Category: Research in Focus

Research in Focus

  • Park Building: A seat of learning and former home to the city’s central library

    Park Building: A seat of learning and former home to the city’s central library

    In this blog, part of a series of posts looking at sites of historical interest in Portsmouth, Dr Rob James, Senior Lecturer in History, reveals that Park Building, location for History’s Open Days, was once home to the city’s central library. Rob’s research focuses on society’s leisure practices, and he teaches a number of units that focus on one of the most popular leisure pursuits of the first half of the twentieth century, going to the cinema.

    Portsmouth’s first public library didn’t open until 1883, much later than most other sizeable cities in England. Indeed, the country’s first public library was opened over thirty years earlier, in Manchester in September 1852. Over the next few years many major towns and cities followed Manchester’s lead and opened public libraries to serve the country’s growing number of readers.

    Manchester Public Library

    When I first started researching the country’s public library history I was somewhat surprised to see that Portsmouth was so late in getting in on the act. There appears to have been an initial reluctance among the city’s civic elites in setting up a free library service, with the local newspaper reporting in 1944 that ‘in the early days of the [free library] movement Portsmouth was not “library conscious”.’ [1] Apparently, opposition towards a public library service came from the city’s ratepayers who ‘opposed all attempts by the Borough Council to inaugurate a library service’. [2] That opposition was ‘gradually worn down’, and after the first public library proved to be a well-liked and much-visited amenity, Portsmouth’s civic leaders embarked upon providing branch libraries in many other areas of the city.

    Such was the popularity of the first library that the Council soon had to look for an alternative location in which to accommodate all of its visitors (as well as the thousands of books it needed to house). Portsmouth ‘central’ library has, therefore, had a number of homes, but since 1890 it has been located at the heart of the city’s civic centre. Between 1890 and 1907 the library was located in the New Town Hall (site of the current Guildhall). After that it was housed in Park Building, which was also home to the city’s Municipal College. The library is currently located in Guildhall Square, next to the Civic Offices and just a stone’s throw away from the Guildhall.

    Park Building, Portsmouth

    Continuing the long history of education on that site, Park Building is now home to the University and the venue for our Faculty’s Open Days. So, when you’re next in the building – as a visitor at an Open Day or as a current student – try to imagine it filled with books and bustling with avid population of readers from across the city!

    To read more on public libraries in Britain, see the previous blogs by Rob James on this site: ‘Libraries as community hubs’, ‘Read for Victory‘, ‘Pleasure in reading is the true function of all books’ and ‘Literature acknowledges no boundaries’.

    Notes

    [1] See comments published in ‘Portsmouth is Now Library Conscious: A Review of 60 Years’ Work in the City’, Evening News (Portsmouth), 30 May 1944.

    [2] James G. Ollie, The Portsmouth Reader, July 1947.

  • Wymering Manor: Portsmouth’s oldest domestic building

    Wymering Manor: Portsmouth’s oldest domestic building

    In this blog, the fourth in a series of posts looking at sites of historical interest in Portsmouth, Dr Katy Gibbons, Senior Lecturer in History, discusses the significant but often overlooked history of Wymering Manor, the oldest domestic building in the city of Portsmouth. Katy’s research specialisms focus on the religious and cultural history of early modern England, and specifically on the Catholic communities living under Protestant rule. This connects to her teaching at Levels 4 and 6 of the History curriculum, particularly specialist modules on religious identity in Elizabethan England.

    For a place rich in heritage, Wymering Manor, on the outskirts of Portsmouth, is one of its often-overlooked gems.

    Wymering Manor

    This grade 2 listed building is the oldest domestic building in the city. It is a sixteenth century manor house (with earlier foundations), with an interesting and colourful history, but is rather ‘off the beaten track’ of Portsmouth’s visitor attractions. Wymering Manor provides a fascinating route into the changing history of the local area, the varied use and repurposing of historic buildings and their contents, and into contemporary issues relating to the conservation of public heritage. It also connects in different ways to the research interests of staff at the University of Portsmouth, including those within the History team.

