Exeter Loans Du Maurier’s notebook to the British Library

The University of Exeter has loaned The Rebecca Notebook – the key document that defended Daphne Du Maurier against plagiarism – to the British Library for the major new Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands exhibition.

Obviously, this is some great publicity for archives and heritage collections at the Uni where Carrie and I currently work and study (and as regularly as possible try to champion the collections), and draws attention to the excellent Du Maurier holdings we have here.

The notebook has been on public display along with other items such as Du Maurier’s writing desk within Exeter’s recently revamped Research Commons. The book was donated to Exeter in 2001 by Du Maurier’s children; it contains draft material for her most famous novel Rebecca, and as such was used as evidence in a plagiarism case launcehd against the writer in 1947, proving the authenticity of her authorship of the novel.

The Notebook appears in a section of the exhibition that looks at how writers are inspired by the rivers, seashores and other waterscapes of the country, alongside some other regionally related mauscripts such as the Exeter Book from Exeter Cathedral.

Christine Faunch, head of heritage collections (and a speaker back at our original conference), said of the loan: “These unique items are a fantastic resource for our students, who regularly consult them for dissertations, and our academics. However, we are also committed to sharing our historic documents with wider audiences.”

For full information (and further words from Chris), see Exeter’s news pages.

For more information on Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands, click here.

The curious case of the stolen Hemingway letters

This piece on the Hemingway letters reads like a short crime story! It has theft, prison, letters with incendiary content...
Letters by Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Morley Callaghan were stolen from a Toronto book dealer in 1993. these letters are now estimated to be worth $1 million and the dealer believes they are still out there.


The letters discuss one of the most famous fights in literary history (are there many?) — a 1929 boxing match in Paris between Hemingway and Callaghan, during which Hemingway was bloodied, then knocked to the mat.

http://ehto.thestar.com/marks/the-curious-case-of-the-stolen-hemingway-letters

Manuscripts Still Matter: British Library Conference

A great looking upcoming event at the British Library -- Manuscripts Still Matter (Mon 30 Apr 2012, 09.00 - 18.00, Conference Centre, British Library £20).

Both Carrie and I will be there, and will be tweeting throughout (@LisaRoseStead / @CarrieRSmith) and following up with a full report on the day here on the blog. Full details below:

Manuscripts Still Matter is the second conference of the UK Literary Heritage Working Group. The highly acclaimed first conference Manuscripts Matter, held in 2006, focused on collecting modern literary archives and included discussion about the loss of British archives to overseas buyers and the perspectives of institutions, dealers and creators of archives. Now, Manuscripts Still Matter will consider the situation for archival institutions, archive creators and a broad range of users given the changing financial and political climate since.

The day will begin with discussion of the situation for literary archives since 2005 and later sessions will consider the archives sector as a whole. The programme includes a session on the use of archives by the Creative Industries, which will include the British Library’s Artist in Residence, Christopher Green, and discussion of funding of the heritage sector with the Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Carole Souter, and others. An in conversation session with the poet, Wendy Cope and former Poet Laureate, Sir Andrew Motion, will consider the feelings of writers and poets on using archives, and seeing their own papers archived. Finally the programme will include a series of short presentations on different literary archive collections designed to demonstrate the vibrancy of the UK archives and manuscripts sector that the Working Group wishes to champion.

Conference fee includes a buffet lunch and refreshments.

Free Public Lecture: Betjeman's Devon

The University of Exeter's Dr Paul Williams will be giving a free public lecture April 25th at Sidmouth Library, titled 'Public Space and Popular Genres: Betjeman's Devon'.

Using examples from John Betjeman’s poems and films about Devon, the talk will explore Betjeman’s preoccupation with the environments in which people live and interact. As well as being a best-selling poet, Betjeman was in demand as a radio and television broadcaster. In this illustrated talk, Dr Williams will argue that Betjeman used popular forms of expression to find a voice for the theme of public interaction that he wanted to protect in Britain’s towns and villages.

The lecture is from 6.30 - 745 pm, free entry available by advanced booking.

Wastelands to Wonderlands Exhibit at the BL

A new exhibition at the British Library, titled Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands, is to feature over 150 works on display, including the notebook of William Blake, Lewis Carroll’s diary and the Lake District handbook of William Wordsworth. The original written version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland will be displayed with Carroll’s illustrations, and for the first time the library is showing materials from Laurie Lee’s archive, which it acquired two years ago.

