A selection of Marxism pamphlets by Lenin [MS 4000/3/12 Politics. Box 5 of 5]
This blog post marks the centenary of the death of Lenin. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin, 22 April 1870 – 21 January 1924, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924, and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Under his administration, Russia, and later the Soviet Union, became a one-party socialist state governed by the Communist Party. Ideologically a Marxist, his developments to the ideology are called Leninism.
Charles Parker Archive (MS 4000)
It will come as no surprise to those who know about the Charles Parker Archive (MS 4000) at Archives & Collections, that Lenin makes his appearance there. If you are not familiar with this wonderful collection, do check the online catalogue.
People Today: Caleb Lawden Moore, was a radio programme produced by Charles Parker for broadcast on the BBC Home Service, 12 April 1962. The programme was edited and introduced by Brian Vaughton, a colleague of Parker’s at the BBC (MS 4000/2/85).
Louis Braille, the inventor of one of the most recognisable systems of tactile writing was born on the 4th of January in 1809. The United Nations celebrates this day every year to mark the importance of Braille as a means of communication, education, freedom of expression and social inclusion for supporting the human rights of people who are blind and partially-sighted.
Although World Braille Day was only inaugurated in 2019 the history of printing innovations to assist people who are blind or partially-sighted has a long history. This is reflected in the Birmingham Shakespeare Collection which has over 80 books in a variety of embossed writing systems.
Detail from Merchant of Venice : from the Globe edition / edited by W.G. Clark and W.A. Wrightage, 1916, National Institute for the Blind [our reference: S 336.1916 362522]
Frontpiece from Merchant of Venice : [in embossed type for the blind-Moon], 1887 [our reference: S 336.1887 90078]
As early as the 16th century educators had experimented with reading and writing systems for the blind, including alphabets rendered in pin-pricks, or string glued to paper: both approaches were laborious and impractical. It was not until the 18th and 19th centuries that a number of more efficient and economic methods of reproducing text for the visually impaired were realised.
In 1871, the Worcester-based Society for Providing Cheap Literature for the Blind (SPCLB) printed, at their own offices, Bowdler’s family edition of The Merchant of Venice. The book was produced using a process of embossed roman letters and was based on a method of tactile printing invented in 1786 by Valentin Hauy (1745-1822). Haüy was the founder of the Institute for Blind Youth, Paris, and, for the benefit of his pupils, he devised a system of printing text which could be read with the fingertips. The process was simple: it used ordinary metal printing type pressed against the back of the paper to create embossed roman letters.
Detail from Merchant of Venice : Bowdler’s text [in embossed type for the blind-Lucas’s], 1871 [our reference: S 336.1871 238383]
The SPCLB publication was not the only instance of Shakespeare’s plays being made available to visually impaired readers in the 19th century. Between 1884 and 1916, the National Institute for the Blind (NIB) published the ‘Globe Series’ of Shakespeare’s plays. Edited by the Shakespearean and classical scholars William G Clark (1821- 78), and William A Wright (1831-1914), the plays appeared as individual volumes and were printed using the braille system in which raised dots represented the letters of the alphabet.
Detail from the first page of Merchant of Venice / from the Globe edition edited by W.G. Clark and W.A. Wright, 1887, National Institute for the Blind Our reference
Invented in 1824 by Louis Braille (1809-1952), a student of Hauy at the school in Paris, the braille system of dots was much easier for blind readers to discern through their fingertips than the raised roman letters. Other systems emerged, including a method of using ‘arbitrary’ characters and symbols assigned to represent letters. The most popular of these was Dr Moon’s Type for the Blind, a simplified system of embossed reading using symbols primarily derived from the roman alphabet, but simplified. Moon published more than 300 works using his embossed type.
The volumes of tactile Shakespeare in the Birmingham collection demonstrate the dominant 19th-century tactile printing systems available for the blind. The inclusion of such materials clearly bears out the ‘everything to everybody’ ethos of the Library’s founders.
Dr Caroline Archer-Parré, Professor of Typography, Co-director of the Centre for Printing History and Culture at Birmingham City University / University of Birmingham
Detail of title page fromMerchant of Venice : [in embossed type for the blind-Moon], 1887 [our reference: S 336.1887 90078]
You can access the Forgotten Treasures book at the following libraries.
