Local History News Number 84 Summer 2007

A SENSE OF HISTORY

Some of the newspapers made much of the suggestion that our new prime minister has 'a sense of history'. At one level it would be surprising if, as somebody who is quite clearly going to 'go down in the history books' (and isn't that a quaint phrase these days), Mr Brown didn't have 'a sense of history' and of his own part in it. His immediate predecessor's place in history is similarly assured, though what the judgment of history will be is an entirely different matter. But the implication of the newspaper comments was that Gordon Brown's 'sense of history' not only derives from his being a historian, but also that this is somehow a praiseworthy attribute which will give him a valuable weapon in his political armoury. This is an intriguing concept, not least because it suggests that people with 'a sense of history' actually are more sensible, with greater wisdom and an ability to see things in a more 'visionary' way (that being something of a tautology, I realise). But these are indeed muddy waters, for the previous home secretary, John Reid, also had a history doctorate and nobody, as far as I'm aware, suggested that he had 'a sense of history'—far from it, for he was often accused of the exactly opposite offence, that of being short-termist and knee-jerkist and having no forward view. A 'sense of history' is perhaps in the eye of the beholder. I suppose the question I'm debating between myself, as it were, is whether being a historian does give one a sense of history, and what exactly does that oft-used and never-defined phrase mean? Does it, taken literally, propose that historians have a greater knowledge of the past than that possessed by ordinary mortals? Those of us who are thus semi-divine can recite the dates of kings and queens, battles and Acts of Parliament—and might even graduate to themes, concepts and trends—and we presumably know more about what happened 'way back then' than the average person in our street. But are we any the wiser for this and do we behave differently? The answer, inexorably heading our way, is surely 'no'. Some of the politicians who, for better or worse, have had 'vision' and a sense of history or destiny were those with a deep antipathy to historians and what they stand for (I think in this context of Grantham's most famous daughter). Other politicians have had a powerful sense of history and have even become historians (in which area, Churchill is without rival as a dominating historical figure and a highly successful writer of history, though his version of that craft owes more to literary skills than is nowadays acceptable many 'proper' historians … mind you, I sometimes wish that some of the latter had been allocated a larger measure of literary talent). And it is essential to observe that another politician with a deep and intense 'sense of history' was Adolf Hitler, whose awareness of the past was channelled through bitter grievance and grotesque distortion into overpowering evil. Having 'a sense of history' is no guarantee of rational, coherent, benevolent or sensitive policies, because the distorting mirrors of politics (or, indeed, of any aspect of life) reshape the vision and the practicalities. We still do things which we know are stupid or wrong, even if we know, from our own past or the past of others, that the result will be disappointing or disastrous. As someone (possibly me) once said, 'The lesson which history teaches us is that it does not teach us lessons'.

[Hide]

CONFERENCE OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL HISTORIANS

The Conference of Regional and Local Historians, composed of teachers and researchers in regional and local history in institutions of further and higher education, was established in 1978 to explore historical themes of common interest and to disseminate and promote information about syllabuses, courses, research methods and educational techniques. Over the years it has been particularly active in sponsoring conferences in different regions on topics which include 'Issues of Community in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries', 'The Nineteenth Century Provincial Press', 'Urban Life since the Eighteenth Century: Regional Perspectives' and 'Rural Life in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries', and has published the papers given at theses confereences in addition to distributing a newsletter to its members. Prompted partly by the closure of separate Adult Education departments in many universities, and the reduction generally in the provision of 'liberal education' courses in post-compulsory education, during the past year CORAL's committee has been exploring the possibility of bringing its activities under the umbrella of BALH. Recognising that CORAL's interests in the theoretical amd comparative approaches to regional and local history and in tertiary education fall squarely within BALH's broad aims, at its March meeting Council warmly welcomed these overtures, and, in the event of CORAL's deciding to join forces with BALH, undertook to review its committe structure to take into account CORAL's particular strengths and concerns, and agreed that CORAL members not already members of BALH should receive free membership of BALH until January 2008 and that BALH's treasurer should earmark CORAL's assets to support events and publications which had been of particular interest to CORAL. In the light of these assurances, at its AGM on 2 June 2007 CORAL resolved to disband and to join forces with BALH. For its part BALH is delighted to welcome these new members and hopes in the future to take full advantage of their expertise in the field of post-compulsory education, in the planning of regional and national conferences and seminars, in the publication of regional and local history and in all other aspects of the promotion of regional and local history.

[Hide]

THE WORKING CLASS MOVEMENT LIBRARY

The Working Class Movement Library is a unique treasure house of books, pamphlets, newspapers, objects and archival material. The collection reflects the rich history, experiences, struggles, aspirations and talents of the working people of this country. It relates the important part played by the trade union and labour movement in shaping modern society. The Library is open to all, and we are keen to ensure that as many people as possible know of it as a valuable resource on local history as well as labour history. Edmund and Ruth Frow founded the library in their house in Old Trafford, Manchester in the 1950s; both were active in the trade union movement. In 1987 the library moved to its present home, a Grade 2 listed building which was originally a district nurses' home, on The Crescent in Salford. The emphasis of the collection is on British history, and in tribute to the role played by Salford, Manchester and the surrounding towns in the shaping of industrial society and the creation of the world's first industrial working class there is considerable material directly relating to the region. The earliest items date from the 1760s. WCML now contains more than 30,000 books and 200,000 pamphlets plus manuscript material, archives, journals, cartoons, posters, photographs, banners, badges and other artefacts. The collection encompasses politics of all shades, economic history, social conditions, education and agriculture; also local histories, reports of trials, biographies and autobiographies, novels on social themes and working class plays, poetry and songs. WCML is rich in material on topics such as Chartism, the Peterloo Massacre, the 1926 General Strike and women's emancipation. The Library offers a view on these and other topics as seen from the angle of 'history from below'. Eddie Frow was one of the first to recognise the need to preserve trade union records and initiated a project in the 1970s at the then Manchester Polytechnic whereby many local records were rescued and recorded. The Library has major holdings of union material at national, regional and local level. As an example, there are good runs of the Amalgamated Engineering Union's monthly journal and National Committee reports. AEU divisional and district records include attendance registers, correspondence and minutes; districts covered include Manchester, Bolton and Rochdale. Records from the Stockport District relate to the strike at Roberts-Arundel (textile machinery manufacturers) in the1960s, one of the longest and largest of UK trade union disputes; these are accompanied by three volumes of press cuttings compiled by the strike committee. The records of the various Brushmaker societies, deposited at the WCML by the GMB union, include some of the earliest trade union documents to have survived – dating from the 1820s. Other significant donations of trade union records include material from the Boilermakers' Society, Typographical Society, Foundry Workers' Union, Amalgamated Association of Card and Blowing Room Operatives, Ship Constructors and Shipwrights Association, and Amalgamated Weavers' Association. Local unions are well represented in the large collection of rulebooks, the earliest of which is an edition, dated 1843, of the rules and regulations of the Manchester-based Journeymen Steam Engine, Machine Maker and Millwrights' Friendly Society. The Library's holdings include the cultural alongside the political, such as material from all aspects of Salford songwriter and activist Ewan MacColl's political and artistic life. WCML is also very pleased to house the archive of Jim Allen, Manchester-born socialist writer who made a major contribution to British TV drama in the 1960s and 1970s and to British film in the 1980s and 1990s. Another collection of papers which contains interesting local material relates to the Spanish Civil War, and in particular to International Brigade volunteers from the North West, who joined up to fight for the Republican government against the Nationalists under Franco. At home various organisations were set up to send food, medicine and other supplies to the Republic. WCML holds the papers of Arthur Kirkwood, which relate to this, the Aid for Spain Movement; letters sent from Spain by members of the International Brigade; and also the diary of Ralph Cantor, a Manchester man killed at Brunete in 1937. The struggle for peace has a long history in the Manchester region and among important holdings are the local archives of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, from the 1950s onwards. There is also a collection of material relating to Medical Aid for Vietnam. In this 75th anniversary year of the Mass Trespass over Kinder Scout, which paved the way for 'right to roam' legislation, it's also worth highlighting that WCML holds the Benny Rothman Archive, which holds fascinating material relating to the Mass Trespass as well as to other political and environmental campaigns in the region. Our enquiry service is free of charge (0161 736 3601; enquiries@wcml.org.uk), as is access to the library reading room. Limited staff time means we are not able to undertake detailed research on behalf of family historians, for example, but all are welcome to visit to research for themselves. If you wish to visit, please contact us in advance to make an appointment as almost all the material is on closed access and will need to be fetched for you. We are very happy to offer group tours to see the collection – again, please contact us. WCML is a registered charity, and we are always keen to receive donations of money and volunteer time as well as material for stock. Further details at www.wcml.org.uk – although please note that our Web site does not yet give a full flavour of the treasures which we are proud to hold. Lynette Cawthra is Library Manager, WCML

