British Studies 2007

Guildhall Library

2007-08-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

Our last visit of the trip was to the Guildhall Library. I can't believe the course is over already! Our guide for the day was Andrew Harper, who talked us through the history of the Guildhall and gave us a tour of the facility. The Guildhall is also part of the City of London Libraries. It is one of two research libraries in the City of London, and was founded in the 1420s. The Duke of Somerset decided to take the library's materials for his own personal library, so the library was depleted of resources until it was reestablished in the 1820s. At first the library was only open to businesspeople, but it opened to the public in 1875. During the Blitz, the Guildhall burned and huge amounts of the collection were lost. The remaining material was stored at the Old Bailey until the current library building was opened.

The Guildhall's collection is devoted to British history, local histories, parliamentary matters, and legal history. Many institutions and companies based in the City house their collections at the Guildhall. The London Stock Exchange's collection has historic records dating from 1880-1964 that take up 2.5 miles of shelf space. The Guildhall also stores Lloyd's Marine Collection, which kept a record of shipping movements and voyages from 1927-1974. Since the Guildhall is a reference library, only 5% of its materials are kept on the shelves. The rest of the material is kept in basement or off site storage.

The library is divided into three sections:
Printed Books: The printed books research area contains books, periodicals, and trade directories. There are large collections in the areas of: business history, English law, marine history, parliamentary history, wine and food, and clocks and watchmaking. The reference librarians give researchers 20 minutes of complimentary research time, and can fill requests for materials within 10-15 minutes.

Prints and Maps: This area has prints, maps, illustrations, photos, drawings, watercolors, and ephemera. There is a collection of London maps from the 16th century to the present. Researchers can search the COLLAGE database for images. The Guildhall started its digitization process about 10 years ago and has digitized over 20,000 images so far. The Print Room also has exhibition space. The current exhibition is called "The Changing Face of Cheapside: Four Centuries in Prints, Drawings, and Photographs".

After our tour, I went back to take a closer look at the Cheapside exhibition and really enjoyed the different mediums that were presented in the display. I've included 2 images from the exhibition above. The drawing on the left is Cheapside in 1638, and the photo on the right is Cheapside in 1941 after the Blitz.

Manuscripts: The Guildhall serves as the record office for the City of London and holds the archives of parishes, businesses and commercial bodies, and city wards. It also has records of the Diocese of London and St. Paul's Cathedral.

Images from: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/leisure_heritage/libraries_archives_museums_galleries/city_london_libraries/changing_cheapside.htm

West End!

2007-08-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

Shows I saw:
1. Wicked
2. Mary Poppins
3. The Drowsy Chaperone
4. Fame

Barbican Library

2007-08-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

Our visit today was to the Barbican Library, one of the City of London's three lending libraries. This was our first visit to a public library here in the UK and we had a wonderful tour! The City of London Libraries is one of the oldest library authorities in the UK. The Barbican Library was opened in 1982 as part of the Barbican Centre building and became the main lending library in the City. Most of the library's patrons are people who work in the City. The Barbican averages 1200 visitors per day, with peak time being the lunch hour period between 12 and 2pm. The library has a staff of 44 people, and receives funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

The Barbican has recently installed self-service terminals that use RFID technology. It is estimated that about 12% of check-outs are done using these terminals. Books can also be returned at RFID stands and at the book return outside the library's entrance. There are 24 computer terminals in the library for the publics use. Each person is given an hour per day, with an opportunity to renew their time once per day. The non-fiction collection is more popular than the fiction collection at the Barbican.

This visit has been one of my favorites so far because of my interest in public libraries. The staff at the Barbican was so welcoming and so excited to share the library with us, making the visit interesting and fun. You could really tell that they love their jobs! Our visit took us all over the library, (including the staff room for tea and biscuits!), but here were our main three stops:

Art Library:
Contains a reference area, periodicals and newspapers, over 14,000 monographs, and an assistant librarian to staff the area. There is also exhibition space for artists at the library's entrance that host artists work for 3-4 weeks at a time.

Children's Library:
This is the largest children's library in London with 25,000 items to lend. The young adult area has about 900 titles. The space is bright and fun and host story times 3 times a week, as well as other special events during the year. There are also filtered Internet terminals for children to use while visiting the library. Some other programs for children and young adults at the Barbican include a reading group for kids 8 and older, summer reading (The Big Wild Read), and Book Start/Reading is Fundamental a partnership with Britain's Book Trust that encourages parents to read to their children at an early age. The Barbican has close ties with local schools, and sends out "project boxes" multiple times a year for 15 schools.

Music Library:
The Barbican's Music Library has the largest collection of CDs in London. There are 17,000 available for loan! The Music Library covers all kinds of music, and organizes their CDs with a simple classification system. Each is assigned a genre, and then they are filed alphabetically within their grouping. There is a 30p/week borrowing charge for CDs and a 2.75/week charge for DVDs. The music librarians do their own cataloging for the music library. As well as audio materials, the Music Library also has music books, musical scores, and periodicals. One of the coolest features of the Music Library was the practice piano available for use! The library also had multiple listening booths available at no charge and had a special exhibition called "30 Years of Punk".

Photo courtesy of: fellow classmate Anne!

Royal Observatory - Greenwich

2007-08-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

After our visit to the Maritime Museum, we visited the Royal Observatory where we saw the Prime Meridian. Here is a picture of Cortni and I, she's in the eastern hemisphere and I'm in the western!

