to work with us.

We have started out by publishing a high-level description of the Ede papers on the Archives Hub [http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1759-ky/ede?page=1#id1308050], to which we will add more detail over the coming year. The catalogue already includes detailed descriptions of c.120 letters Jim Ede received from the artist and writer David Jones between 1927 and 1971, and c. 200 from the collector and patron Helen Sutherland, from 1926 to 1964. We will soon be adding correspondence with the artists Ian Hamilton Finlay and Richard Pousette-Dart, and the museum director Perry Rathbone; papers relating to Jim Ede’s lifelong mission to promote the work of Henri Gaudier Brzeska, and the establishment and running of Kettle’s Yard; and other small collections such as Helen Sutherland’s letters to the poet Kathleen Raine.

In another exciting development, Kettle’s Yard has now received backing from the Arts Council England Capital Investment Programme Fund to create a new Education Wing and carry out major improvements to the exhibition galleries. The plans [http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/development/index.php] include a purpose-built archive store and dedicated space for consulting and exhibiting archive material.

One recent addition to the archive is a letter that Jim Ede wrote in 1964, in response to a thank you note from an undergraduate who had visited Kettle’s Yard. In typical style, Jim expresses concern about whether he really is providing pleasure to others through his endeavours at Kettle’s Yard, and draws strength from the expression of gratitude. He ends the letter ‘Do come in as often as you like – the place is only alive when used’.

“the place is only alive when used” – Kettle’s Yard Archive, University of Cambridge

This is very true of the house, but equally true of the archive – and hopefully everything we are doing to improve physical and intellectual access to the archives, and integrate it into all aspects of the Kettle’s Yard programme, will ensure that it is well used.

Frieda Midgley, Archivist
Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge

All images copyright Ketttle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holder.

Swords into Ploughshares

August 22, 2014 / Jane Ronson

Archives Hub feature for August 2014

WILPF/22/1 – World disarmament protestor, c.1930

The Swords into Ploughshares project encompasses the cataloguing of two peace organisations’ archives, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation: London Union (FOR). Both organisations were formed during the First World War and have a strong history of actively campaigning for world peace, disarmament and supporting individuals affected by war. Cataloguing these collections gives peace movement researchers the opportunity to access important material documenting the history of pacifism and disarmament. The project was made possible by funding from the National Cataloguing Grants Programme for Archives.

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

WILPF was formed in 1915 when the International Women’s Congress met in The Hague, resolving to start an organisation to promote peace and campaign for an end to the First World War. Over 1,000 women, representing both belligerent and neutral countries, attended the Congress which saw Jane Addams, an American campaigner for female suffrage, elected president. Only three British women attended as the British government prevented 180 women from travelling by denying passports and closing the North Sea to shipping. However WILPF branches quickly formed in Britain once Congress resolutions were publicised.

WILPF/2009/18/2 – WILPF delegation to the King of Norway, 1915

Following the Congress WILPF embarked their campaign for an end to the war, and a delegation featuring British member Chrystal MacMillan met with the King of Norway. Jane Addams had a meeting with the American President Woodrow Wilson, who was greatly impressed by WILPF’s proposals to end the conflict.

Following the end of the First World War WILPF decided that campaigning should continue as worldwide peace and disarmament still needed to be achieved. In 1930 WILPF launched a disarmament petition under the slogan ‘War is renounced – Let Us Renounce Armaments’. The petition was to be presented to the League of Nations World Disarmament Conference in Geneva in February 1932.

WILPF/22/1 – British WILPF’s disarmament petition arrives in Geneva, 1932

British WILPF played an active role in promoting the petition with members attracting signatures by wearing banners calling for disarmament; one had the slogan ‘Big Guns and Tanks Are Forbidden to Germany Why Not Abolish All Round.’ Shop fronts were taken over with displays in windows encouraging people to ‘Sign Up Here Against War.’

By February 1932 British WILPF had collected over 2 million signatures. A delegation carrying the British petition travelled by train from Victoria station to Geneva and a large crowd gathered to see them off with Margaret Bondfield, the first female cabinet minister, giving a speech highlighting the importance of disarmament. Once in Geneva the several crates containing British signatures were met by international WILPF members, later they marched through Geneva with posters stating ‘Japanese bombs are falling on Chinese cities. What will you choose: War or Disarmament?’

Fellowship of Reconciliation: London Union

FOR formed in 1914 when Henry Hodgkin (a British Quaker) and Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze (a German Lutheran) attended a Christian pacifist conference in Germany. As they bid farewell to each other at its conclusion and seeing war as inevitable, they pledged that “We are one in Christ and can never be at war”. Back in Britain, Hodgkin spread the message to Christian groups and the Fellowship of Reconciliation was formed, with public meetings calling for an end to the war a regular occurrence – some attracting supporters of the war with ugly scenes occurring. London branches joined together in 1916 to form the London Union.

