150th Anniversary of the birth of Rudyard Kipling – December 2015

Posted on 30 December, 2015 by nspeccoll

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Lithograph portrait of Rudyard Kipling by William Nicholson, 1899 (Pollard Collection)

150 years ago, on 30^th December 1865, Alice and John Lockwood Kipling welcomed their son, Joseph Rudyard, into the world. Rudyard Kipling would go on to become something of a celebrity, with notoriety as a ’poet of empire’. Despite this reputation and his friendships with the likes of Cecil Rhodes and King George V, Kipling declined a knighthood, the Poet Laureateship and the Order of Merit; although he did accept other awards including the Nobel Prize for Literature (1907) and an honorary degree from the University of Durham (1907). After a perforated ulcer took his life on 18^th January 1936, he was given a Westminster Abbey funeral – Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin was among his pallbearers. He lies in Poets’ Corner.

Kipling’s early years were spent in India – first in Bombay (now called Mumbai) and later in Lahore and Allahabad. (An 11-year interlude in England from the age of five was an unhappy period.) He found work as a journalist and editor, first with the Civil and Military Gazette and then with its sister paper, the Pioneer. Throughout this period, however, he was writing and publishing short stories and poems and his writing reflected the culture, language, sights, sounds and smells of India that he had fallen in love with as a child and was experiencing on adolescent insomnia-fuelled nocturnal walks. His writing was critically well-received and was popular in England.

Hoping to leverage some of his fame, Kipling returned to the UK where he met agent and publisher, Wolcott Balestier. This proved to be a life-changing encounter: Kipling married Balestier’s sister, Caroline (Carrie) in 1892, settled in her native America and had three children with her – Josephine, Elsie and John. Kipling liked to be around children and flourished as a writer of juvenile fiction, enchanting boys and girls with works such as The Jungle Book (1894) and penning parental advice, in verse, to his son in the poem ‘If’ (1895).

‘Rikki Tikki Tavi the mongoose and cobra’ by Charles Maurice Detmold for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, 1902 (Pollard Collection)

A publically sensationalised quarrel with brother-in-law, Beatty, and the death from pneumonia of Josephine drove Kipling into retreat in England. Again, he focussed on his writing, publishing Just So Stories (1902) in tribute to Josephine. [Newcastle University Special Collections holds the 1955 reprint]

As Kipling withdrew from public view, Europe prepared for war against Germany. Kipling supported the war, perceiving it to be a battle between civilisation and barbarism. He served as a war correspondent from the trenches in France and was keen for his son, John, to see active service, pulling strings to get him enlisted with the Irish Guards. John was killed at the Battle of Loos (September 1915) – he was 18 years old and his body has never been undisputedly identified. Kipling, distraught, turned his attention away from children’s stories and towards involvement with the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission: he helped to create graveyards, advising on the language to be used for the memorial inscriptions; wrote a regimental history of the Irish Guards; and influenced the wording of the letter which would be sent, on the King’s command, from Lord Derby (Secretary of State for War) to mourning relatives. By this time, Kipling’s literary prominence was waning as the world tried to come to terms with the aftermath of the First World War and Kipling with his own grief.

In 2011 the Friends of University Library purchased a significant collection of Kipling’s work in first and early editions; as well as material relating to Kipling, such as ephemera and cuttings which had been brought together by Mr Eric Pollard. The Pollard Collection is accessible via the Library’s online catalogue and the Special Collections team invite as wide an audience as possible to use it. Kipling’s work has been appraised and reappraised over the years and the Pollard Collection demonstrates the breadth of his work.

A Special Collections exhibition will draw upon the collection to remember Kipling in February 2016 – the year that marks the 80th anniversary of his death.

Kipling’s signature, from a letter to Lord Derby, 8th December 1917 (Manuscript Album)

Sir Humphrey Davy’s Harmful Emissions – November 2015

Posted on 30 November, 2015 by nspeccoll

Scientific Researches! – New Discoveries in Pneumaticks! – or – an Experimental Lecture on the Powers of Air, 1851 (Gillray Prints, JG/2/11R)

Engraving of Sir Humphry Davy from The life of Sir Humphry Davy, 1831 (19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll. 530.9 PAR)

In one of his more robust parodies, this print from our collections by satirist James Gillray (1757 – 1815) is aimed at the spectacle and frivolity of scientific discovery in Georgian culture. The depiction of a public experiment is aimed at the Royal Institution (chartered two years before in 1800), which attempted to render complex scientific ideas comprehensible, but also provide an element of theatre. The accusation is that the latter often took precedence, devaluing breakthroughs at best and providing merely infantile parlour tricks at worst.

