Spotlight on collections: bringing war crimes to account

This week, as we mark Holocaust Memorial Day, we look at material in the Archives and Special Collections that records efforts to bring those accused of war crimes to justice and of a campaign to obtain compensation for those used as slave labour during the Nazi regime.

Rudi Kennedy aged 17 in 1945: he had worked as a slave labourer from 1943-5 [MS311/32 A2072/1]

Amongst the collections in the strongrooms are 500 boxes relating to the Nuremberg trials of 1945-9 (MS200). This is made up of around 40 boxes of transcripts from the more well-known of these trials – the International Military Tribunals, 1945-6 – together with 460 boxes of material from the twelve additional or “subsequent proceedings” known as the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, 1946-9. Although not complete, the NMT material does provide an important source of evidence of the judicial process. As well as transcripts of the tribunals there are a range of document books of evidence relating to the defendants and the charges.

The International Military Tribunals were established by the London Agreement of 8 August 1945 with the aim to try the major war criminals such as Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess and Joachim von Ribbentrop. Each of the four Allied powers supplied two judges and all decisions and sentences were imposed by a panel of judges.

The 12 additional trials held at Palace of Justice in Nuremberg between December 1946 and April 1949 were conducted before U.S. military tribunals rather than the international tribunal that decided the fate of the major Nazi leaders. Growing differences among the four Allied powers had made other joint trials impossible.

First page of the transcript of the arraignment of the defendants in Nuremberg Military Tribunals case 1 (medical) listing the names of those charges and details of the crimes, 21 November 1946 [MS200/1/1/1]

These proceedings included case 1 (medical) in which 24 defendants were accused of crimes against humanity, including medical experiments on concentration camp inmates and other living subjects and case 3 (judicial) in which 16 lawyers and judges were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity through abuse of the judicial process and the administration of justice. A number of tribunals dealt with German industrialists accused of using slave labour and plundering occupied countries – case 2 (Milch), case 5 (Flick), case 6 (Farben) and case 10 (Krupp). The other tribunals were cases 7 (hostage) and case 12 (High command) which dealt with the mistreatment of hostages and civilians and atrocities against prisoners of war; cases 8 (Rusha) and 9 (Einsatzgruppen) with charges against SS officers and programmes of genocide; and case 11 (Ministries) which charged 21 defendants with playing a part in the political and diplomatic preparation of war, violation of international treaties, economic spoliation and diplomatic implementation of the extermination programme.

We also hold at Southampton a small collection of papers of Rudy Kennedy (MS311/32), who along with Roman Halter, Michael Etkind and Kopel Kendall, founded the Association of Claims for Jewish Slave Labour Compensation and led the campaign in the 1990s for compensation for British survivors of the Nazi policy of “extermination through labour”.

Kennedy was born in 1927 in Rosenberg, a small German town near the Polish border (now Olesno in Poland). In March 1943 his family were sent to Auschwitz. The family were separated and Kennedy’s mother and sister sent to their deaths whilst he and his father were sent to the Buna to work at the I.G.Farben factory.

Kennedy writes in his autobiographical account “Remember Bloomsbury” of their arrival at Auschwitz:

“It was a cold afternoon on March 6, 1943 when we arrived in Auschwitz having travelled in covered railway trucks with not enough space for everyone to sit on the floor… We are now on the infamous Auschwitz ramp, I see in my eye the women being herded away on my left, my mother and sister somewhere in the swirling mass, shouted at, pushed… shadows hanging on to each other… being shoved apart… tormented cries… My father holding on to me now. He told me over and over again to say I was 18 when asked and that I prefer walking and would like to work… I remember the selection but I cannot clearly recall what I stammered when asked by this frightening figure in black with a stick… He gestured me to go to the right and my father followed too. We were still allowed to live…”

[“Remember Bloomsbury” MS311/32 A2072/6b]

Initially Kennedy and his father worked outside doing heavy labour until his father managed to secure places for them both in Kommando 9, the electrical working party, which was one of the few where prisoners could work indoors. Of his first job Kennedy noted: “We were making a road. The earth was frozen mud and I could hardly lift the shovel. Life expectancy was now down to 6 weeks, if one was being optimistic.” [“Remembering Bloomsbury” MS311/32 A2072/6b]

The campaign that Kennedy led was not just about financial compensation but “to uncover and spread the truth”. He wanted to counter distortions and denials both by the German Government and by companies that had employed slave labour during the Second World War. One example of this endeavour to challenge distortions were his comments in response to a statement made by Kurt Roediger in defence of I.G.Farben. This statement can be found in the document book of evidence for Dr I.Walther Duerrfeld in case 6 of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals.