FOR has a long history of supporting conscientious objectors in their decision not to undertake military service. During both world wars FOR provided advice and guidance to those conscripted into the army on the arguments they should deploy to prove they were a genuine conscientious objector. This was extended when National Service continued after the Second World War with FOR calling for an end to the scheme.

A scrapbook compiled by First World War conscientious objector Frederick Bradley is held in the archive. Following conscription being introduced in 1916 men were required to appear before Military Service Tribunals when requesting exemption. Bradley appeared before the Tribunals four times, he was granted exemptions initially as his Father argued he was needed to run the family business. The local press followed the case and the headline ‘Third Time of Asking’ gives an indication of local feeling. At the fourth tribunal Bradley stated ‘he absolutely refused to take life’ and he was allowed to undertake non-combatant service. Bradley was sent to Dartmoor prison work camp where a dietary chart reveals prisoners received fewer rations than the civilian population.

COLL MISC 0456/7/3 – Dietary chart for male convicts in convict prisons, c.1916-c.1918

Conscientious objector and FOR employee, Stella St. John, was imprisoned in Holloway in 1943. On her release she wrote a fascinating account of her experience, revealing that prisoners were generally tolerant about her beliefs some saying ‘Good luck to you, I don’t hold with this war, but I wouldn’t get put in here for it.’ Stella writes about all aspects of prison life and is particularly scathing when describing food, writing the following about porridge “I had it the first day but never again, it tasted of mould and decay!”

Carys Lewis
Swords into Ploughshares Project Archivist

Useful links

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom: British Section records on the LSE Library Archives Catalogue:
http://archives.lse.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=WILPF&pos=1

Fellowship of Reconciliation: London Union on the LSE Library Archives Catalogue:
http://archives.lse.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=FOR&pos=1

Swords into Ploughshares Project blog posts are available via the LSE Library blog:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/library/author/lewisc5/

All images copyright LSE, and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holder.

A Spring in Your Step

May 30, 2014 / Jane Ronson

Archives Hub feature for May 2014

Anthony Crickmay Dance Photographs (THM/20), © V&A Department of Theatre and Performance, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

The Archives Hub contains a range of material linked with dance – dancers, choreographers and teachers, schools and companies, ballet, contemporary and other styles of dance. This feature highlights some of these collections.

Dancers and Choreographers

Jack Cole Scrapbook Collection, 1910s-1970s, dancer and choreographer. He was known for his unpredictability and originality, grafting on elements from Indian, Oriental, Carribean, Latin American, Spanish, and African-American dance. He worked on Broadway and in Hollywood as both dancer and choreographer, being popularly remembered for his choreography for Marilyn Monroe. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/106

Ram Gopal Collection, 1930s-2004, dancer, choreographer and teacher. Gopal was trained in classical Indian dance forms of Kathakali, Bharatra Natya and Manipuri. He wanted Eastern and Western dance forms to work together and taught Indian folk dance at the Harlequin Ballet Company. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1975-ram

Papers of Diana Gould, 1926-1996, dancer. Diana Rosamund Constance Grace Irene Gould was a British ballerina. Early in her career Sergei Diaghilev spotted her and invited her to join his Ballets Russes but he died before this could be arranged, events said to have been fictionalized in the film ‘The Red Shoes’. Diana married Sir Yehudi Menuhin in 1947.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb2228-dpdg

Papers relating to the career of Bruce McClure, 1925-1989, dancer and choreographer. Bruce McClure trained as a dancer and worked as a dancer at the Citizens’ Theatre among other places. In the 1960s he moved on to choreography including for television. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb247-stabmc

Collection of material relating to Margaret Morris, 1891-1980, ballet dancer and choreographer. She established the first national ballet company for Scotland, developed a modern dance technique and a system of movement therapy. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb247-stabq1

Harry Relph (Little Tich) volumes, 1881-1974, dancer. Known on stage as Little Tich (he was 4 foot 6 inches tall), Harry Relph became one of Britain’s most popular music-hall and variety acts. One of his best known routines was called ‘Big Boots’, which had him dancing in boots that were 28 inches long.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/326

Shirley Wimmer Collection, 1946-1987, dancer, choreographer and dance scholar. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-d3

Dance schools, companies and educational organisations

Tap dancing class in the gymnasium at Iowa State College, 1942. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsc-00250.