[Hide]

'A TOWER OF STRENGTH'

Many local history societies collect and create resources relating to their community, but without someone like Stanley Baker these can remain passive, their potential unexploited. Mr Baker is the archivist for Radley History Club. He not only catalogues, organises and houses their collection but also makes them available to anyone contemplating local research, answers questions and gives advice, and contributes to displays and exhibitions. The index to their material is updated monthly and published on the society's website, again enhancing accessibility. Enquiries from around the world indicate how valuable this is to students and researchers. Items are also available to other audiences, such as the club's oral history recordings via The Centre for Oxfordshire Studies county oral history archive. Wartime and family circumstances contributed to Stanley Baker's decision to leave school in 1940, aged 16, although he had begun a sixth form classics course at his Oxford grammar school. He worked long hours in the office of a local factory that made aircraft parts, and also became an Air Raid Warden, and did fire-watching at the University Museum in Oxford. After the war, an opportunity to do something more to his liking came when Oxfordshire County Council advertised for someone to assist the county archivist. Oxfordshire County Record Office had been set up in 1935, one of the first in the country. The archivist, returning from war service, started training to be a solicitor, and Stanley became Assistant Archivist in 1948, a post he held for twelve years, the Latin he had learnt at school being of use at last! However times changed, and when an honours degree in history became the minimum academic qualification for archivists, Stanley retrained as a legal executive dealing mainly in conveyancing. He spent the rest of his local government career, as he puts it, 'creating documents for others to preserve'. The interest, experience and skills gained during those years at the record office stood him in good stead, and have been of great benefit to Radley History Club. Stanley has lived in the parish since 1964, and moved into the centre of the village in 1998, to be within easy access of church, pub, shop, post office and village hall. Contracting Guillain-Barré Syndrome (a rare condition of the peripheral nervous system) in 1996 has, together with subsequent falls, severely restricted his mobility. Stanley's published account of the first year after receiving this diagnosis is highly amusing – indeed hilarious at times. His optimistic outlook and determination led him to maximise his independence, and to get a computer and train himself to use it. Again Radley History Club, founded in 1997, was the beneficiary. Stanley became a member of the Club in 1998, having graduated from wheelchair to walking frame. He was invited to join the committee, and shortly afterwards became archivist. For many years he was also programme secretary, and built the website. 'A tower of strength' in the Club, Stanley contributed to the successful 'Awards for All' project that gave new impetus to local history in the village, and to the Club's work with their local primary school. The 'Occasional Publications' series is growing, making use of the archives and new research by Stanley and other members of the Club. Some years ago Dr Michael Graham, Head of Oxfordshire Studies for Oxfordshire County Council Social & Community Services, appeared on the Radley History Club programme. During his talk he mentioned that the service had need of volunteers. Dr Graham writes 'usually and understandably such a cri de coeur passes unnoticed but Stan came up to me afterwards and said he could help'. He began in 2001 and has since done a prodigious amount of work from home, transferring from manuscript paper records to electronic spreadsheets details of the photograph collections in the central library. This is an ongoing project, and Stan has so far dealt with about 70,000 items, nearly half of the image records that are now searchable on the county website at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/heritagesearch. In 2006 Stanley Baker was given a 'Contribution to the Community Award' by his local MP Dr Evan Harris 'to cast the spotlight of praise onto those who operate silently and selflessly in many of the quietest corners of the UK'. It was in recognition of his very special contribution to local history that he was presented with a BALH Award for personal achievement in 2007 and it was a particular pleasure to us that he felt able to make the journey to London for 'Local History Day' in June. With thanks to Stanley Baker, John Holmwood, Michael Graham, Robert Sephton.

[Hide]

VCH GOES INTO PARLIAMENT!

During the week 11-15 June, the VCH held an exhibition in the Upper Waiting Hall in Parliament. This is a large open area near to the main committee rooms, and so great numbers of MPs, peers and visitors to the two Houses of Parliament pass this way on a daily basis. The exhibition included specially prepared display boards outlining our current work, and a rolling presentation of materials we are making available through the 'Explore' website. The exhibition was opened on 11 June by Ruth Kelly, Minister for Communities and Local Government. In her speech, Ms Kelly referred to the importance of our communities: 'in many cases they owe a great debt to the commitment of those people who help bring the past to light. So I'm delighted to celebrate the work of the Victoria County History project.' Among those present at the opening were former speaker Betty Boothroyd, and a number of MPs and peers. BALH Chairman, Professor Claire Cross, was among the invited guests. Most of those attending the launch then went on to a reception in Portcullis House, the recent new parliamentary building designed by the Hopkins Partnership, where the VCH was fortunate to have secured the Attlee suite for the evening. Here, more guests, many of them county staff working for the VCH and for 'England's Past for Everyone', enjoyed refreshments, and a stirring talk by the well-known television presenter Michael Wood, who is himself a historian. As part of the event, the new Explore website developed by England's Past for Everyone was given its first public airing, and despite some problems with the technology, the first pictures appeared on the screen on cue. Andy Stokes, ICT officer, never flinched as he struggled to get his computer to communicate with the data projector, but he admitted later he was 'sweating a bit'! Subsequently the VCH and EPE staff from Central Office were in attendance at the exhibition for several hours of each day Tuesday to Thursday. MPs, peers, and a number of visitors to Parliament came to talk to us about the work we are doing, and it was gratifying to meet many people who had long known of the VCH and who were very interested in the new developments being pioneered through EPE. The VCH was able to hold the exhibition because we were sponsored (not financially!) by the History of Parliament Trust. We are particularly grateful to their chairman Sir Patrick Cormack, and Dr Paul Seaward, Director of the History of Parliament. Our next major event will be the annual Marc Fitch Lecture, to be held at the Royal College of Surgeons (and including access to the museum!) on 31 October, with Professor Linda Colley as our speaker.

