Now online! Routes to Peace Bradford Heritage Trail

Reblogged from The PaxCat Project:

A new heritage trail will enable young people (and everyone) to explore Bradford's amazing history of campaigning for peace and social justice: William Forster, Norman Angell,Margaret McMillan, J.B. Priestley, not to mention the Independent Labour Party, celebrated in the mural below ...

Produced by the Peace Museum and local young people as part of the Routes to Peace season, the trail highlights interesting sites and stories around the city centre, with more ideas for longer walks and links to follow up. 

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STOP PRESS. 76. Into the Seventies: Prog, Punk and More

Reblogged from 100 Objects:

By popular request, we've taken the List of bands at the University of Bradford Students Union up to 1979 (see Object 76 for the 1960s stories).   I'll write about this in more detail soon and expect updates on the 1980s and beyond later this summer.  Memories, tickets, posters, and corrections all welcome.

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Just catalogued! New archives at the University of Bradford

Reblogged from The PaxCat Project:

NEW on the Special Collections website:

The Archive of the UK Campaign to Free Vanunu.  This large archive, received in 2012, tells the story of UK campaigners  for the release of Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear whistle-blower, and for a nuclear-free Middle East.  It's a fantastically rich collection featuring newsletters, photographs and press coverage alongside the usual minutes and records - plus a great deal of correspondence. 

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84. In Memory of the 56: The Papers of the Popplewell Inquiry into the Bradford City Fire

Reblogged from 100 Objects:

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On 11 May 1985, 56 people who went to watch a football match between Bradford City and Lincoln City at Bradford's Valley Parade ground were killed by a terrible fire.  Many others suffered horrific burns.   A Committee of Inquiry, chaired by Sir Oliver Popplewell, was set up under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 to investigate the causes of the fire. 

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Angel Pavement on Radio 4 this weekend!

J.B. Priestley’s great novel of the City of London and the working lives of Londoners during the Depression, Angel Pavement, will be broadcast on Radio 4 on Sunday 5 May 2013 at 3 pm.  Part 2 will be broadcast on Sunday 12.  I expect it will be available to listen online for some time after the broadcasts.

New! J.B. Priestley Archive Catalogue April 2013

We’ve just put the latest edition of the catalogue of the J.B. Priestley Archive online.

YMCA “On active service” letterhead from one of J.B. Priestley’s letters home.

Lots of new things and improvements in response to readers’ needs, including:

• Enhanced section on Priestley’s unpublished scripts for books, plays, television and film.  These  include collaborations with Fred Hoyle and Iris Murdoch.  Lots of detail on the physical nature of the scripts e.g. amendments by Priestley.
• More letters, notably Priestley’s incredible Great War letters from the trenches.
• Detailed cataloguing of files on Priestley’s art collection, indexing the artists he collected.
• Programmes, press cuttings and other responses to Priestley 2008-2012.   Definite revival of interest, encompassing several less well known plays, and from scholarly, political and literary angles.
• Some sections renumbered for ease of use (don’t worry if you’re using the old numbers, we can cross-refer between them).

More on all the above in future blog posts!

Under Construction – 2013

We are anticipating some building works in the J.B. Priestley Library from late May, as soon as exams are finished, on the upper floors and stair areas.  These are fairly small-scale compared to last summer’s works and should have little effect on users of Special Collections.

This summer’s works won’t be quite on this scale! Building J.B. Priestley Library and Communal Building (now Student Central), circa 1973 (UNI X1863 B25).

I’ll post further news when available: here, on our Facebook page, and on the Special Collections Twitter account.  See also the Library’s Twitter account for updates on building works and other useful info.