Tuesday 30 March 2010

Easter Opening Hours

The Library is open Saturday hours on Maundy Thursday 1 April and Easter Tuesday 6 April, from 09.45 am to 17.30 pm


We are closed on Good Friday 2 April, Easter Saturday 3 April and Easter Monday 5 April.
 
Normal opening hours resume from Wednesday 7 April.

Jack Halpern Papers - Catalogue available

The Jack Halpern Papers were donated to the Institute of Commonwealth Studies by Jack Halpern’s widow. We're pleased to announce that a PDF version of the list for this collection has been added to the collection level description on the ULRLS Archives database: PDF list

Jack Halpern worked primarily as a journalist, writer and editor and this collection largely consists of Halpern’s writing on Southern African affairs and race relations in the period between 1958 and 1970, as well as personal correspondence for this period.

Jack Halpern was born in 1927 in Berlin. Because of the Nazi persecution of the Jews, his parents emigrated to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he was educated. His interest in the problems of developing countries was stimulated by two and a half years spent in Israel. Returning to South Africa he became a journalist and married. After editing technical and industrial journals he became Editor and Publications Officer of the South African Institute of Race Relations. In 1960 he was appointed editor of the 'Central African Examiner' in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, and became the Central African correspondent of the 'Observer', the 'New Statesman', 'Dagens Nyheter', and 'Politiken'. In September 1963 with the Rhodesia Front in power, he and his wife were arbitrarily expelled from the disintegrating Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland by the Prime Minister, Sir Roy Welensky. After arriving in Britain, Halpern served as Secretary-General of Amnesty International, 1964-1965, and, writing under his nom-de-plume of James Fairbairn, as Africa Correspondent of the 'New Statesman'. He died on 11 May 1973.

The collection includes correspondence and papers on South African politics, the High Commission Territories (Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland), Lesotho, Botswana, the Central African Federation, Malawi, Zambia, Rhodesia; material on the Pearce Commission, 1971-1972; statements, correspondence and cuttings on Halpern’s expulsion from Rhodesia; and correspondence and papers relating to his work in exile in the United Kingdom ,for Amnesty International and other organisations, as well as drafts and notes for Halpern's book South Africa's Hostages. Material in the collection includes drafts of articles by Halpern and press cuttings; notes; correspondence; political party material; photographs; and family and personal correspondence.

The papers include correspondence with Baruch Hirson, Commonwealth Press Union, Colin Legum, Ruth First, Julius Lewin, all of whom also have collections deposited in the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Archive.

Friday 19 March 2010

Capricorn Africa Society

The Capricorn Africa Society was founded in Southern Rhodesia by David Stirling in 1949, with the objective of democratic and multi-racial development in East and Central Africa.

The Society has been described as "a small band of idealists in the decade before independence who believed that a future without racial discrimination would allow the countries of east and central Africa to prosper." The papers held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library and Archives, include correspondence and papers of the Capricorn Africa Society, 1955-1966; comprising of a range of material including copies of society pamphlets and leaflets, a progress report to members in the United Kingdom, 1958, the programme of the Central African Branch, 1959, report on tour of Southern Rhodesia by officials of the CAS Central African Branch, 1959, CAS Newsletters, 1956-1965; newspaper cuttings, 1955-1959, copies of articles by David Stirling on self government and common citizenship in Africa; correspondence, 1957-1960 including copies of 'Weekly Summary' a duplicated letter sent to CAS members from London, letters to David Hamilton and David Stirling on society business and African politics; miscellaneous notes and papers. The papers appear to have come from David Stirling. A list of the collection has now been added to the ULRLS Archives catalogue and can be found at: http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/resources/ICS8.pdf

The Library also holds publications by the Capricorn Africa Society in its main collections, and political pamphlets collections - these are all listed on the library catalogue.

A recent assessment of the work of the Capricorn Africa Society can be read in

Bizeck Jube Phiri The Capricorn Africa Society Revisited: The Impact of Liberalism in Zambia's Colonial History, 1949-1963, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 24, No. 1 (1991), pp. 65-83, also available in the Library.