Statement by Kurt Roediger part of Document book for Dr I.Walther Duerrfeld, 1947 [MS200/1/27/1]

In this Roediger claimed that the prisoners had been well looked after. Kennedy was both unequivocal and damning in his response:

“Worked outside and only few Kommandos existed where prisoners could work inside – Kommando 9 the “electricians” was one. Kommando 9 also had the advantage that the kapo was an Austrian Jew called Heinrich Eigner…. The Kapo got his own selection of the fittest and youngest and anyone faltering for long was out. We were very “happy” to work there, but this is a long way from a boisterous atmosphere…

For certain tasks it was better to sit down – wiring for instance inside boxes and board to have more control.  That he got instructions from Dr D[uerrfeld] to avoid over-tiring the prisoners is a load of CD (codswallop)….

We were not getting any vitamins, insufficient food and calories, wooden clogs, always on the trot, sleeping with someone else in a small bunk-bed (i.e not sleeping well) and scared out of our wits…”

[MS311/32 A2072/7]

Rudy Kennedy’s collection provides not only the story of his campaign work to gain justice and compensation for those used as slave labourers under the Nazi regime, but poignant personal items such as photographs of his family or the diary of his visit to Auschwitz in 1995.

The final collection that we shall mention forms part of a more recent judicial process to deal with accusations of war crimes. The War Crimes Act that passed in the UK in 1991 gave the courts the right to try British residents for alleged offences committed in Germany or German occupied territories during the Second World War. Szymon Serafinowicz, who had been the Police Chief and then Police District Commander in Byelorussia, now Belarus, was the first person in the UK to be brought to trial under this legislation. He was arrested in 1993 and charged with the murder of Jews in his homeland in 1941-2. The Serfinowicz collection (MS408) is made up of the judicial and evidence papers produced for this case: the case itself did not proceed after the jury decided that Mr Serafinowicz was not fit to plead.

Further details of all these collections can be found in the Epexio Archive Catalogue together with information on archival material relating to the Second World War. The Parkes Library holds extensive printed material on the Holocaust and war crimes.

History at the University of Southampton

This week’s blog post takes a look the development of the History department here at the University. The Special Collections maintains a close relationship with History, as you might imagine, and we’re delighted to be sharing their story.

Hartley Institution

The University started life in 1862 as the Hartley Institution. It had a library, reading room and museum and offered public lectures and evening classes; the first Principal, Francis Bond, produced a plan for classes which included History as well as English, French, German, mathematics, chemistry and mechanics.

Bond enlisted a number of part time teachers. The minimum age for admission was 14 but the classes were mainly intended for people who “having left school and being occupied in business” wanted to take the examinations of the Civil Service or Science and Art Department at South Kensington.

Outside view of the Hartley Institution, High Street, Southampton [MS1/7/291/22/1/3

Day training department

A Day Training department was sanctioned in July 1898: a maximum of 30 men and 30 women were admitted for 2 years training. They were all required to pass an entrance examination. Miss Eva Blaxley came to the College in 1897 as a lecturer in History and English. She also acted as Lady Superintendent for two adjacent houses on Avenue Place provided for the female students.

In October 1900, Professor F.J.C. Hearnshaw was appointed as a lecturer on English History. He stayed in Southampton for 10 years and was key in founding the Southampton Record Series.

The following is taken from the Appointment contracts book:

The Lecturer on English History will be required to undertake the work in English History as detailed in the College prospectuses. He will also be required to lecture to a few classes in English Language and to take charge of a class of beginners Latin. He will be expected to give instruction in both Day and Evening Classes. He will not, however, be expected to lecture on more than two Evenings a week.

The Lecturer will be required to lecture for not less than 20 or more than 25 hours per week.

