Reclaiming Narratives: Finding Black History in the Archives

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Beth Astridge

Sign up to our workshop on Wednesday 6^th November 2024 – 1pm to 4pm

Location: Templeman Library, Room A108 (A Block – first floor)

Join the team in Special Collections and Archives for a workshop exploring Black history in the University’s archive and book collections.

Selection of items from the 1960s in the Faustin Charles Archive collection – including an advertisement for a lecture by CLR James chaired by Faustin Charles, two issues of newsletters from the West Indian Student Union in London, and a programme for a Ballet performance titled Black Africa. (Reference: UKA/ALU/CHARLESF/7/1)

In this workshop you will learn more about the University’s special collections, and have the opportunity to view some of the archive collections that highlight aspects of Black history. Workshop participants will learn archive research techniques, and be able to participate in our ongoing work to reveal and showcase the stories and experiences of people of colour that feature in our archive collections.

Through the workshop, participants will consider the challenges of trying to uncover hidden stories in the archives, touching on issues such as changes in terminology and the use of outdated language, and the lack of detailed cataloguing providing barriers to successful research.

Participants will be invited to spend time exploring archive catalogues to locate items of interest in the study of Black history, surfacing evidence of the activities and experiences of people of colour held within the archives. Your discoveries will be added to our list of sources supporting the study of Black history in the archive collections.

There will also be some free pizza at the end of the workshop as a thank you for your hard work!

To book a place on the workshop please contact Special Collections and Archives: specialcollections@kent.ac.uk

Black and white image of Faustin Charles, a Black man, standing at a lectern delivering a reading, wearing dark trousers, a lighter colour jacket and a roll neck jumper.

Faustin Charles reading poetry in 1970s (Reference: UKA/ALU/CHARLESF/7/9)

Sport in Special Collections and Archives

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Christine Davies

With the excitement of both the Euros and Wimbledon, sports fever has gripped Special Collections and Archives, so we thought we’d explore how the two sports have been represented in cartoons across the decades and open the reading room for a free drop in this Friday 12^th July to showcase some of the incredible artworks we hold. Read on for a sneaky preview of the cartoonists whose work will be on display!

Tom Webster (1886-1962)

Tom Webster specialised as a sports cartoonist and pioneered his characteristic “running comment” cartoon style in response to the growing popularity of press photography; “I saw the red light,” he later recalled, “and realised that I had to find something the camera could not do”. After serving as a Lance Corporal in WWI, including action in the Battle of the Somme, he joined Northcliffe’s London Evening News as a sports cartoonist in 1918, and transferred to its sister paper, the Daily Mail, in 1919. His narrative cartoons began life at the sporting events themselves, where he would draw rapidly in pocket sketchbooks, and it proved quite a feat to meet the deadline for the next day’s paper. Equipped with his reference material, Webster explained, “I have to settle the sequence of the episodes, work up to the climax of my comic story, and pencil the whole thing in, within half an hour. This leaves me about three-quarters of an hour for finishing in ink.’ His cartoons were so popular that the Daily Mail provided Webster with a chauffeur-driven Daimler, fitted with an easel, so that he could start drawing on the way back from sporting events to the office. By 1924 he was reputedly the highest-paid cartoonist in the world.

Webster played golf with Herbert Chapman, manager of Arsenal Football Club, and supposedly inspired him with his habit of wearing a red sleeveless sweater over a white shirt to redesign the club’s red shirts in 1933 to incorporate their trademark white collar and sleeves. According to Webster’s family, he produced the design himself, and was rewarded with a shirt signed by the players on the sleeves and the directors on the collar. Webster covered plenty of football matches over the course of his cartooning career, and one player that features frequently in our collection is Charlie Buchan (1891-1960). Buchan started his career with Woolwich Arsenal (as it was then) in 1909, and – following a successful career with Sunderland – returned to Arsenal in 1925, seeing the club to their first FA Cup final in 1927. Webster seemingly makes much of the striker’s height!

Tom Webster cartoon of the Sunderland football team, featuring Charlie Buchan in the front row, centre, towering over the other players.