Amongst the recognisable figures, at the centre brandishing a pair of bellows is a young Sir Humphrey Davy (1778 – 1829) – chemist and inventor. Davy’s public experiments with nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, at the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol (hence the print’s title), led him to a post at the Royal Institution in 1801. Davy famously failed to grasp the significance of the gas as an anaesthetic except for minor surgery, treating it instead as a curio and conversation piece. Indeed, his often public experiments on himself led to a personal addiction and a reputation latched onto by commentators like Gillray.

Luckily, Davy’s legacy was much more significant. He was perhaps the first professional man of science and helped pave the way for many more like him, but this was not without further scrutiny and controversy. This included the eponymous Davy lamp, invented 200 years ago this month. By 1815, Davy had been knighted for his services to chemistry, including ‘discovering’ and naming potassium and iodine. By that point a scientist of international renown, he was called upon to solve a problem with a strong local connection.

In 1812, Felling Colliery was the site of an explosion caused by pockets of flammable gas referred to as ‘firedamp’ being ignited by the open flames of the miners’ lamps. Although not an isolated incident, this loss of 92 lives was a crystallised the need for greater safety precautions. Davy was personally asked by the Revd Robert Gray of Bishopwearmouth to investigate. As well as proving firedamp was in fact methane, Davy worked feverishly with his assistant and future pioneer Michael Faraday from October to December 1815 to produce a basic lamp with a wire gauze chimney to enclose naked flames. The holes let light pass through, but the metal of the gauze absorbed the heat and prevented the methane burning inside the lamp.

Engraving of George Stephenson from George Stephenson : the locomotive and the railway, 1881 (19th Century Collection, 19th C. Coll. 620.92 STE-1)

Following successful tests at Hebburn Colliery in early 1916, the lamp went into production. It proved to be Davy’s decisive triumph. He was awarded the Royal Society’s Rumford medal, and in 1820 became the President of that society, elevating his scientific field in the process.

However, the uniqueness of his invention was disputed. Davy refused to patent his lamp, and in doing so exposed himself to rival claimants, chiefly the then unknown engineer George Stephenson. Stephenson had been working on his own similar design at the nearby Killingworth Colliery north of Newcastle at around the same time through an arguably more scientific ‘trial and error’ approach. What followed was a public war of words with Davy rejecting Stephenson’s claims and winning out largely by virtue of his reputation.

Despite this, on 1^st November 1917, Stephenson presented evidence to a committee of his peers in Newcastle, claiming his invention was at least contemporary to Davy’s. In this report, available in our Rare Books Collection (image shown below), both miners and members of the Literary and Philosophical Society give testimonies on witnessing the other lamp being developed and tested as early as August 1915. One Robert Summerside, an Overman in Killingworth Colliery, went as far as saying ‘Stephenson’s light produces a much better light than Sir Humphrey Davy’s’.

Title Page from Report upon the claims of Mr. George Stephenson, relative to the invention of his safety lamp, 1817 (Rare Books, RB622.47 REP-1)

At the meeting, it was decided that Stephenson was entitled to a public reward, but perhaps more importantly, his name was cleared in scientific and entrepreneurial circles. This allowed him to become one of the most important figures to the Industrial Revolution as Father of the Railways. It is also thought by some that his lamp, termed the Geordie Lamp after him by those that used it in the North Eastern coal fields, was the source of the term ‘Geordie’, as a shorthand for the people of Newcastle.

The committee concluded as follows:

Under the influence of these impressions the friends of Mr Stephenson will no longer dwell upon those intemperate and uncandid insinuations, respecting the clandestine acquirement of the principle in question, which have so lately been given to the world in the name and apparently under the authority of Sir Humphrey Davy, but which they are thoroughly convinced can never have obtained the deliberate concurrence of that enlightened philosopher.

Below are 2 plates depicting the rival lamps; Davy’s on the right and Stephenson’s on the left.

Engraving of George Stephenson's safety lamp from Report upon the claims of Mr. George Stephenson, relative to the invention of his safety lamp, 1817 (Rare Books, RB622.47 REP)

Illustration of Sir Humphrey Davy’s safety lamp from Practical hints on the application of wire-gauze to lamps : for preventing explosions in coal mines, 1816 (Rare Books, RB942.8 TYN(VI)2)

Engraving of George Stephenson’s safety lamp from Report upon the claims of Mr. George Stephenson, relative to the invention of his safety lamp, 1817 (Rare Books, RB622.47 REP)

Special Guest Blog – The Great North Museum: Hancock Library

Posted on 5 November, 2015 by nspeccoll

Interested in using archives and rare books? Newcastle University Library’s Special Collections isn’t the only local resource with rich unique and distinctive material to support original research.