[Hide]

WALLER OF WOODCOTE

This unique collection of Warwickshire archives was one of the first family and estate collections acquired by Warwickshire County Record Office in the 1940s and 50s. The collection dates back to the 12th century. It comprises around 25 archive boxes, together with a number of outsize volumes and rolls. The bulk of the collection consists of deeds of the family estates, the majority of which were in Warwickshire, but some of which were in Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and London. The series of medieval deeds are particularly fine, with some wonderful examples of early seals. Some of the early 17th century leases are exceptionally detailed, and contain schedules describing houses in the town. The collection also contains a number of notable individual items, including the 17th century Black Book of Warwick which contains copies of many medieval documents relating to the town, including some that have since been lost. There is a wealth of records relating to Henry Wise (1653-1738) who was gardener to Queen Anne and King George I. There are also some particularly fine 18th century recipe books compiled by Mary Wise, who is believed to be one of Henry's children. The collection is a unique piece in the jigsaw of Warwickshire's history and heritage. It has been used by generations of local historians, and the information contained within it has been used to re-construct house histories, as evidence of property transactions, by gardening enthusiasts, and those interested in a number of key historical sites in Warwickshire, including the site of the modern County Record Office. It records events at national and local scale, from an eyewitness account of the death of George IV and a series of correspondence from the Crimean War, through to building and estate accounts for the family's properties. The current owners of the collection notified Warwickshire County Record Office (WCRO) of their intention to sell the collection late in 2005. The record office has since applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund, Victoria and Albert Purchase Grant Fund, Friends of the National Libraries and a range of local organisations for funds to support an ambitious and creative project called Outside the Box. Outside the Box will preserve the collection in the public domain and produce an on-line catalogue of the collection in its entirety for the first time. A learning and audience development events programme follows, including activities ranging from the flagship Medieval Festival through to a school meals cooking day at a Waller community school based on Mary Wise's recipes. We are delighted to report that the majority of our grant applications have been approved, leaving us with just our local fundraising target to meet. Where there's a Willes, there's a way Rather like the proverbial number ten bus, WCRO now finds itself simultaneously trying to fundraise for two collections at once. No sooner had we finalised details of our Outside the Box project, than we were advised of the imminent sale of another collection of significant Warwickshire family and estate records. The archive of the Willes family of Newbold Comyn near Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, comprises a substantial and significant collection of family and estate papers, including deeds and legal documents, pedigrees, estate inventories and accounts, rentals, surveys and maps, dating from the thirteenth century to the twentieth, the papers and correspondence of the Rt. Hon. Edward Willes (1704-1768), correspondence to and from several generations of the Willes family, and a rich range of other manuscripts, volumes, photographs and printed items. It records the history of the Willes and associated families in full and rich detail. Newbold Comyn has now been absorbed by Leamington Spa and evidence of the Willes's contribution to the history of Warwickshire, and the development of Leamington Spa, is well documented in the collection. The medieval and early deeds and documents are supported by later papers (and maps and plans) about the creation of Newbold Gardens, canals, local churches and architecture, and much else. WCRO needs to raise funds towards the saving of both the Waller of Woodcote archive, and the Willes family archive. The combined fundraising target is £8,000. If you would like to donate to either campaign, please send cheques to Warwickshire County Record Office, Priory Park, Cape Road, Warwickshire, CV34 4JS. Cheques should be made payable to Warwickshire County Council. If you have a strong preference as to which collection you would like your donation to support, please state either WALLER or WILLES on your covering note.

[Hide]

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES ONLINE USER ADVISORY GROUP

The National Archives online user advisory group: notes of meeting held on 12 March 2007 I attended the meeting on behalf of BALH (and the Society of Archivists). The minutes are available via TNA's web site. We had presentations on the following: online developments in the Education Department; podcast and RSS feeds; wiki update and demonstration of live site; online strategy progress report. Matthew Woollard of the UK Data Archive gave a presentation on its services, relationships with TNA and digital resources for historians and social scientists. Notes of meeting held on 23 July 2007 The presentations at this meeting were on: general update on TNA's website, including recent launches, news and awards; an update on 'Your archives'; a demonstration of the upcoming personalisation facility; a proposed mobile site; and an update on the online strategy. I gave a presentation about BALH, which generated some questions. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/operate/meetings/onlineadvisory/default.htm

[Hide]

LOCAL HISTORY DAY 2007

A numerous and enthusiastic audience attended our second 'Local History Day' on 2 June at Friends' House in London. The opening discussion session was introduced by Professor Claire Cross, chairman of BALH, who welcomed Dr Kate Tiller and Dr David Dymond. Under the heading of 'Local history at the crossroads: challenges to the provision of local history in higher and further education in the early 21st century' both Dr Tiller and Dr Dymond raised important issues from their wide experience, and stimulated varied contributions from the floor. At the Annual General Meeting the following were elected as members of Council: Professor Claire Cross (Chairman), Dr Paul Carter, Lt Col Michael Cowan, Dr David Dymond, Mr Michael Farrar, Dr Tim Lomas, Dr Jo Mattingly, Dr Margaret O'Sullivan, Dr Ruth Paley (Hon Treasurer), Professor Edward Royle, Mrs Jan Shepard, and Dr Nigel Tringham. The new searchable index to The Amateur Historian and The Local Historian 1952 – 2006, which is under development on our website, was introduced by Dr Alan Crosby who illustrated the potential this has to make the rich contents of these publications accessible. After lunch Professor David Hey, President of BALH, presented certificates for BALH Awards in recognition of personal achievement, research and publication, and – for the first time this year – for a society newsletter. The 2007 winners are listed on page 14 and on page 15 Alan Crosby discusses the articles shortlisted for the publications award. Caroline Barron, Professorial Research fellow at Royal Holloway College, University of London, gave the annual Phillimore Lecture entitled Searching for the 'small people' of medieval London. The audience listened transfixed at the fascinating detail that it is possible to uncover about the lives of ordinary people so many centuries ago, and then offered questions and suggestions to add to an already fruitful day. A mini-questionnaire was given to members and friends attending. The vast majority of responses were from people who had come because they were attracted to the whole programme with its varied elements of discussion, awards and lecture. Additional comments concluded that it was 'a nice day out' and provided an opportunity 'to use my brain'. Several members were disappointed that there were no Phillimore books this year. There was a three to one majority in favour of holding LHD outside London, and Birmingham was the most popular alternative venue. Susan Parrott's winning article is in The Local Historianyou have received with this mailing. In the November issue will be Kate Tiller and David Dymond's discussion papers, and Caroline Barron's lecture will be published inTLH February 2008. 2008: Next year's programme of the Annual Lecture, preceded by short talks and discussion, and presentation of BALH Awards for Local History, will be held on Saturday 7 June at Friends' House in London. The lecturer will be Professor Rosemary Sweet, Director of the Centre for Urban Studies, University of Leicester , who will speak about 18th century antiquaries.

[Hide]