After several months sorting and listing the material gathered over the years by Bournville Amnesty International members, it seemed timely for some of today’s members of Bournville Amnesty to look through their and their predecessors’ historic activity and actions in support of the unforgivably oppressed and unjustly abused people around the world.
The material spans the period from the formation of the Bournville group of Amnesty International to the 2020s. These are all paper archives; yet to come, is several years of digital material.
A tree is planted in memory of Agnes Finnegan (1905-1995) lifelong peacemaker and member of South-West Birmingham Women’s Peace Group while members of Amnesty International West Midlands planted a tree to recognise the plight of refugees, 22nd November 1997. [Ref. No. MS 2184 (2022/077) Box 1/5 Item 4]
Eight members visited Archives & Collections on 4th September 2023. None had been archives users; few had any idea of the quantity, range or excellence of the material in the archives held in the Library of Birmingham. Excitement grew with advance information about the controlled atmosphere in the special store which we were invited to penetrate.
As always, it’s best if the account draws on their own words using the views they shared after the visit. About the archives and that concept of conservation and preservation for future access: “What I would say impressed me the most is the opportunity for a private organization to have its archive protected and safeguarded in the “treasure tower” on top of the library. It’s a wonderful representation of public history, where history is really for and by individuals and society according to their own characteristics and needs.” (Claudia)
Over the past few months, I have been fortunate to undertake a placement at the Library of Birmingham within the Archives and Collections team. I’ve been working with the collection MS 978 which holds the papers of Sir Barry Jackson and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, bringing my own expertise in inter-war theatre to the continued quest to archive this vast collection. In this blog post I will share with you some of the uncovered treasures which relate to Jackson’s notorious modern dress staging of Macbeth at the Court Theatre in London. This was a production which gained worldwide attention and contributed to emerging debates about Shakespeare’s legacy and whether his plays needed to be modernised to connect with future audiences.
Photograph of a scene from the production of Macbeth in modern dress at the Court Theatre 1928 Reference: MS 978, Macbeth, 1928, small photograph.
Now, let’s transport ourselves back to the atmosphere of February 1928 and begin by looking at the review cuttings album for this production [Reference MS 978/1/7/31]. Cuttings reveal that even before the play premiered, on the 6th of February, it was hotly debated in the global press. Articles appeared in the Manchester Guardian, The Daily Mail, and even in The Star in Johannesburg. All puzzled over whether this endeavour would be as successful as its predecessor, the modern dress version of Hamlet that Jackson and Henry Ayliff (the director for both productions) had staged at the Kingsway Theatre in 1925.
Aware of the burgeoning controversy, Jackson sought to publicly defend his vision by writing an article titled ‘Modern Life is Romantic’ for the Sunday Chronicle [article can be found in MS 978/1/7/31]. The article justified Jackson and Ayliff’s decision to translate the historical narrative of Macbeth to the modern day to recognise the ‘great figures walking about us [them] today.’ To those who said the production was ‘spoiling the atmosphere of the play and ruining its dramatic qualities’ by attiring the warring men of Macbeth in British khaki uniforms, reminiscent of those worn in the Great War, Jackson responded by stating that he had done so to remind these men of their heroism. He contested that ‘most men forgot they were heroes when the war ended’ and so the khaki uniforms intended to remind them of this. The costumes to which Jackson refers, as well as the modern weaponry used in the production, including rifles and pistols instead of daggers, can be seen in the photographs included in this blog.
The reviews reveal though that Jackson’s attempts to portray the production as a tribute to the recent veterans and war dead were not successful. Instead, they were felt to further detract from the play and its inherent tragedy. From a review in The Times dated to the 7th of February we can infer that a note was circulated amongst the audience before its opening performance [article can be found in MS 978/1/7/31]. Of the note they wrote that it ‘strangely suggests that it is among the purposes of this performance of Macbeth in modern dress to “give to the talk of ‘old, unhappy, far-off things’ the vividness and actuality of present-day happenings.”’ The note echoed ideas expressed in Jackson’s earlier article. Yet, instead of helping the audience to appreciate the vision of the production, as intended, it further inflamed already sceptical theatre critics. The Times’ reviewer deemed the production a ‘ridiculous failure’ and felt it did not chime with conflicts of the contemporary, deeming Macbeth’s actions ‘as contrary to our practice even when we are inspired by the same motives of fear or of guilt or of ambition.’