The Lecturer will be expected to give his whole time to the work of the College, and be responsible to the Principal for the arrangement and efficient working of the Classes in the subjects which he undertakes.

The Salary of the Lecturer on English History will be £140 per annum, rising by yearly increments of £5 to £150 per annum. The engagement shall be terminable by a term’s notice on either side.

Applications giving particulars of age, training, qualifications and experience accompanied by copies of 3 recent testimonials must be sent to the Principal before 10 AM on Saturday Oct 26th 1900.

Appointment contracts book [MS1/MBK7/1]

In 1902 the Hartley Institution became a University College. In the 1904-5 session, History was one of nine departments, staffed by one person. At this point, the University College had a total of 20 full time teaching staff.

History class and tutor, c. 1913/1915 from an album belonging to G. Payme [MS1/Phot/39/ph3178]

In 1911, Edward S. Lyttel was appointed Professor of History on a salary of £300 per annum. He was still teaching here in 1925 and his salary had risen to £650. In 1912, Professor Lyttel was joined by History lecturer J.W. Horrock (£150 pa). A job description comes from the Appointment contracts book:

The Lecturer will be required to deliver lectures to and conduct classes for Day and Evening Students in History and generally to assist the Professor of History in the work of the Department of History. The Lecturer may be expected to give a few lectures in another of the Arts Departments.

Appointment contracts book [MS1/MBK7/1 p. 35]

The department of History, c. 1919. This photographs comes from a series which may have been taken for a promotional prospectus. The caption reads: “a lecture on history which is the data of past human experience, on which we must to a great extent base our theories of social, national and international conduct. The prevention of future wars will depend on the right interpretation of the causes of past war.”

The move to Highfield

Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century the University College was located on the High Street in Southampton’s city centre but it was quickly running out of space. A new site was found to the north of the city in an area called Highfield. The buildings were completed by 1914 but relocation didn’t take place until after the First World War.

Miss I Plunket, M.A. joined the History Department in 1921. Her contract makes note of the Superannuation Scheme (pension) and the expectation she should engage in research:

The Council of the College agree to appoint Miss I Plunket, M.A., Lecturer in History and Miss I Plunket agrees to accept the office as from October 1st 1921 upon the following terms: The salary to be at the rate of £250 per annum plus the College contribution of 10% under the Superannuation Scheme. The holder of the office is expected to engage in some definite research or other original work in her spare time, but not to undertake any other paid work unless with the consent of the Council. The tenure of the office to be subject to a full term’s notice on either side, the Summer Vacation reckoned as a term.

Appointment contracts book [MS1/MBK7/1]

As the years passed, so the department grew. There were various new appointments including Mr Vincent T Harlow, BA., B Litt. who was appointed as assistant lectureship in Modern History in 1923; the University and Mr Harlow were required to contribute 105 and 5% respectively to the Superannuation scheme. Five years later, in October 1928, Mr James Rutherford BA (Durham), PhD (Mich) was appointed as assistant lecturer.

The Second World War

The advent of the Second World War brought changes as illustrated by the appointment contract book when on 1 October 1940 Miss A.A. Ruddock, Institute of Historical Research, was appointed as Temporary assistant lecturer in History for the duration of the War at a salary of £270 per annum (without superannuation benefit). Mr Hay had been called for service.

In 1942, Nicolai Rubinstein and Miss M. M. Morgan were both appointed as temporary lecturers in History.

Post-war expansion

The University College expanded significantly in the years following World War Two, and the History department was no exception. In 1945 the department gained a new chair when Dr H. Rothwell was appointed Professor of History. He was joined by Professor J.S.Bromley in the Chair as Professor of Modern History in 1959. Between 1949 and 1968 Arthur Temple Patterson also pursued his academic career in the History Department of Southampton University. He was appointed a Reader in Regional History in 1960 and Professor in 1967. While on the staff of the University he published a three part history of Southampton and a centenary volume of the history of the University. 

History study room in the Library, c. 1950. Can you spot where this space is in the current Hartley Library? [MS1/Phot/39/ph3448]

Although some records relating to the teaching of History date from the early days, for the first half of the twentieth century “the Arts” (in the broad sense of a BA) had been a small part of what was primarily a science, engineering and teacher training college.