PUBLICATIONS AWARDS 2007

At the Local History Day held on 2 June our President, David Hey, presented the annual BALH Publications Awards. The awards are given for articles which have been published in the journals and transactions of local and county history societies from across the British Isles. At the beginning of each autumn our Reviews Editor, Dr Evelyn Lord, selects a shortlist chosen from the journals which have been sent to her over the previous year, and then passes the articles on to me. I coordinate an assessment procedure—the shortlisted articles are copied and distributed to a panel of readers, and they in turn rank the articles in order of preference and provide me with comments concerning the reasons for their choice. By summing the rank orders (this is getting alarmingly mathematical!) I arrive at the winners. It's a simple process but it works well, and the readers all enjoy their task very much. For me, it's a great way of finding out what is going in different parts of the country, and it often gives me ideas and topics to consider for my own work. The criteria for selection of articles are fairly straightforward. First, the article must be enjoyable to read (especially to someone who is not intimately involved in the local history of the area concerned) and well-written in a technical sense (paying proper attention to matters such as referencing and bibliography). There should be good evidence of imaginative and innovative research, or perhaps the choice of an unusual or distinctive topic. Sometimes the articles are very local in their subject matter, sometimes they are local case studies of national or regional topics, but all of them have to be accessible, and relevant to the aim of local historians in building up an ever more rounded and persuasive picture of communities in the past. We require that the articles should be thoroughly researched, ideally using primary sources and fieldwork as well as the wealth of published secondary material, and they should include effective argument or, if a story is being told, clear and fluent in their narrative. We do not take into consideration such matters as the quality of the publication itself, or the use of illustrations, because we are all well aware that these are related to the resources of local and regional history societies. Some organisations have money to spend on attractive or sophisticated presentation, while others are not so fortunate, so it would be wrong to include this as a criterion. Behind the awards scheme, which has now been going for a decade, is the appreciation that much work of the highest quality, researched to excellent standards, is published in local journals but does not receive a wider circulation. Not enough people know about it. We felt, way back at the end of the last century, that it was really important to highlight the growing quantity, and splendid quality, of such work, and to draw attention to the great value of local and county journals, transactions and bulletins as a source both of practical information and of inspiration. Part of my own thinking is the hope that readers may feel that, for instance, an article on (to use an example from the most recent awards) district nursing in early twentieth century Gloucestershire is interesting, and not a subject that they had ever thought of, and then to consider researching it for their own area. That might seem to involve merely the replication of case studies, but I believe very strongly that local case studies provide an essential flow of information to inform, illuminate and enhance our understanding of 'big issues' and themes. There are already broad-brush national studies of the origins of district nursing, but the way in which the principles, policies, ideas and practical implementation impacted locally represents the true measure of this pioneering dimension to health studies. The reality was not so much the decision-making on high, but rather the consequences for individual communities and families. By analysing that subject at local level, we can gain a much better understanding of how this crucial change took place and what its impact was. The same arguments apply to most local history, as the following award winning articles make clear. Susan Parrott, in her article 'A time of change: land sales in the East Riding of Yorkshire in the early twentieth century' (The East Yorkshire Historian vol.6, 2005) considered how landowners in the Yorkshire Wolds responded to the changing circumstances of agriculture and rural society in the aftermath of the great depression of the 1880s. She took a sub-regional perspective, something which local historians might well find interesting as an option in their research, and assessed the case using the archives of several landed families. Her article, the first-placed, is published in this (August 2007) issue of The Local Historian. This was a fundamental change in the nature of rural landownership and society a century ago—what was its impact in your area? The next article has already been mentioned. Carrie Howse published 'Early District Nursing in Gloucestershire' in Gloucestershire History(no.20, 2006). I wonder what is going on in Gloucestershire? Maybe something in the water is influencing the work of local historians, but we are amazed by how often entries from the county win awards—clearly this is very fertile ground for local history research and writing. Carrie's article looked at a dimension to the provision of healthcare in the community which has been little researched, and she considered its origins and impact. This is the sort of article which always receives particular commendation from the assessors, because the subject appears to be so everyday, and unassuming that few people would think of investigating it—yet it was precisely this type of modest change which made a real difference to people's lives. Very different indeed was Richard Dace's 'The Jews of Warwick c.1180-c.1280' (Warwickshire History: Journal of the Warwickshire Local History Society vol.13 no.2, Winter 2005-2006). This was a specialised and very challenging theme, involving detailed analysis of early medieval sources and careful and cautious teasing out of the evidence. As with any early medieval topic, much can never be retrieved from the historical record, and the case in question involved piecing together a disparate collection of fragments, but Richard Dace took his small town canvas and on it painted a convincing sketch of the experience of the handful of Jews in the community, to the extent of tentatively reconstructing a genealogy of Jewish families and demonstrating their links with the much larger London community. Warwick was a small town but most small towns had a few Jewish families or individuals, before the mass expulsion of the Jews from England in the reign of Edward I. How many other places could be researched in this way? Paul W. Sowan's 'The Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Iron Railway' (Local History Records: Journal of the Bourne Society vol.45, 2006) was different again—a meticulous field survey, supported by an explanatory historical context, of one of the earliest public railways in Britain. The Surrey Iron Railway from Wandsworth to Croydon (1801) was the first railway to be promoted by Act of Parliament, and the railway that is the subject of Paul's article was its southern extension. The article described the surviving traces of this pioneering line, including cuttings and embankments in the middle of what is now outer suburban Surrey, and thereby drew attention to features which might readily be passed by without a second glance. This article highlighted the importance of landscape in local history, and the value of detailed interpretation of familiar elements of those landscapes. Last year Isobel Watson won a BALH Personal Award for achievement in local history, for her tireless work on behalf of archives and history in the London Borough of Hackney. This year she was the recipient of a Publications Award, for her article 'The first generation of flats' (Hackney History vol.11, 2006). This wide-ranging survey looked at the nineteenth-century development of flats and apartment blocks as a new style of housing in the capital, considering the social and architectural aspects of their development, and the economic context within which this new concept emerged. She surveyed the agencies involved in flat development, from speculative builders and property entrepreneurs, to philanthropists and charitable organisations. Thus, in these five articles, we cover a very wide spectrum of local history research, from the early medieval period to the beginning of the twentieth century, with topics including landed estates, community healthcare, housing, a medieval ethnic minority, and industrial archaeology. The extraordinary diversity of local history is exemplified. As always, it was pleasure to read these articles (and the others, shortlisted but not eventually selected for an award) and I look forward, towards the end of this year, to reading through another selection of excellence. Congratulations to all the award winners and (not to be forgotten) the editors of the journals in which the articles appeared.

[Hide]

REFLECTIONS ON LOCAL HISTORY DAY

Coming away from the Friends' Meeting Hall, London, on a bright, warm Saturday afternoon at the close of the BALH event it's easy to feel complacent. That was a good day that was. Polished speakers, provocative presentations, some useful networking and properly applauded rewards distributed to distinguished historians and volunteers who are chiefly known in their own regions, but sufficiently highly regarded to be proposed for national recognition. What a splendid outfit we are! Nothing should be taken away from all that has been said, but there are nagging thoughts nevertheless. This was an excellent day for networking and discovering other people's experience. An accidentally overheard and not fully understood remark to the effect that the reputation of any much-praised historian doesn't survive his memorial service, but an antiquarian is valued for ever gives rise to reflections. What was the intended implication? Secondly, in response to the chairman's invitation to ask questions someone considered that speakers had been too concerned to see local history as a top down phenomenon, subject to dumbing-down in today's media mad world. Had not the Whigs dumbed down national history from the eighteenth century onwards? How about the thousands of people, the questioner seemed to say, who enjoy local history and never go near a ten-week course in skills or document appraisal? What does BALH do for them? In addition, on a third and separate matter, and much more controversially, one might risk making some points about the character of the AGM. Perhaps they are best left for another occasion. If the implication about the status of the antiquarian is that here is the model which local historians should adopt, then it should be firmly rebutted. The premise is that history is a fashion and a fad, but a fact is a fact for all time. All that the local researcher need do is pile up more transcriptions, assemble more artefacts, chronicle life histories and chart family trees, store more sheets of vellum and produce the calendar in due course. Most regions have had their invaluable antiquarians and Record Societies under varied titles make their work widely available. Collections for a History of Staffordshire is but one case in point. If this were all, however, it would be an incomplete exercise. Many writers of earlier ages, no matter how keen to publish documents accurately and in full, understood this. John Sleigh publishing his History of the Ancient Parish of Leek (2nd edit.1883) was a fully paid up antiquarian, but he conceived his book as a narrative offering a somewhat disjointed, but nonetheless, informative explanation of the way his native town had developed over time. The fact that he is still quoted as a source for documents he saw and published does mean that his name is still well-known – and it is true that as a 'historian' he can be almost totally discounted by today's serious explorers of the past. In the popular mind, however, he is still taken to be Leek's historian par excellence. Unless there is a historian to interpret the collections of the antiquarian – and Sleigh did his own interpreting – the piles of papers and transcriptions are but numbers in a train collector's notebook. BALH properly supports all manner of antiquarian activities and historical interpreters alike – if there is a model it's a fabric woven by combining both, not a single thread. As for the Whig view of history and dumbing down, linked with the notion that local history is too much of a top-down driven activity if it is obsessed with courses and qualifications, there are innumerable responses. One is that some topics worth exploring are worth debating, not simply left to one speaker to elucidate. The model of a lecture followed by questions, and at best a minute's (sometimes passionate) refutation or comment is overused. It is the model too often adopted for what passes as local history activity: the 'authority' delivers tablets of stone and the assembled multitude meekly receives them. The issue arose, quite possibly, because excellent though both Kate Tiller and David Dymond were at addressing their topics they are of the same institutional-type background and have the same involvement in promoting local history - and more power to their elbows. But their task was essentially to describe a situation, and it was the same situation. With the hindsight of someone listening to both it may fairly be argued that that two accounts were one too many. Re-arranged as a debate the motion could have been that the demise of local history teaching to adults is to be resisted and/or remedied by BALH adopting a specific policy (whether precisely stated or not in the motion is not relevant at the moment). Someone from outside the professional ranks of teachers (TV producer or family history magazine editor?) should have been approached to question the effects of the collapse of taught liberal education courses and challenge the notion that BALH adopt a specific policy. Other issues could be discussed arising from contributions from the floor. Dumbing down by the Whigs as an assertion - a delightful thought - would then have had a context and been a meaningful addition to the discussion. It was a successful day, and the ultimate proof lies in the extent and nature of reactions. I hope there have been many unsolicited reflections on 2 June submitted for future consideration to underline the appreciation of members.

