UEA Archives Blog - UEA Library at University of East Anglia

KEY HIGHLIGHTS
ARCHIVE LED TEACHING
NEW COLLECTION
RESEARCH OUTPUT
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES
STATISTICS - VISITS AND ENQUIRIES

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Digital in the Archives: Past, Present and Future at UEA Archives, 15-16 October

This drop-in workshop and tour formed part of Digital UEA, a week-long programme of digital sessions highlighting the Library’s digital resources and how to get the most out of them for research and pleasure. The Archives session looked at how UEA Archives approaches the preservation and storage of digital content and how we handle obsolete media from the archives, looking at digitisation in practice. We also explored the future of digital archive preservation, including our state-of-the-art digital preservation system Preservica™. Attendees: 15.

RLUK Visit Thursday 24 October

UEA Library has recently become part of the prestigious network of Research Libraries UK in acknowledgement of the exceptional contributions the Library has made to research at UEA. This gives us access to an experienced network of information professionals to support our activities. UEA Archives and Special Collections were delighted to receive a visit from the RLUK executive team; David Prosser, Executive Director, William Nixon, Deputy Executive Director, and Masud Khokhar, Chair of RLUK. We presented our innovative Storehouse Model of archive collecting, our recent research into collecting archives from under-represented poets and talked at length about our progress in digital preservation. The RLUK team also got to see some treasures from our stacks including some very well received manuscripts of Lee Child’s ‘Killing Floor’.

Masud Khokhar, William Nixon, Helen Busby, David Prosser

Open Days, 26 October & 23 November

UEA Archives and BACW welcomed prospective students from across the University on 26 October. Subjects ranged from medical sciences, accounting and psychology alongside our usual fans of history, literature and creative writing. On open day everyone is welcome to view some historic treasures and the personal papers of their favourite authors. Visitors: 74.

Storm Bert was blowing hard on 23 November but prospective UEA students are made of tough stuff, venturing on long journeys across the country to explore the opportunities at UEA. We had some wonderful discussions with prospective students on the ethics of World War II bombing strategy and its impact on civilians, we contemplated the popular narratives of women's suffrage through the twentieth century, and we marvelled at the working life of Patricia Crampton one of our rich and exciting literary translation archives. From Ancient Rome to contemporary poetry UEA's archives are embedded in teaching and research and are here for staff and students when they need untold stories, primary sources and insights into the creative process. Visitors: 56.

Ali Smith Visit, 21 November

BACW were delighted to welcome acclaimed author Ali Smith for a visit to the archive before her UEA Live appearance. Ali Smith read extracts from her new novel Gliff and answered questions on her writing process.

Archives Manager interviewed for student film production (MLC UG), 2 December

This year’s session on documentary filmmaking for undergraduates from MLC inspired some of the students to base their assignment on UEA Archives and Special Collections. The short documentary film covers the history of the archive, our most popular items and how researchers can access our services. We were very impressed with the students carefully thought-out questions, creative flare and attention to detail.

ARCHIVE LED TEACHING

Digital Archives (PPD PGR), 16 October

Personal and Professional Development sessions for PGR students are more than a knowledge gathering exercise, it's also a chance to meet peers and find out about research that's happening at UEA. The Using Digital Archives session was a wonderful example allowing us to engage archival researchers in the complexities of digital archives and their application in research. Attendees: 2.

Creative Writing Prose (LDC UG), 21, 23 & 24 October

Attendees: 31.

Feminist Research Methods (ILL PGT), 22 October

Exhibits from our contemporary poetry collections helped this session explore research methodologies and underrepresented voices in archive collections. Attendees: 6.

Documentary Filmmaking (MLC UG), 11 November

UEA Archives and Special Collections are no strangers to the documentary filmmaking process. In 2016 a TV production company used items from our Zuckerman Archive to piece together the impact of air raid bombing on individuals during WWII. Solly Zuckerman was a scientist who acted as an advisor to the Government during WWII on bombing strategy. Students of documentary filmmaking come to the Archive to hear about the use of archive material in ‘Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain’ and how archives can shape and enhance documentary filmmaking. The students also got to see original archive material from Zuckerman’s research including essays by school children about their experiences of living through air raids. Attendees: 13.

Describing Poetry (LDC PGT), 11 November

This session with lecturer Jeremy Noel-Tod looks in detail at the archive manuscript material of poet, translator and critic Sarah Maguire. Maguire is known for her acclaimed publications Spilt Milk 1991, The invisible Mender 1997, The Florists at Midnight 2001 and The Pomegranates of Kandahar 2007. Students examine Maguire’s poetry across a series of drafts to look at the evolution of her creative practice. Attendees: 19.

Adaptation, 27 & 28 November

The BACW is fortunate to hold the physical and digital archives of comedy and screen writer Charlie Higson. Higson’s 2016 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ into a gothic monster adventure series ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ is the focus of the session. Looking at scripts, writers’ guides and critical input alongside the TV series allows students to see the creation of a prime-time Sunday night entertainment show from the perspective of the writer. Attendees: 5 & 12.

MA in Literary Translation (MALT)

Literary translation students came to the Archive to examine the manuscripts of David Bellos an award winning translator born in 1945. Bellos’s extensive draft material of his translation of George Perec’s ‘W, or, The Memory of Childhood’ gives a unique insight into the timeline, attention to detail and engagement with the text. Attendees: 7.

NEW COLLECTION

The Archive of Mal Peet (award-winning novelist and children’s picture book author) is now available for consultation. This visually appealing and highly accessible collection includes manuscripts, editorial correspondence and marketing materials for ‘Keeper’, ‘Tamar’, ‘Life: an Exploded Diagram’, and the beautifully illustrated ‘Cloud Tea Monkeys’. Catalogue of Mal Peet's Archive.

RESEARCH OUTPUT

Dr Ian Giles Research Seminar: Translating the Profession Through the Lens of Patricia Crampton

Ian Giles (Visiting Fellow of the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) at UEA). Ian visited our Archive back in May to research the papers of translator Patricia Crampton. His seminar throws light on the life and career of Crampton and her enormous contribution to the translation profession. Watch the research seminar on Youtube

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Early Medieval Europe: Warriors, Saints and Rulers (HIS UG) 2 December (2 groups)

This seminar group attended a morning and afternoon session, using Special Collections resources in their medieval history session led by lecturer Hugh Doherty. Attendees: 13 & 17.

Item consulted: Lambert of Saint-Omer, Liber Floridus: Codex Autographis Bibliotheca Universitatis Gandavensis, ed. A. Derolez and Egied Strubbe (Ghent, 1968). Shelf mark YA11 Oversize.

ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES

BACW COLLECTIONS

CHARLIE HIGSON ARCHIVE screenplays of the TV show ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ ROGER DEAKIN ‘Waterlog’ and the environment; personal correspondence WG SEBALD interviews with Max Sebald, a writer concerned with themes of memory, decay and landscape.

OTHER COLLECTIONS

KENNEY PAPERS Russian and post-Soviet history PRITCHARD PAPERS The role of the Isokon flats in creating collaborations between architects and artists TINKLER & WILLIAMS THEATRE COLLECTION The Winter Gardens and Hippodrome in Gt Yarmouth UEA COLLECTION the Ziggurats (residences at UEA) and how they form part of a wider socio-political metabolism; UEA COLLECTION The broad (lake) and landscape ZUCKERMAN ARCHIVE 60th anniversary of the appointment of Zuckerman as the first Government Chief Scientific Adviser; The British Bombing Survey Unit (BBSU); South Asia’s biomedical trade in rhesus monkeys.