In the 1960s, the General Degree was replaced with a new Combined Honours Degree. The decade also saw many new buildings designed by the architect Basil Spence as part of his “master plan” for the Highfield Campus. In 1963, Arts 1 Building was completed as part of the “Nuffield complex” (now Building 4, Law). Up until this point the faculty had been housed in the “main building” (what is now the Hartley Library); the new building meant the faculty was not only united but offered the possibility of expansion. A one-year MA programme was launched in 1966. Arts II building (Building 2, Management and Music since 1996) was built in 1968.

Students who wished to study History at the University of Southampton starting in the 1957-58 session could choose between medieval (400-1500) and modern history (1500-1940). They would have 3 hours of classes in the first year and 4 hours in the second and third. Applicants were expected to have an ‘O’ level in Latin. “Instruction will be primarily by the tutorial method and essay writing” and from time to time visits to sites and institutions of historical interest. The Final Honour examination consisted of 9 papers, each three hours long; candidates were also normally expected to present a prepared thesis.

Special subjects included:

• The Age of Dante, 1265-1321;
• England and France at War, 1422-53;
• the town and port of Southampton in the 16th century; 
• the age of the chartists, 1830-54
• aspects of British Empire and Commonwealth Relations since 1880.

If we look again approximately 10 years later, we learn that entry requirements were now 2 ‘A’ level passes and ‘O’ levels in two languages other than English; one of these should normally be Latin, but exceptions could be made. The Special Subject options had become more varied and now included

• the Third Reich;
• the British Economy, 1919-1939;
• the emancipation of Spanish America, 1808-1830
• rural England in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Latin was still a preferred course requirement for those joining the University for 1979-80. “Acceptable alternatives to Latin” were General Classics; Latin with Classical Studies; CSE Grade 1 in Classical Studies (with Latin). By this point there was also an option to study Modern European and American History.

IBM visit concerning the “HIDES project”, December 1989 [MS1/Phot/3/25/1]

A significant change occurred in 1996 when the Faculty of Humanities, including History, moved to its Avenue Campus location, where it can still be found today.

In 2022 the History Department is ranked 3rd in the UK for the quality of its research (REF 2014). As well as writing new and challenging histories, the University’s staff advise governments, the media, and cultural institutions. Southampton History research happens at the university, but goes far beyond it.

Architectural Acoustics: Philip Hope Edward Bagenal

This week we examine the life and work of the pioneering acoustic architect (Philip) Hope Edward Bagenal (1888–1979), whose papers are held by the University of Southampton’s Special Collections. Born in Dublin, his family moved to England in 1890 and he was educated at Ipswich Grammar School, St Peter’s School in York, as well as Uppingham School. Bagenal studied engineering at Leeds University and, despite leaving without qualifying, in 1909 he became an articled pupil in the architectural practice of Niven and Wigglesworth, London. He also became a member of the Architectural Association. In 1911 Bagenal became an assistant to Edwin Cooper and worked on site at the Port of London Authority building. From 1914, Bagenal corresponded with and studied the seminal work of Wallace Clement Sabine at Harvard on architectural acoustics. Bagenal’s thesis for the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1914, for which Sabine was external supervisor, focused on this area of study. His first book, ‘Clifford Manor’, and a technical paper, ‘Robert Stevenson: a great architect engineer’, were published in 1914.

Bagenal served with the Royal Army Medical Corps on the Western Front from 1914-1916, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Whilst there he wrote poetry and articles, some of which were reprinted in Fields and Battlefields after the war, published under his Regimental number of ‘31540’. In August 1916, after being seriously wounded at the Somme, Bagenal was sent to convalesce at the Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge, where he met the physicist Alex Wood. Many years later Wood and Bagenal co-wrote ‘Planning for Good Acoustics’ (1931), one of the earliest standard texts on the subject, it became the first textbook to be used on the curriculum in British and Irish universities. In 1917 Bagenal resumed his architectural career by joining Smith and Brewer, a leading London practice, as an assistant. Between 1919 and 1925 he worked as the Architectural Association librarian and editor of the AA Journal, whilst also developing a private acoustics consultancy. His efforts to maintain orderliness and quiet in the library, apparently led him to be depicted in the student journal of the Architectural Association as the Carpenter from ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’. One of his first major commissions, in 1923, was as adviser to C. Cowles Voysey and Morgan on the design of the White Rocks Pavilion, Hastings.

