Grace Ford

In the speech for the honorary doctorate that Grace Ford (1896-1981) was granted alongside her husband Professor Percy (Peter) Ford by the University of Southampton in 1974 the University orator spoke of how “like the pharaohs of old, Professor Emeritus Percy alias Peter Ford and Grace, his partner in all things, have decreed their own immortality – their pyramid the Ford Collection of Parliamentary Papers, their obelisk a Guide and dictionaries to unlock it.” [MS1/3/451/659/81]

Professor L. C. B. Gower, Vice Chancellor, conferring an honorary degree on Grace Ford, 27 Apr 1974 [MS1/Phot/39/pr3319]

Percy Ford was the son of a radical dissenter from Hove, Grace Ford the daughter of a draper’s assistant, John Thomas Lister who later became a manager of Nottingham Co-operative stores. Grace Lister left home in her teens to move to the East End of London after being invited to work in Sylvia Pankhurst’s experimental nursery schools. The East End of London was the base for a number of activities and organisations associated with Sylvia Pankhurst including the London branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), the East London Federation of Suffragettes and the Toy Factory and attached nursery where the women employed in the Factory could leave their children there for 3d a day.

Grace Ford, 1922 [MS58/A657/121]

As well as her other work in the East End, Grace Ford’s energy spilled over into working alongside Mary Macarthur and Margaret Bondfield in the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW). The Scottish suffragist and trade unionist Mary Macarthur (1880-1921) was involved in the formation of the National Federation of Women Workers in 1906. This was “open to all women in unorganised trades or who were not admitted to their appropriate trade union”. Margaret Grace Bondfield (1873-1953), a trade unionist and politician who became the first British female cabinet minister and a privy councillor, met Mary Macarthur in 1902. The two women were comrades-in-arms for a range of women’s causes over the next two decades. Through her work with the NFWW, Grace Ford was instrumental in bringing out the the Cambridge bedmakers on strike in 1916.

Grace Ford seated on porch of house in Massachusetts, 1922 [MS58/A657/121]

Grace Lister went on to study at Ruskin College, Oxford, and it was here that she met her future husband Percy Ford who had been employed as a lecturer. They married in 1921 and the following year moved to Amherst College, Massachusetts, where Percy Ford had been invited to participate in experimental teaching in social sciences and in American worker’s education classes run by the College. Grace was involved in helping with women workers’ classes and with some lecturing. Or, as it noted in the citation for their honorary degrees, “from a Massachusetts base in 1922-3, they spread the know-how of workers’ education – `the most surprising son and daughter (it was written) from John Bull’s domain that have greeted Chicago audiences since the departure of Mrs. Havelock Ellis’.” [MS1/3/451/659/81]

Percy and Grace Fords’ visit to the Irish University Press in Dublin and Shannon, 1968 [MS58/A657/37]

Back in the UK Percy Ford joined University College Southampton in 1926 and began building up the Parliamentary Papers collection that would ultimately bear his and Grace’s name. For while Percy Ford held the academic post at the University, first as head of and then Professor of Economics, it was the Fords together who worked to set standards for scholarship in the classification and analysis of government publications through their series of Select lists and Breviates. In his speech at the official opening of the Ford Collection, the Rt Hon Lord Maybray-King, former Speaker of House of Commons, paid tribute to the “two great servants of Parliament – Peter and Grace Ford”, noting that “theirs has been a joint labour of love. In the field which they chose for themselves, their single-minded devotion, industry and scholarship, remind me very much of another pair who worked in another field – Sidney and Beatrice Webb.” [MS58/A657/90 f.2]

Grace and Percy Ford seated to the left of the Vice Chancellor with other honorary graduands and University officials, 27 Apr 1974 [MS1/Phot/39/p3321a]

60 years in the city: the University and the City of Southampton

To mark the sixtieth anniversary of Southampton gaining city status, in this Special Collections blog we will look at the development of the University since 1964 and its links with its home city.

The formation of the Hartley Institution, the foundation organisation of the University, was closely linked with Southampton and this was reflected in the illustrations used on the menu for the dinner arranged by the University for the councillors of the newly created city in May 1964.

Menu and toasts for a dinner by the University of Southampton in honour of the council of the City of Southampton, 12 May 1964 [Univ. Coll. LF 788.8]

The 1960s were a time of expansion at the University of Southampton as it embraced the opportunity afforded the Robbins Report of 1963 on higher education expansion. The grand plan for expansion was created by the architect Sir Basil Spence, who designed the buildings on Highfield campus constructed throughout the 1960s. Amongst these new buildings was the Nuffield Theatre, opened by Dame Sybil Thorndyke on 2 March 1964 as part of an arts festival, adding a new cultural venue to the city.

Programme for Arts Festival, 2-20 March 1964, marking the opening of the Nuffield Theatre [MS451/A4337/4/2/1]

Programme for the first autumn season of the Nuffield Theatre, 1964 [MS451/A4337/4/1]

The 1970s saw two further significant developments to the life of the city with the introduction of a medical school at the University and the construction of the Turner Sims Concert Hall.

Following the Royal Commission on Medical Education’s advice to the Government in 1967 that there should be a new medical school established in Southampton, the Board of the Faculty of Medicine came into being in 1970. The Medical School’s first students arrived in October 1971, graduating in the summer of 1976.