National Maritime Museum

2007-08-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

The library at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich is called the Caird Library, named for Sir James Caird. Before entering the reading room, there is an open area where visitors can make enquires, search e-journals, and get a readers card. The Caird Reading Room has over 25,000 books and is a reference library only. There are over 100,000 volumes in the library's collection and over 1 million ship plans. The library also has audiovisual titles and a collection of about 4,000 items of ephemera. The items are cataloged according to the Universal Decimal Classification system, an alternative to the Dewey Decimal System created in Belgium. The library is funded by the government through the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport (like most other national libraries in Britain).

There are 4.5 miles of manuscripts in the library's collection, dating from 1322 to the present. The collection also has a large collection of naval logs, journals, and spy books. One of our presenters chose a host of interesting materials to show us in order for us to get an idea of what kinds of items are in the collection. Here are a few examples of what we got to see!

A log book from the ship, "The Pearl" from 1720, recording the capture of the famous pirate Blackbeard. A 1750 merchant log from John Newton detailing the slave trade aboard his ship. Interestingly, John Newton began as a slave trader, then converted to the anti-slavery movement in later years. We also saw letters from Admiral Lloyd Nelson, who reportedly spent about 5 hours a day writing while sailing. There was one letter to his wife, and then another to his mistress from the same time period. Everyone was fascinated by the items dealing with the Titanic. The library received a bequest from Walter Lord, who had contacted survivors of the disaster and collected some of their items from the voyage. Included in the collection are brochures advertising the ship, a dinner menu from the very last meal aboard the ship, and original photographs taken from the rescue ship. There are photos of lifeboats and even photos of the iceberg. Another amazing item was the medicine book taken on board the HMS Bounty in 1787. The book was recovered with materials available at the time - boards from boxes on board the ship!

National Art Library - Victoria & Albert

2007-07-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today our site visit was to the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington. The National Art Library's collection is concentrated on fine and decorative arts and is considered to be "one of the world's great resources for the art, craft and design of the book," according to the prints & books section of their website!

We split into two groups for our visit. The first part of visit for my group was a walking tour of the library itself. In the public reading rooms, there are reference areas where the public may find and use reference materials on their own, but the majority of materials are those that are kept in the stacks. Patrons can request materials during or even before their visit, and staff members will retrieve them for the patron to use. This library is not a lending library, but is open to the public for research. There are usually 4 librarians staffing the counters in the reading room, as well as 1 librarian at the enquiry desk. Our guide explained that the staff member at the enquiry desk was available for more in-depth research questions. The reading rooms also have self service copiers and camera stands for people to use if they would like to take digital photographs of items themselves.

When we went back behind the scenes to the stacks, the issue of space came up once again. Since space is limited in the stacks, materials are stored according to size and shape. Each floor has a "finding list" to help staff members locate the press numbers the materials are organized by. There is also off site storage in Salisbury for materials, and the children's collection is kept separately. When I asked our guide more about space and fitting new items in, she told me that the cataloging of recent items is backlogged from 2004. People are still able to get to the items they would like, but they do not have a press number and are not kept in the regular stacks.

Our tour of the 2nd floor stacks included the library's collection of over 8000 periodicals, many historical publications from the Victorian era. The collection is not limited to British publications, but also includes foreign publications relating to art and design. There are also MA and PhD theses from the Royal College of Art from the 1960s to the present housed on the same floor, along with copies of every item printed by the V&A Press. There is also a large collection of items from the Great Exhibition of 1851 held by the library. The 3rd floor stacks contain exhibition catalogs, sales catalogs from auction houses, annotated price catalogs, and newer items. The West Room Gallery is home to books kept for curatorial purposes, such as books with fine bindings or books as objects. Eventually, it is hoped that the West Room will be used as a library space that people can enter from the museum.

For the second part of our visit, we learned more about preservation and got to see examples of "books as art". We learned that for preservation, many items are kept in "phase boxes". These boxes are individually made for the protection of various items. The boxes are then numbered and stored. Some items are given book jackets for preservation purposes. The National Art Library was beautiful and our tour guides excellent, but the highlight of the visit for me was getting to have a look at the books our guide pulled from the collection for us. Some of these included diaries (one from the 1800s and one from the 1990s), a poem about quilts that unfolds into quilt square designs (see above left), unique pop-up books, and many more. I've included some pictures my fellow students enjoying these books below.

Mini-Break July 27-30

2007-07-31T10:22:00.000-07:00

Basque Country

July 27-30, 2007

For the mini-break I traveled from Edinburgh to Bilbao, Spain to visit the Larranga family - they are pictured below. Felix and Maite are the parents, Ion and Leire are the kids.

Here's me with Felix, Maite, and Ion in a village on the Northern coast of Spain.

Leire and me...

The pictures below were taken in San Sebastian - a gorgeous city!

Scotland! July 22-26, 2007

2007-07-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

Fun things in Edinburgh:

We climbed Arthur's Seat...

...despite danger along the way...

...to get an amazing view of the city - see, there's the Castle.

We visited Edinburgh Castle,

had dinner at the Elephant House (where J.K. Rowling wrote),

and basically had a fab time -see our smiles :) - during our stay!

Writer's Museum

2007-07-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Writer's Museum is located in Lady Stair's House, named for Elizabeth Dowager, Countess of Stair who acquired the home in 1720. The home was built in 1622 by Sir William Gray, and was renovated in 1897 and given to the city to use as a museum in 1907. Before we entered the museum, we spent time looking at Makar's Court outside in the museum's courtyard. The word "makar" describes someone who is skilled and versatile in the craft of writing. The area has quotes and sayings from twelve Scottish writers from the 14th century to the present written on the stones in the courtyard. Writers were chosen to represent the four main literary languages of Scotland; Scots, Latin, Gaelic, and English. One of my favorite quotes was from Nan Shepherd (1893-1981): "It's a grand thing to get leave to live."