[Hide]

GUIDED VISITS

Visit to Bristol in April The Bristol meeting on Tuesday April 2007 brought together 18 members and friends who came from Romsey, Salisbury, Weymouth, Wellington (Som), Malvern, Rugby, Harpenden and from Bristol.& Bath The morning visit to the Society of Merchant Venturers was addressed and shown round by Francis Greenacre, now retired from his post of Curator of Fine Arts at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. The Society inspired the voyage of Cabot which discovered Newfoundland in 1497. It played a major role in the founding of the Great Western Railway and the building of Clifton Suspension Bridge.We were suitably impressed when Francis Greenacre was able to gesture at the prospect of the Downs through the windows, still in the Society's ownership. Highlights of the morning were three original charters signed by Elizabeth I, Charles I and the earliest in 1552 by Edward VI, also a fascinating early street scene of Bristol and some fine marine paintings by Nicholas Pocock. The local sheets of William Smith's superb Geological map attracted most interest on the afternoon visit arranged and introduced by Michael Richardson at the Bristol University Special Collections Library. We were made welcome to handle the books and manuscripts assembled, including early music, rare landscape & architectural works, flower paintings and records of the Bristol Riots of 1831 in which 500 people died. It was thought-provoking to compare the lists of amounts subsequently claimed for damages with the actual awards made. Alan Tucker Visit to Swindon in MayThe STEAM museum is on the site of the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon works of the Great Western Railway. At the height of prodution, 3 locomotives were made a day. The sound of the factory hooter for the 14,000 workers could be heard 15 miles away! Two retired members of the work force showed us round and provided personal insight into their once busy world. The site was chosen at the end of 'Brunels' billiard table' - the line from London to Swindon before the gradient changed on its way to Bristol. We were taken round the Railway Village of 300 houses built between 1850 and 1865 to house the workforce, also designed by Brunel. Accommodationm, education, recreation and medical attention for the railway men and their families were all provded by the company. Rules were to be obeyed! If a worker was late, or rode their bicycle in the works without a permit they could lose everything - housing, cheap coal and travel, and their job. There is an exhibition until September of original drawings and plans of the village, much of which has not been shown in public before. The afternoon was spent at the nearby National Monuments Records Centre, of English Heritage. We were given a presentation to introduce us to the vast collections. 'Images of England' is the largest free on-line library of pictures of listed buildings taken in Februay 2001, and will not be updated. There are also 'Viewfinder' images from 1850, while 'Pastscape' has ancient and historical sites and buildings. We also toured the building (another part of the GWR works) and saw the 'red box collection' of photographs and documents catalogued by county. The NMR library holds some 50,000 volumes on archaeology and architecture. Research visitors are advised to phone first with their requests so that a search can be carried out ready for their visit. Visit to Saisbury in July The King's House, which now houses the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, contains a veritable treasure of artefacts. The archaeological section contains much from Stonehenge and the burial sites in the county- the burial urns are a sight to behold! It also houses much of Salisbury's early history; one case contains those items dredged from the medieval drains which crossed the city; what happened if one lost the house key in those days? The building was refurbished for the visit of James 1st, hense the name, and there are some beautiful ceilings remaining from that era. It was also a ladies' teacher training college- the museum displays an example of their uniform in the costume collection. After a resume of the museum, we visited the library- a working collection for staff use. It contained many pamphlets about early Salisbury: guides and reports on the drainage for example as well as working books on articles within the museum's collections. The afternoon was spent learning about Salisbury's early agricultural innovations in their use of the water meadows. The Harnham Water Meadows Trust has begun preserving and maintaining the 30 acres of water meadow in the centre of the city. We walked along Town Path to Harnham noticing the evidence of floated water management: the irrigation system of sluices, hatches, carriers and drains. The past agricultural practice was to cover the meadows with warm water from the chalk downs in order to raise the soil temperature to ensure early grass growth in springtime. It was all interlinked with the pastoral practice of upland grazing and folding of sheep on the levels; all essential to stock production and arable fertility. Once the water had drained away, the meadows were used for hay production so providing two 'crops' from the one meadow. We were given a demonstration of 'drowning' a drain (opening the 'gate' from the river) by the 'drowner', the water would then have made its way through various sluices to the meadow requiring it. Our visit ended at Rose Cottage, the education centre for the Trust, enlightened as to the management of water meadows.

[Hide]

'RAGS, SCANTELS AND COMMON SLATES'