Aerial view of the Medical and Biological Sciences Building under construction, c.1970 [MS1/Phot/11/24/1]

The Turner Sims Concert Hall was completed in the 1973-4 session and the opening concert took place on 19 November 1974. The Hall hosted 77 events during the 1974-5 session, of which 50 were lunchtime recitals. Named after Edward Turner Sims, as it was partially funded by a £30,000 bequest from Sims’ daughter Margaret Grassam Sims, the remaining monies for the project were provided by a loan from Southampton City to the University.

Construction of the Turner Sims Concert Hall, 1973-4 [MS373/A3048/4c]

Despite the difficult financial situation, the early 1980s saw a number of positive developments and initiatives. In terms of the Arts, the John Hansard Gallery was opened in September 1980, bringing together the Photographic Gallery and the University Art Gallery with the aim of providing a catalyst for ideas and generating a network of activities. In 1983 the Nuffield Theatre Trust was formed by the University, Southampton City Council, Hampshire County Council and Southern Arts, putting the theatre on a more sound financial footing. The decade also saw the Chilworth Centre for Advanced Technology given the go ahead, marking the first step on the journey for what is now the Southampton Science Park, described as the South of England’s innovation hub.

`Out of this world’ exhibition, John Hansard Gallery, c. 1990 [MS1/Phot/31/165]

The 1990s saw the expansion of the University into new sites across the city with the opening of the National Oceanographic Centre at Southampton Docks, the move of the Arts Faculty, with the exception of Music, to Avenue Campus (formerly Taunton’s College) and the addition of La Sainte Union College. LSU was transformed into New College and became the home for the Department of Adult Continuing Education, enabling the University to provide opportunity for lifelong learning, engage more effectively with the local community and widen participation.

The Duke of Edinburgh looking at the figurehead from H.M.S. Challenger at the official opening of the National Oceanographic Centre, May 1996 [MS1/Phot/5/20/4]

It was also at the end of this decade that the Unilink bus service was launched to transport Southampton University staff and students between teaching sites and halls of residence. This service has subsequently become part of the city wide Blue Star service providing a bus service that is open for everyone to use. 

Uni-link buses, 1990s [MS1/Phot/9/1/1]

The move into the 21st century has seen the University continue its civic engagement role as well as developing and expanding its footprint in the city, including leasing upper floors of One Guildhall Square and taking over the James Matthews building also in Guildhall. 2018 also saw the move of the John Hansard Gallery to a new location in the centre of Southampton, opposite Guildhall Square, adding to the development of an arts quarter in the city.

The University is currently undertaking a multi-million pounds development of its estate, including the development of the Jubilee Sports Centre, a facility used widely by the local community as well as by University students and staff. Amongst the facilities in the newly extended Centre will be a modernised gym with 200 exercise stations, five new sports studios including dedicated martial arts and indoor cycling spaces, and a bouldering/climbing wall.

Jubilee Sports Hall

And 2023 saw a joint initiative between the University and councillors in the region, including from Southampton City, the latest example of the interconnection between the University and the City. The initiative has seen the establishment of a Civic University Agreement which intends to improve the quality of life for people in the city and surrounding areas by connecting communities through culture, education and enterprise. This Civic University Agreement suggests a certain symmetry with the aims of the nineteenth-century Hartley Institution which worked alongside the Southampton council in founding an establishment to provide education and culture to the local community.

Menu for dinner in honour of the council of the City of Southampton, 12 May 1964 [Univ. Coll. LF 788.8]

2023 – a year in review

As we move into the new year we take time to look back over 2023 and reflect on the work of Archives and Special Collections in the last twelve months.

Signature of the first Duke of Wellington

Wellington 40

2023 was a significant year for the Archives as it marked the fortieth anniversary of the arrival of the papers of the first Duke of Wellington at Southampton after they were allocated to the University under national heritage legislation. The collection arrived on 17 March 1983, bringing to Southampton the University’s first major manuscript collection, leading to the creation of an Archives Department and the development of a major strand of activity within the University Library.

To celebrate this momentous occasion we hosted a number of events and activities throughout the year. It started with a Wellington 40 Twitter campaign, where both staff and researchers who had worked on the archive shared their favourite Wellington document. In March (the month when the collection arrived) we ran a series of blogs looking at forty years of work on the collection; conservation; events and the Wellington Pamphlets collection. This was followed by a series of Wellington themed blogs using the letters of the Duke’s name – starting, appropriately enough, with W for Waterloo.

On 7 July we hosted an in-person event, providing attendees with the opportunity to see behind the scenes, meet the curators and learn more about the work of the Archives and Special Collections, including conservation. As well as a selection of archival material on view, there was also an exhibition in the Level 4 Gallery reflecting on forty years of curation of the collection. And the visit was rounded off with tea and a talk by Dr Zack White about his research on the Wellington Archive.

Wellington 40 exhibition marking forty years of curation of the Wellington Archive, Level 4 Gallery

In October, the Special Collections Gallery opened again for the first time since 2020 with an exhibition The Duke presents his compliments. Taking the Wellington Archive as a starting point, the exhibition looks at the development of the archive collections since 1983. It continues to run weekdays (1000-1600) from 8 January to 16 February, so there is still time to come and have a look.

