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‘The hands on work made me consider archiving as a possible future career path’: Reflections on a week of work experience in Special Collections

We were delighted to be joined last week by Year 12 student Noah for a week of work experience in Special Collections. Below Noah shares some of his impressions and reflections on the experience. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Noah for his excellent work and wish him every success for the future.

On the first day of my work experience placement here I was greeted by Annie, one of the Archivists, and introduced to the very friendly Special Collections staff. Instantly the environment was welcoming and I knew I would have a wonderful week. I was given a tour around the building and shown the strongrooms where there were incredible old books of all different shapes and sizes. I was also given basic handling training which was incredibly informative and the hands-on experience was incredibly entertaining. At the end of the day I was able to relax and work on the box list of old copies of the student newspaper Exeposé in the University Archive, where I was also able to read about student life in the 1990’s including interesting and hilarious events or even political issues and protests.

Early copies of the student newspaper ‘Exeposé’

On Tuesday I was introduced to Digital Humanities where me and another work experience student had the opportunity to have little octopuses 3D printed. We were also able to take professional images of an old book that they were digitalising to put online where we were able to experience what it was like to use real equipment. In the afternoon I was able to meet Lisa, a Special Collections Assistant, who showed me the behind the scenes of their catalogues and their list of bugs they’ve caught to keep the strongrooms clean and safe for the archives. Then with the Special Collections Team Leader, Sarah-Jayne, who I met on Monday, I was able to have some practice in retrieving archives for an upcoming event where I was able to learn the organisation process in the archives which I found incredibly informative and fun and was one of my favourite activities because while retrieving the items I was also able to look at them myself and see the incredible detail of artwork and old bookbindings.

On Wednesday I was given a tour of the Forum Library and was able to briefly meet the friendly staff and get an idea of what it would be like to work there and I was even given some cake. In the afternoon I got to speak to another lovely member of staff, the interim Head of Heritage Collections called Caroline, and hear about her work here which was very interesting and gave me an idea of what it would be like to possibly work in this line of work in the future.

On Thursday I was able to sit in on a marketing meeting with the Library and Special Collections which was informative in giving me an insight into the friendly connections of staff and how they prepare for the new year. Then in the afternoon I was given a tour around the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum by the Assistant Curator Matt, which I found extremely interesting and I loved seeing the displays curated by graduates, the funny collector items and also the educational displays on representations of race in film historically and even recently with Moonlight (2017) being in the display amongst other interesting historical examples of how people of colour had been represented in times of bigotry. I was also able to see old ways of producing film with light and shadows and even old cameras and boxes old film would be stored in.

*Cinematographe Lumiere*: 69247 From the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum

On my final day, Friday, I was able to continue working on listing Exeposé in the reading room where I read may interesting things even about Luke Pollard the Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, who I had previously seen when he came to my school to talk to us about politics. I found him to be very lovely and was excited to see what he had gotten up to during his university years. I also read about previous Israel boycotts that had taken place in the university which caught my attention due to the more recent media coverage and protests on campus. I was then able to begin writing this blog post before meeting the Special Collections Team Leader Angela, who told me about her role and we even shared a lovely conversation about politics and my politics A-Level.

Collage of images from the University of Exeter Special Collections

Overall, this week has been filled with information which was all interesting and fun to learn about it was not at all boring and I was rarely sat at a desk doing anything uninteresting. Everyone I met was lovely and its a very inviting environment with everyone being funny, chatty and polite. The hands on work made me consider archiving as a possible future career path and even the work on the computer was interesting and I looked forward to reading more Exeposé every morning as I walked from the train station. It was a lovely and informative week and I would recommend this work experience to anyone who may be considering this as an option or is not sure and would like to test the waters.

General Elections in the Archives

A.L. Rowse

The first collection that caught my eye, and inspired a new exhibition in the Forum Library, were the Papers of A.L. Rowse (EUL MS 113). A.L. Rowse was an historian, poet, diarist, biographer, and critic, born in Tregonissey near St. Austell, Cornwall. He won a scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford, gaining a first-class honours degree in history in 1925 when he was also elected Fellow of All Souls, Oxford. It was during this period that he established many of the social contacts with academic, political, and literary circles that he maintained for rest of his life. Rowse was a prolific letter writer, so his collection contains hundreds of letters from politicians, artists, writers, and other notable people, including correspondence from Prime Ministers.

