Tag Archives: Cataloguing

New theatre programme collection

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A selection of programmes from the Foulkes Collection

Foulkes programmes

In Special Collections, we’re not just custodians of dusty books and archives which have been in the University’s possession for decades. In fact, the biggest part of our collections are the Theatre Collections, and we constantly try to update and renew all of the collections in our care. The latest addition to our constantly evolving holdings is the Foulkes Collection, programmes donated to Special Collections by drama historian Professor Richard Foulkes.

Professor Foulkes is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Leicester, where he is also a member of the Centre for Victorian Studies. His specialisms are Shakespearean and 19th and 20th Century theatre. He has also been involved in the ‘Victoria and Albert, Art and Love‘ project, which ran a major exhibition at Buckingham Palace during 2010. Professor Foulkes is chairman for the Society for Theatre Research and has donated programmes dating from the 1960s up to 2008.

The Foulkes Collection provides an excellent companion to our existing theatre collections, particularly the Reading Rayner Collection. Jack Reading, who donated the Reading Rayner Collection to the University, was a founder member, chairman and then vice president of the Society for Theatre Research. The majority of Professor Foulkes’ programmes focus on provincial theatre, particularly in the midlands, while also containing material from London and America. Donated in two batches between 2009 and 2010, work has now begun on cataloguing all of these programmes.

Because the majority of our programmes cover the period from the 1940s to the 1980s extensively, but provide less coverage of more recent decades, the decision has been taken to catalogue the materials in reverse chronological order. If you have a look at the search feature on the website, you will see that Professor Foulkes’ programmes for 2008 have already been catalogued. We’re working on a webpage about the collection to stand alongside information about other collections which you can find on the site.

Another major advantage of this collection is that some of the programmes contain cuttings and reviews of the productions. Considering how frequently we are asked for reviews of specific productions, I’m sure that this will be extrememly useful to all of our researchers. If the programme includes reviews, this will be noted on the catalogue record.

It’s still a work in progress, of course, and the complete cataloguing of the collection will take a considerable time, but I will be uploading records to our website for each year as it is completed. I hope that you will find these new resources useful for your research and we would like to thank Professor Foulkes for his donation to our evolving theatre archive.

If you would like any more information on any of the materials in our collections, or if you would like to book an appointment to view specific items, please email us to ask.

Canterbury Cathedral library

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Here at Special Collections, we’ve recently been taking an extra special interest in the work of Canterbury Cathedral Library. The University of Kent’s Templeman Library is linked to the Cathedral’s library through the acquisition of the Mendham Collection but unfortunately in recent years there has been little opportunity to further this link.

However, all that is about to change. Over the next few months, we’ll be undertaking staff working exchange visits between Special Collections and the Cathedral library, to get to know the work and collections involved and how we can help each other. The Cathedral Library and its team have already proved invaluable to us, offering conservation, advice and, when it comes to disasters, immediate assistance! We hope that we can now build up a co-operative service for researchers and lecturers from the University, to make the most of our combined collections.

In keeping with this spirit of shared information and expertise, we hope to be able to publicise Cathedral library events and news on this blog from time to time. The first of these announcements is the Cathedral library’s programme of events for 2011 – including the launch of the newly refurbished library building, at which Dr David Starkey will give a talk on his favourite books from the library. Do have a look at these and come along to discover the history and heritage which the Cathedral and its library has preserved for centuries.

The Red Dean – another milestone

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The pamphlets from the Hewlett Johnson Collection have now been fully catalogued. The items can be searched via the main library catalogue.

Hewlett Johnson was Dean of Canterbury from 1931 to 1963 and became infamous for his outspoken support of socialism. His life (1874-1966) saw turbulent times, experiencing the end of the Victorian era, two world wars and the heightening of tensions in the Cold War. Controversy dogged his public and private life, but unlike many of his contemporaries, Johnson never became disilussioned with Communism as the twentieth century progressed. Dean of Manchester, then Canterbury, he worked for social change in Britain as well as writing books and pamphlets to support the cause of a global socialism. He saw his deeply held Christian beliefs as complimentary to the Communist cause, rather than at odds with it. With critics and supporters in equal numbers, Johnson saw Canterbury through the Second World War, although his wife, Nowell, and children were evacuated to Harlech in North Wales.

Fidel Castro talking to Hewlett Johnson

Fidel Castro talking to Hewlett Johnson

During his lifetime, Hewlett Johnson became a global star for Communism, travelling to Russia and China several times and publishing books and articles about his journeys. The material for his later visits was largely drawn from his wife’s diaries. At the age of 90, he visited Cuba for the first time: one spur-of-the-moment photograph in the collection shows Johnson talking to Fidel Castro. In 1951, Johnson became the second person to be awarded the Stalin Peace Prize and, despite the hostility from the Canterbury Cathedral Chapter, continued to advocate socialism throughout his tenure.