Events

As well as the event hosted by Archives and Special Collections as part of the Wellington 40 celebrations in July, we hosted visits for the Jewish Historical Society of England on 9 October and for the Come and Psing Psalmody event at the Turner Sims concert hall on 22 October. This latter event showcased some of the West Gallery music material collected by Rollo Woods, who was an expert in this field as well as a former Deputy Librarian at the University.

Rollo Woods

In November we ran an activity for the Hands-on Humanities day at the Avenue Campus. For the activity intrepid travellers were asked to take their archives passport and embark on a journey learning more about the collections. Feedback from those attending was very positive, with participants finding it a fun way to find out about the collections and the university. Highlights noted were “learning about history”, “discovering unexpected items” and, of course, “using the quill”.

Image of knitted pineapple purse from the Montse Stanley collection with magnifying glass and quill.

The Archives and Special Collections has continued to support teaching and research throughout the year, hosting sessions introducing students to archives for a range of undergraduate and master courses. Karen Robson and Jenny Ruthven have been involved in leading sessions on the curation of specialist libraries and on archives for the new MA in Holocaust Studies that runs for the first time in 2023/4. Karen will be leading further practical sessions on this course in the second semester in 2024. We also led two group projects as part of the second-year history undergraduate course in early 2023. This course asks the students to focus on archive sources for their project and for this year we offered a project about nineteenth-century press and politicians, utilising material from the archive of third Viscount Palmerston, and a project based on the papers of the Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry. 

Protest at Wembley Arena by members of the Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry [MS254/A980/4/22/178/3]

Collections and projects

Although the collection arrived and was reported in the review for last year, the Ben Abeles archive was officially launched in an event hosted by the Parkes Institute in June 2023. Karen Robson formed part of the panel for this hybrid event which attracted an international audience. Details of the Abeles collection is accessible in the Archive Catalogue.

Amongst the new Jewish archival and interfaith collections for 2023 were the papers of Professor Alice Eckardt, a leading scholar and activist in the field of Christian-Jewish relations, relating to her connection with a leading British figure in the same field – Revd Dr James Parkes. We have, throughout the year, acquired additional papers for existing collections, such as for Eugene Heimler and the Jewish Youth Fund. We also acquired more material documenting student life in previous decades with papers for the Med Soc reviews in the 1980s.

We have continued to develop our maritime archaeology archival holdings and the most sizeable acquisition of material this year has been the working papers of Peter Marsden relating to shipwrecks.

Part way through the year, Archives and Special Collections was the recipient of a grant from the Honor Frost Foundation for a project supporting work to make over 5000 digital images created from slides in the Honor Frost Archive, together with catalogue descriptions for each of the images, available online. The project is due to be completed by 31 January 2024.

Two stone anchors [MS439/A4278/HFA/8/3/12/8]: one of the images that is part of the Honor Frost project

Archives searchroom services

2023 saw the expansion of the Archives and Special Collections Virtual Reading Room service offering remote access to collections through digital appointments. This is a growing element to the archive reading room service and usage has grown by 28% in the last year. For information on how to book a digital appointment look at the Special Collections website access page.

This usage has been paralleled by a growing quantity of enquiries being handled within Archives – rising by 11% in the last year.

Looking ahead

In 2024 we are looking ahead to marking the 240^th anniversary of the birth of third Viscount Palmerston with events, including social media programmes and an exhibition relating to the Palmerston family and Broadlands. We have a number of projects ongoing and new for 2024, including working with the Parkes Institute to create a series of films promoting the collections and a three-year conservation project on the Schonfeld archive. Do look out for news on our social media channels.

Palmerston: R is for Romsey

In this latest edition of our P-A-L-M-E-R-S-T-O-N series we turn to the letter R and this time stay closer to home as we look at the nearby town of Romsey.

Statue of Lord Palmerston in Romsey, 19th century [MS62/BR136/37]

A statue of Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston, is situated in the centre of the Market Place, Romsey. The Lords Palmerston took a keen interested in the town next to their estate of Broadlands and had direct involvement in the history and development of aspects of the market. So, it seems appropriate to take a look at what we hold relating to the market and the Market Place in the Broadlands Archive.

Romsey Market dates at least back to the time of Henry I in the early twelfth century, when rights to hold a weekly market was granted to the Abbess of Romsey Abbey. This market was held on a Sunday, but in the seventeenth century this was altered to Saturday.

By the early part of the nineteenth century the fortunes of the market took a dip.  It was decided that a change of day for the market might be the answer and Lord Palmerston was approached to make the case for this. The proposal was strongly opposed by Stockbridge, but the case was eventually found in Romsey’s favour. A patent was granted by George IV in May 1826 to Lord Palmerston changing the day of the Romsey Market from Saturday to Thursday. It was reported that the bells rang out in Romsey to celebrate the decision.

Detail of patent granted by George IV changing the day of the Romsey Market from Saturday to Thursday, 1826 [MS62/BR132]

A Market House had been built by the first Viscount Palmerston in 1744-5. Constructed by him for use as an audit house, it also was used for fortnightly magistracy meetings. Third Viscount Palmerston presented this building to the town and consented to its sale and subsequent demolition in August and September 1820 to make way for a new building. A new building took some time, and in the interim the Corporation made efforts to provide improved facilities for the traders at the Market.

