Category: CILIP LSG sub-groups

News etc. from CILIP LSG sub-groups.

Morris Garratt

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Many older members of the Local Studies Group will be sad to hear that Morris Garratt died on 5th September at the age of 84. He was a founder member of the North West Branch of LSG and served on the committee until it was wound up a few years ago. His unfailing good nature and extensive knowledge of the history of the area was a great support to the group. He was Local Studies Librarian in Middleton, a district of Rochdale MBC, until retirement.

He was born in Warrington and arrived in Middleton with limited knowledge of its history – so every weekend he took home a bound volume of the local newspaper to read through and get a sense of the area. A sign of his conscientiousness and commitment – and of the more relaxed attitudes of a previous era! After retirement he was active in many local history societies in the north west and, until recent years, seemed to have endless energy to study and promote local history. Many people involved in these societies remember his welcoming attitude and his books and articles in many journals will benefit local historians of the future.

Alice Lock, LSG Secretary

Wigan Archives and Local Studies receive their Alan Ball Award

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Alex Miller (r) receives the certificate from Andrew Walmsley (LSG NW)

Recently, we were pleased to present Wigan Archives and Local Studies with their Alan Ball Award for local history publication of the Year. Wigan won in the print category for their new edition of the Diary of Miss Weeton, edited by Alan Roby (ISBN 978-1-5262-0553-7). Alex Miller, archivist at Wigan, received the certificate from 
Andrew Walmsley, chair of LSG North-West.

The book is based on personal writings by Nelly Weeton (1776–1849), the Lancashire governess and diarist. Nelly Weeton’s diary is an important source for women’s history in the early 19th century. Terry Bracher, convener of the judging panel, said: “Miss Weeton, Governess and Traveller is an outstanding publication in every sense, with engaging content that is accessible to a wide range of audiences. Alan’s skilful editing and research for this new edition has enhanced the reader’s enjoyment and is a story that can be appreciated by audiences across the country and beyond. Wigan Archives and Local Studies have been very active in local history publishing, so we are especially pleased that this book has been recognised.” 

To whom it may concern: letters, log-books, diaries and dispatches, a report from the 2018 LSG South Study Day

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What do an amateur mycologist, a brilliant early 19th century lecturer, dozens of British artists, a keen explorer & botanist, and a leading cricketer all have in common, apart from appearing in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography?

Well, they all featured in the 2018 Study Day organised by CILIP Local Studies Group South, because local studies librarians and archivists have been inspired to devise innovative ways of making their lives and times as revealed in the letters and note-books they left behind better known to a wider audience.

Through the AnnoTate project (https://anno.tate.org.uk), the diaries, letters and sketchbooks held in the Tate Archives have been digitised and are now being transcribed by volunteers so that the wealth of information they contain about the lives of these artists and their creative processes can be made more widely available.

While mycologist and botanical artist Anna Maria Hussey was on holiday in Dover in 1836 with her two small children and sister Kate, she kept a diary which she illustrated with sketches to entertain another sister, Henrietta. The diary has survived and is now in the Kent History and Library Centre. When looking through the diary to catalogue it, archivist Liz Finn quickly realised that it would appeal to a wider audience and embarked on a quest to get it published. Sad to say, her original vision of a printed publication has yet to be realised, but Kent’s library users can now borrow Botany, boats and bathing machines as an e-book. Liz also appealed successfully for an article about Anna Maria to be included in ODNB – see https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/96688. Liz’s account of her project is due to be published in the Summer 2018 edition of Local Studies Librarian.

Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) was an important but often overlooked botanist and explorer who in later life succeeded his father as Director of Kew Gardens. His personal and scientific correspondence is being conserved, digitised, transcribed and made available online by the Kew Archives and we were fortunate that one of their team was attending the Study Day and told us about this project during the Open Forum. To find out more about the Joseph Hooker Correspondence Project, visit the RBG Kew blog.

The inventor Sir Humphry Davy, who became Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution when he was in his early twenties, was one of the most popular lecturers of his time. Some of Davy’s chemistry lectures would probably fail H&S scrutiny today, and perhaps as a result of this, the re-creation of some of his most famous experiments for the Royal Institution’s MOOC (Massive Open Online Content) online learning course about Sir Humphry Davy has attracted over 2000 subscribers since the course was launched in Autumn 2017. The Humphry Davy MOOC is on https://www.mooc-list.com/course/humphry-davy-laughing-gas-literature-and-lamp-futurelearn ; information about the Davy Letters Project is on www.rigb.org/about/heritage-and-collections/heritage-projects/davy-letters; and the database of letters written by Sir Humphry Davy and his circle is on http://www.davy-letters.org.uk.

The Study Day concluded with two dramatic performances based on resources from the Darnley Archive 1537-1974 now held at Medway Archives. The first, Little Lord Clifton, is based on letters exchanged in 1775 between the young heir at boarding school and his parents. The second tells the story behind the origins of The Ashes, with which cricketer Ivo Bligh, eighth earl of Darnley (1859–1927) was associated. An article about this project is due to be published in the Summer 2018 edition of Local Studies Librarian.