    Wymering Manor

    In its current form, the house was built in the later sixteenth century, by the Bruning family. The Brunings were Catholics at a time when England’s identity was increasingly being wedded to Protestantism: whilst part of the elite social group, the Brunings would have been part of a religious minority. Since that time, the Manor has been home to a number of different inhabitants, including the vicar of the parish, who established an Anglican Religious order there in the nineteenth century; the British army during the Second World War, and, most recently, to countless numbers of visitors in its stint as a Youth Hostel. Located next door to the ancient parish church of Wymering, it has played an important part in the local community.

    The fabric and contents of the house itself reflect its changing use over the centuries. It presents historians, architects and others with a number of puzzles, as it is not always clear when changes were made, by whom, and for what purpose! There is the intriguing question of possible priest holes: spaces were built into the fabric of Catholic houses to hide priests if the Protestant authorities carried out a search – but the dating of these at Wymering raise some interesting questions. Some of the internal structures and decorations also pose puzzles – how ‘original’ are some of the fireplaces for example – have they been moved from other locations in the house, or brought in as part of later ‘home improvements’ from other domestic settings?

    Rear view of Wymering Manor

    Wymering Manor is also associated with a number of ghost stories, providing us with another route into thinking about the ways in which Portsmouth and its surrounding areas, are thought about and remembered. A number of legends are associated with the building, and it is a popular location for paranormal investigations.

    The Manor has survived, if precariously, whilst the community around it has changed as a result of the expansion of the urban area of Portsmouth. However, it has continued to have an impact on its local community. The house is now in the hands of the Wymering Manor Trust, who have taken on the significant challenge of preserving it for the use of future generations, and of providing a community hub for a range of different cultural and social events.

     

    For further information on Wymering Manor click here.

    For further examples of academic research on Catholic History: see the journal British Catholic History, edited by University of Portsmouth’s Dr Katy Gibbons.

    For those interested in Portsmouth’s supernatural past visit the Darkfest site.

  • Looking backwards – and forwards

    Looking backwards – and forwards

    In this post, Mike Esbester, Senior Lecturer in History, outlines student and staff work with an external partner to mark a significant anniversary. Mike’s research focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain, particularly on the cultural history of safety, risk and accident prevention, and on the history of mobility. 

    When people hit a big milestone age – 40 is a common one – it seems that for many the mind starts to think with greater focus about the past, as well as turning to the future. In some respects organisations are no different: big anniversaries are often used as a moment to pause and take stock, as well as to consider next steps. And so it was that in 2016 I was contacted by the Herefordshire Health and Safety Group. They were alive to their past, and had identified that 2018 would be 50 years since they were founded, a date they wanted to mark in some way.

    The Group’s President, Roger Bibbings, was someone that I’d known for some time, as a result of my research into the history of health and safety and accident prevention groups, and particularly my efforts to work with current organisations. As a result, when the Herefordshire group were looking for someone to help them with marking their history, Roger suggested my name. I was keen to do it for several reasons. It fitted happily with my wish to see the past brought into current practice, as well as opening up a new – and as yet unresearched – group that would fit in with my interests.

    In addition, the timing was fortuitous – this was an ideal project on which to involve a student, and it was possible to arrange it so that the role would work inside one of our placement units. Through it we recruited an excellent candidate, Josh Bassett, at that point a 2nd year student. This would work to the advantage of both Josh and the Group, so it was a win-win situation; Josh gained experience of working in an environment beyond the University and particularly dealing with external stakeholders, and the Group gained a great researcher contributing to their anniversary.

    Between us, Josh and I spent time meeting with the Group’s Executive Committee, to understand the Group, their knowledge of its past, and what they were looking for from our collaboration. The key output was to be a booklet, but beyond that we were given free rein about content, design and direction – all of which were going to be dependent on what we found. One of the points I was keen to contribute was the importance of contextualising the Group’s activities over the years: this needed to be a booklet that looked wider than just the Group. Fortunately they were enthusiastic about this idea.