Within the Archive, for instance, is a letter from Henry Holmes to Lord Palmerston of 27 May1825 setting out an explanation of the additional stands and other accommodation provided by the Corporation to traders in the Market Place now that the old Market Hall has gone. In a letter Holmes notes that “the butchers used to complain of the draft between the pillars and … the Market House was very cold and uncomfortable”. [MS62/BR131/6] 

By 1835, the market was again suffering a decline in fortunes. Another letter to Palmerston in 1835 sets out a scheme to revitalise the fortunes of Romsey Market, which it was stated were suffering from the success of markets in Stockbridge and Botley. It was noted that Palmerston subscribed £10 to the proposed scheme for a year as an experiment, but there is no indication of what return he had on this. [MS62/BR131/7]

The installation of a statue of Lord Palmerston in the Market Place in 1857 cemented the link between the town and the family. Although whether the statue contributed to the profitability of the market is another matter.

Installation of the statue of Lord Palmerston in Romsey, 1857 [MS62/BR136/30]

Amongst other material in the Broadlands Archive relating to the market are a series of returns of Market Place tithing for the period 1677-99, listing the names of those individuals making their tithe payment to the Romsey Abbey.

Return of Market Place tithing, 14 May 1685 [MS62/BR153/101]

There is also material within the papers of the first Viscount Palmerston relating to the construction of the Market House building in 1744-5. Amongst these are the building accounts in the first Viscount’s account book MS62/BR2/6. Amongst the costing are 43 yards ruff ceiling and partition at 6d per yard, 159 yards stucco walls at 12d per yard and 446 foot superficial rubbed and gaged arches at 1 shilling and 6d per foot.

For further information on the connection between Romsey and the inhabitants of Broadlands go to MS62.

And for our next Palmerston related blog we will be focusing on another Hampshire locality – S will be for Southampton.

Palmerston: M is for Mexico

As we reach the fourth in our P-A-L-M-E-R-S-T-O-N series we turn to M for Mexico and a not particularly glorious chapter in European-Mexican relations.

Having declared independence in 1821, Mexico was firstly a short-lived monarchy before adopting a republican constitution in 1824.  In the late 1850s, the country was involved in an internal strife between the Liberal reformist forces of Benito Juárez against those of the Conservatives led by Félix Zuloaga.   Unable to face a growing national debt and with no other options, in 1861 Juárez suspended the payment of debts for two years.  In response France, Great Britain and Spain signed an agreement on 31 October by which they agreed to intervene in Mexico to recover unpaid debt repayments.  The navies of the three nations disembarked at Veracruz in December 1861.

Britain negotiated an agreement with Mexico to settle the debts and withdrew from the country once it became clear that France and Napoleon III’s aim was to seize control in Mexico. Spain followed likewise.  France’s military operations began in April 1862 but initially faced defeat before reinforcements under the command of Élie Forey arrived.  Mexico City was captured in June 1863 and the following month an Assembly set up by Foley met and invited Archduke Maximilian of Austria to be Emperor of Mexico. Maximilian formally accepted the crown believing that the Mexican people had voted him their king, rather than this being a scheme between the French Emperor and conservative Mexicans. He arrived in Mexico in May 1864 and was crowned the following month. The Second Mexican Empire and the monarchy of Maximilian displaced Juárez’s Republican government but collapsed within a few years. Aid from America after 1865 and the decision by Napoleon III in 1866 to withdraw military support for Maximilian’s regime, accelerated its collapse.

‘The city of Mexico’ from A compendium of authentic and entertaining voyages (second
edition, London 1766) vol. 2 [Rare Books G 160]

The French government’s presentation of its actions and motivations for its invasion of Mexico were set out in a speech made by Adolphe Augustin Marie Billault, the minister without portfolio in the government of Napoleon III, on 27 June 1862 at the Corps Leglatif in Paris.  A copy of a Reuter News Agency telegraph of the speech can be found in the papers of the third Viscount Palmerston.

Wrapper of the copy of the Reuter Telegraph of M. Billault’s speech [MS62/PP/MM/ME/2]

Billault began by describing what he called the anarchy which had prevailed in Mexico for the last 25 years.

“It was the robbery, pillage and assassination of strangers that determined the three powers to carry out the expedition. France and England were not hostile to the candidature of the Arch Duke Maximilian if the Mexicans chose him voluntarily…”

He went on to pay a high tribute to the character of Admiral Jurien de la Graviere who had repeatedly said that France wished for neither a monarchy nor a republic but simply a good government.

M. Ballault maintained that it was incorrect that France had sent Almonte to excite a civil war.  “He was only to arrive in the city of Mexico when the ballot had been opened to consult the national will.  He arrived in Mexico under the protection of our flag and committed no hostile act before the rupture of negotiations.”

Replying to an interruption from M. Jules Favre, M. Billaut said that when the French flag floats in Mexico the population will, as in Italy, be called upon to express their intentions.

“If”, said M. Billaut, “they reply that the Juarez government suits them we shout reply Amen!”