Photograph of a scene from the production of Macbeth in modern dress at the Court Theatre 1928 Reference: MS 978, Macbeth, 1928, small photograph.
Peter Benenson’s article, ‘The Forgotten Prisoners‘ in The Observer on May 28 1961, announced an appeal for Amnesty, marking the beginning of Amnesty International. Small local groups write letters to prisoners or to the governments, Presidents and Ministers who have unjustly imprisoned them. Groups take ‘actions’ and support prisoners’ families. Latterly, the movement has created bigger campaigns but always in support of human rights.
Bournville was the first local group to be formed in Birmingham in 1962, where meetings were held in the homes of individual members until September 1974, by which point numbers had increased to such an extent that it was necessary to hire a room at the Friends Meeting House on Bournville Green. The group has met there ever since. The archive comprises minutes, newsletters and unique documents that tell of the group’s activity over more than 50 years. What did we discuss? How did we campaign and fundraise? What happened to the people we supported?
To browse the archive (MS 2784) is to revisit the history of the latter part of the 20th century with an insight into the passions of a few Bournville residents meeting monthly to fight for prisoners of conscience.
Watercolour entitled ‘Gypsies near Bromford Ford, October 17 1807’ in ‘Drawings and sketches by Joseph Barber and Joseph Vincent Barber’, 1800 – 1808 [Ref. MS 3016]
This month is Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month and one of the themes is “Weaving Journeys: A celebration of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller lives, histories and cultures”. Some of these stories can be researched using sources listed in Birmingham Archives & Collections’ guide ‘Travelling Communities: Voices from the Margins‘ so I have selected a few items to show the diversity of material available.
It is perhaps easy to forget that canal boat people were also Travellers. The Seamen and Boatmen’s Friend Society, established in 1846, to promote the Social, Moral and Religious Welfare of Boatmen and their families, had a Boatmen’s Hall at Worcester Wharf in the city. They held Sunday services, outdoor services, did work with young people, gave week night lectures and meetings, ran sewing classes for girls, concerts, hosted a Reading Room and Coffee Room, produced a monthly Magazine, called The Waterman, and had missionaries who visited the canals to talk to the population there. In 1900 there were some 26,604 attendances. Garments were given to the needy; there were visits to homes, toll offices, the sick. There was an Annual Summer Trip for 130 scholars, to the Manor House, Northfield, courtesy of George Cadbury and “On the last night of the 19th century, through the kindness of three friends, about 80 children were provided with a good tea, followed by a lantern entertainment and a seasonable address by E.L.Tyndall, Esq.” (The Seamen and Boatmen’s Friend Society Annual Reports etc. L 41.4)
Photograph entitled ‘Canal scene in the Midlands‘ in ‘The Seamen and Boatmen’s Friend Society Annual Reports’ [Ref. L41.4]
In the local studies collections, the Newscuttings collection, has an article from the Sunday Times, 14 May 1978, which describes a new attempt to provide the children of Travellers with an education in the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. It was a project based in the West Midlands, involving 11 local authorities, covering an area of 10,000 square miles. A Traveller child would be given a detailed record card of which skills they had mastered, (e.g. counting the hours on a clock), which book they were reading, and which page they had reached in it. When a child moved on (which might be several times a year), their card was sent to Headquarters in Wolverhampton, ready to be forwarded to a new teacher when the child appeared at a different school. Between 1973 and 1978, the numbers of Traveller children attending school increased hugely and the levels of illiteracy levels also dropped considerably. This was a real milestone in increasing Traveller literacy.
It’s impossible to carry out a search of the archives catalogue for ‘Travellers’ without coming across the Charles Parker Archive (MS 4000). What a rich source of knowledge that is. While “The Travelling People”, in 1964, was the last Radio Ballad Parker, Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger made, it remains, for me, the most powerful and emotional ballad. The stories, the songs and the music are brilliant and shocking (MS 4000/2/97 and MS 4000/6/1/33/1)
Charles Parker’s first recording with a Traveller, however, was in 1958, with Darkie Hunt, for a programme he made as part of the series, ‘People Today’. The songs were by Ewan MacColl and the Wisbech Children’s Choir (MS 4000/2/63).