The museum focuses on three of Scotland's best-known authors, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Burns. The stories of each author's lives are told through narrative, pictures, and objects from each writer. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Edinburgh and was a novelist and travel writer. His most famous works are: Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child's Garden of Verses. The museum displayed many family photos and had a large collection of photos from his time spent in living in Samoa. In reading about Stevenson's career, it was really incredible to learn that Jekyll and Hyde was written in a period of only one week!

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was also born in Edinburgh and studied classics at the University of Edinburgh. Scott's work includes the Waverly novels, as well as poetry. One of the most famous poems being The Lady of the Lake written in 1810. On the top level of the house, there is a printing press displayed from James Ballantyne & Company. This is the printing company that printed some of the work of Sir Walter Scott and the particular press that printed Scott's Waverly Novels. Robert Burns (1759-1796) lived in South Ayrshire as a boy and grew to be known as one of the most widely read poets who have written in the Scots language. His writing desk dating from the late 18th century is on display at the Writer's Museum.

The museum also has special exhibitions that focus on contemporary Scottish writers. When we visited, the author Ian Rankin was featured. Rankin is one of the UK's bestselling crime authors and his "Inspector Rebus" series is set in the city of Edinburgh. Rankin won the 1997 Macallan Gold Dagger for Fiction for Black & Blue and has been nominated for numerous other writing awards. His novels Black & Blue, The Hanging Garden, Dead Souls and Mortal Causes have been adapted for television. There are 20 novels in the Rebus series, and I look forward to reading some of them when we return to the States. It will be fun to be able to picture the city and streets of Edinburgh as I read the books.

National Archives Scotland

2007-07-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

Our second visit of the day was to the National Archives of Scotland (NAS). The National Archives keeps and preserves the national archives of Scotland, and also has records relating to businesses, landed estates, families, and churches. The Archives are housed in three locations in Edinburgh; General Register House, West Register House, and Thomas Thompson House. Our visit took place in the General Register House, which opened in the 1780s. Records in this building date from the 12th century to the present and include things like: state and parliamentary records, church records, wills, taxation records, family and estate papers, and land registers. The West Register House houses civil and criminal court records, railway records, maps, and plans. The Thomas Thompson House is a modern archive building opened in 1995 to serve as an overflow facility for the National Archives. Our presenter told us that this building is nearing capacity after only 12 years of being open!

People using the Archives for research can request three items at a time, and the staff aim to get the items to readers within 30 minutes of their requests. Many people use the Archives to research family history, and the Archives work closely with Scotland's People Center to provide access to records. The NAS website has a wealth of information and guides for family historians.

The second part of our lecture at the NAS was devoted to enjoying some of the treasures staff had pulled for our class to look at. We got to see so many fascinating things! Here are a few examples of what we saw...the first written reference to whiskey on a scroll dating back to the 1400s, a letter signed by Mary Queen of Scots, an early cookery book, a humorous alphabet acrostic relating to the railway system from the 1850s (some would say the sentiments are relevant today as well!), and prison and medical files relating to a suffragette who was jailed and on a hunger strike. I spent quite a while going through the letters that went back and forth between the jail and medical professionals during the time of women's suffrage. What she was willing to go through to make her point was amazing, and an inspiration for women in America to join with British women in the suffrage movement.

During our lecture, we also took a look at these websites:
National Archives of Scotland : Official website of the National Archives.
Scottish Archives for Schools: Educational website designed by the National Archives to support the Scottish curriculum in schools and colleges. The site provides resources and activities for students and teachers.
Scottish Archive Network: Project partnering with the National Archives of Scotland, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), and the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU). The project aims to improve access to Scotland's archives by providing a single catalog to search Scotland's 50 archives.
ScotlandsPeople: Official government source for genealogical data for Scotland, over 50 million accessible records.
Scottish Handwriting: Gives practical help reading historical records written in Scotland in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

NAS Logo from: http://www.nas.gov.uk/

National Library of Scotland

2007-07-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

Our first site visit in Scotland was to the National Library of Scotland (NLS). The Library was founded in the 1680s and was first known as the Advocates Library. In 1710, it became a national deposit site, collecting a copy of every title printed in the UK. The collection became too large to be managed by a private institution, so it was given to the nation of Scotland in the 1920s. The National Library of Scotland's collection includes more than 13 million items. There are over two million maps, atlases, and gazetteers, 25,000 newspaper and magazine titles, and film and music archives. The library receives over 6,000 new items each week. The goal of the NLS is to collect, preserve and provide access to it's materials on Scottish history and culture, and Scotland's knowledge. Visitors can use any of the library's 5 reading rooms with a reader's ticket.

On this visit we did not take a tour of the library itself, but learned specifically about the John Murray Archive that the NLS had recently acquired. The first speaker we heard from explained what the archives contain and how the NLS was able to obtain them. The second speaker talked about the exhibition created to display the contents of the archives and how it was designed. I thought this was really neat, considering we had already toured the British Library and had an idea of how a national library operates.

John Murray Archive:
John Murray started his publishing business in 1768 and seven generations of publishers followed. The publishing house operated for over 200 years, and collected the papers and letters of the authors they published. The company's historical archive from 1768-1920 contains over 150,00 items from great writers such as Lord Byron, Charles Darwin, and David Livingstone. The NLS was able to purchase the archive for 31.2 million pounds sterling. Because so much was spent on the collection, the library has been faced with the challenge of making the value of the archive known to the people of Scotland. Our guide explained that with the purchase, the NLS has pushed for creating a wider range of access to the population. This is being accomplished by providing touring exhibitions to communities that would normally not have access to the NLS in Edinburgh. Our guide talked about the fundraising and marketing strategies that were used in the process of obtaining the John Murray Archive.