Bagenal could claim to be the first independent acoustic consultant in Britain. His expertise became sought not only in the UK and Ireland but worldwide, including Australia, Africa, the United States and India. Bagenal’s appointment to the Delhi chamber in 1922 marked his first international commission and made fixed his name in the public consciousness.[1] The role of acoustic consultant was still in its infancy at this time, although by the time he worked on the Delhi chamber, Bagenal had already worked on lecture theatres at Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the National Museum, Cardiff.[2]

Bagenal undertook the acoustic analysis in the first instance with recourse to ray-tracing: plotting sound beams and wave fronts to determine sound paths and identify sound points.[3] This is described in detail in ‘Planning for Good Acoustics’.

MS340/A2064/31: Architectural sketch of the Delhi chamber, showing seating arrangements.

Bagenal advised on most of the major concert hall, theatre, and civic hall projects of the inter-war era as well as the post-war reconstruction. His overseas commissions included involvement in the New Delhi legislative chamber and in specifying the Sydney Opera House and New York Lincoln Center competition briefs. As his work in acoustics developed, so did Bagenal’s writing and teaching about architecture. He toured widely, drawing and photographing classical buildings and won a scholarship to study in Italy and Greece in 1925 and 1926. He collaborated with Robert Atkinson in writing the ‘Theory and Elements of Architecture’ (1926), which became a standard work.

In 1940 Bagenal joined the Building Research Station as a temporary scientific officer; he remained there until the end of the war. In the post-war years Bagenal divided time between his consultancy work, lecturing and writing. Among his most important acoustics projects were the Royal Festival Hall (1948–51), the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, and Fairfield Hall in Croydon.

Manchester Free Trade Hall was built between 1853 and 1856 in St Peter’s Fields on the site of the earlier Peterloo Massacre. This Italian Palazzo-style building was left an empty shell after being bombed during the Blitz of 1940. The new hall, on which Bagenal was to act as a consultant, was constructed behind the facade of two walls from 1950-51.

MS340/A2064/21: Interior of Manchester Free Trade Hall.

The Royal Festival Hall, the notable Modernist building on the London South Bank, is claimed as a landmark acoustic design of the 20th century as it is one of only a few large concert halls worldwide to be designed in the first half of that century. It was the only permanent building constructed for the 1951 Festival of Britain.

Sir Hugh Casson was Director of Architecture for the Festival and London County Council’s Architecture Department, led by Robert Matthew, designed the Festival Hall. The auditorium was on the upper level with reception and other levels below, to fit into the limited space on site. Acoustic requirements were two-fold: those of the auditorium and the requirement to reduce noise from the rail bridge and rail lines outside. Bagenal’s solution was a double skin for the whole building: two solid walls with a continuous air space between. The auditorium acoustics were tuned using a combination of reflective and absorbent wall and ceiling panels.

MS340/A2064/34: Axonometric view of the Royal Festival Hall.

In a letter dated 4^th June 1951 from Robert Matthew (the architect for London County Council) Bagenal is complimented for his work on the new Royal Festival Hall, it being noted that the piano tone in the new South Bank concert hall was ‘exceptionally good’.

MS340/A2064/34: Leaflet on the organ to be installed at the new South Bank concert hall, Harrison & Harrison.

The acoustic architect Hugh Creighton, whose papers are also held by the University of Southampton’s Special Collections and whose working papers were documented in an earlier blog, was the son of Bagenal’s Uppingham housemaster, and Creighton joined Bagenal’s architectural acoustics practice in the early 1950s. As consultant to the Building Research Station during the 1960s, Bagenal investigated case studies of weathering of buildings in London.

Bagenal was awarded an OBE in 1956.  He was to become a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and in 1975 was awarded an honorary fellowship of the Institute of Acoustics. He remained a prolific writer throughout his life and aside from the many works on acoustics, he also wrote on subjects such as theology, topography and history, as demonstrated by his work ‘Studies in the History of the Auditorium’.