If you have suggestions about topics or projects which might be of interest for future Study Days, do please contact the LSG South committee via the blog contact us page.

Want to find out more about the LSG South Study Day? View the speakers’ slides online or read the Report on CILIP LSG Sth Study Day 2018.

Stella Wentworth

July 2018

Working with heritage material in North West England? Make a difference by getting involved with LSGNW

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The Local Studies Group North West (LSGNW), one of the regional sub groups of the national Local Studies Group, has been organising visits, day schools and learning events and advocating for local history and local studies for over 30 years.

The present committee is looking for people with an interest in this vital area of library and cultural services practice to become involved with the work of the committee. The committee has several members who are retired, or working and studying outside the profession and it is important for the continuance of the group that we have people on the committee who are currently working in some shape or form in the local studies field.

We are well aware that we have seen many specialist posts removed from library services and that this has contributed to the reduction in number of members of the LSGNW. However, many library staff, whilst not having designated job titles, will still work with local studies material and can benefit enormously from training opportunities and networking with colleagues. Whilst some of the regional sub groups have struggled in the last few years we are very encouraged by the re-emergence of the Yorkshire and Humberside group and are hopeful that the same enthusiasm is present in the North West.

If you have an interest in becoming involved, then please get in touch with me at the e mail address below.

Best regards

Andrew Walmsley

Chair, LSGNW

andrewwalmsley2007@gmail.com.

To whom it may concern: letters and log books, diaries and dispatches. LSG South Study Day, Wednesday 21 March

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Join us for the CILIP Local Studies Group South Study Day 2018, which shows how fellow library, archive & heritage professionals have used innovative ways to highlight letters and log books, diaries and dispatches within their collections.

Date: Wednesday 21 March, 10.30am – 4.30pm

Cost: £40.00 + VAT  CILIP members; £50.00 +VAT non members

Buffet lunch and refreshments included.

Location: CILIP, the library and information association, 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E 7AE

Book now via Eventbrite.

 

Speakers/participants:

Jane Bramwell: Increasing access to Tate Archive: AnnoTate – A tool for crowdsourcing transcriptions

Frank James, Royal Institution, MOOCing Humphry Davy and editing his correspondence

Liz Finn, Kent Archives Service: Anna Maria Hussey; mycological illustrator: a project to transcribe and publish an e-book of a little-known diary of a holiday in Dover in 1836.

Norma Crowe, Medway Archives Office.  Insights into the Darnley family of Cobham Hall through their letters. Dramatised readings presented by Norma Crowe, Jean Lear and Christoph Bull.

Plus a break-out session on your projects, problems and solutions & the LSG South AGM

 

To book your place visit our via Eventbrite.

For more information contact Tony Pilmer via tony.pilmer@aerosociety.com.

To whom it may concern: letters and log books, diaries and dispatches. LSG South Study Day, Friday 3 November

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Join us for the CILIP Local Studies Group South Study Day 2017, which shows how fellow library and archive professionals have used innovative ways to highlight letters and log books, diaries and dispatches within their collections.

 

Date: Friday 3 November, 10.30am – 4.30pm

Cost: £40.00 + VAT  CILIP members; £50.00 +VAT non members

Buffet lunch and refreshments included

Location: Medway Archives Centre, 32 Bryant Road, Strood, Rochester Kent ME2 3EP malsc@medway.gov.uk,  01634 332714

Book now via Eventbrite.

Speakers/participants:

Hannah Barton, Tate Galleries, AnnoTate : Tate Gallery’s Archives & Access project -developing and using a transcription tool to transcribe letters and notebooks of British and émigré artists.

Beverley Jones, Vivacity Peterborough: 2016 Alan Ball Award winning Peterborough and the Great War project

Liz Finn, Kent Archives Service: Anna Maria Hussey; mycological illustrator: a project to transcribe and publish an e-book of a little-known diary of a holiday in Dover in 1836.

Norma Crowe, Medway Archives Office.  Insights into the Darnley family of Cobham Hall through their letters. Dramatised readings presented by Norma Crowe, Jean Lear and Christoph Bull

Agenda:

10.30                Registration/coffee

11.00                Welcome

11.05 – 12.00   session1    Liz Finn: Botany boats and bathing machines: Anna Maria Hussey’s diary of 1836

12.05 – 13.00   session 2   Hannah Barton:  AnnoTate and the Archives & Access project

13.00 – 14.00 lunch with LSG South AGM at 13.30

14.00 – 14.50  session 3 Beverley Jones: Just passing through: the Peterborough Great War Project

14.50 – 15.20  tours of the Medway Archives Centre

15.20 – 16.10  session 4 Norma Crowe:  The Darnleys of Cobham Hall and their letters.

16.10 – 16.30 Tea, Summing up, thanks and close

To book your place visit our via Eventbrite.

For more information contact Tony Pilmer via tony.pilmer@aerosociety.com.

Wikipedia and blogs for local studies – Digital Study Morning at the Museum of Wigan Life, Wednesday 14 June 2017 ~ 10.00am – 1.00pm ~ Free

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LSGNW presents…..