In this guest blog, our heritage partners shine a light on their collections.

Great North Museum: Hancock Library

The Great North Museum: Hancock has a unique Library that is located on the second floor of the Museum. It is open to everyone and free to use and the collections contain a wealth of fascinating information on the history, natural history and archaeology of the northern region and beyond.

It is a fantastic resource for Newcastle University students and anyone else who would like to pay us a visit.

The Great North Museum: Hancock Library has four unique collections that were brought together under one roof when it opened in 2009. Further information about these are as follows:

The Library of the Natural History Society of Northumbria

The Natural History Society of Northumbria was established in 1829 and the Library has been housed in the museum since it was opened in 1884. It contains one of the largest collections of specialist natural history material in northern England. The collection focuses on the wildlife of the northern region and contains over 10, 000 books and around 500 journal titles.

It has books on zoology, botany, ornithology, geology, biodiversity and ecology. It contains the entire Collins New Naturalist series.

A wide range of rare and important books form part of the collection, including first editions of books published in the 16^th – 18^th centuries. Some examples of these include William Turner’s “A New Herbal” published in 1551, and Pierre Belon’s early ornithological work “Histoire de la nature des oyseaux” published in 1555. The library is also proud to possess a first edition of Charles Darwin’s seminal work “On the origin of species”. One of the strengths of the collection is the beautiful images contained in a number of books, including Edward Lear’s ”Illustrations of parrots” published in 1832.

Natural History Society of Northumbria Archive

The archives hold the Society’s own records dating from its foundation in 1829, including the history of the Hancock Museum. Also available are manuscript letters, diaries, notebooks and other material relating to renowned northern naturalists such as Abel Chapman. A nationally important and unique collection of original watercolours, drawings and proof engravings by the famous wood engraver and naturalist Thomas Bewick form a key part of the collection.

The collection contains many impressive images of the natural world, including beautiful watercolour drawings of British and foreign shells by the local artist George Gibsone.

The archive material is available to view by appointment only. Please contact the Library for details of how to do this.

Further information about the NHSN Library and Archives can be found by using the following link http://www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/resources-overview.php

Cowen Library

The library of Newcastle University’s School of History, Classics and Archaeology is named after John D Cowen, an eminent amateur archaeologist who donated his personal library to the University in 1976. The collection was moved to the Great North Museum: Hancock Library in 2009 and consists of around 9000 books and a range of specialist journals. The main subject areas include archaeology, ancient history and classics. Areas of particular strength are Roman Britain, local archaeology, archaeological history and methodology and the Byzantine Empire.

Also available are a wide range of archaeological excavation reports and books on all aspects of Hadrian’s Wall and other regional antiquities. The library contains material from the 18^thcentury to the current day, including a first edition of John Warburton’s “Vallum Romanum” published in 1753.

This impressive collection is complemented by the Library of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne Library

The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon TYNE is the oldest provincial society of its kind in the UK. Established in 1813 the Library of the Society is a wonderful resource for anyone with an interest in the history and antiquities of the northern region. The Library contains 10.000 books, 300 journal titles and 1700 tracts on local history, architecture and archaeology with a particularly strong collection of material on Hadrian’s Wall and Roman Britain. The Library has many books dating back to the 17^th and 18^th centuries and includes treasures such as Henry Bourne’s “The History of Newcastle” published in 1736,

And the 19^th century Newcastle artist Joseph Crawhall’s beautifully illustrated “Chap book Chaplets” published in 1883.

Primary source material including local directories and Poll Books dating back to the late 18^th Century can also be viewed.

Further information about the Society’s Library can be found at the following link

http://www.newcastle-antiquaries.org.uk/index.php?pageId=293

A great place to study

The Great North Museum: Hancock Library is a terrific place to study, especially for Newcastle University students. Full details of all the books and journals are available on the University’s online catalogue, Library Search http://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/resources/library-search/

There is a dedicated online catalogue in the Library, as well as three computers that can be used by Newcastle University students to access their accounts. The University’s wifi service is available as well as a free public wifi service.

The Library is open during term time from 10 – 4, Monday to Friday and on the same days during vacations from 1 – 4.