John Murray Archive Exhibition:
Our guides gave us time to take a tour of the exhibition after the introductory lecture. The exhibition was like nothing I've ever seen, and will have a hard time putting it into words here! Basically, it was a fantastic use of technology and lighting to present items, writings, and historical background on authors that are part of the archive. There were about 12 authors presented in the exhibition, and the exhibition is designed to be flexible. Authors or objects in displays can be changed out to create a completely new exhibition over time. Each writer had its own display space with touch screen technology accompanying it. You can touch the screen to learn about each character. As you explore the character, you learn about their personality and their achievements. The lighting is designed so that the object the visitor is learning about on the touch screen is lit in the display.

Since the exhibition is text-based because of the nature of its subjects, the designers tried to help visitors interpret object by creating an experience and evoking an emotional reaction through the aesthetics of the displays. The design process took 3 years and used these four core principles in its design:

A theatrical display

Displays with minimal labeling and text

Use of interactive elements

Use of lighting and shadow to create atmosphere

The exhibition also took into account government learning outcomes in the creation of displays. It was definitely the best exhibition I encountered while in the UK. Not only for the design aspects, but for the variety of personalities included in the display. I even ordered the book that accompanies the exhibition so I can learn more about the Archive and the treasures it contains!

Roald Dahl Museum

2007-07-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Roald Dahl (1916-1990) is the author of some of children's favorite stories. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the BFG, Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach, to name just a few. In order to research for one of my papers (and because I enjoy his writing) I visited the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire on Saturday, July 21. The journey to the museum was a bit of an adventure, as a landslide had closed the part of the train tracks to Great Missenden! So after a train ride and a bus ride, Cortni and I arrived to enjoy the museum and story centre there.

The Museum is located in Great Missenden because Roald Dahl lived in the village for 36 years in a home called Gipsy House. Most of his writing was done at Gipsy House in his writing hut. The centre is geared toward children between the ages of 6 and 12, but as an adult, I found it to be full of interesting information. There are two galleries and a story centre that tell visitors about the author's life and his writing process. Each gallery has photos, letters, and other materials on display that represent events and experiences from Dahl's life.

The first gallery, called Boy, focuses on Roald Dahl's childhood. A variety of Roald's letters to his mother are on display in this gallery. When Roald began boarding school at St. Peter's at the age of 9, he began writing to his mother once a week. This tradition went on for 20 years, with his mother saving each letter. At the time of her death, Roald recieved a packet of over 600 letters dating from 1925 to 1945. The source of inspiration for the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory stemmed from Dahl's experience attending Repton during his teen years. The Cadbury factory would send the boys in his hall an assortment of new chocolate bar inventions. Each boy would test out the new candy and write a review in exchange for the chocolate! The oversized Wonka chocolate bar pictured to the right was part of the display and also smells delicious. Many of the stories told in the gallery can also be read in Dahl's memoir Boy: Tales of Childhood.

The second gallery, Solo, focuses on Roald Dahl's adventures while working for Shell Oil in Africa, as well as his wartime adventures while flying for the Royal Air Force during World War II. He even survived a plane crash in the Libyan desert. This gallery also features letters and photos. It also contains other objects that were used to inspire his writing. The sandal that was the inspiration for the BFG's footwear was on display. Roald Dahl sent the sandal to his illustrator, Quentin Blake, for his use in the drawings in the book.

The Story Centre featured activities for children with a focus on writing. One of the neatest things in the Centre was a replica of Roald Dahl's writing hut. Here you can see how particular the author was when it came to writing. He wrote during the same time frames each day and had specific pencils he used when writing. Another neat aspect of the Story Centre was the display of letters Roald Dahl had written to school children around the world. Most letters were in response to something the children had sent him, and included words of thanks and also encouragement to the children to be creative in writing and art. I was very impressed with the museum overall. It was very family friendly, and offers activities such as chocolate decorating and storytelling throughout the year. A great day out!

Roald Dahl Museum: http://www.roalddahlmuseum.org/

BFG & Sophie drawing by Quentin Blake from: http://www.roalddahlmuseum.org/whatson/weekendandholidayactivities.aspx

Oxford - C.S. Lewis Tour

2007-07-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

This is the pub where the Inklings met - and the pub where we had lunch after visiting the Bodleian Library...

A few of us took a C.S. Lewis tour today after our pub lunch ...sadly my camera batteries died before I could get pics of many of the sights, but I did get this photo of the Narnia Window at Holy Trinity Church.

We also saw:

J.R.R. Tolkien's Home

The Kilns - C.S.Lewis' Home

C.S. Lewis' Grave

Bodleian Library - University of Oxford

2007-07-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Bodleian Library is the main research library at the University of Oxford. The library has over 7 million volumes that take up about 118 miles of shelving. Our tour guide began by giving us a brief overview of the history of the Bodleian. The first of the four main library buildings was the Divinity School. The building took 65 years to build and opened in 1420 as the university's first examination school. The library for the school was housed in the upper floor of the Divinity School and is known as Duke Humfrey's Library. The library was ruined in 1550, but Thomas Bodley reopened the library with 2,000 texts in 1602. The first librarian at the new library was Thomas James. The first extension of the library was called "Arts End", built to house materials relating to: law, medicine, philosophy and math. Arts End was built in a European style as a "galleried library". At this time, the lower reading room at the Bodliean has collections relating to theology, classics, and philosophy. The upper reading room is the main research area for history, English, and linguistics.

Our tour also took us to Convocation House, located at the Bodleian site. Convocation House was built in 1640 and was used for centuries as a meeting place for Convocation and Congregation. This building also housed meetings of the British Parliament on several occasions. The University Court building is attached to Convocation House. Above the Convocation House is Selden End, which has a reference collection available for those studying early printed books.

