• KEY HIGHLIGHTS
• ARCHIVE LED TEACHING
• UNBOXED
• SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
• APPOINTMENTS
• ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES
• STATISTICS - VISITS AND ENQUIRIES
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Visitors are Welcome!
The Eastern Daily Press released a Video tour of UEA's British Archive for Contemporary Writing | Eastern Daily Press (edp24.co.uk) featuring Dr Helen Busby and Dr Jeremy Noel-Tod highlighting our collections and issuing a warm invitation to the public to make an appointment to come and visit us! More information on Planning a Visit - British Archive For Contemporary Writing - Library (uea.ac.uk)
Research Libraries UK, 23 March
Project Archivist, Justine Mann, shared a ‘Shaping Inclusive Libraries’ panel session with colleagues from Waikato Library, New Zealand; Auckland University and Cambridge University Library at the RLUK Annual Conference 2023. Justine’s paper focused on our community led approach to building inclusive collectives of diverse poetry in the archive at UEA as part of our Mellon Foundation funded project. Watch the session: RLUK23 | Shaping Inclusive Libraries - YouTube. 245 attendees.
UEA Snoo Wilson Prize for Scriptwriting 2023, 23 March
Congratulations to the winners and shortlisted scriptwriters of this year’s Snoo Wilson Prize for Scriptwriting judged by Steve Waters, Adam Taylor and Claire Slater. The winners were revealed to a packed house at The Garage in Norwich following readings of extracts from all of the shortlisted plays. Snoo Wilson’s widow and former Time Out critic, Ann McFerran, attended and gave insightful critiques.
The winners were:
• Jonathan Massey (BA) - 'Leave a Part of Yourself Here' - a subtle study of characters in a Norfolk café during the lockdown year
• Kevin R. Carey (MA) - 'On Rainbow River' - a rich and personal drama about the death of a young man in a declining Scottish town
The other shortlistees were:
• Reena Denhardt (MA) - 'Guerillaz' - a sinister, satiric and lyrical play about climate change and race
• Claire Sullivan - (BA) 'We'll Call You' - a very funny film about two sisters from Northern Ireland trying to make it in their various spheres
ARCHIVE LED TEACHING
Time flies when you’re having fun, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing this spring with a wide range of teaching sessions taking place in the Archives and online. We have welcomed 168 students across the semester, introducing them to treasures in our collections.
Creative Writing (UG) visit from University Centre Peterborough – ‘Sara Taylor’ novels, 10 January
Undergraduates had a fascinating time exploring the archive of Sara Taylor and the process behind Taylor’s first draft of a short story written as an undergraduate through its evolution into a published chapter in her first novel, ‘The Shore’. 8 attendees.
History (UG) visit. The Kenney Papers ‘History of Controversy & Debate’ (8 sessions) (UG), 27 Feb – 3 March
Asking a question at a political hustings in 1905 earned Annie Kenney 3 days in prison. History undergraduates visited the archive to discover her story as part of their module The History of Controversy and Debate. 88 attendees.
Creative Writing (UG) Sara Taylor archive, 8 & 9 March
19 attendees.
MA Contemporary Fiction (Tash Aw archive), 23 March
LDC students have spent time with BACW discovering the creative process of Tash Aw and Sara Taylor. Seeing the multiple drafts, publisher’s comments and correspondence gives an insight into the business of being a writer. 8 attendees.
Digital Archiving
“When is it going online?” this semester we busted digital archive myths with students from AMA and HUM PhD students visiting the archives for a cultural heritage knowledge injection
• Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age (PGT) Lecture and Workshop, 21 & 24 February
7 remote lecture attendees; 8 workshop attendees.
• Digital Media, Theory & Practice Lecture (online), 20 March
4 attendees.
• Digital Archives (PPD session with Grant Young), 21 March
6 attendees.
UNBOXED (Volunteer blogging programme)
Our volunteering programme got off to a fantastic start with inductions and a blog writing training session from journalist, academic and author Dr Claire Hynes. Students from a wide range of disciplines are currently researching material and will be publishing their articles in the coming months.
• Induction 30 & 31 January
14 attendees.
• Blog Writing training with Claire Hynes 7 & 8 February
11 attendees.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Process and Product in Translation, 23 March (Group visit)
Consultation of: Tom Phillips’s ‘A Treated Victorian Novel‘. 8 attendees (1 statistic).
Students discussed the translation process in Phillips’ work and began the process of translating poetry. They also looked at poetry translation in the Sarah Maguire Archive.
The Roman Empire, 24 March (Group visit)
Consultation of Cicero manuscript. 27 attendees (1 statistic).
We enjoyed a wonderful morning sharing our 15th century Cicero manuscript with several groups of enthusiastic Y2 History students.
APPOINTMENTS
We are delighted to announce the appointment of four Curatorial Researchers, funded by the Mellon Foundation as part of our project: ‘Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive’. They are UEA PGR students: Jake Reynolds; Vyvyan René; Libby Hamling; Viv Kemp. The researchers will work during April and May with recent archive deposits from Joelle Taylor, Anthony Vahni Capildeo and Gail McConnell to develop physical and digital exhibits for display at the launch of the Centre in November 2023.
Georgina Colby – Writer, Researcher, Academic was appointed as Senior Research Associate as part of the Mellon Foundation Poetry Archives project. Georgina is working on the project for six months. Her role is to research small poetry archives and present recommendations as part of the project's final report.
ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES
BACW COLLECTIONS
LEE CHILD The novel ‘Killing Floor’ NAOMI ALDERMAN ‘The Power’ SARA TAYLOR The novel ‘The Shore’ SNOO WILSON plays: ‘HRH’ and ‘The Grass Widow’ TASH AW Unpublished short stories.
OTHER COLLECTIONS
GS CALLENDER photo of amateur meteorologist supplied for a MOOC on climate HH LAMB weather and famine PRITCHARD PAPERS Impington Village College architectural design; modernist furniture design ROGER DEAKIN wild swimming; Oliver Bernard (poet &translator) TINKLER COLLECTION Gilbert’s Circus and Gt Yarmouth Hippodrome UEA COLLECTION Earlham Estate; University Challenge 1973-74; Concrete student newspaper; the Students’ Union ZUCKERMAN aviation engines in WWII; defence regulations in 1939 and their effect on civil liberties in Hull; the German retreat across the Seine, 1944; the TSR-2 strike & reconnaissance aircraft; 1930s primate research at the Zoological Society of London.
STATISTICS - VISITS & ENQUIRIES
Archives: 280 (62 remote): UEA 209; UK 61; Int’l 10
Special Collections: 26 (3 remote).
Microfilm: 2