Papers relating to the Pushpalata Dance Company, 1991-2005. The company focuses on Odissi and Kathak dance practices, but also performs in a number of collaborations with Western dance forms, most notably investigating the point at which Flamenco and Kathak dance meet. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1975-pu

Philip Richardson Archive Collection, Royal Academy of Dance, c1900-1963; c1760-1780; c1800-1900. Richardson’s interest in the history of dancing led him to become an avid collector of rare books on the subject. His personal library collection was bequeathed to the RAD after his death in 1963. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb3370-rad/pjsr

The Mimi Legat Collection, The Royal Ballet School, White Lodge Museum, 1900-1970. Papers relating to the Russian ballet dancers Sergei Legat, Nicolas Legat, and Nadine Nicolaeva-Legat. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb3208-rbs/mim

Rita Dow Ballet Bequest, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 1920s-1990s. Dancer and teacher. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb2607-rd000-682

Rambert Dance Company logo

Marie Rambert collection, Rambert Dance Company, 1890s-1980s. Collection of films, costumes, photographs, correspondence, diaries, programmes, press cuttings, personal papers, autobiographical notes, awards and medals owned and collected by Dame Marie Rambert throughout her life as well as papers relating to her death and memorials. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb2228-mr

Laban Collection, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, 1918-2001. Papers and other material relating to Rudolf Laban: teacher, philosopher, dancer, choreographer, author, experimentor and the father of modern dance. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-lc

Ballet

Dance scrapbooks (ballet), c1951-1978. Containing newspaper cuttings of national and international ballet companies and dancers including Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-lz

Ekstrom Collection: Diaghilev and Stravinsky Foundation, 1902-1984. Letters, financial records, and telegrams, which give a unique insight into the day-to-day running of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/7

Russian Ballet Collection, 1911-1914. Programmes of the Russian Ballet’s seasons at the Theatre du Chatelet, Paris, held by the University of Exeter. Included are many colour illustrations of costume designs, as well as photographs and illustrations of various dancers and text about various ballet productions. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb29-eulms158

Records of Scottish Ballet, 1952-1999. Programmes, photographs, leaflets, periodicals, press cuttings, posters and other papers relating to the Scottish Ballet and Western Ballet Theatre. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb247-gb247stasbetc

Valentine Gross Archive, 1700-1960s. Valentine Gross, a.k.a. Valentine Hugo (1887-1968), was a French art ballet enthusiast, illustrator, researcher and painter and still a student at the time of 1909 Saison Russe in Paris.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/165

Contemporary dance

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance logo
Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund Archive, 1981-2001. The Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund was established in 1984 to support and promote innovative choreographers and dance writers in Britain, Europe and America. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-d25

Contemporary Dance Trust Archive, 1957-1998. Consists of papers relating to the running of the Contemporary Dance Trust which incorporated the London Contemporary Dance Theatre and the London Contemporary Dance School.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/22

Independent Dance at the Holborn Centre for Performing Arts Archive, 1989-1999. Independent Dance is an artist-led organisation which provides specialist training to contemporary dance artists. It was established in 1990 and has the longest running daily training programme in the UK.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-d17

Bob Lockyer Collection, 1970-1995. Photographs and scripts from various dance programmes produced for the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) by Bob Lockyer. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-d8

Dorothy Madden Collection, 1912-2002. Dr Dorothy Gifford Madden, former Professor Emerita of the University of Maryland, United States of America who was responsible for bringing American modern dance practice to the United Kingdom.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-d23

Transitions Dance Company Archive, c1985-2009. Established in 1983, Transitions Dance Company was among the first graduate performance companies in the United Kingdom. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-d24

Clubs, societies and other dance-related collections

Lecon de Cake-Walk, 1900s.
Image in Public domain

Cambridge Dancers’ Club (Cambridge University), 1963-1983. Correspondence, minutes and other papers. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb012-ms.add.8694

Classical and Ballroom Dancing Society (University of Manchester), 1946-1948. The Society was set up in 1946 to encourage “the improvement of all forms of dancing” amongst its membership. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb133-vss.html?page=2#idp32580000

Dance theatre programmes collection, c1950-1999. A collection of over 3,000 dance theatre programmes from over 500 national and international dancers and dance companies. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-ld

Folk Dance Society (University of Manchester), 1948-1976. Established in 1948 to promote folk dancing, particularly the traditions of the British Isles. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb133-vss.html?page=3#idp18573024

Papers of the Foundation for Community Dance and predecessors, 1984-2011. Papers of the Foundation for Community Dance and its predecessors the Community Dance and Mime Foundation and the National Association of Dance and Mime Animateurs. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb3071-d/036