    Josh and I sifted through the Group’s archival material, split between the Herefordshire Archive and Record Centre (a lovely new building, climate neutral too – very impressive) and an industrial estate where one of the member firms of the Group was based. Much of it was in hardcopy, though of course the more recent records were digital, so we ran up against the questions that have been confronting archivists for some time now, about retention and preservation of ‘born digital’ records. Fortunately between the various sources we had a reasonable run of material, apart from a gap in the 1980s (a point at which the Group was in a low of membership).

    As part of the archival work, we introduced one of the Committee members, Peter Smith, to the archives, to familiarise him with the work we were doing – an interesting experience for all concerned, as his questions forced us to think carefully about why we did things in a particular way! Josh and I also carried out an oral history interview with Ron Aston, the longest serving Committee member, who had joined the Group in the late 1970s. That was useful in getting both a sense of the personal within the Group and its work, and in addressing some of the gaps in the documentary record. This didn’t cover everything, of course – the ‘one that got away’ was the poster competition held in the early 1970s: sadly we were unable to find images of the entries!

    Having gathered as much evidence as possible of the Group’s activities since 1968, Josh and I came up with a structure for the booklet. We’d initially thought we’d have enough for a relatively slim volume, but it grew and grew, until we’d enough material for 68 pages. We worked closely with the Group on these stages in particular as we wanted to ensure they were going to be satisfied with the end product – helped by the fact that they were true to their word and gave us complete independence in terms of the content. We worked with a design student from the University, Jasmine Kenney, as she handled the design and production side of things – a good thing too, as we ended up with a nice looking booklet, and that wouldn’t have been the case had design been down to me! This was also another great example of how we try to embed practical experience across the various degree programmes at Portsmouth, working with our external partners.

    The booklet launch was held earlier this year at Hereford Town Hall, a good opportunity to mark the anniversary, to catch up with the Group and to meet some of their members. Feedback on the booklet has been very positive, with copies distributed widely in Herefordshire, across a range of sectors – industrial, retail, education, regulation, health care and more. Thankfully the Group has been well satisfied with the booklet – and are now moving into their next 50 years!

    If you want to read more about the Group’s activities and ethos over the years, you can download the booklet here!

     

     

     

     

  • Gunpowder, treason and plot: Difficult pasts and how we remember them

    Gunpowder, treason and plot: Difficult pasts and how we remember them

    The BBC series Gunpowder, screened at this time last year, sparked some lively debate. In this blog post, our Dr Katy Gibbons reflects on some of the responses to that series, particularly the graphic depictions of violence enacted by the state. Katy’s research looks at religious exile in Early Modern Europe, its impact on the home and host societies, and what it reveals about the complex interactions between groups of coreligionists in different parts of Europe.

    Contemporary engraving of some of the conspirators, with Guy Fawkes third from the right.

    The end of October often brings a focus on Halloween. The celebrations including pumpkins, trick or treat and fancy dress have tended to shift the focus away from a specifically British celebration of Guy Fawkes Night, with bonfire, fireworks and ‘Penny for the Guy’. However, the events of 5th November 1605, in which a group of Catholic conspirators aimed, but failed, to remove the Protestant monarch James VI and much of the state’s ruling elite, are a significant episode in British History. And the ways in which it has been commemorated and celebrated are revealing of how difficult events in the not-so-recent past are dealt with as part of a ‘national’ narrative.

    To read the rest of the blog, published in The Conversation, click here.

