Collections week January 2019

During termtimes it can be hard for the team to carry out work on new collections which means that they are available for researchers to use.  During quiet periods, in common with many other archive services, we therefore close the research room usually for around a week and keep the time free of other activities such as teaching and meetings so that we can focus on big collections.  As well as having plenty of space to spread them out if a lot of physical work is needed.

During January 2019 we were closed from Wednesday 2nd – Friday 11th inclusive to work on two big collections: the Colin Challen (MP) Archive and the Sir Patrick Stewart Archive.

The Challen Archive had been boxed (around 80 boxes) on its arrival at Heritage Quay  but because of the quantity of material no other work had been done since it was transferred by Colin Challen in November 2017.  During Collections Week the team were able to survey the material and to sort it into key series, mostly corresponding with Challen’s various roles and offices as a member of the Labour Party.  The archive was also listed, and a small project identified for further detailed listing of the miscellaneous consitutency Labour parties in CHN/8 (planned for 2020). 

The catalogue is available on the Heritage Quay online catalogue at www.heritagequay.org/archives/chn and also on the Archives Hub/Archives Portal Europe.  This part of the work took around 18 person-days and involved 6 members of the team.  More details in a later post!

We had undertaken some work on the Patrick Stewart Archive in a previous collections week, and took 6 person-days this time to expand and complete some of the work previously started.  The catalogue for the Patrick Stewart Archive is at www.heritagequay.org/archives/psa/ – and again, more details to follow!

A “world record”

Charles Hippisley-Cox writes

Here’s one of the latest additions to the British Dance Band Collection held here at Heritage Quay.   It is an exceptionally rare example of a World Record from the early 1920s.   Unlike most of the collection wherethe records revolve at 78 r.p.m, World Records experimented with a system where the record starts slowly and gradually accelerates towards the record label. 

Record label
Record label for World Record

The theory was to reduce the deterioration of sound quality towards the centre of disc recordings where each rotation is shorter.  For various reasons the “World” project was doomed with the eccentric polymath aviator, publisher, Member of Parliament and entrepreneur-inventor Noel Pemberton Billing (1881–1948) swiftly moving on to other things .

However the system of “constant linear speed” was revisited much later with the introduction of CDs that revolve at a much faster speed when the laser gets close to the centre.The new acquisition will be difficult to transfer to an accessible MP3 as the team are still working out a way of using computer software for editing the sound files which will be recorded at a constant speed and then adjusted accordingly.

What does performance art tell us about the world we inhabit?

We’re always glad to see the outputs from people using the collections, and a few months ago composer Amble Skuse explored the British Music Collection for a curated series commissioned by our partners Sound and Music.

Amble’s series of pieces can be read in full at https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/article-category/amble-skuse-curation Her series begins:

I’m interested in power and how it manifests. So the choice to curate the Experimental box from the British Music Collection may seem a little counterintuitive. After all, power stems from big concertos, commissions from kings, and requiems for great people, doesn’t it? Well, that is one way of looking at power, but if we want to critique it perhaps we need to look at composers who are not taking this top down approach to composing. Not asserting control over the players with every minutiae of notation.

In the experimental box we find composers whose work explores the usual musical considerations, tone, melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, colour etc, but also are aware of the structures around how we make music. These experimental composers are exploring ways in which we can subvert traditional hierarchical music composition using techniques from cultural theory. In this box we find approaches from Marxism, Anarchy, Feminism, Disability Theory, and Globalisation applied to the music making environment.

I’m interested in the ways in which music can incorporate broader socio-political themes, through its performance direction. Personally, I work somewhere between composer and performance artist, using music and sound in a performance art context, imbuing the ‘performance’ of the work with further readings related to socio-political context. I find that this approach allows me to use context to add meaning to my performances.

Explore Amble’s series further.

What will you discover on the Archives Hub?

We’ve recently updated a lot of the catalogue information we contribute to the Archives Hub and the Archives Portal Europe.

As of right now (!) the Archives Hub contains information about 1,439,837 archive collections in 341 different repositories across the UK. 

The Archives Portal Europe currently contains information about 270,327,385 descriptive units of archives in 7,036 institutions across Europe.

Using portals like the Archives Hub is an effective way to discover unique and often little-known sources to support your research. New descriptions are added every week, often representing collections being made available for the first time. Use the portals to instantly scan the archival landscape and bring together diverse sources held in repositories across the continent.