Henry Rolf Gardiner: Letters to Margaret Gardiner, 1921-1960. 34 letters from Gardiner (businessman and author) to his sister Margaret Gardiner, on his time at Cambridge. Topics include folk-dancing, morris-dancing and work on a dance-book. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb012-ms.add.8932

Els Grelinger Collection, c1928-2000. Notation scores, papers and videos of Els Grelinger, dance notator. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-d22

Sadler’s Wells Theatre Archive, c1712-2012. The Sadler’s Wells site has been occupied by six different theatres since 1683. The current theatre, which opened in 1998, is dedicated to international dance. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1032-s/swt

Peter Williams Collection, c1950-1980. Williams was the editor of the journal Dance and Dancers. The collection includes c40,000 black and white photographs of dancers and dance companies from all over the world. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1701-d11

Bharatanatyam male. Image in Public Domain.

Be my Valentine

February 14, 2014 / Jane Ronson

Archives Hub Feature for February 2014

© Image is in the public domain: Diamond ring photo [by Ruby Ran – My Ring][CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons]

The Archives Hub contains a host of romantic material linked with St Valentine’s Day, including love letters, cards and poetry. This feature picks out some of these, together with less directly connected descriptions!

Hearts and Flowers

Collections

Photographs of the film The Captive Heart, starring Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, 1946.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/31/thm/31/2/1/8/1-20

Songs from the Heart, 1889 (Yiddish).
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb152-mss.240w/mss.240w/4/6/15

Records of the Health & Refugee Trust of South Africa (HEART), registered charity, Great Britain. 1984-1995.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1847-ghjarc/he

Declaration of Captain William Higgins regarding the Rose, 1741.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb96-ms624

Records of the Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital,
1926-1990s. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb239-lhb30

Girls with Eastern Rose Tea Packets. Photo, 1940s.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1499-cup/cup/1/112/20

Champagne and Chocolates

Collections

File for champagne reception at the Mansion House, 25 April 1978.
Contemporary Dance Trust Archive.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/22/thm/22/5/7/6

Script for Winkles and Champagne by Terry Newman and William Rowbotham, 1946.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/9/thm/9/7/164

© Image is in the public domain: Rose Champagne [By FXR (aka Soundz’FX) (originally posted to Flickr as Champagne Supernova) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons]

Records for Mair & Dougall, bottlers, Glasgow. 1946-1962. They produced “Sparkling Kola Champagne”.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb0248-md

The Cadbury Papers, 1884-1970.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb150-cadbury

Certificates for Cocoa, Chocolate and Sugar Confectionary Manufacture, 1960 and 1962. Two City & Guilds of London Institute certificates presented to Hubert Walter Graham.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb2110-lsbu/lsbu/3/14/1

Photographs of groups of students, known as the “chocolate soldiers”, 1915.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb0812-hb6/hb6/4/3

Cards and Poetry

Collections

Valentine card designed by Cecil Collins for his wife Elisabeth Collins. Christmas, Birthday and Valentine cards from Cecil Collins to Elisabeth Collins, c.1930s-1980s.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb70-tga200015?page=1#id1563309

Handrawn Valentine’s card sent to Pontecorvo from his students at the University of Glasgow, 14 February 1950. Included in the papers of Guido Pellegrino Arrigo Pontecorvo (1907-1999: geneticist and Professor of Genetics, University of Glasgow).
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb0248-ugc198-9?page=1#gb-0248-ugc-198-9-1-3

Valentine rhymes. Included in manuscripts belonging to Ty’n y Braich in Dinas Mawddwy, Merioneth. 18th Century.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb222-bmsstyb

Valentine poem by Alice Williams to the Queen Mother, 1955.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb106-7ahw?page=2

Doves and Cupid

Collections

Records for the Dove Brothers Ltd, builders, 1850-1970.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1032-s/dov

Sketch of Cupid with poem (c.1811-1863). Attributed to W M Thackeray, the Victorian novelist. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb982-gp/gp/3/17

Letters from John Hadfield, The Cupid Press to John Piper, 1954-1984. Specimen page for ‘Elizabethan Love Songs’ enclosed.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb70-tga200410/tga200410/1/1/982

Diamonds and Pearls

Collections

Papers and correspondence of Robert William Ditchburn, 1903-1987. Chair of Physics at Reading University, Ditchburn was instrumental in forming the De Beers-supported international Diamond Research Committee which he chaired from its inception in 1956 until 1982.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb006-ms4621:ditchburn

Menu for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration Banquet at Beverley Assembly Rooms, 30 Jun 1897.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb050-uddmm/uddmm/x1/2/64