  • Women’s Community Activism Project

    Women’s Community Activism Project

    Work has begun at the University of Portsmouth on ‘Women’s Community Activism in Portsmouth – The Hidden Heritage of a Naval Town”, a project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This interdisciplinary project is led by Sue Bruley of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Laurel Forster of the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries.  Dr Anna Cole is the Project Co-ordinator and Sue Turner the Project Administrator.  Sue is an alumni of the University of Portsmouth and worked for Portsmouth Television in the early 2000s. She is founder and CEO of Elephant in Scarlet, a CIC specialising in video production, based in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard. Dr Anna Cole specializes in oral and archival histories of race, gender and sexuality and has worked both in the academic and not-for-profit, community sector. She worked at the University of London, Goldsmith’s College as Research Co-ordinator of a large AHRC-Getty funded international, interdisciplinary project on embodied exchange in Oceania, as Prime-Minister’s Research Fellow at the Museum for Australian Democracy, Canberra and is Regional Lead for an innovative not-for-profit campaigning organisation Hand in Hand Parenting.  Anna Cole writes here on the Women’s Community Activism Project and its upcoming launch day.

    We live in a new era of political activism. Snapchat, Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms magnify the reach of local campaigns in ways that were inconceivable before the birth of the internet.  The Arab Spring of 2011, and recent online campaigns such as #Metoo and Time’s Up are testimony to this new era – an era of ‘ipad activists’ of ‘clicktivists’ or ‘slack-tivists’ as Craftivist Collective founder, Sarah Corbett, dubs them.  In these new times pertinent questions can be asked about the efficacy and longevity of political campaigns for a just society.  What motivates activists in the face of monumental challenges to keep going and to imagine a better future regardless of the platforms available to them?  What campaigns and approaches lead to lasting change? How do local campaigns reflect and refract larger national issues and activism?

    Thousands of women and men gather at Trafalgar Square for a rally after marching globally through central London, to promote women’s and human rights a day after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Saturday January 21, 2017

     

    We are wanting to speak to, record and learn both from women activists who acted locally, thought globally, and made positive change happen. We want to speak to those who worked tirelessly lobbying for equal pay and for maternity and paternity provision.  We want to learn from those who dreamt of a better future for their children, and worked against racism and sexism in schools. We want to record those who fought for affordable childcare and those who were victorious in the introduction of better workplace conditions in the 1960s and ‘70s.  We want to speak to women who juggled the demands of families and children with paid employment, and women who broke new ground in the Wrens. The story of the Portsmouth branch of the international Women’s Liberation Movement will be central, but it is only one of many strands in a wider, un-documented movement for local women’s rights and equality in Portsmouth. The struggle of women against sexual-harassment in the workplace and domestic violence at home and their campaigns for better housing will be an important part of this new history.

    The aim of the project is to not only record a new and often invisible story of women in a traditionally naval town, but to train and support groups of local volunteers in oral history, video making, curatorial design and web content. There are opportunities for students of social and cultural history, gender politics, marketing and media available now to get involved and gain valuable work-experience and skills while being part of an exciting historic project with contemporary links. This an ambitious, year-long project, with outcomes that include 50 oral history interviews and transcriptions, 6 groups of volunteers working on website content, video stories based on first person testimony, a learning pack for schools, a ‘Memory Day’ to engage with local girls as they grow up, a touring mobile exhibition, a project booklet, and finally two public lectures in 2019.  Get involved now and take your place in making history.

    For more information and to get involved come along to our launch day on Saturday October 20th, at the University of Portsmouth Library, Seminar Room 2,  from 10am until 3.30pm.  You can join us for lunch and an oral history training session, or drop-in as you can.  The day is free but registration is essential:

    Contact Anna Cole or Sue Turner to register: anna.cole@port.ac.uk or susan.turner@port.ac.uk

    Phone: 02392 846 121 or 02392 846 156

    Facebook: Women’s Community Activism in Portsmouth

    Website: www.womenscommunityactivism.port.ac.uk

  • Libraries as community hubs

    Libraries as community hubs

    Dr Robert James, Senior Lecturer in History at Portsmouth, has written a piece for Social History Exchange, a blog run by the Social History Society, to celebrate Libraries Week. In the blog Rob discusses how libraries have acted, and continue to act, as hubs for the local community. To read the blog, click here.