All posts by michaelagarland

Reflections on Curating in the Crossfire: Collecting in the Time of War, Conflict and Crises

19th century, 20th century, 21st century, Archives and Modern Manuscripts, Digitisation, Event, Humanities, Learning and teaching, Medical, Modern, Sciences, Social Sciences, Web Archives, , , , ,

On 3-4 November, I attended a two-day event at the British Library that highlighted the challenges and approaches of collecting materials created during times of war, conflict and crises. Through a series of panels and discussions, museum and library professionals, researchers and private collectors shared examples of incredible historical and contemporary initiatives to preserve diverse materials and heritage sites at risk of loss, decay or destruction.

Having recently worked on the joint Bodleian Libraries and History of Science Museum Collecting COVID project, I was particularly interested in contemporary programmes of collecting. Our project, which ran from 2021-2023, aimed to acquire and preserve the University of Oxford’s research response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It enabled us to capture, catalogue and publish over ninety oral history interviews.

Modern collections/initiatives showcased included:

  • Web Archiving the COVID-19 pandemic, Nicola Bingham, British Library
  • Coastal Connections (heritage sites at threat from coastal erosion) Dr Alex Kent, World Monuments Fund)
  • Crowdsourcing photographs for the Picturing Lockdown Collection Dr Tamsin Silvey, Historic England
  • Endangered Archives Programme (recent case studies include Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan) Dr Sam van Schaik, British Library
  • Collecting Human Stories during the war in Ukraine, Natalia Yemchenko, Rinat Akhmetov Foundation/Museum of Civilian Voices

Rapid collecting is a means to collect documentary evidence, preserve cultural memories and commemorate events. By providing access to these collections, institutions are then able to build a body of evidence and facilitate research. I was struck by the similarities between modern initiatives and those that had taken place a century before. Some of the contemporary examples of collections crowdsourcing harked back to the collecting of ephemera during the First World War. Dr Ann-Marie Foster highlighted the Bond of Sacrifice Collection and Women’s Work Collection (Imperial War Museums) in her presentation with Alison Bailey, in which families sent items memorialising loved ones, as examples of early collecting initiatives. Modern rapid collecting work has meant that contemporary archivists/curators have taken up this tradition, working actively to save materials at risk of loss through intentional selection.

As well as crowdsourcing and outreach, other strategies institutions draw upon in an increasingly online world are web archiving, digitisation and digital preservation. With social media now a main mode of communication for millions, web archiving is a useful tool to preserve and present online response to global events. Work to capture websites relating to recent events is ongoing at both the Bodleian Libraries and British Library. I found Archive-It to be an incredibly useful tool to capture and publish a range of web pages (including the social media pages of COVID-19 researchers, given with permission) for our project, which without reactive selection and preservation, would otherwise have been at risk of loss.

Overall, the event highlighted that institutions must use active strategies towards preserving at-risk materials created during ongoing crises and conflicts, including:

  • Involving communities to assist in selection of materials;
  • Providing as representative a view of the event as possible (capturing diverse perspectives);
  • Providing access to collections and making them available as widely as possible (ethical considerations and sensitivities permitting);
  • Democratising collections and preserving them for future generations.

Additions to the archive of Raymond Chandler

20th century, Archives and Modern Manuscripts, Cataloguing, Humanities, Modern, Newly available (2025), ,
Chandler’s private detective, Philip Marlowe, features on a set of stamps to mark the 50th anniversary of Interpol, 1973. MS. Chandler 107. © Raymond Chandler Limited.

Raymond Chandler is best known for hard-boiled crime novels including The Big Sleep (1939) and The Long Goodbye (1953) and as a screenwriter for some of the biggest motion pictures of the 1940s, including The Blue Dahlia. Since the start of the year, work has been underway to enhance and expand the original catalogue of the Chandler archive and to integrate and make accessible later accessions. These new additions cover papers and correspondence created by Chandler in his lifetime, as well as a vast afterlife of papers showcasing the legacy of the great mystery writer.