Buchan (Sunderland). Daily Mail (1921) – British Cartoon Archive, Tom Webster TW0287

Another notable sports personality of the early 20^th century was French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen, the inaugural world No. 1 from 1921 to 1926. Invariably drawn with her short black bob and coloured bandeau, Webster seems less concerned about reporting on her skill, however, than he does in implicating her femininity. One can recognise the same trait in Webster’s contemporary, W. K. Haselden, in whose abstract cartoons about tennis a recognisably similar woman appears.

Tom Webster cartoon of Suzanne Lenglen reprimanding an American press photographer.

Champion of the world. Weekly Dispatch (20 November 1926) – British Cartoon Archive, Tom Webster TW1292

William Haselden (1872-1953)

A self-taught artist, Haselden is principally known as a social cartoonist and he had a steady career with the Daily Mirror from 1904 until his retirement in 1940. He worked with pen and Indian ink on board and developed a special multi-frame format, usually of six images, as his trademark style. He was known to use real people as the models for his cartoons, and his female tennis players often bear a striking resemblance to Suzanne Lenglen (see Tom Webster). His cartoons often satirise social expectations with regard to femininity and fashion, and he defends the short skirt as a pragmatic dress choice for tennis by contrasting it with an array of ridiculous alternatives – from swaddling gowns to custom-made bare leg protectors.

William Haselden cartoon in two sections, the topmost one showing four female tennis players in short skirts, the bottom one showing the same players in long training skirts, in the manner of Kate Greenaway.

If dresses are to be worn longer. Daily Mirror (8 September 1921) – British Cartoon Archive, William Haselden WH3380

William Haselden cartoon ridiculing society's outrage at female tennis players' short skirts.

Bare legs at Wimbledon. Daily Mirror (31 May 1929) – British Cartoon Archive, William Haselden WH4320

Asides from tennis, it’s also interesting what Haselden’s cartoons can tell us about the history of women’s football.

Whilst testimonies exist about women joining in casual community football alongside men as early as the 15^th century, the first recorded match (between England and Scotland) wasn’t until 1881. Women’s football really took off during WWI, in fact it was reported that every town in England developed a women’s team. Naturally, when professional football resumed for men’s teams when the war ended, women’s football experienced an increased ideological backlash and legal action was taken to prohibit women from taking part in organised matches. In 1921, the FA implemented a countrywide ban on women’s football, which wasn’t lifted for fifty years. It is this context which we need to bear in mind when viewing Haselden’s cartoons. On 14^th November 1925, the Daily Mail published Haselden’s cartoon about how rugby is – and ought to be – played. In response to contemporary complaints that the game is too rough, Haselden suggests that efforts to make the sport more genteel would risk emasculating the players. If men should conduct themselves like women on the pitch, how ironic is it, then, that women should be banned from the pitch?

William Haselden cartoon in two sections, the topmost showing rugby players fighting, and the bottom one showing 'civilised' play.

How to play rugby. Daily Mirror (14 November 1925) – British Cartoon Archive, William Haselden WH2589

Richard Willson (1939-2011)

Known principally as a caricaturist, Richard Willson can be said to have started his career proper in 1968 when he was taken on by The Observer. He started working freelance for The Times in 1971, contributing striking profiles for its Business Diary. His career involved freelance work for a wide range of publications, so it is difficult to know precisely which magazine or newspaper these caricatures may have been intended for. Amongst his sets of 80s and 90s sports personalities, Willson has captured footballers Gary Lineker and Vinnie Jones, and tennis players Björn Borg and Martina Navratilova. His fine, cross-hatched style with big heads on small bodies shows the influence of the American caricaturist David Levine; the artworks here have been done in ink and acrylic, which testifies to the spread of colour printing in newspapers since the days of Webster and Haselden.

Richard Willson caricature of 80s sports personalities: Rob Andrew, Gary Lineker, Björn Borg, Martina Navratilova, Brian Lara and Damon Hill.