Receipt for a pearl necklace (1920-1970). Lady Violet Deramore Collection.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb0193-vder?page=3#id752980

Macdonald Critchley: Collections on Cora Pearl and Napoleon III, 20th Century.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb012-ms.add.8569

Records for National Union of Insurance Workers, Pearl Section, 1926-1972. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb152-mss.79/pa

Love and Romance

Collections

© Image is in the public domain: Barbara Cartland, 1925

Papers of Barbara Cartland, 1993-1998.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb106-7bca

‘The Romance of a Plain Princess’, a children’s book, c 1973.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1840-umw/umw/01/02/06

Will you be my Valentine? Drawing
[undated]. Papers of André Charlot Archive. The drawing includes the name “Joan Charlot”, Charlot’s daughter.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/336

Also, on a lighter note:

Ronnie Barker Collection: Valentine’s Day sketch by Gerald Wiley, hand-written script and set plan, 1966-1987.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/407?page=5

Other Valentines

Collections

Valentine Gross Archive (a.k.a. Valentine Hugo, 1887 – 1968).
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/165

Correspondence of Valentine Lawless, 2nd Baron Cloncurry, 1822-1848. Robert Owen Collection. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1499-roc?page=76#id1986019

Records of Dr James Valentine – Clinical Clerk, 1930-1939. Gartnavel Royal Hospital, Glasgow. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb812-hb13/hb13/20/222

Valentines of Dundee Ltd, 1896-1975.
Established in 1851, the firm began as early exponents of photography, became pioneers in the postcard industry and later developed the production of greetings cards, novelties, calendars and illustrated children’s books.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb227-ms38562

Long Live the Art School!

August 20, 2013 / Bethan Ruddock

Archives Hub Feature for August/September 2013

In 1913 the Surrey History Centre celebrated the history of tertiary art education in Surrey, from the late nineteenth century to the 1970s with an exhibition and series of events.

Guildford School of Art, undated [1970s]

Industry, Science and Art

Opening of the Epsom Technical Institute by Lord Rosebery

From our archives Technical Institutes and Art Schools, Industry, Science and Art were combined from the start, in the 19^th century. Practical skills and work were taught alongside theoretical, to train students in industry work.

The Epsom Technical Institute 1896 Prospectus states it deals in Technical Instruction of ‘Science, Art, Technical, Manual, and Commercial Classes, and Lectures’ and is run partly by the Science and Art Department in South Kensington. Commercial classes highlight how these classes are meant to be used in work.

1925-1926 Epsom Prospectus

The combination of Science and Art can be seen clearly in the Drawing and Carpentry Classes where to attend the Carpentry Class ‘it is distinctly understood that pupils must attend the Drawing Class or they will not be accepted into this [Carpentry] Class’

During the 19^th century to the 1930s from records that we have in the archives, Art and Technical Institute classes are firmly focused on the industry and how the courses can be used vocationally. As years progress there is a more of a mix of vocational and theory, more industrial classes, (such as Building Construction) is phased out, and replaced with classes that we associate with Art Schools today, including Graphic Design, Photography, and Fine Art.

Women in the Arts

Throughout the records of the Art Schools there is reference to the specific subject of ‘Women’s Crafts’, for example in the Epsom School of 1938 timetable. There are also subjects that include ‘Cookery’ and ‘Shorthand’ ,‘Typewriting’ and ‘Dressmaking, that while not explicitly stating that is gender explicit, generated more female than male students.

Epsom and Ewell school of art time table 1938-39

Courses included in the Epsom School of Art and Technical Institute 1896 and 1897 prospectuses were: Shorthand, Drawing, Carpentry, Home Nursing, Cookery and French.

In classes in the Epsom 1932 prospectuses ‘the Cookery and Dressmaking classes are recommended to those interested in Domestic Subjects’, while ‘for boys and young men there are carefully arranged classes that should prove of great value. Their attention is also drawn to the instruction given in Interior Decoration, Architectural Design, Geometry and Perspective in the Art School’.

War Time Education

As across the country, including in all education, art schools suffered within both world wars.

Guildford school of art Field and Farm (School of Printing)

There are no records existing for our Art School Archives the period between 1900-1920, but the fact that in the 1920-1921 Epsom prospectus there seems to be more classes seen to be more ‘feminine’ based, suggests that Art Schools suffered a loss of male students after the First World War.

Art Schools have always been associated with Technical Institutes, and industrial work; practical work and work associated with the war effort were a priority.

Art Schools and Activism

The Guildford School of Art students took a protest during 1968 in relation to the quality of art teaching, and the lack of control the students had over this. This protest took place in the background of protesting taking place from other Art schools in the UK.