New additions to the archive largely focus on correspondence and papers concerning the Chandler estate, stewarded by his literary agent and heir, Helga Greene. These demonstrate a wealth of interest in Chandler’s work by filmmakers and biographers, largely covering a period from 1960-1990. By the 1970s, small and big screen adaptations of his novels and short stories were becoming apparent as a major focus of interest for the estate. Greene’s defence of Chandler’s work and legacy is evident in the papers, through her diligent renewal of copyright and selective choices over permissions for adaptations, anthologies and new publications. The papers also go into detail over a will contest and include material concerning Greene’s legal fight to be recognised as heir, in a suit brought by Chandler’s former secretary, MS. Chandler 112-113.

Extract of a letter touting Chandler’s special recipe ‘Swordfish Mascagni’ and apples baked in cider, MS. Chandler 107. © Raymond Chandler Limited.

Amongst the papers generated by the estate following Chandler’s death are snippets of original writings that demonstrate his natural humour and wit, as well as leisurely pursuits and interests, including cookery and darts. In the final year of his life, whilst working on ‘The Poodle Springs Story’ (the last and unfinished novel, in which Marlowe marries heiress Linda Loring), Chandler and Greene were also collaborating on an idea for a cookery book with a provisional title of ‘Cooking For Idiots.’ Although the book never came to fruition, the collection does hold remnants of the early development of this work. As well as the above letter teasing recipes such as apples baked in cider (‘vociferously admired by anyone who owes me money’), the collection includes an assortment of handwritten recipe cards featuring the culinary creations of Chandler’s late wife Cissy, including ‘Cissy’s Ham Goodbye’ and ‘Pancakes for Raymio,’ MS. Chandler 102 & 106.

© Raymond Chandler Limited.

Alongside the cookery ‘specials’ of the Chandler household, a glimpse of Chandler’s humour is found in this unsent letter marked ‘For Posterity’ to Los Angeles department store Bullock’s Wilshire (in its heyday a glitzy haunt of famous clientele), where he conjures an elaborate narrative in an effort to return an unwanted sports jacket.

Additionally, original prose such as drafts and typescripts for short stories including ‘The Pencil’ (published as ‘Marlowe Takes on the Syndicate’ in the Daily Mail, 1959) and the fantastic story ‘Professor Bingo’s Snuff’ are now available, along with a selection of assorted notes, prose and unpublished writings in MS. Chandler 7. The material featured in this blog post, along with all other newly catalogued additions to the archive can now be consulted in the Weston Library. The new and enhanced catalogue for the Archive of Raymond Chandler is searchable here.

The archive of the Greene Family is now available

20th century, Cataloguing, Humanities, Modern, Newly available (2025), Newly available (2025), Women, ,

The catalogue for the archive of the Greene family is now available, with material ready for consultation in the Weston Library. The archive largely comprises personal correspondence and photographs belonging to Graham Carleton Greene, CBE, publisher, and his mother, Helga Mary Connolly (née Guinness, other married name Greene), literary agent.

Helga Greene, c. 1930s. © Courtesy of Alexander Greene.
Helga Mary Connolly, 1916-1985

Helga Mary Connolly was born to Henry Samuel Howard Guinness and Alfhild Holter. She married her first husband Sir Hugh Carleton Greene in 1934, the couple had two sons, Graham C. and James C. Greene. Following their divorce in 1948, she opened the Helga Greene Literary Agency in 1952, which operated from Eaton Mews West in the house adjoining her own home. Her literary consultant, Kathrine Sorley Walker, later wrote in Remembering Helga, (1987) that Helga considered her agency ‘a small and very personal literary agency.’1 The agency represented authors including American mystery writer Raymond Chandler (from 1957), Austrian artist and poet Oskar Kokoschka, Richard Crossman M.P. and zoologist Lancelot Hogben (from 1953). Helga was engaged to Raymond Chandler upon his death in 1959, inheriting his literary estate and would become the authority on permissions for adaptations of his works.