In 1749, the Radcliffe building (left) was built on Oxford's campus. The building was originally used as a gallery space, but in 1860, was added to the Bodleian site. The Radcliffe Camera became Britain's first circular library. There are two main reading rooms located in the Radcliffe Camera. The Lower Camera houses the Official Papers collection, which includes a complete set of British parliamentary papers from 1801 to the present. It is also the main undergraduate reading room for those studying theology, English, and Latin America. The Upper Camera is the main undergraduate research area for those studying history, art history, education, archaeology, anthropology and women's studies.

After we toured the main buildings at the Bodleian, we got to walk through some of the underground tunnels that lead to the stacks and different library buildings. On our short walk from the Bodleian to the Radcliffe buildings, our guide asked us to take note of the circles on some of the walkways. These are used to give some natural light to the tunnels, as we saw when we walked underground. Our guide showed us the conveyor system that was installed in the 1940s on the way through one of the tunnels. This system allows books to be sent between buildings for readers in various reading rooms. The conveyor takes 11.5 minutes to make the 11 floor cycle. The Bodleian began as one of Britain's copyright libraries. This means that it was a depository for every British publication. Presently, the library collects only academic materials because of constraints with space. The library has it's own unique cataloging system, and materials are most commonly stored by size. The Bodleian has nine other libraries located around the University of Oxford campus.

Besides the Divinity School building, the walk underground was one of the highlights of our tour. There are just massive amounts of materials housed underground! It was amazing to me that even though things are stored by size, the Bodleian is running out of space. Even more amazing that items can be located in the stacks that run for miles and miles.

Bodleian Library Logo from: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/

Roman Baths

2007-07-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

Our day trip to Bath!

Jane Austen Centre

2007-07-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

"They arrived in Bath. Catherine was all eager delight; her eyes were here, there, everywhere, as they approached its fine and striking environs, and afterwards drove through those streets which conducted them to the hotel. She was come to be happy, and she felt happy already. They were soon settled in comfortable lodgings in Pultney Street".

-Northanger Abbey

As a Jane Austen fan, a visit to the Jane Austen Centre was one of the highlights of my day trip to Bath. Jane Austen lived in Bath for five years and two of her novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuassion, are primarily set in the city. The visit to the centre began with an introductory talk about Jane Austen's life and family. Her parents were married at St. Swithin's, Bath in 1764. The family moved to Hampshire in 1768, and Jane was born in 1775. She was the 7th of 8 children in the Austen family, and the second daughter. Our guide explained that Jane began writing short stories around 1787 and that Jane's father was very supportive of her writing. The guide compared the relationship that Jane and her father shared to the relationship of Elizabeth Bennett and her father in Pride and Predjudice.

The exhibition was put together by members of the Jane Austen Society and focuses on Jane Austen's visits to Bath and the time she spent living in the city. The exhibitions also show how the city influenced her writing. From records the society has gathered, it appears that her first visit to Bath was in 1797. She stayed with her Aunt Leigh-Perrot at No. 1 Paragon. Her next visit was a six week stay at No. 13 Queen Square. In 1801, the Austen family moved to Bath following Jane's father's retirement. They stayed at 4 Sydney Place, and then moved to Green Park Building in 1804. Jane moved to 25 Gay Street with her mother and sister after her father's death in 1805. The Austen women stayed at Gay Street for six months, moved to Trim Street for a short time, and then moved back to Hampshire in 1806.

The Jane Austen Centre is located at 40 Gay Street, just up the street from the home she shared with her family after her father's death. According to our guide at the Centre, the Georgian town homes are very similar. Seeing the Centre gave me an idea of what the Austen home must have looked like when they lived in Bath. The city is mentioned in all of Austen's novels; usually in scenes of vanity or in connection with characters considered to be dull. Our guide explained that Jane wasn't a big fan of Bath, and was happier out in the countryside. This theme is shown in her writing, as one of the exhibitions pointed out that Bath was referred to as a place that allowed a character's "worst behavior to be conducted without scrutinty". Places like the Pump Room at the Roman Baths are also referenced in Austen's writing. The exhibition also showed the influence her family had in her writing. A couple of her brothers were in the Navy, and in Austen's writing, there is a "romantic attachment" to the Navy. Men in the Navy are portrayed as gentlemenly and honorable.

The centre has been featuring a special exhibition with costumes from the latest film production of Persuassion by ITV. A varity of costumes are on display (top left) and there was also a short film showing the process costume designers go through when designing for period films. One of my favorite parts of the Centre was the costumes on display. The exhibition also featured a drawing that Cassandra Austen made of Jane (top right), which was also a highlight for me. Another highlight at the Centre was the"Mystery Dress" (lower left). The dress was put together with material from Jane Austen's era. The material was cut into pieces for a dress, but unsewn and was found in a bag in someone's attic a few years ago. The dress was sew together and is now on display so visitors can see what an original dress from Jane Austen's time would be like.

Jane Austen Centre: http://www.janeausten.co.uk/

Royal Geographic Society

2007-07-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Royal Geographic Society (RGS) was established in 1830 to promote the "advancement of geographical science". Today, the RGS supports education, teaching, research, and scientific expeditions. It also advises government and policy makers on issues in the field of geography and environmental sciences. The RGS's collection includes maps, books, photographs, and other documents that cover the history of exploration, the development of geography, and world cultures and regions. The RGS also produces three academic journals and publishes other specialist publications. Funding for the RGS comes primarily from membership subscriptions. Other funding comes from corporations, governmental grants, trusts and foundations, and individual donors.