We hope to see you at the Great North Museum: Hancock Library – please drop in when you get the chance.

The Battle of Britain Ends – October 2015

Posted on 31 October, 2015 by nspeccoll

31 October 2015 marks the 75^th anniversary of the end of the battle of Britain.

The Battle of Britain was an air campaign launched by the German Air Force, Luftwaffe against the UK in the summer and autumn of 1940. Hitler had already swept through France and forced the British army out the European mainland. In order to finally invade Britain, Hitler needed to launch a final air strike to wipe out Britain’s RAF defenses.

Though the RAF Fighter Command had only 640 aircraft against the 2600 aircraft of the Luftwaffe, with the support of Bomber Command and Coastal Command, the RAF were victorious. Nazi Germany turned their attention to bombing British cities in the attack known as The Blitz, but failure in the Battle of Britain forced Hitler to cancel his Operation Sea Lion; an amphibious and airborne invasion of Britain.

Sir Robert Pattinson

In our special collections holdings at Newcastle University we hold the letters of Sir Lawrence Pattinson, an RAF pilot who fought during World War I and World War II. After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Sir Lawrence was appointed Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command and Flying Training Command in April 1940. By January 1945, Sir Lawrence was created Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire as part of the New Year’s Honors.

This month’s treasure is a letter from Sir Archibald Sinclair thanking Sir Lawrence Pattinson, on behalf of King George VI, for his long and valuable service in the RAF (dated 20th April, 1945).

GB 186 LAP/1/4/1 – Pattinson Papers

Ideas For Your Dissertation! #15

Posted on 30 October, 2015 by nspeccoll

Idea #15 Noah’s Ark: The only surviving mystery play of the Newcastle cycle

Subjects: Culture / Theatre / Theology / History

Date Range of Material
This edition published in 1922

Size of Collection
1 volume

Collection Reference Code
RB822.1 NOA

How To Order Items From This Collection
# This item is held within the Rare Books collection (Ref Code RB).
# You can place your order by linking to our request form. The reference code and title will be ‘RB822.1 NOA Noah’s Ark: The only surviving mystery play of the Newcastle cycle’.

Rare Books Finding Aid
A complete list of all items held within the Rare Books collection is available via the Library Catalogue

Handy Links

Guide to finding and using Archives and Rare Books

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Ideas For Your Dissertation! #14

Posted on 29 October, 2015 by nspeccoll

Idea #14 The Bosanquet Archive

Subjects: Social History / Politics

GB186/HBB Trunk 3

The Bosanquet Archive consists of archive material relating to Bernard Bosanquet, the idealist philosopher (1848-1923), and to his wife, Helen Bosanquet, née Dendy (1860-1926), a member of the 1909 Poor Law Commission.

Material relating to Bernard Bosanquet comprises correspondence, research notes, drafts and manuscripts of publications, as well as offprints from journals and other publications by Bernard Bosanquet himself.

Material relating to Helen Bosanquet includes notes and correspondence for her memoir of Bernard Bosanquet, offprints from publications, correspondence relating to Helen Bosanquet’s family and relating to public work, journals of travel, drawings, literary notebooks, photographs, engagement diaries and some undated miscellaneous material. A particular highlight is Helen Bosanquet’s notebook which contains diary notes on Poor Law Commission meetings attended by her in 1909.

Date Range of Material
1865 – 1934

Size of Collection
4 linear metres

Collection Reference Code
GB186/HBB

How To Order Items From This Collection
# First, use the finding aid below to search through a list of the individual items we have within this collection.
# If you find an item you would like to consult in the Special Collections reading room, simply make a note of the reference number and title of the item(s) you are interested in (for example GB186/HBB/ Trunk II A Letters from HB to her mother 1902-1918).
# You can then place your order by linking to our request form.

Finding Aid
The catalogue for the Bosanquet Archive is available via pdf download.

Handy Links

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Ideas For Your Dissertation! #13

Posted on 28 October, 2015 by nspeccoll

Idea #13 A Collection of Recipes, compiled in the years 1684-5

Misc MSS. 5 Jane Loraine Recipe Book- Kakes

Subjects: Food Science / Social History

Jane Loraine’s recipe book, which was compiled between 1684-6.

Date Range of Material
1684-5

Size of Collection
1 volume.

Collection Reference Code
Misc MSS. 5

How To Order Items From This Collection
# This item is held within the archive collection Miscellaneous Manuscripts (Misc MSS).
# You can place your order by linking to our request form. The reference code and title will be ‘Misc MSS. 5 A Collection of Recipes’.