The exhibition explores the links between landscapes and literary classics, showcasing archival materials that show how British writers have been inspired by and have shaped the nation’s understanding of place and landscape.

Other featured writers include Ted Hughes, Virginia Woolf, Chaucer, J G Ballard and Angela Carter.

The exhibition is part of the London 2012 Festival.

For more information on the BL website, click here. The exhibit will run from the 11th May.

Literary Pilgrimages to the West Country

Reclamation and Representation keynote Professor Helen Taylor (University of Exeter) will be talking at an upcoming event at Exmouth Library, exploring the rich history of Devon’s literary past from Austen to Coleridge, Salinger to Waugh. The event offers a fascinating look at literary history and literary tourism in the region.

The talk will take place on Weds 28th March in Exmouth Library.

Tickets can be booked from the library (at the very agreeable sum of a mere £2), contactable at exmouth.library@devon.gov.uk, and further information can be found on the WordQuest Devon site: http://www.auneheadarts.org.uk/site/projects/wordquest/index.html

A Publisher's Archive: Charles Pick

Publisher Charles Pick’s archive has been recently opened, offering a glimpse into his lengthy career and working relationship with big literary names including John Steinbeck, JD Salinger, John Le Carre and Roald Dahl.

The archive, donated by his son to the University of East Anglia, includes a large collection of letters, interviews and press cuttings. For more info, see the Guardian coverage and UEA pages.

Salman Rushdie talks about his archive: Live twitter stream

Search for the hash tag #digdia or follow @rogerwhitson and @briancroxall for tweets from "a digital dialogue with Salman Rushdie and Erika Farr" about Rushdie's archive at Emory University, digital practices and his memoir written using the archive.


See a list of the tweets at - Storify

Based on Baskin: young local artists and the archive

Exeter is currently hosting Based on Baskin -- an exhibition of original prints by young people aged 13-19 years from across Devon, taking their inspiration from the work of Leonard Baskin, the poetry of Ted Hughes and the collaboration of these two artists.

The young people came to view original Baskin prints which are held in the Heritage Collections Department at the University and found out about more about both the printing processes he used, and his working relationship with Ted Hughes, illustrating poetry collections such as Cappricio and Crow.

The exhibition also offers the chance to see some reproductions of a selection of Leonard Baskin’s held within the University’s archives.

The project and exhibition are a collaboration between Double Elephant Print Workshop, the University of Exeter Arts & Culture Department and University of Exeter Art Society members, supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.

If you happen to be in Exeter, do drop by -- it's well worth a look, the launch on Monday was wonderful--some beautiful original work and great ideas about how to use the archive in original and creative ways.

For more information follow this link: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/about/vision/arts/exhibitions/

The exhibition runs till the end of April and is held in Kay House, Duryard.

Can you help create an archivist's tool kit plugin for Omeka?

Interest Level in Omeka Plugin for the Data Transfer from Archivist's Toolkit

"After recently taking a look at Omeka, a thought occurred to me.  Wouldn't be great if records from the Archivist's Toolkit, AT for  short, (http://www.archiviststoolkit.org/) could be published to an  Omeka instance. This would clearly seem to have value to institutions  that use the AT for cataloging work, but don't have an accessible  public publication platform.

Original group - http://groups.google.com/group/omeka-dev/browse_thread/thread/ba85579f06d5797?hl=en&pli=1

Taking a quick look at the code needed to do this, it seems that it  would require an Omeka plugin, and an AT plugin. The Omeka plugin would handle authentication, and metadata and/or files sent to it by the AT plugin, then create the Omeka records (Collections, Items, and Files). The AT plugin on the other hand would allow users to select AT records to publish to Omeka. Ideally this can all be done with one- click. Now, I saw that there is a plugin for importing EAD finding aids already, however, this only allows transfer of one of the record types in the AT, not other relevant ones (i.e. Accessions, Assessments, and Digital Objects) which an institution may be willing to publish.

So from my point of view, there is value in doing such a project; however, there are few questions which I hope this group can help answer.

1. What would be the general interest level be in this?Are there a lot institutions that use both tools now, or could such a product drive adoption of Omeka by folks currently using the AT?

2. Would there be interest in supporting this plugin on Omeka.net? I can even imagine a plan which would host both the AT database also.

3. And most importantly, what are the options available to found development/support of this work? Is there any small grants that could be applied for, or would users be willing to pay for this
product. "