A Digital Study Morning at the Museum of Wigan Life,
Wednesday 14 June 2017 ~ 10.00am – 1.00pm
Free but limited places!

This study morning will help you to improve your digital knowledge and learn new digital skills and takes place in the Museum of Wigan Life, the home of Wigan Local Studies. Also included is an exclusive tour of the Museum of Wigan Life and their new exhibition Egyptian ‘Animal Mummies’.

Learn how to reference local studies collections or local history knowledge in Wikipedia through a practical, hands-on session with Wiki experts.

Antony Ramm and Ross Horsley from Leeds Library will present a talk on the Leeds Libraries heritage blog ‘The Secret Library’. The blog highlights local studies collections and rare books.

CILIP LSGNW will hold a short AGM following the study morning.

Detailed advice on travelling to the Museum can be found here.

To book contact Hannah Turner at archives@wigan.gov.uk.

 

My all expenses paid trip to….Stoke-on-Trent!

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Gosh, I hear you cry, why did you get an all expenses paid trip to the Potteries? Was it to judge the Staffs Oatcakes served at the museum? Was it to enjoy Virgin Train’s hope that you would not wash your “goldfish, hopes and dreams” down the toilet? Or was it the challenge to eating you pork pied lunch behind you laptop screen without the devout Muslims opposite seeing? No, none of that, it was to attend the last LSG Committee Meeting.

Hoping that you might be interested in hearing what I thought of the famous oatcakes at the end of this post, I thought I would fill in a bit of time by saying how interesting the session was. Top news includes the next copy of Local Studies Librarian will be landing on your door mat any time soon and will be followed after Easter with a version of the e-newsletter, Local Studies Librarian+.

The next conference is being planned for late 2017/early 2018, with LSG South’s Study day taking shape for the other spot, while as always, LSG NW is planning an amazing set of events, this time keep you diaries free for 14th June…..not to mention the amazing work being done by LOCSCOT. Work is also under way to review the old Local Studies Guidelines – lots more info to follow.

Of course, none of this amazing work could be done without those volunteers who do the work and, for the lucky ones, those whose employers allow them to attend the meetings in work time.

Does this sound just a little bit fun….. because it is! Do you want to give back to the profession? Play your part in helping to spread great ideas/best practice across the world of local studies ? Plus, you can always influence those doing most of the work at conferences to include speakers and projects that interest you. In part of the profession when you are often the sole local studies professional in your unit or even organisation, it is sometimes a life saver to have chance for a good gossip with great groups of heritage professionals from across the UK. As well as giving your view at a meeting or two, you’d be welcome to do a little more, such as writing blog posts, a bit of tweeting, helping to arrange speakers for conferences of venues for visits, or, if you like adding up a few rows of figures, help with the accounts. Plus, this type of work is excellent material for job interviews and chartership applications! You don’t even have to be a member of CILIP.

So have a tempted you a little? Can you tempt your employer to give you a couple of afternoons to go to meetings each year? Why not find out a little more, or even coming to a meeting to see what it is like? After all, your travel costs are reimbursed. If so, you have a number of options. LSG South helps with things in London, the South East and a little further afield and they generally meet in Woking – email Norma Crowe.  If you are north of the boarder you contact Nicola via nmcowmeadow@pkc.gov.uk, if you are west of the Pennines contact Alice Lock or if you fancy helping the national group, who normally meet in the Midlands, contact Alice Lock.

Ah, nearly forgot, the Oat Cakes….. sorry, I decided to take an earlier train home, but the other  Committee members thought they were excellent!

A look into Lancaster Libraries, 16/11/16

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Join CILIP Local Studies Group NW to peer into three library collections at the University of Lancaster.

The Ruskin Library is the home of the Whitehouse Collection of Ruskin materials. The award-winning building was designed to house the collection and was opened in 1998.The collection is a fascinating mixture of pictures, books, manuscripts and photographs relating to the great Victorian writer and artist John Ruskin (1819-1900) who spent his later life at Brantwood, near Coniston.

Lancaster University Library is a stunning newly refurbished space designed with input from staff and students. Special collections range from the Jack Hylton collection through 1930s Cinema and Culture to the 2001 Foot and Mouth Archive.

11.00 A tour of the Ruskin Library with Diane Tyler and Rebecca Patterson

There will be a chance to look at the current exhibition which will be Gilded shadows: The stones of Ruskin’s Venice,  an exhibition of Ruskin’s drawings of Venice, with recent photographs by Sarah Quill

Lunch – there are numerous cafes on the Lancaster University campus

1.30 Special collections at Lancaster University Library

2.00 Tour of Lancaster University Library with Lynne Pickles

There is a regular bus service to the University from the train station. Detailed advice on travelling to the university can be found here –  –http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/contact-and-getting-here/maps-and-travel/

Map of campus at http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/documents/maps/campus-map.pdf which includes Ruskin Library and University Library

Please email Linda Clarke to book a place linda.clarke@cheshiresharedservices.gov.uk