Hall-Carpenter Archives
Encyclopedia
The Hall–Carpenter Archives are named after the authors Marguerite Radclyffe Hall
(1880–1943) and Edward Carpenter
(1844–1929). They are housed at the London School of Economics
, at Bishopsgate Library – (press cuttings), and in the British Library (Sound Archive)
(oral history tapes).
The Hall–Carpenter Archives founded in 1982 are the largest source for the study of gay activism in Britain, following the publication of the Wolfenden Report
in 1958.
1967 and All That; The Sexual Offences Act
and the Gay Community
Queer Britain 1953–1988; The Gay Community and the Straight Press
The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) established the Gay Monitoring & Archive Project (GMAP)to collect evidence of discrimination and police arrests from all parts of the United Kingdom. It received agency press cuttings and collected other newspaper clippings sent in by its members.
GMAP later became separate from CHE and one its founders, Julian Meldrum, moved all the papers into his London flat. Its first funding was a grant made to the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) from the Manpower Services Commission.
1982
Julian, with others, set up a limited company called the Hall–Carpenter Memorial Archives Ltd and in 1983 registered as a charity. Trustees included Oliver Merrington (Chair of the archive) and Michael Mason, publisher of Capital Gay. The Albany Trust, donated its archives and press cuttings, and the NCCL provided essential meeting and working space in Southwark
, with financial assistance from the Lyndhurst Settlement. It also received personal donations from members of the lesbian and gay community.
1984
The archives moved to its first rented office accommodation in Mount Pleasant, London.
A major funding bid resulted in a grant of £32,000 from the Greater London Council
(GLC). Part of this was to set up a Media Project to monitor television and radio broadcasts, and Lorraine Trenchard and Mark Finch were employed to run this. The archives moved to the new London Lesbian & Gay Centre (LLGC) in Cowcross Street, Farringdon (at that time the largest lesbian & gay centre in Europe). Early publications included The Gay News Index (1982); ‘Declaring an Interest’ – a projected catalogue of gay images on television in Britain, (1982–83); and A.I.D.S. through the Media (1984). Work started on indexing the “News Library” of press cuttings, the records of gay organisations and a “Pink Thesaurus” was created by volunteers.
1985
The archives employed Margot Farnham (until 1988) to coordinate a volunteer group for an Oral History project. Thirty-five interviews were carried out using new sound recording/transcribing equipment. The tapes and transcriptions are now in the British Library Sound Archive
, part of the British Library. The Oral History project culminated in two books "Inventing Ourselves" and "Walking After Midnight" (see References).
Around this time Kenneth Barrow had established the “National Lesbian & Gay Survey” within HCA. This was a Mass-Observation style survey engaging the opinions of "ordinary" lesbians and gay men on various vital or controversial contemporary issues, anthologies from which were later published by Routledge.
1986
The archives’ GLC funding terminated and the Lyndhurst Settlement helped with funding.
1987
A fundraiser was employed who wrote to around thirty charitable trusts – but none replied favourably. It looked unlikely that the London Lesbian & Gay Centre would receive funding and its closure was imminent, the Directors made a deliberate choice to try to house the Archives in a university, preferably in London.
1988
Core collections, were moved to the Archives at the London School of Economics (LSE) with the active support of the Archivist, Angela Raspin. A number of gay activists, such as Peter Tatchell
and John Chesterman, donated personal collections. The HCA at LSE have continued to grow with new accessions, and have been extensively sorted and indexed by Sue Donnelly and other professional archivists in her team.
1989
The Hall–Carpenter Archives Management Committee was in abeyance.
1991
Oliver Merrington, one of the original Directors, took over as the Honorary Secretary/Treasurer, arranging meetings, dissolving the Limited Company, issuing occasional newsletters and drawing up formal agreements with the repositories. He arranged a regular donation of press cuttings from the monthly Gay Times
.
The Press Cuttings Collection proved much more difficult to house, as the LSE archive had a policy of not taking newspaper cuttings, the collection remained in the LLGC building in Cowcross Street, although the early cuttings relating to the start of the AIDS epidemic were moved to the Terence Higgins Trust. The cuttings then moved to SIGMA
(an organisation conducting sexual research in relation to HIV) in Brixton
. A professional archivist, Mark Collins, joined the volunteer team and started a re-sort of the cuttings collection which had not been touched for a decade. He arranged their transfer in the late 1990s to the Greenwich Lesbian and Gay Centre, in South East London.