The Society's collection is available for study and research in the Foyle Reading Room. Anyone is free to register as a reader and may access the library's catalog to find maps, pictures, or books of interest. Parts of the collection have yet to be added to the online catalog, and are accessible through the card catalog. There are many books available on the shelves in the reading room. These include new titles, gazetteers, travel guides, and geographic journals. Other items are stored in stacks that are not accessible to the public. The library is staffed by both archivists and librarians and there are also 3 information officers that specialize in archives, library, or photographs. Staff members take turns working at the front desk and are able to pull items from any collection.

The staff member I initially spoke with suggested that I register as a reader and search the catalog to request an item in order to better understand the process. She also showed me the website for Access to Archives, a database containing archives held by multiple entities in England and Wales. Once an item is located in the catalog, readers fill out a request form giving the library staff the information needed to pull the item from storage. I requested a map published in 1794 titled "Chart of the NW Coast of America and the NE Coast of Asia, Explored in the Years 1778 & 1779". The map itself was very interesting - many of the place names are the same today. The map also contained commentary from the explorer, such as "mountains covered with snow in August". Something that today's maps do not include. Readers must sign that they recieved the items and a staff member signs the items back in. When I signed the map back in, I was able to speak to the map librarian and learned a little about the storage of maps and atlases. Most maps are stored flat and are organized by geographic region. Maps that do not fit in the general flat storage area are stored according to size, rather than by region. Atlases are also stored by size.

Currently, there is a special exhibition titled "Changing climate, changing lives?" at the RGS. This exhibition looks at the science behind global warming and the impacts climate change may have on London and the UK. Though it may look like there may be benefits such as longer growing seasons and improved crop growth because of the warmer weather, there are also many challenges that come with the changing climate. Scientists list reduced soil moisture and reduced soil quality as the main problems that are likely to occur. These will make crop and food production more difficult.

Scientists predict that in the UK, winter rain will increase by 28%, summer rain will decrease by 30%, and the Scottish snowfall will decrease by 60-90% as the earth's climate warms. The exhibition also explained that London, as well as other big cities around the world, is more sensitive to climate change because the city creates a "heat island". The Greater London Authority's goal is to cut carbon emissions by 60% by 2025. They have encouraged the use of hybrid vehicles for public transport, and have created the Green Homes Commission as measures to meet this goal. The exhibition is a support for geography curriculum in the UK and has developed a website http://www.yourclimateyourlife.org.uk/ to help students understand climate change.

Royal Geographic Society: http://www.rgs.org/

Access 2 Archives: http://www.a2a.org.uk/

Photos from: www.rgs.org

St. Paul's Cathedral Library

2007-07-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

The present St. Paul's Cathedral was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, following the destruction of the previous building during the Great Fire of 1666. The building took 35 years to build after Wren's design was approved by King Charles II in 1675. One of Wren's first models for the cathedral (1673-1674) is housed in the Trophy Room. This room was originally intended to be a library chamber, as indicated by the books, pens, and ink pots featured on the columns in the room. The Trophy Room now contains the Great Model and other design plans Wren created for St. Paul's.

Our guide for the library tour was librarian Joe Wisdom. Mr. Wisdom is the sole librarian for St. Paul's 13,500 volumes. Most of the library's collection was destroyed during the Great Fire of London. In order to replace the collection, three libraries eventually came together to restock what was lost. Bishop Henry Compton left about 2,000 volumes to St. Paul's in 1713,the library of John Mangey was added in the 1780s, and another large collection was added in the nineteenth century. Mr. Wisdom also said that there was an increase in the number of volumes in the mid-twentieth century as well. The collection is mainly focused on theology and church history.

The books are housed in a space behind the southwest tower of the cathedral, which has been the cathedral's library for over 300 years. The ceiling is plain, but very high, giving the room what Mr. Wisdom described as a "tent feeling", or an area where ideas and knowledge have room to expand and grow. The moldings in the room feature books and references to communion (grapes and wheat). The collection is given great care in all areas of use, with the room kept at a specific temperature and the relative humidity kept between 45 and 55 percent. Care is also taken to keep insects and other pests from ruining books and other materials in the collection. The library is a private library, but is open to all who can make good use of the materials. The librarian will allow patrons to consult 3 items at a time when researching in the library. St. Paul's Cathedral library depends heavily on grants for conservation work and repairs that are needed for materials.

The library space at St. Paul's was designed to make use of light, making it an inviting place to study. The library had the "feeling" that I imagined it would, plus the trip up the spiral staircase and through the heavy wooden doors to the library was fantastic!

Museum of London

2007-07-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Museum of London was formed in 1976, combining the collections of the Guildhall Museum and the London Museum. The museum is unique in that it is the largest urban history museum in the world. Museum staff work at one of three locations; including the Museum of London, Museum in Docklands, or the museum's archaeological archive in Hackney. There is an internal database with listings of objects and archival materials available to researchers. The current exhibitions at the Museum of London trace the history of the city's pre-history through the Great Fire of London in 1666. The museum also includes gallery space devoted to Roman London and Medieval London, and new galleries focusing on history from 1666 to the present are being developed and are scheduled to open in 2009.

Our lecturer and guide for our visit was the curator of the London Before London gallery at the museum. In our lecture, we learned that the current exhibition was updated between 1994 and 2000. The focus of the gallery changed from being object orientated to being more people and landscape centered. Displays in the gallery were designed with "take home" messages in mind. Curators at the museum want visitors to leave with an understanding of the changes that have occurred in the landscape of London due to climate changes and human involvement, a sense of how crucial the Thames is to the city, the adaptability of human communities to the area, and the prehistoric legacy.