80s sports personalities (Rob Andrew, Gary Lineker, Björn Borg, Martina Navratilova, Brian Lara and Damon Hill) – British Cartoon Archive, Richard Willson RW0028

Richard Willson caricature of 90s sports personalities: Will Carling, Mike Tyson, Michael Schumacher, Jonah Lomu and Vinnie Jones.

90s sports personalities (Will Carling, Mike Tyson, Michael Schumacher, Jonah Lomu and Vinnie Jones) – British Cartoon Archive, Richard Willson RW0027

Ron McTrusty (1948-2021)

Whilst Ron McTrusty started his career in 1970 as a magazine designer for Women’s Own and Women’s World, his significance for the British Cartoon Archive lies in his caricatures, and a number of notable sports personalities appear across our collection. To conclude this post, I leave you with the great Sue Barker, Tim Henman, Ian Wright and Glenn Hoddle. Come along on Friday to see even more!

Sue Barker – British Cartoon Archive, Ron McTrusty RMT0026

Tim Henman – British Cartoon Archive, Ron McTrusty RMT0507

Ian Wright – British Cartoon Archive, Ron McTrusty RMT1063

Ian McTrusty caricature of Glenn Hoddle.

Glenn Hoddle – British Cartoon Archive, Ron McTrusty RMT0474

Preserving ceramics – a work placement project

Posted on May 9, 2024 by Clair Waller

We welcomed three university students to the archives earlier this year to work on ceramic objects in our Holt Bairnsfather Collection and Graham Thomas Collection. The students were joining us on work placements as part of their studies, and were asked to complete a number of tasks to help us preserve, catalogue and make accessible these collections:

Reviewing: Carrying out a condition report for each item in the collection and photographing each item
Cleaning: Using conservation materials to gently clean the items to ensure they are free of dust and grime
Repacking: Creating custom enclosures for each item using plastazote and ‘Really Useful Boxes’
Listing: Creating descriptions for each item in a spreadsheet that will be imported into Calm, our Collection Management System

You can find out more about these collections on our catalogue:
Holt Bairnsfather Collection
Graham Thomas Collection

Harvey (Canterbury Christ Church University)

Working on the Bairnsfather Collection has been my first experience working as a part of an archival team. It has been an amazing experience and has taught me a lot about not only how working in an archive works but also about a part of history that I did not know a lot about before starting my placement here.

The work I did as part of the team was cataloguing, filling out condition reports, and packaging the items that were to be added to the collection. When cataloguing and completing condition reports it was vital to note down every important detail which people might find important when looking to study these items. Fully assessing the condition was also important as it could be that a detail that someone wanted to look at is damaged, or it could help the archival team know what needed to be handled with a little extra care. When looking into the items to write up their description I learned a lot about not only the items themselves but also about the history surrounding them. This was history I was unlikely to look into myself as I am more of a medievalist.

The beginnings of packaging being constructed

The process of creating protective packaging for the items was a very interesting one as it was not something I had considered as a part of working in an archive before this point. It was one of the reasons for which I applied to do my placement at the Kent Special Collections and Archives department. The way I created the packaging for the items changed throughout my placement.

The figure of President Wilson, depicted holding an ammunition shell.

At first I took measurements at every new layer of plastazote (the main material used in the creation of the packaging). However, by the end, I would measure the first layer and then use that as a template for the rest of the layers. Using scraps of the foam was also a way in which I could make layers on particularly unique shapes of items as it was easier to use the smaller, already-cut pieces than it would be to cut out new ones.

Overall, I found my time working with the Bairnsfather Collection to be very rewarding. The skills and history I learned are invaluable and I look forward to going back and helping out again.

______________________________________________________________________

Nirvanna (Canterbury Christ Church University)

This post is dedicated to commemorating the University of Kent’s Special Collections and Archives department and their continuative effort to make unique historical collections available to the benefit of wider society. This department houses and stores over one hundred and fifty collections which range from materials including memorabilia, ceramics, and publications. Throughout the duration of my time working alongside this department, I assisted with the archival processing of the Graham Thomas Collection.