Guildford Student Protest 1968

A young Jack Straw was also involved

In his autobiography Last Man Standing: Memoirs of a Political Survivor (Chapter 3, Respected but Not Respectable Macmillan, 2012)he mentions the following about his time at the NUS (p.74) :

My first six months at the NUS were uncomfortable. I was an intruder. I had stood up against the successful candidate, Trevor Fisk, and was now his deputy. I was given marginal responsibilities, like art colleges, in the hope I’d get bored and go away, but suddenly the art schools erupted. There were long occupations at colleges like Hornsey and Guildford colleges of art. I had something useful to do, and also developed firm friendships with some of those involved, like Kim Howells, later MP for Pontypridd and a fellow Foreign Office minister, and Kate Hoey, later MP for Vauxhall and minister for sport.

More information and images on these themes will be available at the exhibition

The catalogues relating to Surrey Art School education can be found here on Archives Hub

Epsom and Ewell Technical Institute and School of Art: http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb3094-epew

Guildford School of Art Archive: http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb3094-gcol

Farnham School of Art Archive: http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb3094-fcol

Further material can be seen on our History Pin site http://www.historypin.com/channels/view/21466076#|photos/list/ and on our online image page http://community.ucreative.ac.uk/article/37669/Online-images-and-Exhibitions

Rebekah Taylor, University for the Creative Arts

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Sentimental Journey: a focus on travel in the archives

August 1, 2013 / Jane Ronson / 1 Comment

Archives Hub Feature for August 2013

© Image is in the public domain

The season of summer often brings hopes and plans for holidays and this month we’re looking at the wider theme of travel.

The hundreds of collections relating to travel featured in the Archives Hub shed light on multiple aspects of travel, from royalty to the working classes, and encompassing touring, business, exploration and research, the work of missionaries and nomadic cultures.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page” – St. Augustine.

Travel diaries

There are a number of travel diaries recording impressions of, and experiences in, the UK, Europe and beyond from a bygone era. ‘Grand tours’, leisurely and often luxurious, were the domain of the more privileged classes, where sometimes business and pleasure were combined. In more recent times, the pursuit of knowledge, education and ideas has motivated similar educational journeys.

Collections:

Thomas Moody, journal of a tour through Switzerland and Italy, 1822.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb227-msd919.m7e22

Beatrice Webb, A summer holiday in Scotland, 1884.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb227-msda865.w4

Harriet Susan Miller: Continental Tour Journal, c. 1856.
https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb12-ms.add.6230

Watercolour paintings and photographs of Canada by an unidentified artist, 1884.
The paintings and photographs are held within a large album, providing a record of a journey by unidentified travellers to Canada from Liverpool in 1884. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb159-ms57

Extracts from the journal of William George Meredith during a trip to Spain and the East in the years 1830-1831.
Accompanied by Benjamin Disraeli, together with associated correspondence.
https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb206-brothertoncollectionms19cmeredith(1)

Diary of travels through Italy and France, compiled by Sir William Trumbull, 1664-1665.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb206-brothertoncollectionmstrvd1

Nassau William Senior Papers, 1830-1864.
Copies of journals kept by Nassau William Senior recording his visits to France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Algeria and Egypt between 1850 and 1862. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb222-bmssnws

Papers of Sir Leonard David Gammans and Lady Ann Muriel Gammans, ne Paul, 1916-1971.
Diaries, notebooks, etc. of Leonard David Gammans, 1916-1956; diaries. etc. of Ann Muriel Gammans, 1918-1970; tourist brochures and other printed material concerning South Africa, [1965-1971]. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb161-mss.brit.emp.s.506

J.R.T. Pollard Papers, 1930-1999.
The collection consists of diaries and papers of J.R.T. Pollard. The diaries include details of the author’s extensive travel, particularly in Europe and observations regarding his years of army service in Africa (1941-1945). http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb222-bmssjpol

Manuscript Itinerary of Henry III of England.
Not quite a diary, but of special note, is the late 19th Century Manuscript itinerary showing the geographical whereabouts of Henry III, where known, for all dates from 1216 to 1272. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb133-engms123

Business and work-related travel

Collections:

Records of the United Commercial Travellers’ Association (Nottingham Branch), 1908-1975.
The collection comprises accounts from 1932-1967, Committee minutes from 1908-1967 and registers from 1920-1975.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb159-ct

Papers of James Craig Henderson, fl. 1941-1950, commercial traveller.
Commercial traveller in the Middle East.
https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb248-ugd305

Papers of John Hunter, fl 1865-1912, carpenter’s mate, Royal Navy.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb248-ugc076

John William Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie: Naval Notebook, HMS Galatea , 1869-1871.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb12-ms.add.9279

Papers of John Wylie, merchant, Glasgow, Scotland, 1809-1840.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb248-ugd028

Household book of James Sharp, Archbishop of St Andrews, 1663-1666.
Household account book of James Sharp, archbishop of St Andrews, kept by his secretary George Martin of Claremont, including details of journeys to Edinburgh and London.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb227-msbx5395.s4m2

Exploration and research

Photograph of Greenland Sea by Frank Illingworth. Copyright © Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.