The London Before London gallery (photo above - from Anne) was designed using three main design elements. The first is the Riverwall, which displays items found in and dredged from the Thames river. The second element is the Landscape Wall. This wall informs visitors of how land was used over time. The third element in the gallery includes six wooden plinths, which display objects and artifacts used by people occupying the region during London's pre-history years (450,000 BC - AD 50). Our guide explained some of the challenges involved in gallery design. One of the big challenges for this gallery in particular is its location in the museum. According to our guide, studies in Britain have shown that people are more inclined to make a left turn rather than a right turn. The London Before London gallery is located to the right when entering the museum space so the designers have placed a television with a film running slightly to the right to draw visitors to the gallery. The displays in the museum were designed with a focus on the objects themselves rather than on captions and reading. There are 7 milestones in the gallery, each with only 3-4 paragraphs of information.

The highlight of the tour for me was going into the gallery with the design knowledge our guide had given us in his lecture. Now, on entering a museum or exhibition, I will be more aware of the way items are displayed and the way the gallery itself is laid out. It was fascinating to learn about the planning and the level of detail that goes into creating museum displays that engage and inform visitors.

Other personal highlights of the London Before London gallery were the displays on Early Animals. This showed evidence of hippos living in London! The hippos were able to survive because the climate in the UK was much warmer, and grasslands provided food for the hippos. It was also interesting to learn about the Thames and its place in history as a "sacred stream". Prestigious objects such as tools, ornaments, and weapons were offered into the river and have been dredged up over the years. Another display showed items used for grooming and appearance from 1500-700 BC. There were many pieces of jewelry, as well as tweezers and razors made of bronze. Historians believe that London's first bridge was built between 1700 and 1200 BC. A 4 meter wide structure leading to an island in the Thames was discovered near present day Vauxhall Bridge.

Museum of London photo from: http://www.alondonguide.com/museumoflondon.html

Houses of Parliament

2007-07-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

Houses of Parliament is where the United Kingdom's Parliament meets. The building began as a royal residence, the Palace of Westminster, during medieval times. The first official meeting of Parliament was at the Palace in 1295. Most of the Palace was destroyed by a fire in 1834, so the present building has been at the site since the 1840s.

Our tour began at the Sovereign's Entrance to the Palace. This is the entrance used by the monarchy when attending the opening of Parliament. We then visited the Royal Gallery, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The Royal Gallery contains paintings of members of the royal family. Our guide also told us that the Royal Gallery is also the room where visiting presidents speak.

The House of Lords was the next stop on our tour. I learned that participation in the House of Lords was a hereditary position until 1996 when Prime Minister Tony Blair's administration introduced the tradition of elected lords. There are 760 members of the House of Lords. When we entered the Lords Chamber, we saw an ornate gold throne that is only used by the Sovereign. The Sovereign gives a speech from the throne at the opening of each parliamentary session. The benches for the members of the House of Lords are red and line the other three sides of the chamber. We also learned that members of the Commons do not enter the Lords debating floor, but watch from an area just inside the door.

The current chamber for the House of Commons was opened in 1950 after it was destroyed by a bomb during World War II. Members of the Commons are elected by the British every 5 years, and there are 646 constituencies represented. The chamber can only seat 427 members of parliament, so the rest must stand at either end of the chamber during debates. There are green benches on either side of the chamber and members of the public are not allowed to sit on them. Traditionally, members of the royal family do not enter the House of Commons.

British Library

2007-07-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today we had a fascinating behind-the-scenes tour of the British Library! Our knowledgeable guide filled us in on the inner workings of the library and then I took a look through the Treasures of the British Library and the Sacred Exhibition.

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and receives a copy of everything published in the UK and Ireland. The collection has over 150 million items and the library strives to make items available for researchers at all levels. The library receives about 3 million new items each years and the shelf space grows by 8 miles each year! The library's current building was designed in 1963, and opened to the public in 1998. Moving to the new building was a 6 year process. Over 2,300 people are employed by the library.

The basements of the library store much of the collection and reach to a depth of 75 feet below sea level. There are 4 industrial sumps located underground. Water is collected in tanks and then pumped out for the protection of the library's collection.

One of the British Library's main goals is to provide ready access to the collection. There is room to accommodate 1,200 readers in the library's reading rooms. Researchers may make use of any of the 11 reading rooms by applying for a Reader Pass. Once a Reader Pass is issued, readers meet with a librarian on staff to determine their research needs. Librarians keep the research interview to 20 minutes at the most to allow readers time to request items. Once an item is requested, it is retrieved using the Automatic Book Retrieval System (ABRS). This system includes 1 mile of track used for item delivery throughout the library. The library receives about 1 million requests per year, an average of 22,000 per day! The library uses its own unique classification system. Items are shelved by size to help conserve space. There is a grid reference number for each item that gives its location by floor, quadrant, and shelf. About 20% of the collection is restricted and requires special permission to be used by readers.

Highlights at the British Library:
The King's Library
The Kings Library Tower is pictured to the left. This six story tower was designed to house the library of King George III who reigned from 1760-1820. During his early reign, King George began collecting books. He concentrated on the classics and on early printed books. The collection grew to include history texts, English and Italian literature, and religious writings, with about 90,000 items in total. After King George’s death, the collection was gifted to the British nation in 1923. The gift stipulated that the collection be kept separate and must be on display.

Treasures
The Treasures of the British Library is a permanent exhibition at the library. This display has over 200 items. Some examples of what you can see here are: the Magna Carta (1215), the Gutenberg Bible (1454-1455), bookbindings, works of Shakespeare, as well as Shakespeare’s Blackfriars mortgage deed with his signature (1613), Aesop's Fables (1484), the only surviving manuscript of Beowulf (11th Century), Canterbury Tales (1410), Jane Eyre (1847), musical scores from Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, and Handel. Some personal highlights for me were seeing the Gutenberg Bible, Jane Austen’s Persuasion on her writing desk, an autographed draft of Handel’s Messiah, and the Beatles collection.