1997
Simon Bradford, the librarian of the Cat Hill campus of Middlesex University was at this time creating a new Collections Room for a number of historical archives, and offered space to HCA.
In February the transfer was arranged and a formal ten-year loan agreement signed with Middlesex University. Oliver Merrington was appointed Honorary Research Archivist by the university, and held weekly volunteer sessions there to organise the cuttings.
1998
On 2 June the collection was opened by a Member of Parliament, Evan Harris
(standing in for Stephen Twigg
MP). The photograph collection from Gay News
is also at Cat Hill, as well as a growing collection of lapel badges, T-shirts, printed carrier bags and banners from marches and demonstrations.
2001
The collection at Cat Hill was renamed The Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive (LAGNA).
2011
LAGNA (press cuttings and book collection) moves to the Bishopsgate Library.
Radclyffe Hall
Radclyffe Hall was an English poet and author, best known for the lesbian classic The Well of Loneliness.- Life :...
(1880–1943) and Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, socialist philosopher, anthologist, and early gay activist....
(1844–1929). They are housed at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, at Bishopsgate Library – (press cuttings), and in the British Library (Sound Archive)
British Library Sound Archive
The British Library Sound Archive in London, England is one of the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word and ambient recordings....
(oral history tapes).
The Hall–Carpenter Archives founded in 1982 are the largest source for the study of gay activism in Britain, following the publication of the Wolfenden Report
Wolfenden report
The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution was published in Britain on 4 September 1957 after a succession of well-known men, including Lord Montagu, Michael Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood, were convicted of homosexual offences.-The committee:The...
in 1958.
Projects
These projects in partnership with the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive (LAGNA)1967 and All That; The Sexual Offences Act
Sexual Offences Act
Sexual Offences Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom relating to sexual offences ....
and the Gay Community
- To produce a touring exhibition throughout 2007 to raise awareness of gay history and the significance of the 1967 Act.
- Provide access to previously inaccessible historical material by cataloguing archives of the Homosexual Law Reform SocietyHomosexual Law Reform SocietyThe Homosexual Law Reform Society was an organisation that campaigned in the United Kingdom for changes in the laws that criminalised homosexual relations between men.- History :...
, the Albany TrustAlbany TrustThe Albany Trust was founded in the United Kingdom as a registered charity in May 1958 to complement the Homosexual Law Reform Society . It takes its name from The Albany, in Piccadilly, London, where J.B...
, the Campaign for Homosexual EqualityCampaign for Homosexual EqualityThe Campaign for Homosexual Equality is one of the oldest gay rights organisations in the United Kingdom. It is a membership organisation which aims to promote legal and social equality for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in England and Wales...
, plus the papers of Peter TatchellPeter TatchellPeter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
and Bob MellorsBob Mellors-External links:* *...
. - Research at the British LibraryBritish LibraryThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
Newspaper Collection to identify newspaper articles in the British press in the period leading up to the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, and beyond. - Run a programme of outreach work to include illustrated talks on the 1967 and All That project across the London boroughs and to interested community groups.
Queer Britain 1953–1988; The Gay Community and the Straight Press
- Outreach and cataloguing project completed 2005
History of the archives
1980The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) established the Gay Monitoring & Archive Project (GMAP)to collect evidence of discrimination and police arrests from all parts of the United Kingdom. It received agency press cuttings and collected other newspaper clippings sent in by its members.
GMAP later became separate from CHE and one its founders, Julian Meldrum, moved all the papers into his London flat. Its first funding was a grant made to the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) from the Manpower Services Commission.
1982
Julian, with others, set up a limited company called the Hall–Carpenter Memorial Archives Ltd and in 1983 registered as a charity. Trustees included Oliver Merrington (Chair of the archive) and Michael Mason, publisher of Capital Gay. The Albany Trust, donated its archives and press cuttings, and the NCCL provided essential meeting and working space in Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
, with financial assistance from the Lyndhurst Settlement. It also received personal donations from members of the lesbian and gay community.
1984
The archives moved to its first rented office accommodation in Mount Pleasant, London.