Her personal papers primarily consist of correspondence with her first husband, the broadcaster Sir Hugh Carleton Greene, brother of the writer Graham Greene. The earliest letters derive from their engagement whilst living in Berlin in 1934. The letters also provide coverage of family life during a period of upheaval in Europe, after their expulsion from Berlin in 1939 (Hugh C. Greene was the Daily Telegraph’s Berlin Correspondent from 1938). The family was separated for periods of time, owing to Sir Hugh’s work in the RAF and as Head of the BBC German Service, MS. Greene family 1. A portion of the papers concern personal letters from members of the theatrical and literary community such as Tove Jansson, C.P. Snow, Mary Norton and Ivor Novello, MS. Greene family 3-4. The main business papers and correspondence of the Helga Greene Literary Agency are catalogued with the archive of Raymond Chandler.

Graham Carleton Greene CBE, 1936-2016

The bulk of the papers in the archive belong to Graham Carleton Greene, CBE who held the position of managing director of the publishing house Jonathan Cape from 1966-1988. Alongside an influential career in publishing, the papers and correspondence cover decades of involvement with numerous charitable organisations and cultural institutions. Graham was actively involved in shaping organisations including the Publishers Association (President, 1977-1979), Statesman and Nation Publishing Company (Chairman, 1981-1985), GB-China Centre, (Chairman, 1986-1997) and the British Museum (Chairman, 1996-2002). By this point, he had been a trustee of the museum for 24 years (from 1978-2002). During his tenure as chairman of the British Museum, he was involved with the redesign of the Great Court, with it opening in December 2000.

Outside of his professional life, Graham’s extensive personal correspondence spans six decades, and includes letters from a range of friends, particularly those who were extended hospitality at dinner parties arranged by him and his wife Sally. Literary dinners and parties were also thrown in celebration of new publications, including for a biography by Anthony Howard of his mother’s former client and friend, Richard Crossman M.P., MS. Greene family 39.

From left: Graham, Helga, Hugh and James Greene. © Courtesy of Alexander Greene.

Several boxes of family photographs provide a snapshot of the life of the Greene family over many decades, with Helga and Hugh’s life in 1930s Germany, family holidays in the 1940s and Graham and James’s Eton school days in the 1950s all featuring. Photographs of Graham’s later travels to China are also included, MS. Greene family photogr. 5. He would go on to visit the country on multiple occasions and work to establish copyright treaties whilst chairman of the GB-China Centre in 1991.

The Bodleian Libraries also hold the papers of Sir Hugh Carleton Greene and the archive of Vivien Greene.

Sources:

  1. Remembering Helga, (1987). MS. Chandler 39 ↩︎

New oral histories now online: Oxford’s pandemic perspectives

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https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/collecting-covid-oral-histories

The Collecting COVID project (a collaboration of collecting between the History of Science Museum and the Bodleian Libraries) is currently well into its second year of uncovering Oxford University’s innovative and celebrated pandemic research.

The project has acquired a fascinating selection of oral history interviews from across the University, which explore the rapid research response to the crisis in early 2020. Fifty of these interviews are now publicly available in full on the University Podcasts website. An additional fifty will conclude this part of the collection, with new interviews added routinely.

Oxford academics, principal investigators, professional services and medical students all provide insights into their experiences of this time, providing testimonials that will inform research for generations. Topics are varied with contributors from all academic divisions and include vaccine manufacture and clinical trials, drug design and discovery, COVID misinformation, clinical care of patients, and economic recovery.