He energetically repelled the council of M. Favre to treat with the Juarez government and continued: “Our honour is engaged and we must avenge the insults offered to us.  On the departure of our allies the Emperor sent the following instructions to General Lorencez:

`It is contrary to my interest, origin and principles to impose any government whatever on Mexico.  Let the Mexican nation choose what form of government suits them.  We only ask of them sincerity in the elections.  We desire the happiness of that fine country under a stable and regular government.’”

[MS62/PP/MM/ME/2]

The Second Mexican Empire would prove to be short-lived but, as Billault stated in his speech, Britain and Spain were not hostile to the candidature of Maximilian. Indeed Great Britain was one of a number of European countries that would recognised Mexico under his rule as a political entity.

A speech made by Lord Palmerston in the House of Commons on 29 July 1864 set out the rationale under which Great Britain would recognise the government of Emperor Maximilian:

Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston from a leaflet, c. 1860s [MS62/MB6/P18]

…It has been our practice to acknowledge established Governments. Without going into minute questions as to the origin of the Government—whether it be a republic or a monarchy—when we find a Government established we enter into friendly relations with that Government. My Hon. Friend says that we have promised prematurely to acknowledge the Emperor of Mexico before that empire has practically and really been established. I do not think our engagements have gone to that extent. Before the Archduke left Europe we were asked to acknowledge him as the future Emperor of Mexico. We were not inclined to do that, and we said it would be entirely at variance with our practice and our principles; but that if on his arrival in Mexico he should be well received by the people and his Government regularly established, our wish was that Mexico should have a stable Government. The great cause of the dissatisfaction which we have had for a long time in respect to that country is that Mexico has been governed successively by a number of military chiefs, who one after another obtained power, and one after another availed themselves of that power to plunder and murder English subjects, for they treated them no better than the people of any other country, but rather worse. It was, therefore, a great object with us to see established in Mexico a Government with which friendly relations could be maintained; and from which we might expect justice for British subjects resident in or engaged in commerce with Mexico. My Hon. Friend says that as far as his information goes the portion of Mexico occupied by French troops is very limited. That may be so; but it does not follow that in other parts of the country not occupied by French troops the people may not be inclined to support the Government of the Emperor. And we have information —we may be misled, but our information is to the effect that the Indian population, who form a large portion of the total number of the people, are very well disposed to the establishment of an empire…. We are told that the French Government are employing transports to bring back a number of their soldiers, which fact implies that the disposition on the part of the people of Mexico to acquiesce in the rule of the Emperor is considerably greater than my Hon. Friend has been informed it is. All I can say is that our course will depend on what we hear as to the manner in which the authority of the Emperor is established. If we find there is a prospect of a permanent Government being established, we shall be very glad to acknowledge it, because we think that would be a very great good not only to the people of Mexico but also to all Europe. If, on the other hand, we find matters still uncertain, and a war still going on, which may result one way or the other, we shall say the Government is not of a kind that would justify us in acknowledging the Archduke as Emperor of Mexico—

Relations with Mexico, papers moved for [Hansard, 29 July 1864 2202-4]

In the end, what the Saturday Review in 1873 described as “perhaps the maddest scheme which in modern times ever tried to cloak itself under the guise of practical statesmanship” proved fatal to Maximilian, who was tried and executed for treason by firing squad in June 1867, and played a significant part in the downfall of Napoleon III’s regime. Lord Palmerston did not live to see the end of this maddest scheme. But a successor as leader of the Liberals and Prime Minister, William Gladstone, described it as “one of the greatest political blunders ever perpetrated”. [Richard Shannon Gladstone: Peel’s Inheritor (London, 1982) p. 496]

And so after our travels to Latin America where will the next Palmerston blog lead us? Do join us when we will be looking at the letter E.

Spotlight on collections: Med Soc 1980s style

It is that time again, as the start of the academic year approaches. And the new intake of students are faced with nearly 250 student societies and 142 sports clubs from which to choose. What would be your choice? For some this might be made easier by the presence of a society that caters specifically for their discipline. The MedSoc, for instance, is the student body for medical students. Now one of the largest societies in SUSU, it continues to offer a varied programme of events throughout the year.

But what was it like being a member in the late 1970s and 1980s? Well a partial answer to this is provided by a new acquisition for the Archives and Special Collections. The donor was a leading light in the Medics Review between 1977 and 1985 – being not only a performer but director, producer and even the author.

Medics Review, 1977 [MS416/41/A4400/1]

Sketch – Professor Howell’s outpatients – from The Sound of Mucus, the Medics Review 1978 [MS416/41/A4400/2]

Two shows Bedpanorama and Beyond the Syringe – the latter name in particular giving some hint as to the inspirations for these shows – were performed at the Edinburgh Fringe to sold out audiences and positive newspaper reviews.

Programme for the Review performed in Edinburgh, 1983 [MS416/41/A4400/4]

Bedpanorama was described by the Edinburgh Evening News as the “sort of medicine you could take every day. Some jokes are near the bone, all on the funny bone”. [MS416/41/A4400/5] When Beyond the Syringe had been performed in Edinburgh in 1981, it was attended by the Vice Chancellor Professor John Roberts and his wife together with Professor Donald Acheson and his wife. Donald Acheson was at that time Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University and an Honorary Consultant at the Royal South Hants Hospital, having been the foundation Dean of the newly created School of Medicine at the University. In his letter after seeing the show he noted that “It really was a slick professional show” and that its director had “made a tremendous contribution to the [Medical] School”. [MS416/41/A4400/5]

Programme for Beyond the Syringe at the Edinburgh Fringe, 1981 [MS416/41/A4400/5]

Away from the theatrics of the Reviews, the collection also contains photographs and information on another form of comedy and drama – the Medical School’s annual bed race. Teams of medical students pushed standard or sometimes modified medical beds across the city to raise money for charities. 