The Graham Thomas Collection

This collection was gifted to the University’s Special Collections and Archives Department by the former lecturer in politics Dr Graham Thomas, after he passed away in April 2023. Dr Graham Thomas was an active participant in the founding of the British Cartoon Archive in the early 1970s. His addition to the Archives consists of the personal items he acquired throughout his lifetime, relating to theatre and cartoons, including the political and cartoon ceramics that will follow in this post.

F.C.G “Toby” Jugs

Fig 1. Pictured is the F.C.G “Toby” Jug Collection depicting seven of the eleven allied war leaders, President Woodrow Wilson depicted in navy blue to the left, Marshall Foch in the centre and David Lloyd George on the right.

A large part of this collection is the political memorabilia collected by Dr Thomas in the form of ceramics. An example of this is the F.C.G “Toby” series pictured in figure 1. This collection represents the full series created by political cartoonist Sir Francis Carruthers Gould in 1917, depicting eleven allied war leaders as decorative ceramic toby jugs. These figures include Winston Churchill (pictured in figure two below) and President Woodrow Wilson (pictured in figure one above), both of whom were widely influential during World War I.

Figure two: pictured Winston Churchill Soane and Smith Toby Jug, 1918, © University of Kent Special Collections and Archives

The accumulation of this series has proven to be a rarity as, upon research, only a limited number of each character toby jug was produced by the makers, Wilkinsons Ltd. Accompanying the figures of the Toby jugs is documentation explaining the release of this toby series as pictured in figure three below. The documentation briefly states that during the time the series was released, there was an increase of demand leading to a ‘reserve list’ for subscribers enquiring after these unique pieces, which consequently required buyers to pay a high price for them. With their existence being in demand from consumers it prompted the producers Soane and Smith to destroy the moulds after their creation so that others could not attempt to replicate them.

Background of Political figure ceramics

The use of ceramics to depict images has been historically significant to convey wider societal opinions on specific subject matters. For modern-day political artists, ceramics and cartoon depictions will be created with the intention to capture the common thoughts and reactions to the affairs of political leaders. The narrative behind these creations has followed the attempt to admonish their audience using satire to question political thought and encourage subversion in the public.

Fig 3: Documentation of a poster promoting the release of the F.C.G “Toby” Series © University of Kent Special Collections and Archives.

The importance of archiving and housing records of such suggestive ceramics is so that there is an inclusive record of public opinion. Not only the fact of historical events, but the lasting effect of politicians on public lives. Many of which, during their time period, did not have a voice to change or challenge governmental authority on their own.

Concluding thoughts

In credit to the Special Collections and Archives department, the artefacts they collect continue to increase the exposure of unknown stories to the wider public. Thus, allowing the general public to access resources that sustain the education of past culture for current and future generations.

Lizzie (University of Kent)

I spent multiple weeks working as a volunteer in the University of Kents Special Collections department documenting and packaging the Holt Bairnsfather collection of ceramics with the cartoons of Captain Bruce Bairnsfather on them.

This was not only an enjoyable time but also educational. This experience allowed me to apply the information I had received during lectures as well as receive some additional insight into the career of archives. During this internship I experienced the process of cataloguing the ceramic collection (this included the writing of a description on excel that would later be put on the website) and packaging the ceramics.

While it started off easy with the packaging it became more difficult due to the unusual shapes of the ceramics like jugs cups and figurines. Each ceramic was stored properly in plastic containers with padding to prevent movement. As each item was packaged, I became more proficient and became able to make up a box in one to one and a half sessions depending on the number of objects.

A useful method was applied when helping me adjust to the volunteering; they gradually increased the difficulty of the objects until I got to the largest and most intricate box. This was the tea set. I had to pack seven cups and seven saucers as well as a tea pot and its lid in one box. This was the largest number of objects that needed to go into a single box that I had done. As the cups were all the same it saved time on documenting them onto the spreadsheet, but it still took the entire 6 hours I was there to get the whole box recorded. By the end of the second session I had completed work on the teapot and the saucers. These took a really long time as there was a lot of layers to the packaging that was needed to be cut in order for the ceramics to be secure. As I had to fit so much into one box I discussed with Clair, my supervisor, on how to fit it in. I couldn’t use the same method I had done for previous plates as there wasn’t enough room. This led to the plates being placed on their side rather than flat. I found that the teapot and teacups were more difficult to secure due to their handles. I had to cut through multiple layers of plastazote accurately and rather narrowly to ensure they fit. In comparison the saucers only needed rectangles which is easy to adjust when necessary.