Correspondence from Winston Churchill reveals a friendship between the two men, and many of Churchill’s letters praise Rowse’s writing. Rowse wrote two books about Churchill and his family, and supported Churchill in the publication of his own book, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, in 1956. Rowse was invited to celebrate the publication of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, and the seating plan shows him placed at the head table with Churchill. The guests were served salmon and roast beef, followed by a crinoline lady cake for dessert. Other notable guests included Sir Allen Lane, co-founder of Penguin Books, and Eartha Kitt, singer of ‘Santa Baby’.

Books written by A.L. Rowse, including The Early and Later Churchills

Unfortunately, not all the letters were quite so celebratory. A letter from Denis Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher’s husband, to Rowse on the 19^th of November 1990 reveals a weariness at 10 Downing Street. “Over 30 years of vicarious politics,” Thatcher writes, “I have learnt that it is harsh and often thankless” (EUL MS 113/3/1/T). This letter came five days after a Conservative Party leadership election was called by Michael Heseltine, which perhaps explains Denis Thatcher’s suggestion that “the combination of the ambitious and the disaffected changes the course of history, more often than not for the worse” (EUL MS 113/3/1/T). The very next day Margaret Thatcher would fail to win the first ballot outright, and would announce her resignation on the 22nd of November 1990.

Syon Abbey

Rather unexpectedly, general elections also feature in the Syon Abbey collection (EUL MS 389). Syon Abbey was a monastery of the Bridgettine Order, founded at Twickenham in 1415. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16^th century, the community split into groups to continue their religious practice; some groups stayed in England while others travelled abroad. In 1861 the community returned to England, settling in Devon from 1925 until 2011 when the monastery was closed.

In 1951, the nuns applied to the Bishop of Plymouth to be allowed to leave the abbey to vote in the general election. The bishop’s office wrote to the abbess to say that as the “election [was] of a very serious nature,” they should “write to the Apostolic Delegate” for special permission (EUL MS 389/ECC/1/9). Permission was eventually granted by William Godfrey, papal representative to England and later Archbishop of Westminster, and the nuns were allowed to vote.

The 1951 general election was “of a very serious nature” because it was called 20 months after the 1950 general election. The result was tight and, while the Labour Party won the most votes, the first-past-the-post system meant that the Conservative Party, with Winston Churchill as leader, took power in Westminster with a majority of only 17 seats.

Items from the Syon Abbey Collection (EUL MS 389)

Cecil Harmsworth

The Cecil Harmsworth (1869-1948) papers (EUL MS 435) provide an insight into the day-to-day life of an MP in the early 20^th century. Harmsworth was a Liberal politician, born in London and educated at Trinity College Dublin. His political career began in 1899 when he ran unsuccessfully as the Liberal candidate for Mid Worcestershire, and later as the Liberal candidate for North East Lanarkshire in 1901. Harmsworth’s luck changed in 1906 when he became the Liberal MP for Droitwich, and his defeat in the 1910 general election eventually led to his extended tenure as MP for Luton from 1911-1922. Harmsworth also served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Home Department under Lloyd George, and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and was appointed to the House of Lords in 1939.

The collection is particularly rich in autobiographical writing, with personal and travel diaries from 1900-1948. The diaries contain personal and professional observations and notes, including references to domestic and foreign policy, and inserted press cuttings, letters, and cards. Both World Wars are represented, including an entry on Monday 23^rd April 1945 declaring the end of the black out “after five long years” (EUL MS 435/1/1).

Harmsworth also created a scrapbook to document his time in the House of Commons. The scrapbook is fragile and incomplete, but it contains copies of letters from H.H. Asquith, dinner menus, press cuttings, and addresses to Parliament.

*EUL MS 435/2/14 – Scrapbook of items relating to the House of Commons, 1906-1922*

To learn more about the political archives held here in Special Collections, check out or LibGuides subject guide, read our blog about the Cecil Harmsworth collection, or search our catalogue.

Don’t forget to vote next Thursday (4^th July), and make sure to bring a form of voter ID!

Special Collections Dissertation Guides

Joelle:

After combing through the online archival catalogue, we have organised collections into categories that cover possible avenues of interest for dissertation topics. For example, in the English Dissertation Guide there is a section that lists all the archives relating to writers from the Southwest. We have an exceptional collection of unique material here at Exeter, and these dissertation guides provide a great starting point for research. It is worth noting that for those doing a creative writing dissertation, or doing a joint honours course that includes a language, there are opportunities discussed in the guide too. Some of the collections offer inspiration for a creative writing dissertation and others are written in other languages, providing the chance for translation. Plenty of the collections have had very little research done about them and provide plenty of scope for a unique and original dissertation topic.