Delabole: The History of the Slate Quarry and The Making of its Village Community Catherine Lorigan Pengelly Press 2007 ISBN 10 0 9554792 0 7 £14.99 The 'largest man-made hole in Europe' is the focus for this carefully researched and well-written volume. Slate has been worked at Delabole in north Cornwall since the 13th century, and the quarry has been the centre of a small but vibrant community for nearly as long. Catherine Lorigan is an experienced historian of Cornwall; she was one of the contributors to BALH 2006 Local History Day on the work of volunteers for the Victoria County History, and this book is based on her PhD thesis. Do not let that put you off; it is eminently readable, and of wider relevance than the title might suggest. Not only in terms of content – links and comparisons are made between Cornwall, Wales and other slate-producing regions of the world, but also in terms of methodology and use of sources. Most of the types of material that formed the basis of Dr Lorigan's research are not unique to this case study, and the way she has explored and exploited them provides a valuable exemplar. In the first two chapters the reader gains an overview of the quarry's history, and subsequent sections take a thematic approach, covering 'Working the Quarry', 'Labour Relations' 'Transporting the Slate', 'Church and Chapel' and more. Complex relationships between landowners, and tenants with rights to work slate; changes in commercial organisation and interests at the quarry; and external forces influencing the market for slate form three important threads. Alongside and intertwined with them throughout are the lives of the quarrymen and their families. Here there were 'disappointing but unsurprising' gaps in the archival material available; as Dr Lorigan writes: 'very little information about the feelings, hopes and aspirations of the quarrymen themselves has been found' and 'if information about the quarrymen is limited, that about the women of the village is all but non-existent'. Despite this, the chapters on the village succeed in giving a colourful picture of a community that was dependent on this one industry. Workmen in the quarry were named according to the tasks they performed – labourers, rockmen, fillers, landers, splitters and so on. The most skilled job, which even today is done by hand, was that of the splitters (also known as hillmen or cleavers). They split the slate into thin laminae about a fifth of an inch in thickness. Their expertise determined how best to split a block of slate to give maximum return. Different beds in the quarry produced slate of varying quality, and the splitters knew how each would divide. Until 1855 some women and girls were employed as slate splitters and were acknowledged to be as good as the men. Quarry work was dangerous, and although some horrific accidents are described the majority resulted in less serious damage particularly to fingers, hands and arms. Even these could mean the injured man was off work for some time, with consequent loss of wages for his family. Not until 1894 was there any safety legislation relating to open quarries. The relationships between the different groups of workers, and between employees and management were surprisingly harmonious over long periods of time, and despite some sporadic unrest there was no evidence that quarrymen considered the formation of a trade union until after the First World War. Slate, in blocks, slabs or split, was sharp-edged, heavy and breakable, so transport was always a problem. Until the railway arrived at Delabole in 1893 slate was taken from the quarry in wagons to the north Cornish coast, particularly Port Gaverne. However carefully the slate was packed in hay and straw, uneveness on the road, transfer to the ship's hold, waiting in port, or movement at sea all resulted in damage which was an inevitable cost of this trade. Village life was not entirely separate from work, as workers' cottages were owned by the quarry, and slate was used not only for roofs and floors but also paths, window sills, fences, kerb stones, to support washing lines and for four-sided chimney pots! Three chapters take the reader into the social issues of housing, shopping, education, entertainment, and law and order in Delabole. Another focuses particularly on religion which played a significant, and controversial, part in Cornish life. The relative strength of Methodism through the nineteenth century, and its links with Liberalism and temperance, is explored in detail. So too is the career of 'Jack' Bucknall, who caused a local schism in the Church of England between the wars. Bucknall was appointed as curate at St John's church in 1925 and within a month was embroiled in controversy as his particular brand of radical Christian Socialism sowed dissension. It took seven years before he was removed. Links between the Cornish and Welsh slate industries are the subject of a chapter that examines how, although the two regions were economically, socially and culturally distinct, there were some noteworthy similarities between them. Numbers of people, both Welsh in Cornwall and Cornish in Wales, were small, but for individuals the links were important. Welsh-born quarry managers were employed at Delabole and brought commercial and technical innovations, though relationships were not always amicable. Later in the book Dr Lorigan looks beyond the shores of Britain and traces the Cornish diaspora to slate-quarrying areas of Australia, Tasmania, Canada, USA and South Africa. Here family history resources provide rich detail on the experiences of Cornish quarrymen who migrated looking for work, though many subsequently turned to other occupations. Some later returned, others made visits to family, yet more never again set foot in Cornwall. Cornish communities around the world with a strong sense of identity remain to this day. The conclusion brings the history of both quarry and village up to date. (It also demonstrates a commendably prompt production time for the book!) A degree of diversification has been achieved in the area, and the quarry prospers through exploiting niche markets for specialist products and promoting the use of Cornish slate on Cornish buildings. A slab of Delabole slate makes an excellent base for a barbecue – as you can see in my garden. This book is supplied with copious illustrations, though the quality of the modern photographs is disappointing. An additional map of scale between the entire south-west pensinsula (Plate 1) and Delabole itself (Plate 2) would usefully place the quarry in its local context, and permit greater appreciation of the isolation of the village and the difficulties of transportation. An unfortunate slip gives 'inflammable' when 'nonflammable' is presumably intended on page 5. Despite these minor criticisms, this book demonstrates quality local history; it is highly recommended to anyone interested in the area and/or the industry, and it also provides valuable comparative material for other places.

[Hide]

NEW HISTORICAL SENSATION SHOCK

OLD JOKE: Where did King John sign the Magna Carta? Answer: At the bottom of the page; OLD JOKE 2: When did King John sign the Magna Carta? Answer: 1215, just before lunch; HISTORICAL PEDANT'S RESPONSE: Nobody signed the Magna Carta, because it was sealed. A recent press release from Canterbury Christ Church University began by announcing that 'University marks anniversary of Magna Carta as part of Canterbury's celebrations'. I was unaware that this was a special Magna Carta anniversary, an unawareness which was not unreasonable, for the celebrations in fact marked that auspicious event, the 792nd anniversary … in other words, and obviously, every year is a Magna Carta anniversary. I read on and found that Canterbury Christ Church University was to hold a free public lecture, to commemorate the anniversary 'of the signing of the 1912 Charter' [sic'>more.... My immediate reaction was that the little-known charter of 1912 was far more deserving of high-profile media exposure than the rather more familiar 1215 version, but the press release explained that the five towns associated with the Magna Carta (Canterbury, London, Runnymede, St Albans and Bury St Edmunds) host a commemorative event, every third year, in turn. Question: is Runnymede a town, or a meadow, or an artificial post-1974 local government unit made up of Chertsey and Egham. Discuss. This year's Canterbury event was to focus on a sensational new discovery—at a free public lecture 'The true date of Magna Carta will be questioned' (incidentally, the person who wrote the press release was apparently unaware that the phrase 'the true date of Magna Carta will be questioned' makes no sense—what he meant was 'the generally-accepted date', as by definition a true date cannot be questioned, for it is, quite simply, true). Truly, though, a sensation—had generations of schoolchildren learned the wrong date (I refer here, naturally, to the period before Hitler and the US Civil Rights Movement pushed all other subjects, places and periods out of the school history syllabus)? Had the lez docteuze dez spinne of the Angevin period managed to manipulate the historical record and reposition the Great Charter in a more fitting year? Or, alternatively, and even more shockingly, had it fact been 'signed' by a different king entirely? Let us postulate the hitherto overlooked Stephen II, who reigned for two and a half days in late May 1199. Or was it that the Magna Carta really was signed by George V in 1912 as the press release implied? None of these. The answer, according to the lecturer, Professor David Carpenter of King's College London, was that the ceremony beside the Thames took place not, as we have always been led to believe, on 19 June, but instead on 15 June. He claimed that this earth-shattering exposé 'reveals King John's brilliance as a negotiator, and the clever way in which he fatally weakened the Charter', although the latter concept is a trifle at odds with the statement in the next paragraph that the Magna Carta was 'the embryo from which English democracy developed' and the document 'on which the British constitution is based'. What a sensation this date change represents, and how terribly clever of John to persuade everybody who was on the meadow at Runnymede that it was in fact four days later than they all thought. 'Hey guys, great to be here this 19th of June, right?'. 'But sire, surely 'tis the 15th of this month'. 'No way … look, anyone here got a diary? No, thought not. Anyone got a calendar? No? What d'ya mean they haven't been invented yet? Look guys, I'm still the king and you'll just have to take my word for it that today's the 19th of June. The 15th was, you know, four days ago. Now [whispered aside while doing evil villain laughter behind hand'>more... all I have to do is postdate the document and put 'the 19th day of June in the 17th year of our reign', go on holiday, and hey presto! Posterity is fooled, contemporaries are baffled, and I am revealed to be a brilliant negotiator who has fatally weakened this pernicious document, because—wow, this is just so brilliant—if anyone asks about it I can truthfully say 'but I was having a weekend break at Eastbourne on the 19th and so I can't possibly have signed it at Runnymede, can I. Must be a forgery. Nothing to do with me. Doesn't tie my hands at all. Constitution? Never heard of it. Off with their heads'.