Overall, this was a wonderful, and well supported experience in a friendly environment that enabled me to steadily progress through different difficulties. Out of all I’ve learnt it was also an amazing opportunity to explore the archives in the basement of the library and see how the ceramics would be stored after I had finished packaging them.

Its Inmates Absurd: The Velvet Underground at the University of Kent 1971

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Beth Astridge

This is a guest blog from our volunteer Peter Stanfield, Emeritus Professor of Film at the University of Kent. Peter has been studying our editions of the University of Kent’s student newspaper ‘InCant’ to build our knowledge of the bands and artists playing on the University Campus in the 1960s and 1970s. If you have any memories of this gig – please do let us know! Email specialcollections@kent.ac.uk.

Its Inmates Absurd: The Velvet Underground at the University of Kent 1971

“After about the first two years we got talking. . .”

– Maureen Tucker on rehearsing with the Velvet Underground

As a live proposition, The Velvet Underground, sans Lou Reed, existed for an improbable 2 ½ years, which included two tours of Europe in 1971 and 1972. In England, Autumn 1971, most of their gigs were on the burgeoning university and college circuit. On November 4, they made an appearance at the University of Kent. The big recent attractions on campus had been The Who, Eliot Dining Hall, May 1970 and in March 1971, in the Sports Hall, Led Zeppelin. More generally, student entertainment was provided by middle-ranking progressive rock bands – Mick Abrahams, Colosseum, Blodwyn Pig and local heroes Caravan. Kent alumni Spirogyra were an ever present feature. In all likelihood, the bookers thought the Velvet Underground would fit right into this scene. For their drummer, Maureen Tucker, the VU were always the exception to such trends.

Image of Maureen Tucker, holding drum sticks, playing the drums for the Velvet Underground.

Image of Maureen Tucker playing in the Velvet Underground at the University of Kent, InCant Student Newspaper, 17th March 1971

The Velvets performed in the Rutherford Dining Hall to a positive response, if the reviewer for the student paper InCant was any indicator. He or she considered them to be a ‘genuine rock and roll band in the American sense, as opposed to the likes of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath’. The reviewer delighted in their choice of covers – Dixie Cups’ ‘Chapel of Love’ and standards ‘Turn On Your Love Light’ and ‘Spare Change’. Lou Reed songs ‘Sweet Nuthin’, ‘Sister Ray’, ‘After Hours’ and, the ‘beautifully corny’ (!?!), ‘White Light/White Heat’ were highlights, with the latter described as ‘funky’ by Doug Yule. InCant’s critic agreed.

Black and white image of an article from InCant student newspaper about a Velvet Underground gig showing two photographs of performers and text descriptions

Review of Velvet Underground gig, InCant Student Newspaper, November 17th 1971.

The interview with the only original member of the band, Maureen Tucker, is a peach. Asked about the shifts in the line-up, she said:

It’s been such a gradual change that to me anyway there’s been no apparent effect. After about the first two years we got talking . . . it was a mutual agreement that we were kind of getting sick of going on stage playing 30 minute songs. It’s just not original after a while, so Lou (Reed) started writing more four minute songs, rock and roll songs. Now it’s even more regular rock and roll than it ever was.

What happened to Nico? She wanted to go off on her own and be a big star

Image of a text article from InCant newspaper about a performance by the band, Velvet Underground

News item on the Velvet Underground concert, InCant student newspaper, Nov 17th 1971

Like most of the events held by the Student’s Union, The Velvet Underground gig lost money; the organisers putting lack of interest, it was suggested, down to the fact the band’s line-up had changed. On that basis they had tried to cancel but were unable to break the contract. Steeleye Span proved to be a bigger draw.