Within the guides, there is introductory information on how to use the guides themselves and how to navigate the online archival catalogue which holds information about all of the archives in our Special Collections. The physical archival material discussed in the guide is kept in the Old Library and can be viewed by booking an appointment on the Special Collections website — the guide contains further details on how to do this.

Charlotte and I have learnt so much about the collections during this project, so we thought we would share some highlights from the collections that we found particularly interesting.

The English Dissertation Guide includes topics such as well-known writers, poetry, theatre, and journalism, but also features more niche topics that you may not have considered. One of the elements of the archival material that we have here at Exeter which surprised me was the amount of biographical writing. After studying the genre of life writing more closely on the Transatlantic Literary Relations module in second year, I was made aware of how this genre of writing has been often overlooked. I think that the wealth of biographical material we have in our archives could inspire an interesting exploration of the life writing genre and its importance.

EUL MS 413 Letters of John Jarmain documenting his experiences in North Africa and South Italy during the Second World War from June 1942 until November 1943

Another topic in this guide that particularly excited me was the Art and Literature section. Art and literature are both creative outputs that influence culture and oftentimes influence each other. In our collections here at Exeter we have material relating to the collaboration between poet Ted Hughes and artist Leonard Baskin which might prove to be of particular interest to those who studied Modernism and Modernity in their second year. Aside from these two examples there is a real wealth of material to explore in the Special Collections, so if you’re feeling stuck with your dissertation, I really do encourage you to go and have a look for yourself!

Charlotte:

I hope that the history dissertation guide will be helpful, as one of the biggest hurdles when writing any piece of history is locating relevant and reliable primary sources. This guide is organised into thematic categories ranging from politics and government, military and scientific history to religious/folk, education or women’s history and so much more. Each category is then organised into three general period distinctions of medieval, early modern and modern, to make navigation and discovery optimal. Obviously, categorisation is not this clear cut, and it is worth looking through categories you might not be immediately drawn to as these sources will have a plethora of uses not necessarily restricted to the more obvious categories. It is for this reason that the guide will often signpost the collections that can be used very clearly in multiple collections.

The guide intends to highlight underused collections in a way that also encourages creative and interdisciplinary approaches. To do this, each section concludes with a few ideas for how the guides can be used, including comparative methods of research. This was one of my favourite parts of creating the guide. As my degree is only three years, and as there is only so much history one can write in that time, it was very refreshing and thought-provoking to look for ideas and themes within areas of history I wouldn’t normally get to explore. For example, I found the history of education collections fascinating, especially the Margaret Littlewood papers on Ford Manor (a school of music and physical therapy) and how they might connect to the Sue Jennings papers on dramatherapy. Exploring these collections opened my eyes to the innovative educational methods and therapeutic practices from different historical periods, and how they intersected with broader cultural and social trends.

The guide also highlights some important standalone collections, like the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum and the Hypatia collection. The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is a treasure trove for anyone interested in the history of film and cinema. It houses an extensive range of artefacts, from early cinema apparatus and memorabilia to film posters and personal papers of filmmakers. This collection is perfect for exploring the evolution of cinematic technology and the cultural impact of film through the ages.

The Hypatia collection is dedicated to literature by and about women. It’s a huge collection that covers a wide range of topics, from women’s suffrage and feminist theory to women’s contributions in various fields. This collection is invaluable for understanding the historical and ongoing struggles and achievements of women, providing rich primary sources for research on gender studies. You can find out more about the Hypatia collection on the Special Collections’ LibGuides.

Something that cannot be understated is the wealth of resources available at the University’s archives. This project took over 12 weeks and still will only be able to scratch the surface of the research opportunities available in the University’s archives. I highly encourage, at any part of your degree, to have a look at the guide and begin to think about how the University’s collection can be utilised in your work. And, most importantly, going into the collection and seeing some of the incredible archives you have access to while at the University of Exeter.