Collecting COVID (funded by the E. P. A. Cephalosporin Fund) is ongoing and still actively collecting pandemic research related objects and archival material from the University community. Enquiries and submissions to the collection can be sent to collectingcovid@glam.ox.ac.uk

Collecting COVID: Oral Histories now available

21st century, Archives and Modern Manuscripts, Digital archives, Humanities, Medical, Newly available (2022), Sciences, Social Sciences, Women, , ,

The Collecting COVID project has been underway at the Bodleian Libraries and History of Science Museum since late 2021, with an active collecting programme achieving a range of material acquisitions relating to the University’s research response to COVID-19.  To complement the physical COVID-19 collections established at both institutions, the Bodleian has also been collecting oral history interviews, all conducted by writer and broadcaster Georgina Ferry.

The first batch of born digital audio files have now been made publicly accessible through the University Podcasts website.

https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/collecting-covid-oral-histories

Consisting of 20 episodes relating to the interviews of 13 researchers and academics spanning across academic divisions, the interviews reveal an insight into some of the incredibly impactful work happening behind the scenes during the height of the pandemic. From drug discovery/repurposing, vaccine trials and development, government policy tracking and development of mass testing programmes, the interviews offer the listener a window into our recent past and into the immense efforts taken to combat a global health emergency.

The Collecting COVID project is funded by the E. P. A. Cephalosporin Fund.

An introduction to the Collecting COVID project

21st century, Archives and Modern Manuscripts, Humanities, Medical, Modern, Sciences, Social Sciences, , , , ,

Luke Jerram’s glass sculpture of a nanoparticle of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, courtesy of the History of Science Museum.

On 4th January 2021 the NHS became the first health service in the world to roll out the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The first person to receive a dose was 82-year-old Oxford resident Brian Pinker, who had travelled to Oxford University Hospital to receive the jab at 7:30am. This milestone event exactly one year ago today was the result of a year’s intensive work to develop a vaccine by a small team led by Professor Sarah Gilbert at the University’s Jenner Institute. As of November, over 2 billion doses of the vaccine have been released for supply to more than 170 countries, with a 3 billion target set by AstraZeneca for the end of 2021.

The project

Collecting COVID is an exciting two-year collaborative project (funded by the E P A Cephalosporin Fund) between the Bodleian Libraries and History of Science Museum. The project aims to capture the extraordinary story of the University’s COVID-19 research response and to preserve and share it with future generations.

We are inviting members of the University who have been involved in shaping this response to contribute material to a contemporary collection that will inform research on the current pandemic and aid preparation for any potential future global health emergencies.

What are we looking for?

We are keen to hear from anyone at the University who can identify any of the following for the collection…

Objects from individuals and teams across the University such as:

  • Equipment relating to COVID-19 research and clinical practice including testing, vaccination and treatment
  • Personal items, photos, artwork or ephemera relating to the impact of COVID-19 on the work and personal lives of staff

Personal digital or physical records of individuals and teams who were involved in developing the University response to COVID-19 (e.g., academic and clinical research or social policy recommendations):

  • Correspondence
  • Diaries (current and retrospective)
  • Laboratory and research notebooks
  • Working papers
  • Draft and unpublished articles
  • Photographs and videos

Websites, blogs, or Twitter feeds, which help to develop the narrative behind the University’s efforts during the pandemic can be nominated for archiving in the Bodleian Libraries Web Archive.

Personal testimonies and recollections of daily life during the pandemic from those who were directly involved in the University’s response to it (which could be in the form of a short memoir or account of experiences).

What happens next?

Once objects or records have been identified (either by submission or through direct contact by the team), we will set up a meeting to discuss the donation to ascertain its suitability for inclusion in the collection. We will then arrange a visit to survey the material before it is transferred to either the library or museum. Once on-site the material will be appraised, accessioned, catalogued and eventually made available for research and public engagement activities.

We are extremely keen to speak with individuals and teams who would like to contribute to the collection, or may be able to help us to identify important material at risk of loss. General enquiries and submissions can be sent to Michaela Garland (Project Archivist) and Tina Eyre (Project Curator) at collectingcovid@glam.ox.ac.uk