UEA Archives Blog - UEA Library at University of East Anglia

KEY HIGHLIGHTS
FORTHCOMING EVENT – UNCOLLECTED: POETS
OPEN DAYS AND WELCOME EVENING
ARCHIVE LED TEACHING
PUBLICATIONS & BROADCASTS
ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES
STATISTICS - VISITS AND ENQUIRIES

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

UEA Archives’ Poet in Residence Jay Bernard at Great Yarmouth Library, 20 July

Our poet in residence Jay Bernard led a poetry workshop at Great Yarmouth public library as part of our Mellon Foundation funded project ‘Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive’. Fourteen public participants engaged in reflecting on who makes history and wrote and shared some poetry of their own. Their work will be on display at The Enterprise Centre at UEA from 22 November when Jay Bernard returns to reflect on the outcomes of the project and read from a specially commissioned pamphlet.

Showcase Meeting with National Trust / Blickling Hall, 13 September

This interdisciplinary research meeting in The Enterprise Centre was held in order to extend UEA’s relationship with Blickling Hall, building on a range of projects already underway with them and with other National Trust venues.

Justine Mann gave a short presentation on Digital Technology: cataloguing, interpretation and engaging audiences. It is hoped that a broader formal partnership with the National Trust may be established, to underpin future research and innovation work.

Harwell Restoration Training - Effective Emergency Planning and Disaster Recovery, 20 September

Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire is an 18th Century manor house of splendid outlook and famous connections. A frequent haunt of UK Prime ministers with a stunning collection of art and heritage treasures it made the perfect setting for archivists to gather for training. Visitors to the archive are often surprised by our caution and protectiveness towards our collections, but it is less surprising when you see what could go wrong. Effective Emergency Planning and Practical Disaster Management is a fascinating and useful course on how to plan for and deal with every archivist’s nightmare. Harwell Restoration who ran the training have seen it all, flood, fire and civil unrest and gave us the tools we need to be ready, should disaster fall.

New microfilm machine

Our microfilm machine has been upgraded to a digital film scanner. Film can be scanned to a range of file formats including OCR PDF. Bookings can be made by email: archives@uea.ac.uk

FORTHCOMING EVENT – UNCOLLECTED: POETS

Join us on 22 November 2023 at The Enterprise Centre (UEA) / livestream to celebrate the launch of our exciting new archive collections from four dazzling voices in contemporary poetry: Jay Bernard, Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Gail McConnell and Joelle Taylor.

The poets will read from a new collection of their writing inspired by UEA's ‘Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive’ project which has been funded by the Mellon Foundation's Public Knowledge programme. The project aims to change the way archives collect contemporary poetry by widening the representation of different styles and voices and encouraging community involvement.

Visiting Poetry Fellow Will Harris will join the poets in conversation to discuss their response to the archiving of their work. Unique items from the poets' archives will be on display, alongside poetry by participants in the creative writing workshops they led for Norfolk public libraries during summer 2023.

Registration essential: https://tinyurl.com/uncollectedpoets

OPEN DAYS AND WELCOME EVENING

UEA Open Days, 7 July and 9 September

We were delighted to welcome 158 visitors across two UEA Open Days on 7 July and 9 September.

Prospective students and their parents enjoyed visiting our Reading Rooms on Floor 02 of the Library to view our current exhibition and some tantalising gems from the archive. They were also able to explore a specially tailored display of our unique collections that showcases student engagement with the archive and highlights the varied opportunities they have, to engage with our collections and our activities during their time at UEA – from volunteering for our Unboxed programme to discovering original primary source material that links directly to their studies.

Welcome Evening 'Getting to Know UEA', 20 September

On 20 September we joined UEA Library and the East Anglian Film Archive to welcome new students as part of a mini evening festival in the LCR. We shared opportunities to explore our collections and volunteer via the Unboxed scheme. It was great to see new faces and welcome students to the community, while sharing what’s in store when they visit us on Floor 02.

ARCHIVE LED TEACHING

Diss High School visit, 4 July

In July we were delighted to welcome a group of 11 A-Level year 12 students from Diss High School. They were embarking on their non-exam independent studies and wanted to see first-hand the manuscripts of Naomi Alderman. Getting to know the author, learning about how ‘The Power’ was written and finding out about what it’s like to study literature and creative writing at university made for an exciting afternoon on campus. Attendees:11.

City of Norwich School visit, 18 July

Year 12 A-Level students from CNS visited BACW to get inspired about literary archives. The group were introduced to the writing and personalities of Doris Lessing, Lee Child, Naomi Alderman and Sara Taylor through their archives. The students got to see what it takes to produce brilliant creative work and found out more about studying literature at UEA. Who says geography gets all the good field trips! Attendees: 24.

MA Crime Writing, 7 September

In September it was our privilege and pleasure to meet the final year crime writing MA students. As authors on the brink of publication themselves, examining the archive of Lee Child’s best selling Jack Reacher novels has particular meaning and significance. They were joined by Lee Child expert Elspeth Latimer who helped them navigate the brilliance and complexity of Child’s archive. Attendees: 9.

PUBLICATIONS & BROADCASTS

Lessing’s Early Letters: A Prolific Personal Voice by Nonia Williams. Critical Quarterly. Online, 9 July 2023. Originally presented at a special panel about Doris Lessing 100 at English Futures Conference 2022 (Manchester Met Uni).
Lessing’s Early Letters: A Prolific Personal Voice - Williams - Critical Quarterly - Wiley Online Library

Lessing’s Legacy Explored Through her Personal Archive by Justine Mann. Critical Quarterly, 23 Aug 2023. Based on the paper Mann delivered in Manchester 2022 at English Shared Futures, the article focuses on the Doris Lessing 100 exhibition and how the archive came to be provided in two tranches.
Lessing's Legacy Explored Through Her Personal Archive - Mann - Critical Quarterly - Wiley Online Library

ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES

BACW COLLECTIONS

DORIS LESSING comparison of female authors like Ruth Prawer Jhabvala NAOMI ALDERMAN ‘The Power’ WG SEBALD recorded interviews

OTHER COLLECTIONS

PRITCHARD PAPERS the 1930s Penguin donkey bookcase; design blueprints by Marcel Breuer; the work of photographer Edith Tudor-Hart; the 1930s Isobar restaurant and Half Hundred dining club; the development plan for flats in Birmingham by Water Gropius and Maxwell Fry (1936) TINKLER & WILLIAMS THEATRE COLLECTION seaside entertainment UEA COLLECTION rock band U2; Edward Cave (founder of The Gentleman’s Magazine) and his work for the Norwich Post; UEA Drama Studio ZUCKERMAN Scientific Manpower Committee and mid-fifties brain drain.