MS340/A2064/45: Studies in the History of the Auditorium – Greek Theatre, by Bagenal

In addition to Bagenal’s papers, Special Collections also have a few other acoustics collections including: the papers of Dr Raymond Stephens and the British Acoustical Society (MS337); the Papers of Peter Parkin (MS 339); the working papers of Keith Rose (MS342); and some material for Professor Doak who was the consultant for the Turner Sims and who was mentioned in an earlier blog.

Bagenal was married to Alison Mary Hogg (1892–1981). He died at Leaside in May 1979.

We are extremely grateful to Dr Fiona Smyth whose publication was an important reference source in producing this blog: Fiona Smyth ‘A matter of Practical Emergency’: Herbert Baker, Hope Bagenal, and the Acoustic Legacy of the Assembly Chamber in Imperial Delhi Architectural History 62 (2019) 113-144

[1] Smyth p. 119

[2] Smyth p. 121

[3] Smyth p. 123

2021 – a year in review

And so for another year we faced the challenges of the covid pandemic. But yet again this did not prevent us from completing important projects, as well as welcoming researchers and student groups into the Archives reading room when restrictions permitted.

New Archive catalogue

In October we formally launched the new Archive Catalogue.  We have worked with the Metadatis, the team that created Epexio, to deliver this archival discovery platform that brings together for the first time into one integrated online system all catalogue descriptions that Southampton has been creating in online databases since the 1980s.  The introduction of the new Epexio Archive Catalogue marks a significant change for online archive catalogues at Southampton and the development and enhancement of the catalogues, as well as of the archive management system, will be an ongoing element of work.

Epexio Archive Catalogue home page

And for anyone interested in a little bit of the history of automated archive catalogues this was covered in our launch blog in October.

Online resources

A second major project for 2021 was the Broadlands digitisation project.  Focusing on the private diaries of Lord and Lady Mountbatten, as well as correspondence between them, this project has seen the publication of this material online. Available are diaries for Lord Mountbatten, 1918, 1920, 1922-44, 1946-68, together with appointment diaries, 1956-7 and 1977-8, tour diaries 1969-78.  For Lady Mountbatten there are diaries 1923-42, 1944-50 and appointment diaries 1950-60.  There are correspondence files between the couple, 1921-60.

Containing over 50,000 images, this resource can be accessed either via the Special Collections website Broadlands digitisation page, or links in the new Archive Catalogue.

Special Collections has created a number of films, which it has made available online on its Hartley Special Collections YouTube channel to assist with using the new Epexio Archive Catalogue. 

Events

In February, Karen Robson took part in an online panel discussion archives of East European Jewry, organised by the Parkes Institute, alongside Jonathan Brent, Executive Director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York and Aleksander Ivanov of the Interdepartmental Center for Jewish Studies, St Petersburg.

During a Summer Festival in June, we ran a Historical Poster Art activity that used posters from the Special Collections to inspire participants to create their own, using their artistic imagination. The posters used were from MS73 papers of L.A.Burgess; MS116/85 design works of A.Games; MS348 David Kossoff collection; MS291 the Nuffield Theatre Collection; and the Cope Collection.

Historical Poster Art activity, 15 June 2021

And in November we participated in the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales Explore Your Archives week of virtual “snapshot talks with a film on the maritime archaeology collections at Southampton. All talks will become available in due course on the Royal Commission’s YouTube channel.

James Parkes in 1924 [MS60 A625/34/6 box 1 folder 1]

Finally, we worked in conjunction with the Parkes Institute this year for two exhibitions which drew extensively on the archive collections: the Kindertransport exhibition and also that relating to James Parkes to mark forty years since his death.

Social media and publicity

We have maintained an active social media programme throughout the year, with our weekly blogs and regular tweets on the Special Collections Twitter account. On Twitter we participated in national programmes such as History begins at Home and Explore Your Archives.

The blog programme also picked up on national or international campaigns or notable days throughout the year. For Women’s History Month in March, for instance, we celebrated the collections that we hold of four very different women. Those featured were Trude Dub (1910-2002) who was Leicester correspondent of the Jewish Chronicle for over forty years; the psychologist, poet and humanitarian Asenath Petrie (1914-2001); Miss Eleanor Aubrey, who was a key personality at University College in the early part of the twentieth century; and finally Charlotte Chamberlain (1878-1956), a major benefactor of the University of Southampton. 