Some of the pamphlets were written by Johnson, for example I Appeal, which Nowell illustrated, about germ warfare allegedly carried out on China by America during the Second World War. There is also an obituary for Joseph Stalin, in the form of a memorial address to the British Soviet Friendship Society in 1953. Other topics related to socialism include social credit and the distribution of food during the Second World War. There are numerous pamphlets from and about Johnson’s tours to Communist countries. It is also clear that Johnson’s unsuccessful attempts to become a missionary did not stop his interest in the global development of Christianity; there is a pamphlet about Ugandan Christians, a copy of a sermon in support of the observance of the Sabbath, a short article on Christian fellowship and an exhaustive pamphlet supporting the theory of divinecreation, rather than evolution.

While these pamphlets are only a small part of the Hewlett Johnson Collection, they do display the wide variety of interests and influences of the extraordinary man who became known as the Red Dean of Canterbury.

For more information about Hewlett Johnson, and the collection, please visit the Special Collections Website.

Coming up next, the continuing cataloguing of the Bigwood wartime cinema and theatre programmes, and more entries on Archives Hub. Watch this space!

Newly Catalogued Collection

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I am pleased to announce that the Jack Johns Darwin Collection is now fully catalogued and available for consultation in Special Collections.

Donated in 2008, Mr. Johns’ Darwin Collection is the result of over 30 years of collecting books by and about Charles Darwin. Following a boyhood fascination with evolutionary theory, Mr. Johns’ interest in Charles Darwin also led him to acquire items relating to members of the Darwin family and members of the scientific community in which Charles Darwin worked. Charles’ paternal grandfather, Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), published volumes about biology and of poetry, including Zoonomia (1794) and The loves of the plants : a poem, with philosophical notes (1791). Josiah Wedgwood was Charles Darwin’s maternal grandfather, so there are also items relating to the Wedgwood dynasty in this collection.

Items relating to other scientists include various works by Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Huxley, Charles Lyell on elements of geology, and two nineteenth century books of the natural theologian William Paley. In addition, Mr Johns collected a small number of works relating to Alfred Russel Wallace, a naturalist and explorer who arrived at his own theory of evolution by natural selection independent of Darwin. On the Tendency of Species to Form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection (republished in Evolution by Natural Selection, 1958) was the long title by which the two men publically announced their theories jointly in July 1858. Another interesting item in this collection is an 1890 edition of Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle, published by John Murray, containing the presentation note: ‘H. W. Bates Esq. With the Publishers’ compli[iments] Feb[uary] 1890′. Henry Walter Bates was an explorer and naturalist who joined Alfred Russel Wallace on an expedition to the Amazon in 1848.

Publisher's note to H.W. Bates

Handwritten presentation note to H.W. Bates.

The central section of Mr Johns’ collection is based around his endeavour to acquire every edition of Darwin’s most important works, the vast majority of which were published by John Murray in London. These provide an insight into the editing and corrections of each successive edition, and prove the popularity of Darwin’s works.

For more information about this collection and Mr Jack Johns, see our collections information pages or search the library catalogue.

This collection also compliments the Maddison Collection, which focuses on natural theology and early science of the  seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

If you would like to look at any of the items in these, or any of our collections, please email specialcollections@kent.ac.uk to make an appointment.

Where to begin…

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Welcome to the new Special Collections blog, from the University of Kent Special Collections team.

Having worked in Special Collections for a few months, now, it’s hard to know where to begin. But, as ever, the best place to start is at the beginning.

Special Collections aka Rare Books aka Specialist Collections and Academic Archives has a long history at the University. Librarians have come and gone, leaving monumental collections and card catalogues in their wake. At present, we have a variety of collections and plenty left to catalogue. Most of the cataloguing of collections in the recent past has been undertaken as part of projects, such as the digitisation and cataloguing of the Muggeridge Windmill Collections, which was completed at the end of 2009 as part of the VERDI project. However, we continue to add to the accessible items in a small way on a day-to-day basis. Work is continuing on the Hewlett Johnson Collection, the theatre and cinema programmes of the Bigwood Collection and on the Weatherill Collection.

The first months of 2010 have seen some significant changes for our small department. Firstly, Mrs Sue Crabtree, Special Collections Librarian, retired in December after long service to the Collections. Somehow we have managed to carry on, although many of her webpages have been vital in providing information that you will find on the new website. Secondly, we have a new Special Collections website. This has been a huge amount of work, combining the project to update the Library’s websites with the VERDI project, which has resulted in the searchable catalogue of our collections which you see today.

The Special Collections reading room has also had a bit of a face lift, with a spring clean and the delivery of comfortable (and matching) blue chairs that have been very popular with researchers and staff members alike! With the new layout and the appointment of Steve Holland as Head of Specialist Collections and Academic Archives, 2010 is looking to be a year of continuing changes for the department.

We aim to continue to offer an accessible and helpful service for all researchers to use our collections. If you would like to explore the collections, please take a look at the website. Email specialcollections@kent.ac.uk to make an appointment, and have a look at the access and opening hours before you come, to make the most out of your visit. If you are unable to visit in person but would like access to items from the collections, please email us and we can consider the provision of electronic or paper copies for your requirements.