[Hide]

NOTES NEWS ISSUES

THE NATIONAL HISTORY SHOW Who do think you are?(based on the popular television series of that name) was the catchy title of this new venture held at Olympia on 5-7 May, incorporating the Society of Genealogists Family History Fair. BALH had a table for three days which needed a formidable effort, almost entirely shouldered by our Honorary Treasurer, Ruth Paley – with stalwart support from her daughter and her sixth form friends. Our new banner had its first outing and we were able to distribute a massive amount of publicity material. This, together with both internal and external mailshots, is of course intended to boost membership. LOCAL HISTORY DAY This took place in London on 2 June, again at Friends' House in Euston Road. The lively morning discussion was led by Kate Tiller and David Dymond and concerned 'local history at the crossroads' . The President, Professor David Hey then conducted the Annual General Meeting with the Chairman and Honorary Treasurer presenting the Annual Report of the trustees on their conduct of the charity during the calendar year 2006. The Treasurer drew attention to the deficit of £1,482 made up of an actual reduction of £424 due to greatly increased spending on publicity and an 'unrealized loss' of £1,058. The latter is of some concern because for many years we have shown an 'unrealized gain' as investments rose in value. The cause of the 2006 loss was an uncharacteristically poor performance by the COIF Charities Fixed Interest Fund. The Management Committee will carefully monitor this investment. A copy of the Annual Report and the Minutes of the AGM can be obtained from the Business Manager, although the latter will be published routinely in Local History News in February 2008. After lunch the President presented scrolls to the six winners of Awards for personal achievement in local history (including one couple – a first), all of whom will be profiled in due course. There were then five awards for research and publication, and for the first time an award for a society newsletter. (see page X for complete list). This ceremony was followed by the Phillimore Lecture given by Professor Caroline Barron. A further report of the day can be found on page 12. MANAGEMENT ISSUES The Management Committee met on 14 April and, by the time this appears will have met again on 4 August. The need to spread the load of promoting the Association by employing a further member of staff has been discussed and a person/job description will have been prepared for the August meeting. The arrangements for our book sales have had to be altered following changes at Phillimore & Co. Ltd. They will continue to publish as before at Chichester but are unable to hold our bulk book stock or conduct our sales to bookshops and to individuals. All the stock has been moved to our base in Derbyshire and sales will be made from there by the Business Manager. VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORY The Chairman represented BALH on 11 June at the opening of The Victoria County History: New Directions exhibition in the splendid setting of the Upper Waiting Hall of the Houses of Parliament and then at the launch in Portcullis House of the new VCH website, Explore England's Past. The exhibition sets out the current work of the VCH , emphasising in particular its interaction with local communities, but it is the website which will be of permanent value to BALH members, since it provides free access both to all the 'Big Red Books and to work in progress for those regions for which there is as yet no published county history, and in addition allows searches to be made for people, places and themes across England. Professor John Beckett, VCH Director, writes more fully on this elsewhere - see page 9.

[Hide]

NEWS FROM MUSEUMS

Pam Freeman, Project Officer for the Records and Memories of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) project has met many people with some incredible memories of their time in military service. She has recorded people's own history during the 2nd WW, the Korean War, campaigns in Kenya and trips to many far flung places. There are many moving memories from those who fought in trenches in Anzio, Italy, during the Second World War, and those who visited Belsen concentration camp during its liberation; and also good memories of soldiers on National Service who were able to climb Mount Kilimanjaro during leave from their time in Bahrain and those who made lasting friendships and are still in touch today. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, this is a joint project with the Shropshire Regimental Museum and Shropshire County Council. It brings together memories of soldiers who served with the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and includes cataloguing and conserving the records of the Regiment held at Shropshire Archives in Shrewsbury. Photographs from the collection are also to be digitised for use with the catalogue and on the Discovering Shropshire's History website. If anyone would like to contribute to the project either by recording their own military service history with the KSLI or by volunteering to assist the project, or would like further information on the project please contact Pam Freeman on:pam.freeman@shropshire-cc.gov.uk The Year of Food and Farming begins in September. Rural museums have been developing programmes to involve local people, especially children, in food and how it is produced. There is an interactive map in the website showing where local events and other initiatives can be found.www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk A small museum that offers a rare glimpse into the daily life of a Welsh market town has been awarded accreditation by the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council (MLA). Run by the Llanrwst Almshouse Museum Trust in Conwy, North Wales, the almshouses opened as a museum of local history and a community focal point in 2002. They were originally built in 1610, and restored in 1996 with a grant from HLF.www.llanrwstalmshouses.org 'Roman Runnymede' is the current exhibition (until April 2008) in Chestsey Museum's Discovery Zone. The displays cover the Roman invasion and military activities, domestic and religious life, and industry. Among the original objects on display are coins, brooches and other jewellery, a bone comb and pins, spoons, pottery and tools. In addition visitors can dress in replica Roman toga, tunic or cloak, try on a centurion's helmet, play Roman games, and create mosaics. www.chertseymuseum.org.uk Oxford'sAshmolean Museum is undergoing a £49 million redevelopment which will create a new museum behind the familiar façade. Display space will be doubled, and amongst other changes will be new conservation facilities and a dedicated education centre. The museum will remain open for business throughout, until the official reopening in autumn 2009. www.nadfas.org.uk 'A Visible Difference' at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons is a unique contribution to the commemoration of the 2007 bicentenary of the Parliamentary abolition of the slave trade. It is an opportunity to broaden current awareness of the transatlantic slave trade through the history of medicine. The exhibition explores the forgotten history of black Africans living with rare skin pigmentation conditions in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and in doing so encourages us to consider issues of identity, self-image, and cultural distinctiveness in modern society. The exhibition is open until 21 December, and admission is free. The Hunterian Museum, 35 – 43 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PE www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums. TheBritish Postal Museum & Archive has recently added a political cartoon to its collections, with assistance from the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund. 'Brighter Post Offices (As Announced by the PMG)' by E H Shepard appeared in Punch on 30 October 1929. The Postmaster General of the title was Hastings Bertrand Lees-Smith MA, DSc, Labour MP for Keighley, Yorkshire, who during his period of office decided to improve the appearance of post office counters. E H Shepard (best known for his book illustrations such as The Wind in the Willows and Winnie-the-Pooh) contributed to Punch from 1907 until 1954.www.postalheritage.org.uk From March 2007 to Summer 2009 the Museum of London is redeveloping its lower galleries to retell the story of London and Londoners from 1666 to the present day. The £18 million project, which is the largest the Museum has seen since opening in 1976, will revitalise the galleries, open up 25 % more gallery space, and create a glass frontage overlooking London Wall. The new galleries will open tin 2009 with significantly increased access to the Museum's objects, both in the galleries and online, and will also include a Clore Learning Centre, a theatre, and the Sackler Hall containing an information zone and coffee point. Throughout the work, visitors will continue to be bale to discover the city's many incarnations in the London before London, Roman London, and Medieval London galleries, together with London's Burning, and a series of topical exhibitions. A full programme of activities and events for all ages will continue.www.museumoflondon.org.uk

[Hide]