Papers of Sir Norman Lockyer – Now Available Online

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University of Exeter Special Collections are pleased to announce that the papers of Astronomer, Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer are now available to consult online as part of Wiley Digital Archive’s British Association for the Advancement of Science Database (Collections on the History of Science: 1830-1970). Students at University of Exeter (and other institutions with the relevant subscription) can access the digitised material through their institutional login. A free trial subscription is also available at https://www.wileydigitalarchives.com/british-association-for-the-advancement-of-science/

Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), astronomer, was one of the pioneers of astronomical spectroscopy and became one of the most influential astronomers of his time. His main interest was sun spectroscopy, which led him to discover helium independently of Pierre Janssen, a scientist who posited its existence in the same year. He was born in Rugby in 1836, the only son of a surgeon-apothecary, Joseph Hooley Lockyer and was educated privately in England and he also studied languages on the Continent. At the age of twenty-one became a clerk in the War Office, and married Winifred James in the following year. He developed interests in astronomy and journalism, and in 1863 began to give scientific papers to the Royal Astronomical Society. He proceeded to push back the frontiers of spectroscopy and science, discovering the theoretical existence of helium (a chemical not then known on Earth), and was awarded a medal by the French Academy of Sciences in the same year for developing a new technique to observe solar prominences at times other than eclipses.

Sir Norman Lockyer as Science Editor of The Reader

In 1869 Lockyer founded the journal ‘Nature’, which he edited until a few months before his death, and which remains to this day a major resource for international scientific knowledge. In 1870 he was appointed secretary to the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction, which over the next five years reported on scientific education and resulted in the government setting up a laboratory of solar physics at South Kensington. To further this work, Lockyer was transferred from the War Office to the Science and Art Department at South Kensington in 1875. Here he organised an international exhibition of scientific apparatus, as well as establishing the loan collection which eventually formed the nucleus of the collections of the Science Museum.

Throughout this period, Lockyer continued to be active in astronomical observations and in spectroscopic studies in the laboratory of the College of Chemistry; he also wrote several books on astronomy and spectral analysis. Lockyer also studied the correlations between solar activity and weather, and developed interests in meteorology. In 1878 he was given charge of the solar-physics work then being carried out at South Kensington, being made Director of the Solar Physics Laboratory. Lockyer also became a lecturer in the Normal School Science in 1881, and became the first professor of astronomical physics in 1887, a post which he held until 1901. (In 1890 the School was renamed the Royal College of Science, which later became part of the Imperial College of Science and Technology). Lockyer continued his work as Director of the Solar Physics Laboratory until the laboratory moved to Cambridge, with the original laboratory site being used in part in the building of the Science Museum.

Kensington Telescope at Hill Observatory

After retiring to Devon with his wife, Lockyer established a solar observatory at Sidmouth on the suggestion of Francis McLean, the son of the astronomer and philanthropist Frank McLean. This observatory, begun in 1912, was set up for astrophysical observations, and was originally called the Hill Observatory. Following the completion of building work at the site at Salcombe Regis, near Sidmouth, Devon, solar work commenced in 1913 using the Kensington telescope which had been brought from the observatory in South Kensington, London. The Observatory was officially established as a charitable trust in 1916, and was renamed in Lockyer’s honour by his family after he died in Salcombe Regis, Devon, in August 1920. The Lockyer family continued to play an important role in the running of the observatory. Following a generous endowment from Robert Mond, the Observatory was established as a centre of astronomical excellence, and later became The Norman Lockyer Observatory Corporation of the University of Exeter (University College of the South West of England until 1955). The principal telescopes were donated by Lockyer and by Francis McLean, who had originally suggested the building of the observatory. A further telescope was donated by Robert Mond in 1932. The observatory is still running today.

The collection that has been digitised includes the personal correspondence and some of the research papers of Sir Norman Lockyer. The ‘Marconi telegram’ is also included, notifying Sir Norman Lockyer of the first Atlantic transmission using Ether waves, sent from Marconi at Mullion, Cornwall, to Sir Norman Lockyer of the Solar Physics Observatory, South Kensington, London, 12 January 1903, with copy telegram on reverse to Marconi from Norman Lockyer confirming receipt. Amongst the research papers are two boxes of eclipse notebooks 1870-1911, lecture notes 1870-1898, notes about articles, papers relating to the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction 1871-1877, papers relating to the transfer of the Solar Physics Laboratory to Cambridge 1911-1912, and other papers relating to education, lectures and addresses. Other personal papers include those arising from his being awarded honorary degrees and his attendance at public functions.