Book cover

More news from the historians at Bradford:  Dr James Gregory has a new book out, “Reformers, patrons and philanthropists”, on William and Georgina Cowper-Temples, fascinating Victorian aristocrats who championed social reform.

The creation of Commonweal Collection and thus the  Commonweal Archives owe much to Gandhi’s ideas on non-violence.  So we are always interested to find new images or documents relating to him.  See a note from Gandhi to Lord Mountbatten, in which he explained on the back of an envelope that he could not speak because he was keeping a day of silence, and a photo of them having tea at the Viceroy’s house in a new online exhibition of the Broadlands Archives at the University of Southampton.

The Mountbatten papers within this immense and important collection (4500 boxes!)  tell the story of the birth of modern India and Pakistan.   Southampton University is currently fundraising to secure this vital archive for the nation.

On Thursday 28 January 2010, Dr Christine Finn will give a lecture on Jacquetta Hawkes at the Society of Antiquaries.  Dr Finn is Writer-Fellow at the J.B. Priestley Library, and is Jacquetta’s official biographer.  Her talk, Excavating the excavator: Jacquetta Hawkes’s biography as archaeology, will compare the process of using the Hawkes Archive to write about Jacquetta with archaeological methods.

The image shows Christine doing just that, while unpacking the Archive on its arrival in Special Collections.

2010 is Jacquetta’s centenary, so there will be plenty more news about her and the archive, watch this space!

The London Library magazine issue 5 includes “Priestley and Englishness”, a feature by Andrew Marr celebrating Priestley’s work.  As well as Englishness, he discusses the issue of Priestley’s large output, and the influence of social class in critical responses to Priestley’s work.

In the Daily Telegraph of 11 Jan 2010, Charles Spencer writes that the re-issue of J.B. Priestley’s Delight is a “shot of joy”.  He shares several of JB’s delights and adds a few of his own (the hoot of owls, making a fire, Haydn …).

Here’s an article in the Craven Herald Saturday 9 January 2010 about the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace (the editor, Professor Nigel Young, lives in the Craven area).  The encyclopedia features many contributions from University of Bradford and Commonweal people.

Happy New Year from the Special Collections staff!  Following on from our Christmas post, we are still under snow.

In his 1927 essay, “First Snow”, J.B. Priestley expressed his delight in the magical transformation that new snow gives to the landscape, but concluded that he would not like English winters to be more snowy, as “we would be sick of it in a week” – he wrote that it is the change in our surroundings and not the snow itself that is wonderful.  While not yet sick of our snow, which is still a magic blanket, we find the ice is becoming tiresome now.  Fortunately, Special Collections staff have generally been able to get in to work!

J.B. Priestley’s re-published classic English Journey continues to inspire.  Now psycho-geographer Iain Sinclair, explorer of London’s mysteries, has joined visual artists and musicians to reimagine this work in the “Faster than Sound” project.  The first showing will be at Aldeburgh Music on Saturday 30 January 2010.  In this article in the Daily Telegraph of 26 January, Iain Sinclair reflects on the project and his views of English Journey, which he compares to a Patrick Hamilton novel in places:  “The pervasive boredom that hangs over it, a miasma of wet coats and pipe smoke …”

Special Collections will be closed over the Christmas period from 24 December 2009 – 4 January 2010 inclusive.  If you need to contact us, please email special-collections@bradford.ac.uk and we will get back to you on our return.

Bradford City Hall and snow

Here are some images of the snowy, festive scenes around campus and Bradford, taken by John Brooker.  I hope all our readers and friends have a lovely Christmas and all you could hope in 2010.  See you next year!

Snow on campus

Keighley station in snow

The ampitheatre in snow

An award-winning play set in Keighley will have a special one-off charity performance this January.  Garlic Lane, by John Waddington-Feather, tells the story of a Saturday night before Christmas, before and after a rugby match.  The London premiere will be on 17 January 2010 at the Rosemary Branch Theatre, directed by playwright Glen Mortimer, and will benefit The Transplant Trust.

John’s papers form one of our archives of Yorkshire writers, and include many short stories set in Keighley and surroundings.