NEWS FROM LIBRARIES

2007 is the centenary of the National Library of Wales.According to its Royal Charter it exists 'to collect, preserve and give access to all kinds and forms of recorded knowledge, especially relating to Wales and other Celtic countries, for the benefit of the public, including those engaged in research and learning'. Following a major public review in 2000 the Library's strategy gave priority to improving access with the creation of a new centre for visitors and a new website. These developments continue, and include an ambitious programme to digitise the entire printed heritage of Wales. During this summer there has been a further consultation on the Library's aims for the next five years: to widen electronic access, to expand the Library's audience, and to sustain public access to knowledge. www.llgc.org.uk Neston Library has already begun a year of celebrations to mark its centenary. The opening ceremony was performed on 3 January 1908. The land was given by the Russell family and the cost of the original building, £1,200, was met by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Neston Urban District Council, who had been operating a public library service in the Town Hall since 1902, paid for the fixtures and fittings and for the bookstock – said to number 10,000 volumes. Chester Archives and Local Studies NewsletterSpring 2007. The Military Collection at Aldershot Public Library numbers approximately 20,000 of which some 18,500 are available for loan (either directly or through inter-library loan). The collection includes a run of Army Lists, the earliest of which dates back to 1740, and printed regimental histories giving a wealth of detail. The library also has the facility to search the 'Soldiers Died in the Great War' and 'Army Roll of Honour – World War II' databases and print out Scrolls of Remembrance for individual soldiers who died in either of those conflicts.The Huntsman: journal of the Huntingdonshire Family History Society The Women's Library will be closed for a week from Monday 3 September, reopening on 11 September for its annual stocktaking and essential works. As part of their provision for group visitors they have developed a handling session featuring a selection of material about the Federation of Women's Institutes. This will be of particular interest to WI groups, or anyone who would like to find out more about the WI and their archive at the Women's Library.www.thewomenslibrary.ac.uk The TUC Library at London Metropolitan University has joined with the Trades Union Congress to create a new website project on equal pay. Funded by the European Union EQUAL programme as part of activities to mark the European Year of Equal Opportunities, the website will catalogue and digitise documents and images from the TUC collections, create a video archive of interviews with women involved in important equal pay cases, and collect the experiences of other men and women. For this they need contributions from anyone with an anecdote or personal tale of fighting for equal pay in the workplace. Log on to www.unionhistory.info/equalpay to help preserve for future generations how the world of work has changed. Thanks to a grant from the Welsh Assembly the former Fishguard Town Hall will be come a new library, and also a permanent home for the 'Last Invasion'. This 100 – foot long tapestry was made by 77 women of the town, and commemorates the 1797 invasion when 1,400 French soldiers led by an American colonel landed near the town. Overenthusiastic pillaging rendered them too drunk to withstand local resistance led by cobbler Jemima Nicholls. Legend has it that the French mistook the traditional black and red garb of the Welsh women for British soldiers. www.nadfas.org.uk

[Hide]

NEWS FROM ARCHIVES

Thomas Telford was born 250 years ago and is the subject of a number of events commemorating his contribution to developments in transport. In July Friends of Shropshire Archives heard a lecture 'Thomas Telford and Road Transport in Shropshire' following their AGM. On 8 September there is a 'Thomas Telford Day School' at Jubilee House, Madeley, organised by the Wrekin Local Studies Forum. Further information from S Lewis, Madeley Living History Project, Madeley Library, Russell Square, Telford TF7 5BB, email lhp@mparish.fsnet.co.uk A series of four lectures 'Tranport Developments in Shropshire and the surrounding area: in honour of Thomas Telford' take place on Thursday afternoons 4 –25 October at Shropshire Archives, Castle Gates. Shrewsbury. Contact 01743 255350 Hackney Archives summer exhibition is/was about Hackney women in local government. The Qualification of Women Act 1907 entitled women ratepayers to be elected to borough and county councils, and was passed partly as a result of lobbying by an influential group of women networking as the 'Women's Local Government Society'. The exhibition includes biographies of some individual women, and examples of the rich and varied political material held in the archives. Nettie Alder was elected in 1910 as the Progressive Party candidate for the Central Hackney Division of London County Council.archives@hackney.gov.uk Sheffield Archives & Local Studies newsletter 'Sheffield History Reporter'introduces several women of significance in Sheffield's history. Hannah Kilham and Mary Anne Rawson were associated with anti-slavery campaigning, and campaigns about education and children's employment. Margaret Gatty and her daughter Juliana Ewing were prolific authors. Annie Bindon Carter, Edith Jagger and Phyllis Lawton started a unique enterprise to help men who had been severely disabled in the First World War. In 1915 they organised art therapy for wounded soldiers, giving them pieces of material to stencil which were then made into mats and tea cosies for sale. This developed into Painted Fabrics Limited, a business producing luxury fabrics for furnishings and clothing that continued for nearly forty years. archives@sheffield.gov.uk Hampshire Record Office, in association with Hampshire Museums Service, Hampshire Archives Trust, and three community groups (Liss Area Historical Society, Buriton Village Association, and Denmead Village Association), has received HLF funding for 'Access Hampshire Heritage'. This project aims to introduce sources for local history to those unfamiliar with archives, which they can investigate initially via the internet. Opportunities for learning about local history will thus be increased as 5,000 items will be digitised, representing examples of typical sources for different types of community across Hampshire. Accompanying materials will include interpretative text, access and learning activities, a touring exhibition, and a leaflet. www.hants.gov.uk/record-office/ Chester Zoo is the subject of an exhibition atChester Community History & Heritage from August to October 2007. using photographs, archive film footage, and memorabilia the displays tell the story of the zoo from its beginnings, through its important conservation role, and its plans for future development. Their next exhibition will be entitled 'War Baby' and will look at life in Chester for those born during the Second World war. They would like to hear from anyone with reminiscences, photographs or ephemera to share. Phone 01244 402110 email chh@chester.gov.uk Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office will reopen at the end of October as the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre. The move from Trowbridge to Chippenham has been completed ahead of schedule despite the 91 deliveries needed to transport 28,000 boxes of archives and more than XXX maps. The state-of-the-art building was completed on time and on budget, and will provide excellent new facilities for both staff and users. Also in the building are the county's archaeology, museums and conservation services, the county local studies library, and Wiltshire Buildings Record.www.wiltshire.gov.uk Cumbria Record Office and Local Studies Library at Whitehaven have a wonderful card index to the Cumberland Pacquet newspaper that is the envy of many who have no such finding aid to their local paper. This invaluable asset was originally compiled in the mid 1980s by workers on a job creation scheme. The drawback is that the only place for the wooden card index drawers is on the floor, so users are forced onto their knees! Volunteers are now sought to help put the card entries into a database. Phone 01946 852920 or email whitehaven.record.office@cumbriacc.gov.uk Recent acquisitions by Bedfordshire & Luton Archives and Records Service include material relating to the Orlebar family of Hinwick.. Amongst them is a diary of Dina Astry in which she noted the array of food served at Henbury and Ashton Court and in London 1701 – 1708 [Ref OR2393'>more.... Two lavish menus for guests in 1703 can be seen here. www.bedscc.gov.uk/archive One of the largest and most important sets of business records held by Wolverhampton Archives is the Bilston Steelworks Archive. Over 150 boxes of office records, title deeds, maps, technical drawings, wage books, and photographs have now been catalogued under the 'Documenting the Workshop of the World' project from Black Country Archive Services. The project aims to link the past with the future by collecting memories and stories from people who worked at Bilston, including GKN Sankey and Bilston steelworks. The area is currently undergoing regeneration with the creation of Bilston Urban Village on the steelworks site. There will be an exhibition at Bilston Craft Gallery from 8 September to 6 October.www.blackcountryhistory.org