Miscellaneous Manuscripts Finding Aid
A complete list of all items held within the Miscellaneous Manuscripts collection is available via a pdf download.

Handy Links

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Ideas For Your Dissertation! #12

Posted on 27 October, 2015 by nspeccoll

Idea #12 MacSweeney (Barry) Papers

Subjects: Literature / Poetry / Creative Writing

BM 2-19A

These are the personal papers of local poet Barry MacSweeney (1948-2000), who was an important figure in the Modern Poetry Revival. The collection includes manuscripts and published works, correspondence, literature reviews, poetry publications, photographs and newspapers articles.

The correspondence includes a range of MacSweeney’s friends, fellow poets and family including material from Clive Bush, Pete Bland, Tim Fletcher, Nicholas Johnson, Jackie Litherland, Maggie O’Sullivan, Eric Mottram, Elaine Randall, Jeremy Prynne and Chris Torrence.

Date Range of Material
1967 – 2000

Size of Collection
19.5 linear metres

Collection Reference Code
GB186/BM

How To Order Items From This Collection
# First, use the finding aid below to search through a list of the individual items we have within this collection.
# If you find an item you would like to consult in the Special Collections reading room, simply make a note of the reference number and title of the item(s) you are interested in (for example GB186/BM/1/4/2 Odes – Draft Typescript Copies).
# You can then place your order by linking to our request form.

Finding Aid
A catalogue of the MacSweeney (Barry) Archive is available on a pdf download.

Handy Links

Guide to finding and using Archives and Rare Books

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Ideas For Your Dissertation! #11

Posted on 26 October, 2015 by nspeccoll

Idea #11 Grey (2nd Earl) Tracts

Subjects: History / Politics

The Grey Tracts reflect the interests of their former owner, the 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845) whose Whig government was responsible for the 1832 Reform Act, 1833 Factory Act and the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. The pamphlets cover a broad range of historical, social and economic subjects including colonial policy, public finance and banking, the Corn Laws and agriculture, poor relief, slavery, Catholicism, Ireland and the Greek Revolution.

Date Range of Material
19^th Century

Size of Collection
9 linear metres

Collection Reference Code
Grey Tracts

How To Order Items From This Collection
# First, use the library catalogue link below to see a list of the individual books we have within this collection.
# If you find some books you would like to consult, click on each item and you should find yourself in the Request section of the catalogue. Then simply hit the ‘Request to consult in Special Collections’ button, complete the order form, and the book will be brought out of the stores for you. You will receive an email from us as soon as they are ready for you.

Library Catalogue Link

A complete list of items within the Grey Tracts collection is available via the Library Catalogue.

Handy Links

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Ideas For Your Dissertation! #10

Posted on 23 October, 2015 by nspeccoll

Idea #10 Sharp (Thomas) Archive

Subjects: Town Planning

GB186/THS/6 Plan for Port Eynon and Horton

The papers of Thomas Sharp (1901-1978) were largely gifted by his sister, Rachel Sharp and had been rescued from Sharp’s Oxford house by Professor Brenikov of Newcastle University. Further material has been acquired for the collection from Patrick Horsbrugh.

Sharp was a significant figure in town planning and a major influence on the development of ideas of townscape and on the forms that town and countryside should take through such publications as Town and Countryside (1932), Town Planning (1940) and Town and Townscape (1968). His plans for historic cities such as Durham, Oxford and Exeter in the 1940s were also potent. The collection contains information and correspondence on plans and texts, including unpublished works; original plans; documentation on key planning cases; press-cuttings; documentation relating to unsuccessful commissions; typescripts, including that of an unpublished autobiography; personal correspondence and creative writing.

This impressive archive documents the progression of Sharp’s thinking throughout his career, draws attention to the important issues which underpinned the planning commission process at the time, provides information on how commissions were received and offers material showing how arguments and ideologies of urban evolution were advanced.

Date Range of Material
1932 – 1984

Size of Collection
4 linear metres

Collection Reference Code

GB186/THS

How To Order Items From This Collection
# First, use the finding aid below to search through a list of the individual items we have within this collection.
# If you find an item you would like to consult in the Special Collections reading room, simply make a note of the reference number and title of the item(s) you are interested in (for example GB186/THS/6 Plan for Port Eynon and Horton).
# You can then place your order by linking to our request form.

Finding Aid
A catalogue of the Sharp (Thomas) Archive is available via Archives Hub.

Handy Links

Guide to finding and using Archives and Rare Books

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