Contrasting with travel for pure pleasure, was travel for the purpose of exploration, discovery and research.

Collections:

William Gibb: Journals of Voyages in the Carnatic and the Yangtze River, 1838-1844.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb12-ms.add.9377

Johan Hjort collection, 1912.
The collection comprises of correspondence by Hjort to polar explorer William Speirs Bruce (leader of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902-1904).
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb15-johanhjort

Michael William Leonard Tutton: Natural History Diary, 1930-1932.
Natural history diary kept while Tutton was a King’s Scholar at Eton, which was awarded the Natural History Prize, 1930-1931. The diary contains notes on occurrences of insects, especially butterflies and moths, and occasionally birds and mammals.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb12-ms.add.8769

Henry Seebohm: Ornithological Notebook.
Unfinished notes of visits to Glossop, Worksop, Ashopton and other places in Derbyshire; to the Farne Islands and Coquet Islands, Northumberland; to Flamborough Head, Yorkshire; and to Asia Minor (Constantinople and Smyrna) in 1872. The notebook also includes some watercolour sketches.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb12-ms.add.8794

Missionaries

Collections:

Memoirs of Elizabeth Thomson, 1847-1918.
Teacher, missionary, traveller and suffragette, c1914.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb248-ugc053

Diary of the Rev. David Cargill, 1 May 1842 – 29 Mar 1843.
Diary kept on his second missionary journey to Tonga.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb231-ms0911

Papers of George Murray Davidson Short, 1890-1978.
Arts graduate and missionary, Glasgow, Scotland 1927.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb248-ugc049

Alexander Gillon Macalpine.
Malawi missionary papers and linguistic studies, 1893-1964.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb237-coll-48

Records of the Calabar Mission, 1849-1969.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb237-coll-212

St Joseph’s Society Missionary Society (Mill Hill Missionaries), 1865- .
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb2254-stjosephsmissionarysociety

Romanies and Gypsies

© Image is in the public domain

Collections:

The Gypsy Collections, c.1860-1998.
The collection consists of two separately-catalogued but interlinked parts, the Gypsy Lore Society Archive (GLS) and the Scott Macfie Gypsy Collection (SMGC).
https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb141-gls%26gb141smgc

Manuscripts relating to gypsies and other travellers collected by Sir Angus Fraser, 1752-1976.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb206-brothertoncollectionmsrom-fraser2

Georg Althaus Photographs (including Hanns Weltzel Papers and Photographs).
1907 – 1960s.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb141-glsadd.ga

Letters of Jeanie Robertson, 1954-1956.
The Scottish traditional folk singer Jeanie Robertson is regarded as a seminal figure in the music culture of Scotland’s travelling people. The collection includes letters from Robertson to the poet Hamish Henderson (1919-2002).
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb237-coll-725

Miscellaneous and related information

The Records of the Traveller’s Aid Society, 1885-1939.
The Travellers’ Aid Society was initiated in 1885 by the Young Women’s Christian Association to aid female passengers arriving at ports and railway stations, where they were met by accredited station workers who reported to the Travellers Aid Society Committee.
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb106-4/tas

Cold Comfort, The Franklin expeditions (previous feature).
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/features/jul04.shtml

Charles Darwin and the Beagle Collections in the University of Cambridge: a Voyage Round the World (previous feature).
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/features/darwin.shtml

Romanies and Gypsiologists (previous feature).
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/features/jun06.shtml

200 years of railways (previous feature).
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/features/railways.shtml

Sea-Fever: Britain’s maritime heritage (previous feature).
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/features/apr05.shtml

Also of interest

Perthshire Cant: Secret language of Scottish travellers, BBC History:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/22874080

20 Gorgeous Posters From a Time When Travel Was Glamorous blog post:
http://gizmodo.com/20-gorgeous-posters-from-a-time-when-travel-was-glamoro-758243140

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Features

September 22, 2011 / Lisa

© National Fairground Archive, University of Sheffield

The Archives Hub has been writing/having collections of the month or features since 2001. In that time we’ve had a large variety of features on everything from ornithology to poetry to the Miners’ Strike and even Rugby League.