Portrait of Miss Eleanor Aubrey [MS310/71/2/3]

May is local and community history month and for this we published features on the poetry of John Henry Todd; Romsey Abbey; Southampton Gordon Boys’ Brigade; The British Red Cross and Hartley Witney; and finally Middle Bridge, Romsey.

In June we drew on the Broadlands Archives for two very different blogs.  In the first we marked national immigrant heritage month in the USA with a feature on emigration from Ireland to North America in the nineteenth century. We then celebrated Father’s Day drawing on the correspondence of the second Viscount Palmerston to his children.

Blogs throughout the year shone a spotlight on the collections that we hold for an array of different individuals: the screen writer Norman Crisp; Selig Brodetsky and Cecil Roth; Walter Schindler and Eugene Heimler who worked in the fields of psychology and psychotherapy; Elinor A.Moore; Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld; the acoustician Hugh Creighton; Sir Donald Acheson, a former Chief Medical Officer and professor of Medicine at Southampton; S.H.Somper; youth worker Stanley Rowe; and Revd William Annesley and his interest in biodiversity.

Organisations featured in blogs included: Youth Aliyah; Leo Baeck College, London; Hutchinson House Club for Working Lads; the Jewish Youth Fund; the Maccabaeans; the Jewish Religious Education Board; and the Central Council for Jewish Religious Education.

A number of blogs related to the University: three blogs chronicled the early days of the institution from the Hartley bequest and opening of Hartley Institution in 1862; the years 1862-1902, and then for the period 1902 until just before the First World War. Others looked at a collection of material relating to the Southampton University Training Corps and University open days, whilst in another former student Jennifer Cooper reminisced about student life in the 1950s and 1960s.

A further series of blogs focused on Southampton and Hampshire: the Stella Memorial Southampton; Bevois Mount House; Queenwood College, Hampshire; guidebooks for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the Cope Collection; a nineteenth-century account of walking the Isle of Wight; and the experience of Vietnamese refugees in Hampshire.

We also explored the genteel art of knitting in April, when we tried out some of the patterns noted in a notebook of stitches held in the Special Collections; the art of pickling and preserving with material from the Perkins Agricultural Library; Board of Agriculture Surveys; and our final blog of the year looked at Christmas gift books.

Collections

During the last twelve months we have continued to add to the archival holdings, including with a range of material relating to the University and its history and three collections of significance added to the Anglo-Jewish Archives holdings. Amongst those University related items are the papers for the Southampton University Training Corps, described in a blog mentioned above and papers of two former University Librarians from different eras: Bernard Naylor and Mr Bland.

University College Southampton Dance Band, 1932, standing in the hut left over from the First World War used by the Music Department [MS416/32 A4258]

We also have been pleased to provide homes for papers of Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet, former Principal of the Leo Baeck College, London; material of Evelyn Friedlander, who ran the Hidden Legacy Foundation which focused on the research, preservation and exhibition of the history of rural Jewry in the UK; and papers of Leonard Kessler.

Correspondence from the Leonard Kessler collection [MS456 A4361]

Archives searchroom service

The Archives searchroom service re-opened again in the spring after the lockdown in the early part of the year.  We have been delighted to welcome a wide range of researchers making research visits.  And Southampton has been one of the institutions in the UK upholding democracy by supporting the research undertaken by the researchers for the Infected Blood Inquiry.

With on-site teaching during this autumn term, we have been able to host research sessions for undergraduate and MA history students and for Winchester School of Art MA students.

Looking ahead to 2022

We look forward to 2022 with optimism as we plan ahead for another busy year.  The Special Collections will be marking the seventieth anniversary of Southampton being granted University status with a social media programme celebrating this and the 1950s.  We shall also be drawing on the archive collections to create an exhibition and other online resources to mark the seventy fifth anniversary of the independence of India and Pakistan.

The Yerusha project to which we contributed in 2019 is due to be launched in spring 2022. This online platform will provide access and showcase Jewish archive collections across Europe and Southampton is delighted to be involved with this initiative.