Whether you are just starting out or are ready to explore your subject in depth, portals can help inform your work. They represent a huge diversity of content, from the archives of industries, institutions and researchers to the letters and manuscripts of writers and poets.

You can see all our descriptions and other information on the Archives Hub at https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/locations/627a22c9-d85c-3c8a-bb43-6daed9e6aa00

Justice of the Peace and Local Government Review

Among the periodicals (or “serials”) held at Heritage Quay is “Justice of the Peace and Local Government Review” (originally “Justice of the Peace”). We hold 221 volumes, covering 1838-1959; the run includes supplement and index volumes.

The publication started in 1837, as a weekly summary of legal cases, with editorial comment, and later correspondence and short articles. Job advertisements for local government posts as well as commercial and charitable advertisements are included.

As well as local government public health, public assistance, rates and rating, highways, housing, town and country planning, licensing, landlord and tenant, and magisterial law and procedure, the periodical strikes me as a great source for social history in general.

The Rhthym Sisters

Collector Charles Hippisley-Cox writes
“Recent contact with the granddaughter of Kay Munro-Smythe has caused a flurry of interest in the pioneer 1930s jazz vocal group known as the Rhythm Sisters.   Most of their recordings are preserved here in the British Dance Band Collection in the Heritage Quay….including an iconic version of seasonal classic “Winter Wonderland” featuring Sam Browne and the Rhythm Sisters from 1935.”
Enjoy!

Collections week and Christmas closure, 24 December 2018 – 12 January 2019

Early January tends to be a quiet time in the research room, so the team will again take the opportunity to focus on some larger collections which are difficult to work on whilst normal activities are going on in Heritage Quay.

Collections need sorting, repackaging and cataloguing to be accessible for your research, and often a large amount of space and time is needed for this.

Heritage Quay will be closed from 16:00 on Sunday 23rd December 2018 and will re-open at 09:30 on Saturday 12th January 2019 to enable the team to undertake this work, following the University’s Christmas and New Year closure.

During January this year the team finished off the Hopkinsons’ Ltd archive and made a start on sorting and surveying Sir Patrick Stewart’s archive, received during 2017. We also undertook a vital stock-check during a closed period in July 2018, to make sure that archives are available for use.

Trevor Wishart & Mick Banks’ Landscape – 2nd performance at Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, 1st July 2018

Local composer and researcher Julian Brooks attended the New Voices networking days at Heritage Quay in autumn 2017. As part of the days, the composers explored part of the British Music Collection and Julian was excited by the score for Trevor Wishart and Mick Banks’ ambitious site specific music composition “Landscape”, which was first staged in 1970.

This chance encounter with the score led to a recreation of the spectacular all day event around Hebden Bridge featuring fireworks, choirs on hillsides, flags, balloons, bells, improvising kids, cyclists playing their bikes and cones of black ice cream served from Royds ice cream vans playing Beethoven’s 7th Symphony.

Julian worked with Leeds-born Trevor himself, who is regarded, amongst many accolades, as the UK father of community music in this country. The event was supported by UK contemporary music charity Sound and Music, Arts Council England and Hebden Bridge Arts Festival.

Landscape is a series of somewhat surreal music-theatre situations which have been scored for pre-specified activities, outdoor locations, times and durations spanning twelve hours over one day.

Julian made use of Mick and Trevor’s guidance to incorporate workshops and performances from musicians, artists, local schools, community groups and small business introducing audiences to contemporary music that will appeal to new and experienced audiences alike.

Dr Julian Brooks said “I couldn’t believe it when I came across this amazing score in the archives of the BMC and I realised I had something very special and genuinely ground-breaking that needed to be performed. It brings out all that’s best about Hebden Bridge. Trevor Wishart is one of the most important composers of contemporary music in this country, his work is still hugely influential and this second-ever staging of Landscape will make audiences think, have fun and be entertained.”

Arts Festival Artistic Director Helen Meller said “For years people have been saying we should recreate Landscape as they remembered how spectacular it was from the first time round and then Julian came forward with the score and the skills to do it. It is a genuinely one off piece that is perfect for our festival as it is ambitious, challenging and playful. It’s been a real joy to see Trevor and Julian’s vision come together pulling in all sort of local people to take part, and I am looking to eating some locally made black ice cream from Royd’s Ice Cream as I watch the whole piece unfurl.”