Start of the bed race outside Royal South Hants Hospital, May 1979 [MS416/41/A4400/3]

The teams were composed of five or six individuals, one of whom had to be on the bed at all times.  The race started at Royal South Hants Hospital before moving towards Above Bar then into Bedford Place, Hill Lane, Shirley and then up Dale Road to the Southampton General Hospital. 

Team “Renal failure” competing in the bed race, 1979 [MS416/41/A4400/3]

A number of pub stops were to be made along the way where a pint of alcohol had to be consumed by the male team members.  Marshals were placed at each of these designated pubs to ensure each member drank their quota and then issued them with a token.  Teams not only competed to be the fastest bed but the best dressed one or one with the most sponsorship. 

Team “Hamish’s bed” competing in the bed race, 1979 [MS416/41/A4400/3]

For another snapshot of student life in the 1980s, this time from a history student, why not check out our remembering the 80s blog?

And to all new students in 2023, we hope that you enjoy your time in Southampton and do have fun trying out a variety of societies and clubs.

Spotlight on collections: Unusual items in the Archives

The Archives and Special Collections has considerable holdings. The material that chronicles significant political, military and social events consists of the typical formats that would be expected such as correspondence, volumes of minutes or reports, photographs, maps, plans. Yet like all Archives, the collections often contain associated items that are a little more unusual and in this week’s blog we bring some of these into the spotlight.

Locks of hair are something that are found in collections of family papers and the collections at Southampton are no exception. Hair as a keepsake and memento was something that peaked in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Victorians had a particular fascination with hair as a memento of loved ones, but hair was also given as tokens of love and friendship. In the papers of Christopher Collins, the personal servant of the Duke of Wellington, we find locks of hair of both Princess Charlotte and the Duchess of Wellington.

Lock of hair of Princess Charlotte, 1799 [MS69/4/2]

The Broadlands Archives contain other examples such as hair of the baby Henry John Temple, later third Viscount Palmerston (MS62/BR/18/62) and a lock of hair of the baby Ruth Mary Ashley, the younger sister of Edwina, Lady Mountbatten, along with her birth certificate (MS62/MB/1/W/5).

The knitted objects that we hold are made of a variety of fabrics and materials, but there are not any that are knitted from hair. An altogether more unusual experiment, however, was to knit with spaghetti of which we have a few examples (MS332/53/3/1). There is no record of why or how this particular experiment was conducted, although the results of it are clear to see:

Amongst the administrative papers and associated collections relating to the history of the University are a variety of artefacts that add an additional dimension to this material. The gavel that was presented to the Hartley Institution in the 1870s represents the close connection between the Corporation of Southampton and the Institution in its early days. The bequest left by Henry Robinson Hartley to create an educational establishment was made to the Corporation for this purpose.

The ceremonial decorated gavel, made of ivory, donated to the Hartley Institution Council by Henry Joseph Buchan, JP and Mayor of Southampton, 1871-2 [MS1/1/31/15/2]

Other items that represent more formal ways of University life in the past are two silver sugar bowls and spoons, perhaps used when the Warden was entertaining at afternoon tea, that are part of material from Highfield Hall, a hall of residence formally opened by the future George VI in 1935.  

Silver sugar pot and spoon [MS310/71/3/1]

We hold a small selection of university related clothing, including a blazer and scarves in university colours as well as cap badges. Amongst a collection of a student from the University from the 1980s is a lovely eye mask for the Southampton University Medical Society masked ball that she attended at Southampton Guildhall.

Handmade mask for masked ball at Southampton Guildhall, 1980s [MS416/22/A4338/1]

Dolls, and indeed dolls clothing, feature amongst the collections, including in the objects that form part of the Monste Stanley knitting collection (MS332), items that belonged to Basque child refugee Pilar Vasca (MS370/5) and in that of the Brian Raywid Romany Papers (MS443).

Peg making is one of the oldest Romany crafts. The pegs were made from a length of willow or hazelwood cut to the right length and with a V-shaped notch cut in the base end. A band of tin was then nailed into position at the top of the peg and the peg split with a sharp knife from the point of the V-notch to the tin band. The pegs were then pegged out to dry and allow the slit to set into its open shape. From these the peg dolls were made and pegs and dolls were often sold door to door.

Peg doll [MS443/13]

Whilst we might have recipes and other sources relating to food, food itself is not something that we would expect to come across in the Archives. However, we do have an exception for an Australian Military Forces emergency ration tin found amongst the Broadlands Archives. Dating from the Second World War it was presumably passed to Lord Mountbatten during his time as Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia. Details of this can be found in a Stories they tell blog from 2020.

The final two sets of items we will be looking in this brief tour could not be more contrasting – handcuffs and handmade shackles used by the pressure group the Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry and the exquisitely engraved nautilus shell of the Duke of Wellington and St George and the Dragon.