Black and white image of a performer singing at a microphone playing a guitar. He is wearing jeans, a white mickey mouse t-shirt and a thin scarf or tie around his neck.

Image from news article in InCant student newspaper, Issue No 70, 17th November 1971, p6

Back in April 1971, student Helen Chastel had provided InCant with a review of Loaded, soon to be released in the UK. It is one the best summaries of the VU I’ve read.

Proposition: for consistent and versatile genius in rock the Velvet Underground (or V.U.s to the cognoscenti) are equalled only to Dylan and the Stones. Don’t ask questions if you dispute it, write your own review. If you deny it, you are a Quintessence or Andy Williams fan and not worth bothering with.

Helen clearly didn’t think they belonged with the progressive mediocrities. She was a total fan, she’d bought her copy of Loaded in Washington last Christmas while on an exchange to the States and she knew someone who knew Lou Reed – ‘virtuoso extraordinaire, ex-child prodigy, now repudiator of drugs and hippies, mythical recluse . . . Sainthood is all in the mind.’

How many recognise themselves in the line ‘The deep sleep of a suburban upbringing can be shattered by sudden exposure to such a group’? Faced with VU & Nico, Helen ‘saw darkness of which I knew nothing, saw an extreme weariness, people born to die. Eliot (her college at Kent) life became petty, its inmates absurd.’ Reed, she wrote, had a ‘clear and cliché-less view of modern city life’, White Light/White Heat extended even further ‘into a chaos of light, blood, heat and noise . . . The third album is a surfacing, a return to verbal precision’. . . Lou Reed, Saint of the City. Helen Chastel, Saint of VU fans. . .

Image of a text article from a student newspaper titled "Velvet Underground", by Helen Chastel

Review of the Velvet Underground album ‘Loaded’ by Helen Chastel, published in InCant, the University of Kent Student Newspaper, issue No 62, 17th February 1971, p6.

On that same tour of British Universities, the VU entertained Warwick University’s student cohort. Genesis P-Orridge’s COMUS providing support (they also played at Kent in May 1972). Ad and review from the Warwick Boar student paper.

Gig advertisement for Warwick University

‘The Velvet Underground from whom great things were expected . . .’ Like at Kent, attendance fell below expectations.

Image of an article reviewing 'Ents' at Warwick University including two photographs and a text description of the gigs

Review of ‘Ents’ at Warwick University including the Velvet Underground

For Peter’s original blog see the following link:

https://www.peterstanfield.com/blog/2024/2/8/velvet-underground

Oral History Student Volunteers – Get involved!

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Beth Astridge

Local Stories: Memories of Hopping around Brook and Wye, Kent.

Do you…

Have an interest in oral history?
Want to receive free training in conducting oral history interviews?
Have an interest in local history or the history of hopping and hop picking in Kent?

If so – come and get involved with this fantastic new project in Special Collections and Archives – where you will interview people from the Brook and Wye area about their memories of hopping.

Special Collections and Archives are working in partnership with Brook Rural Museum on a project for students to explore local peoples’ memories associated with the experience of hop picking and farming in and around Brook and Wye, Kent.

Volunteering on this project will provide you with skills in oral history interviewing (with training from an experienced oral historian) and associated tasks, such as making transcriptions and recording summaries. Most interviews will take place in the villages of Brook or Wye, and expenses for travel will be available. Some aspects of the role can be carried out remotely.

The project will take place between March and June 2024 and will conclude in late 2024 with an exhibition in the Templeman Gallery and at Brook Rural Museum showcasing extracts from the oral history interviews.

Please get in touch at engagement@brookruralmuseum.org.uk to express an interest and receive information about the application process,. You can also talk to us in Special Collections and Archives if you need more information – specialcollections@kent.ac.uk.

Places on this project are limited – and applications need to be in by 16th February 2024.

University of Kent Special Collections & Archives

News and views from the Special Collections & Archives team at the University of Kent.

Category Archives: Collections