Our features highlight what treasures there are to be found in archive collections that are on the Hub. Sometimes the feature can be on a specific topic or theme collecting resources together from different repositories or they can highlight a specific repository.

This year we have changed the format of our features to include print resources from our sister service, Copac and there are now links from the Copac home page to the feature.

All of our web pages include Google analytics and we can see that our features are popular. Our feature pages have been viewed by nearly 9000 people since 1 January 2011 and most viewed feature this year has been our feature: Scrum, ruck and tackle: the Rugby Football League Archive at the University of Huddersfield. Having your collections featured on the Hub also increases the amount of traffic you’ll get to your descriptions through Google.

Although the Hub team has been known to write a feature or two, we much prefer it if our contributors write the features, after all, they are the experts on their collections. This year has been a bumper year for features, with features from the University of Huddersfield, Imperial War Museum, the Women’s Library and the National Fairground Archive to name but a few. We have features scheduled now for the rest of 2011 and even have a couple of months booked up in 2012.

We like to be as flexible as possible when it comes to our features and offer to help as much or as little as the contributor wants. As a contributor, you can simply write the text of the feature and provide images, or you can suggest related collections, websites and reading lists as well. It’s entirely up to you.

Should you wish to feature on the Archives Hub, please contact archiveshub@mimas.ac.uk. We operate on a first come first served basis, so if you have an event, exhibition or project launch coming up and you would like your feature to coincide with it, let us know as early as possible.

Huddersfield Giants’ Match © Image courtesy of the Rugby Football League and The University of Huddersfield Archive and Special Collections

Out and about or Hub contributor training

August 17, 2011 / Lisa

Every year we provide our contributors and potential contributors with free training on how to use our EAD editor software.

The days are great fun and we really enjoy the chance to meet archivists from around the UK and find out what they are working on.

The EAD editor has been developed so that archivists can create online descriptions of their collections without having to know EAD. It’s intuitive and user friendly and allows contributors to easily add collection level and multi-level descriptions to the Hub. Users can also enhance their descriptions by adding digital archival objects – images, documents and sound files.

Our training days are a mixture of presentation, demonstration and practical hands on. We (The training team consists of Jane, Beth and myself) tend to start by talking a little about Hub news and developments to set the scene for the day and then we move onto why the Hub uses EAD and why using standards is important for interoperability and means that more ‘stuff’ can be done with the data. We go from here on to a hands-on session that demonstrates how to create a basic record. We cover also cover adding lower level components and images and we show contributors how to add index terms to their descriptions. (Something that we heartily endorse! We LOVE standards and indexing!).

We always like to tailor our training to the users, and encourage users to bring along their own descriptions for the hands-on sessions. Some users manage to submit their first descriptions to the Hub by the end of the training session!

This year we have done training in Manchester and London, for the Lifeshare project team in Sheffield and for the Oxford colleges. We are also hoping (if we get enough take up) to run courses in Glasgow and Cardiff this year. (6^th Sept at Glasgow Caledonian, Cardiff date TBC. Email archiveshub@mimas.ac.uk to book a place)

So far this year three new contributors have joined the Hub as a result of training: Middle East Centre Archive, St Antony’s College, Oxford; Salford City Archive and the Taylor Institute, Oxford. We’ve also enabled four of our existing contributors to start updating their collections on the Hub: National Fairground Archive, the Co-operative Archive, St John’s College, Oxford and the V&A.

We have been given some great feedback this year and 100% of our attendees agreed/strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the content and teaching style of the course.

Some our feedback:

A very good introductory session to working with the EAD editor for the Archives Hub. I have not used the Archives Hub for a long time so an excellent refresher course.

This was a fantastic workshop – excellently designed resources, Lisa and Jane were really helpful (and patient!). The hands-on aspect was really useful: I now feel quite confident about creating EAD records for the Hub, and even more confident that the Hub team are on hand with online help

The hands on experience and being able to ask questions of the course leaders as things happened was really useful. Being able to work on something relevant to me was also a bonus.

Excellent presentation and delivery. I came along with a theoretical but not a practical knowledge of the Archives Hub and its workings, and the training session was pitched perfectly and was completely relevant to my job. Many thanks.

The Hub team train archivists how to use the EAD editor, archive students about EAD and Social media and research students in how to use the Hub to search for primary source materials. You can find our list of training that we provide on our training pages: http://archiveshub.ac.uk/trainingmodules/ . We’re always happy to hear from people who are interested in training – do let us know!

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