The Women’s Campaign was creative and dramatic in some of the protests that it organised. Handcuffs were put to use to chain themselves to railings, while the handmade shackles were as part of a costume (possibly in conjunction with a pair of blue and white striped pyjamas that looked like a gulag uniform) worn by a protester.

Handcuffs used by the Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry [MS254/A980/5/4/3]

The Scrimshaw nautilus shell is the work of the prolific engraver of nautilus and turban shells Charles H. Wood., who was renowned for the fine work produced whilst engraving his shells with a simple penknife. In the 1850s, Wood produced shells commemorating Wellington and Nelson as well as ones engraved with Britannia.

Engraved nautilus shell of the Duke of Wellington, 1850s [MS351/6/A4170/28]

We hope that you have enjoyed this brief introduction to some of the more unusual objects in our care. But if you want to find out what else we hold do have look at the Archive Catalogue for details.

Reflecting on our curatorial role in the research environment

As a curator we can take on many roles as we oversee the curation and engagement with collections in our care. But one role in which the curator is not so often cast is that of researcher, drawing on the knowledge and expertise of curatorial teams to lead or co-lead in research projects. In an endeavour to re-balance this, the Research Libraries UK, in conjunction with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, set up and ran its Research Catalyst Cohort Programme. I was one of the 12 participants on this inaugural programme which completed in April 2023.

This extensive and comprehensive timetable took the participants on a journey through aspects of research culture and management, as the RLUK Programme sought to equip the participants with the skills and knowledge to develop their own research project. The sessions sharing knowledge on everything from funding to developing partnerships to project management were well considered and informative, but what was particularly effective for me were the development sprints and the support of a mentor as part of the programme.  As in so much of life, confidence is key, and having impartial but knowledgeable facilitators with whom you could discuss your ideas was important in growing this key factor in the participants. Connections made during the course and the supportive culture fostered amongst the participants were another important factor.

Providing the tools and the belief in curators to move forward and both initiate important research projects or take a more pro-active role in their institutions in the projects of others, rather than just be seen as the people who provide access to the material, is an important and welcome development. It recasts the balance in a way that is much more healthy for the creation of new and exciting developments and utilises the best of the expertise and knowledge of all parties.

From a leaflet by the Jewish People’s Council against Fascism and Anti-Semitism, 1936 [MS60/15/53]

One of the aspects of participation on the RLUK Research Catalyst Cohort Programme was a requirement not just to learn about research culture but to use the experience to help participants to develop a research project idea. Taking what might be called a real-life curatorial issue, I used this opportunity to focus on issues relating to the curation of challenging material. There is a growing recognition of the challenges of dealing with sensitive material and in particular there has been much discourse relating to the decolonisation of collections. As an institution holding considerable Jewish archival material, we are looking at what curatorial issues arise from these collections.

Oswald Mosley at a meeting, 1954: one of the challenging items held in collections at Southampton

Strands of narrative about curating sensitive or challenging material are being developed in conjunction with MA teaching programmes at the University on which I have been or will be leading sessions. The first of these were sessions with students from the Winchester School of Art MA in Curation Studies in February. Using examples of a range of material from the collections, the students were asked to engage with these and analyse issues around the items. The resulting discussions enabled the students to interrogate questions of cultural sensitivity, language, imagery as well as curatorial challenges with regard to the acquisition, description and presentation of material and to begin the process where we can gather evidence relating to this.

Part of a leaflet by the Jewish People’s Council against Fascism and Anti-Semitism relating to fascist marches through the East End of London, 1936 [MS60/15/53 page 40]

Building on this experience, I shall be running sessions as part of the public history module of a new MA in Holocaust Studies starting in autumn 2023. In these sessions I will be leading students to interrogate further the challenges and responsibilities of curating sensitive material, in this case specifically focusing on the Jewish archive collections.

This student engagement is a starting point for a developing research project which will feed into discussion and development of curatorial practices in the care of such collections, starting here at Southampton.

User perspective: cultural heritage sector placement

Between February and April of this year Archives and Special Collections we were joined by Huajing Chen, a student studying for a MA in the Archaeology Department, as part of her professional placement in the cultural heritage sector. Huajing learned about curation of archival material through her work on material relating to the excavation of cave paintings at Hornos de la Peña in the 1970s. This material included excavation notes, photographs and mouldings taken of markings on the cave walls which have been preserved in dental plaster. It is a part of a collection that is still being processed and catalogued and which should be available for research in 2024.

As part of the placement, Huajing wrote a report on some of her findings from the material:

The cave paintings clearly happened in two different periods, most of them in Hornos de la Peña happened in the period called Aurignacian and the Magdalenian. From these incredible artefacts from this period, we could more intuitively understand people’s lives at that time, people in the Magdalenian live with the herds of reindeer, horses, and bison. People live in a semi-sedentary life, they live in the cave as well, so we could find so many cave paintings in this place, also by the fact that people would leave paintings in caves, we could infer that people have their free time, consciousness, and aesthetics to create art works. The original artists focused on the depiction of the image itself, skillfully displaying the poses and complex compositions. The cave was in Santander, Spain. Because of the high value of the artefacts, it has become a popular view to visit in recent years.