“If you take to the road you have to class your body as a carriage…and your eyes are your windows, you’re just looking out…”
“I’m an ex-serviceman, an ex-stoker in the Merchant Navy and ever since, as far as I can remember, I’ve travelled practically every county; three years in Egypt, eight and a half in India. I’ve beachcombed South Africa, Holland, Germany and Belgium, come back to England……I can’t settle down, I must roam, it’s in my blood…”
“I travel all the year round, different farms you much see and work my way round, make a harvest of it…” [Harvesting potatoes, tomatoes, hops, sugar beet…]
Parker and his BBC colleague, film-maker Philip Donnellan, were instrumental in setting up the West Midlands Gypsy Liaison Group, to engage with Travelling People, to help with issues over camp sites and violence towards Traveller Communities, of which there was much (for minutes of the Group, see MS 4000/1/8/19).
Another source of information in the Charles Parker Archive comes from his library, a book titled the ‘Folk-Lore of Herefordshire’, by Ella Mary Leather (1912, reprinted 1970). She has collected various examples of Gypsy lore and songs, such as one sung by Angelina Whatton and Mrs Loveridge, hop-picking near Weobley in October 1908, called ‘Under the Leaves’, “Under the leaves, the leaves of life, I saw the maidens seven….” (MS 4000/4/926 pp. 187-8).
Blackpool beach appears a few times in the ‘Travelling Communities’ source list. Sir Benjamin Stone took photographs of the Gypsy settlement there in 1906 (e.g. MS 3196/1/244/2-5). Gypsies had camped there to run fairground rides and provide fortune-telling for visitors. A recent new source has been given to me (thanks to Maggie Jager) from the diaries of Mary King (MS 1547/2), her ‘Journal of a trip to Blackpool’.
Detail showing a Gypsy encampment from Mary King’s ‘Journal of a trip to Blackpool’, April 1897[Ref. MS 1547/2]
I still find the earliest reference I have found in the Archives extraordinary for its lack of compassion:
“A bastard out of Yerdington [Erdington] was baptized, a travelling woman brought a bedd in the streete [i.e. gave birth in the street]. Hard harted .” (Records of St Peter and St Paul, Aston, EP 41/2/1/1/1 12 May 1591).
Archives & Collection is keen to widen its holdings of material relating to the Gypsy, Roma or Traveller communities so if you have any archives or printed material which document their history, lives and culture which you’d like to donate, please contact archives.heritage@birmingham.gov.uk. If you’d like to view any of the material mentioned above or listed in the source guide, please book an appointment via the Archives & Collections bookings page.
On the 29th March a London-based academic blogger, Anton Howes, researching the Industrial Revolution, economic history generally but especially the history of innovation, posted a Twitter thread giving the price of provisions and housing in 1787 Birmingham.
Unless lucky enough to stumble on some household accounts, I would have expected to have to trawl through the accounts of bodies such as universities, major public schools, hospitals or workhouses, or armed forces victualling records to obtain food prices. Finding local house rents would involve a search of newspaper advertisements.
Anton cited his source as ‘based on James Watt advising a prospective immigrant from the Netherlands.’ I contacted him via Twitter messages to ask for more details. The source was not, as I expected, the Archives of Soho in Birmingham but online access to a Dutch PhD. He told me that the information came from the full transcription of a letter from James Watt, and knowing my interest in James Watt’s houses he added that ‘He even gives his parlour dimensions.’
Jan Daniȅl Huichelbos van Liender (1732-1809), a Merchant of Rotterdam, the principal proponent of the establishment of the first roots of steam-power in the Netherlands, regularly corresponded with James Watt between May 1775 and Watt’s retirement, and thereafter with the firm of Boulton & Watt until May 1809, shortly before his death. He was Boulton & Watt’s only foreign business relation for whom they did not require a London guarantor (J. Tann, M.J. Breckin, ³The International Diffusion of the Watt Engine, 1775-1825´ The Economic History Review (1978-11), p.553).
The Iron Room 