A major funding bid resulted in a grant of £32,000 from the Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
(GLC). Part of this was to set up a Media Project to monitor television and radio broadcasts, and Lorraine Trenchard and Mark Finch were employed to run this. The archives moved to the new London Lesbian & Gay Centre (LLGC) in Cowcross Street, Farringdon (at that time the largest lesbian & gay centre in Europe). Early publications included The Gay News Index (1982); ‘Declaring an Interest’ – a projected catalogue of gay images on television in Britain, (1982–83); and A.I.D.S. through the Media (1984). Work started on indexing the “News Library” of press cuttings, the records of gay organisations and a “Pink Thesaurus” was created by volunteers.
1985
The archives employed Margot Farnham (until 1988) to coordinate a volunteer group for an Oral History project. Thirty-five interviews were carried out using new sound recording/transcribing equipment. The tapes and transcriptions are now in the British Library Sound Archive
British Library Sound Archive
The British Library Sound Archive in London, England is one of the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word and ambient recordings....
, part of the British Library. The Oral History project culminated in two books "Inventing Ourselves" and "Walking After Midnight" (see References).
Around this time Kenneth Barrow had established the “National Lesbian & Gay Survey” within HCA. This was a Mass-Observation style survey engaging the opinions of "ordinary" lesbians and gay men on various vital or controversial contemporary issues, anthologies from which were later published by Routledge.
1986
The archives’ GLC funding terminated and the Lyndhurst Settlement helped with funding.
1987
A fundraiser was employed who wrote to around thirty charitable trusts – but none replied favourably. It looked unlikely that the London Lesbian & Gay Centre would receive funding and its closure was imminent, the Directors made a deliberate choice to try to house the Archives in a university, preferably in London.
1988
Core collections, were moved to the Archives at the London School of Economics (LSE) with the active support of the Archivist, Angela Raspin. A number of gay activists, such as Peter Tatchell
Peter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
and John Chesterman, donated personal collections. The HCA at LSE have continued to grow with new accessions, and have been extensively sorted and indexed by Sue Donnelly and other professional archivists in her team.
1989
The Hall–Carpenter Archives Management Committee was in abeyance.
1991
Oliver Merrington, one of the original Directors, took over as the Honorary Secretary/Treasurer, arranging meetings, dissolving the Limited Company, issuing occasional newsletters and drawing up formal agreements with the repositories. He arranged a regular donation of press cuttings from the monthly Gay Times
Gay Times
Gay Times is one of the United Kingdom's leading gay magazine for gay and bisexual men.-Publication and content:...
.
The Press Cuttings Collection proved much more difficult to house, as the LSE archive had a policy of not taking newspaper cuttings, the collection remained in the LLGC building in Cowcross Street, although the early cuttings relating to the start of the AIDS epidemic were moved to the Terence Higgins Trust. The cuttings then moved to SIGMA
Sigma
Sigma is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, and carries the 'S' sound. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 200. When used at the end of a word, and the word is not all upper case, the final form is used, e.g...
(an organisation conducting sexual research in relation to HIV) in Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
. A professional archivist, Mark Collins, joined the volunteer team and started a re-sort of the cuttings collection which had not been touched for a decade. He arranged their transfer in the late 1990s to the Greenwich Lesbian and Gay Centre, in South East London.
1997
Simon Bradford, the librarian of the Cat Hill campus of Middlesex University was at this time creating a new Collections Room for a number of historical archives, and offered space to HCA.
In February the transfer was arranged and a formal ten-year loan agreement signed with Middlesex University. Oliver Merrington was appointed Honorary Research Archivist by the university, and held weekly volunteer sessions there to organise the cuttings.
1998
On 2 June the collection was opened by a Member of Parliament, Evan Harris
Evan Harris
Evan Leslie Harris is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon from 1997 to 2010, losing his seat in the 2010 general election by 176 votes to Conservative Nicola Blackwood....
(standing in for Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby since 2010. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005, when he lost his seat. He came to national prominence in 1997...
MP). The photograph collection from Gay News
Gay News
Gay News was a pioneering fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality...
is also at Cat Hill, as well as a growing collection of lapel badges, T-shirts, printed carrier bags and banners from marches and demonstrations.
2001
The collection at Cat Hill was renamed The Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive (LAGNA).
2011
LAGNA (press cuttings and book collection) moves to the Bishopsgate Library.