Bison

From the recording, the bison is 75cm (about 2.46 ft) wide with no head, we could find it in the figure 1.0, in the picture, we could find the bison with no head is on the left-hand side of the view, next to the body is a trace of the bison’s head. Also, in some of the tracings it could clearly see that the Bison is with the head and some of the tracings there were only bison’s head, but from the documents, we could not find the detailed information about them, we could understand it as some of the information was missing.

Figure 1.0

Figure 1.1

Horses

From all the documents I have checked the number of paintings of horses is the highest of the number that can be collected in the cave. There were around six horses painting in the cave in different chambers, as we can see, the pictures down below, the paintings were in assorted styles, the first painting’s lines were simpler compared with others. In chamber A, we could find the horse’s hoof as well, we can see that horse is the normal and important animal to them. Figure 2.1 was thought of as a pregnant horse, this should be referred to a horse expert later. Some of the lines might be destroyed or it had never been finished.

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2

Figure 2.3

Figure 2.4

Model 66: This model was collected near the horse painting, it is a surface of loose dirt on the grey stone. Also, according to the record, there was dirt filled in the lines of the horse.

Figure 2.5

In figure 2.5, we could clearly see that there were two horses in the picture, it was drawn in the same period, it has the same style.

Model 98.1

Model 98.2

For the model 98, it might be the samples around the picture one. In picture 1, we can clearly see that there were two horses in the picture, one big and one small. The model 98 was collected from the small horse, they do not collect any samples from the large horse, but it might because of the mud and material will be familiar with the mud near the small horse. Near the small horse, the sample was hard, mixed stalagmite and grey stone covered with wet mud. In the model 98.2, we could clearly see that there was a dark grey line through the sample, most of the clay was soft and wet, and were easily to fall off. But the sample was kept in a good condition, there just a little mud fell from the mud area, and there was nothing on the stalagmite. From most of the samples collected from the cave, we could find out that most of the mud was soft and wet, some of the samples do not keep in an exceptionally good condition with might cause by the condition of the mud. We can see that in the model 98.1, there were some green materials on the sample. According to the environment we can speculate it might be moss, but in the paper, it does not mention it in detail. The discolouration also might be caused by factitious.

Thank you to Huajing for all her work and her careful analysis of the material relating to the excavation. Look out for a blog about the collection next year when work to process, catalogue and repackage it is complete.

Wellington 40: T is for Topography

And so we have reached the letter T in our W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N series of blogs and for this we are going to look at T for Topography.

As a soldier the Duke would have understood the necessity of accurate maps and plans when undertaking a military campaign. But this extended to the civil sphere as well and there is material in the Wellington Archive relating to work of the Ordnance Survey, which represented the most comprehensive topographic mapping of the country. 

Wellington’s appreciation of the value and maps and map-making is also shown in his purchase on behalf of the government, whilst Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1808, of maps produced by Neville Bath of various Irish counties. Ordnance Survey work had at this time not commenced in Ireland so Wellington took the opportunity to acquire what was then available instead.

Wellington acquired early Ordnance Survey maps of England and the Wellington Archive includes a letter from 1820 [MS61/WP1/649/9] in which he is thanked for presenting a set of Ordnance maps of England to the Royal Institution in London.

`The road at Irelands Eye shewing the situation of the proposed harbour for the accommodation of His Majesty’s ships of war’ at Howth, c.1807-9: the period when Wellington was Chief Secretary for Ireland [MS61/WP15/23]

When Wellington and the British army arrived in Spain and Portugal at the start of the Peninsular War they were greatly hampered by a lack of up-to-date maps. As Richard H. P. Smith has noted in his article on Peninsular War Cartography “Spain had not yet embarked on mapping the nation according to modern scientific principles, and although Portugal had begun such a survey, no maps were available.” The most recent were a series of maps by Tomas Lopez published in the latter part of the eighteenth century, a set of which can be found in the Wellington Archive.

Map of the province of Guipuzcoa by Tomas Lopez [MS61/15/31/22]

Responsibility for rectifying this dearth of adequate cartographic coverage was vested in the Quartermaster General Department, led in the Peninsula by Colonel George Murray. The focus of this map-making, which was only one of the numerous supply and logistical duties undertaken by Quartermasters, was military purposes, and their maps were not designed, as Murray noted in a letter to Lord Fitzroy Somerset in 1825, as a general survey of the Iberian peninsula [MS61/WP1/812/3].

Considerable material relating to cartography can be found in the Murray Papers at the National Library of Scotland.  Southampton has the research papers of S. G. P. Ward, the author of the study of the administration of Wellington’s army Wellington’s Headquarters, which contains extensive notes from his research on the Murray papers.

The Wellington Archive contains a number of examples of topographical maps dating from the Peninsular War.

`Sketch of the heights near Arruda’, c.1809-13 [MS61/WP15/37]

Sketch map of the area close to Burgos, c.1809-13 [MS61/WP15/38]

Section MS61/WP15 within the Wellington Archive contains a series of maps, plans and drawings which had become separated from their context within the collection. They have been arranged by region and cover France, India and Burma, Ireland, Jamaica, Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), Russia and Scandinavia. Further maps and plans can be found scattered throughout the Wellington Archive. To find out the range and scope of these search for “map” in the Archive catalogue.

We hope that you will join us again next week when we have the penultimate blog in this series, which will be O for Oxford and Wellington’s appointment as Chancellor of the University there.