Here is a partial list of what is included in the Beatles exhibit (on loan from Hunter Davies):

Film poster for Help!

Manuscript lyric In my life

Photograph of John Lennon

Manuscript lyric I know what it's like to be dead

Manuscript lyric Here, there and everywhere

Manuscript lyric A ticket to ride

Early photo of Beatles, including Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe

Birthday card with manuscript lyric on back A hard day's night

Manuscript lyric The fool on the hill

Manuscript lyric Yesterday

Manuscript lyric I want to hold your hand

Besides being amazed at all the things I saw in the Treasures gallery, I left the exhibit humming Beatle’s songs…
List from: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/whatson/exhibitions/ritblat/music.html

Sacred Exhibition
This special exhibition focused on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The exhibit explained the beliefs and practices of the three religions and sacred texts from each religion. It is difficult to pick out highlights to mention since there were so many amazing texts on display! Personally, I was amazed to see a piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls from 50AD on display. The piece is part of the Psalms. Another piece on display was the earliest complete New Testament. The Greek text dates from the 4th century and is the oldest surviving complete New Testament. All the pieces on display in the Illuminated Word part of the exhibition were highlights for me too. There was a Qur'an from 1305 that was written in gold and decorated beautifully, as well as a decorated concordance to the Four Gospels from Armenia dating back to 1200.

Here's some photos of some of my classmates and me enjoying the British Library:

London Alive #3- London Calling!

2007-07-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

Today's London Alive was a guided walk around Camden Town with Dr. Seefeldt - we saw major music venues like Koko (above), and the hang-outs of punk and rock musicians like The Clash, Sex Pistols, Oasis, and Blur. We also shopped at the famous Stables Market!

Map from: http://www.tribu.co.uk/images/Lock-Map_A.gif

London Alive #2-Stratford-upon-Avon

2007-07-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

For London Alive today all of us LIS students went to Stratford-upon-Avon! We stopped in Oxford for a little while in the morning, and then boarded the coach on to Stratford where we started out by visiting three houses linked to Shakespeare. These included: Shakespeare's birthplace, Nash's House and New Place, and Hall's Croft. The homes are maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, a private charity that cares for Shakespeare's legacy. Here's a run-down on our day in Stratford...

Shakespeare's Birthplace: William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to John and Mary. He was baptised at Holy Trinity Church on April 26 of the same year. His father was a glovemaker, a wool dealer, and was also involved in money-lending on occasion. After William was born, five more children were born into the Shakespeare family. Shakespeare would have attended school in Stratford where the curriculum was directed to the speaking and writing of Latin. It is thought that Shakespeare would have finished school at age 14. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582, and they had their first child, Susanna, in 1583. The couple had twins, Hamnet and Judith, two years later. This home was quite large and included a replica of John Shakespeare's workshop on the street level. It was really neat to think that we were in the place where Shakespeare grew up and his ideas were formed!

Nash's House & New Place: Nash's house was named after Thomas Nash. Nash was the husband of Shakespeare's granddaughter and a wealthy local property owner. New Place was the home that Shakespeare died at in 1616. The home is no longer standing, but the land has been turned into a garden space (pictured below). The property has an ancient mulberry tree, which is believed to be a cutting from a tree that Shakespeare planted. Part of the upper floor of Nash's House is home to the Complete Works of Shakespeare Exhibition, which gives visitors information on Shakespeare's plays and how they were published.

Hall's Croft: Shakespeare's oldest daughter, Susanna, and her husband, Dr. John Croft lived in this house. This house was more upscale and elegant because of the status Dr. Croft had. The rooms in Hall's Croft contained more paintings and furnishings than the other homes we visited. This home also included Dr. Croft's "consulting room", which contained medical artifacts, medical instruments of the time, and some of Dr. Croft's medical notes dating from 1657. Hall's Croft and the beautiful gardens there are pictured below.

Stratford-upon-Avon Library and Information Centre

We couldn't resist stopping in to visit the Stratford-upon-Avon public library! (Photo courtesy of the lovely Stephanie!) The following is printed on a poster as you enter the library...

"Customer Pledge and Charter

our pledge to you

We aim to make your visit to the library successful and enjoyable.

we promise to:

welcome you courteously and with a smile;
do our best to help or advise you;
listen to your views (so we can improve our service) and;
publish a customer charter setting out standards you can expect from us.

in return we ask that you:

treat staff and other customers with courtesy and respect and
give us the opportunity to put things right if they go wrong.We hope you will work with us to ensure this Library is a safe, comfortable and attractive place to be. "

I love that they promise to greet each customer with a smile :)

Royal Shakespeare Company

We ended our day in Stratford by attending the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Macbeth at the Swan Theatre - an exciting show!

London Alive #1 - Nazi Blitz

2007-07-09T14:59:00.000-07:00

We're in London! My first London Alive event was this afternoon - Dr. Mackaman gave us an overview of WWII and the bombings that took place in London during the Blitz. We walked over to the Imperial War Museum and then wandered on our own for a couple of hours...

I spent my time in these exhibitions:

The Children's War
The Holocaust Exhibition
Crimes Against Humanity

This quote was featured at the beginning of the Holocaust Exhibition:

"Where one burns books, one will, in the end, burn people."

-Heinrich Hein, German Jewish Poet (1797-1856)

I don't know about you, but it gave me the chills. This museum visit was hard for me, but I'm glad I spent some time there. More upbeat visits to come!