- KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- ARCHIVE LED TEACHING
- UNBOXED
- ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES
- STATISTICS - VISITS AND ENQUIRIES
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Visit from alumni
A number of alumni from across the decades have visited the archives, in small groups or as guests of the VCO. Some joyous moments have been recollected, the passage of time bringing new perspectives.
Three lively alumni from 1965-1969 were delighted to look back through Chips, Mandate and local news clippings. It wasn’t long before they spotted their younger selves.
Anatomy seminar in the Archives, 4 March
UEA Archives and Special Collections holds a collection of elephant (very large) sized illustrated historic anatomy books. The texts range in date from 1761-1890s and cover a range of medical topics. The illustrations are detailed, often in colour and can be a bit gruesome to those of us unused to looking at the inside of the human body. Our MED anatomy students took them in their stride, discussing the names of bones and muscles. They also observed the extremity of the conditions depicted in the illustrations as modern patients are treated effectively before advances in many of the illnesses. Attendees: 7.
Ten Years of Literary Treasure: Celebrating Ten Years of BACW, Lunchtime talk at Norfolk Record Office, 26 March
September 2025 will mark the 10th anniversary of the setting up of The British Archive for Contemporary Writing. Helen Busby joined an in-person and online audience to talk about how the Archive came to be and to share some wonderful stories from our star collections. Attendees: 25 plus 30 online.
Norfolk County Council Apprentices visit, 27 March
Norfolk County Council’s Adult Education Services’ library and archive apprentices came to discover the unique aspects of working in an academic library and archive. Teams across the library were represented and the students enjoyed a behind the scenes tour and display of archive material. Attendees: 8.
ARCHIVE LED TEACHING
New Forms: Writing in Collaboration, LDC (UG), 5 February
An expanded cohort of 60 students visited the Archive reading room for an introduction to the Jay Bernard Archive. The group look at the contemporary poet’s creative process, including visual art, archival research and environmental connection. The students return to the Archive in groups to view an archive of their choice and inspire an original piece of creative work.
Doing History (UG), 24-25 & 27 February
The first-year history undergraduates visit the archive of working-class sisters Annie and Jessie Kenney. The Kenney’s were leading figures in the militant suffragette movement and led extraordinary lives. The session looks at the skills needed to operate effectively in an archive visit, including the challenges of lateral thinking, handwriting deciphering and contextualising historic information. Attendees: 69.
Creative Writing Prose (UG), 3 & 7 March
Sara Taylor’s 2015 work The Shore stretches through several centuries and was constructed from a set of short stories. The work’s complex construction, detailed geographic and historic planning is evident in the archive. Studying Taylor’s editing process in detail gives the creative writing students an insight into the process of a successful author. Attendees: 17.
Creative Writing Genres: Crime Writing (PGT), 5 March
Examining the Lee Child archive gives the creative writing students an expert insight into the world of crime publishing. The building of the iconic Jack Reacher brand is evidenced in the market research, detailed editing advice and the construction of pace and excitement in the narrative. With fan letters from US Presidents and grandmothers alike, the Lee Child archive evidences the impact of the work on the public. Attendees: 2.
Digital Archives (PGR), 18 March
Many doctoral research students end up creating an archive of digital material which requires active management. Whether it consists of drafts, sources, photographs or complex data sets. This session takes a look at the drivers and constraints between digital archive resources and their preservation considering its impact on researchers. Attendees: 3.
Creative Writing MA Genres: Historical Fiction (PGT), 19 March
A brand new session for the archive focuses on newly released archive material from writer Mal Peet. His 2005 work Tamar won the Carnegie Medal. Tamar is set in 1945 and follows the adventures of two Secret Operations Executives [SOE] parachuted into Nazi occupied Netherlands. The story was inspired by an encounter with SOE Paul Peters who showed Peet the coded silks used to communicate with allied forces. The events in the story are based on real historic events and Peet’s painstaking research and dedication to accuracy provides a window on the creation of his groundbreaking novel. Attendees: 3.
Product and Process in Literary Translation (PGT), 20 March
This session examines the creative process in literary translation through Thomas Phillips’ A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel. Phillips altered every page of the novel with artistic methods. The group also examined the Word Art of contemporary poet Anthony Vahni Capildeo, looking at the intersection of translation, creativity and poetry. Attendees: 10.
Contemporary Fiction (PGT), 20 March
Tash Aw’s We The Survivors provides a masterclass in using fiction to explore issues of morality, poverty and globalisation. Students in the Contemporary Fiction seminar examine the text and compare the construction of two separate drafts to give insight into the writing process. Attendees: 8.
Digital Media Cultures (UG), 28 March
Examining the future of the digital world requires looking back to the past. This session examines the ways in which information has been previously stored, from medieval codex to magnetic tape to early digital carriers which now face obsolescence. Turning floppy discs into modern machine-readable data is complex requiring special skills and equipment. In this session students get the opportunity to decide what needs saving first and look at how we can ensure the future survival of our digital assets. Attendees: 12.
UNBOXED
Introductory sessions, 11-12 February
Unboxed is an opportunity for students to get involved with the archives. In this introductory session we looked at how the Archive works, what collections we hold and how to use the service. We also spent time in the reading room with lesser-known originals from across our collections to help inspire our Unboxed participants to get thinking about their blog topics. Attendees: 19.
Blog writing workshops, TEC, 5-6 March
Dr Jeremy Noel-Tod is Academic Director of the British Archive for Contemporary Writing, a poetry critic, academic and blog writer. He very kindly led our blog writing workshop for our Unboxed students looking at the characteristics of blog writing through a range of examples and some practical writing exercises. We can’t wait to see what stories our blog writers will bring to light from the archive stacks. Attendees: 17.
ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES
BACW COLLECTIONS
AMIT CHAUDHURI notebook on Calcutta CREATIVE WRITING MA the dissertation of Anne Enright DORIS LESSING love letters written to RAF servicemen JAY BERNARD visual art LEE CHILD manuscripts and publishers’ correspondence W.G. SEBALD interview on The Rings of Saturn.
OTHER COLLECTIONS
GS CALLENDAR correspondence on climate records and climate change (1930s) HUBERT LAMB papers of the founding director of the Climatic Research Unit KENNEY PAPERS suffragettes meeting with Plekhanov, leader of the Menshivik Party; Louise Hatfield (nee Horwood) suffragette and former housekeeper to Annie Kenney PRITCHARD PAPERS the Penguin donkey bookcase; Evan Morgan (Viscount Tredegar); European refugees in the 1930s; marketing of Isokon design furniture in the 1930s UEA COLLECTION student journals and memorabilia ZUCKERMAN ARCHIVE battle casualties sustained by the Eighth Air Force in 1944; bombing of council flats in London; Charter 88 (constitutional and electoral reform); Albert Speer (Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany); Vera Dantchakoff (embryologist).
STATISTICS - VISITS & ENQUIRIES
Archives: 442 (115 remote): UEA 319; UK 110; Int’l 13
Special Collection titles consulted: 48 (1 remote)