Fabian Society Online Archive

The Fabian Society Online Archive includes 280 tracts published by the Society from 1884 to 1997. These have recently been digitised in PDF format and are freely available from:

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/library/archive/online_resources/fabianarchive/home.aspx

The catalogue is arranged in date order and includes items of interest to Commonwealth Studies including:
  • 74 The state and its functions in New Zealand W P Reeves* 1896
  •  110 Problems of Indian poverty S S Thorburn 1902
  • 186 Central Africa and the League of Nations R C Hawkin 1918
  • 230 Imperial trusteeship Lord Olivier 1929
  • 245 Indian federation Bool Chand 1938
  • 248 Democracy for India H N Brailsford 1939
  • 302 The Kenya question : an African answer Tom Mboya (foreword by Margery Perham) 1956
  • 306 The new India Colin Jackson 1957
  • 308 Commonwealth future Lord Listowel 1957
  • 313 Dwell together in unity [regarding the West Indies] John Hatch 1958
  • 315 Colour and commonsense Kenneth Little (foreword by Norman Manley) 1958
  • 332 Aden, the Protectorates and the Yemen  Reginald Sorensen 1961
  • 345 The coming struggle for South Africa Anon 1963
  • 365 Britain and South-East Asia 1966
  • 368 Rhodesia : the last chance George Cunningham 1966
  • 420 Labour in Asia : a new chapter? Colin Jackson (editor), Martin Bernal, Richard Harris, Michael Lipton, Roderick MacFarquhar, Wolf Mendl and John Tusa 1973
  • 546 South Africa : Out of the Laager? Martin Plaut 1991

Thursday 18 March 2010

Lecture: Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals

Serving the Next Generation - The Commonwealth in the 21st Century: Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals

THIS EVENT IS PART OF THE LECTURE SERIES TO MARK THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF BOTH THE INSTITUTE AND THE MODERN COMMONWEALTH.

Speakers: Professor Christopher Colclough , University of Cambridge

Christopher Colclough, before coming to Cambridge in 2005, was the founding Director of UNESCO's Global Monitoring Report on Education for All. This annual report charts progress towards the six 'Dakar' goals and the two Millennium Development Goals for education. He had previously been a Fellow (from 1975), and Professorial Fellow (from 1994) of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

His research has been concentrated in the following areas: the economics of education in developing countries; education, planning, and reform in Africa and Asia; gender and schooling in Africa; development theory and adjustment strategy. Whilst at Sussex, he directed a nine-country research and policy analysis programme on gender and primary schooling in Africa, attracting research funding of over US$ 3 million from a multi-donor partnership, comprising the Rockefeller Foundation, NORRAD, Irish Aid, and the World Bank.

He has served as an adviser to UNICEF, UNESCO, and the Rockefeller Foundation on issues related to Education for All, and to many governments - particularly those in southern Africa - on education and economic policy. He has also served as consultant to a wide range of agencies, including the World Bank, DFID, NORRAD, and others, on general matters related to education and economic development.

Date: Tuesday 23 March
Time: 17:30 - 19:00
Venue: Room 274/275 (Stewart House, Second floor), University of London, 32 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DN
Contact: troy.rutt@sas.ac.uk

Tuesday 16 March 2010

ANZLAG (Australian and New Zealand Library and Archives Group) 2010 London Workshop

ANZLAG (Australian and New Zealand Library and Archives Group) 2010 London Workshop


Monday 10th May 2010

Room G35, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU

Provisional Programme

10.00 Registration and Welcome

10.30 Literature collections in the UK
  •  David Clover – Senate House Library, University of London Research Library Services
  •  Nicholas Martland – British Library
  •  Dr Kevin Halliwell – National Library of Scotland
  •  Dr Ian Henderson – Menzies Centre for Australian Studies (a researchers perspective)

12.00 Lunch

  1.00 Notable archive and manuscript collections

  •  Susan Snell – Archivist and Records Manager, Library and Museum of Freemasonry
  • Mr James Daniel – Researcher

 An overview of resources at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry concerning Australia and New Zealand and a case study of academic research on the visit of Lord Carnarvon to Australia

  •  Dr Maria Castrillo – Manuscripts Curator, National Library of Scotland

“Manuscript emigrants’ diaries and journals relating to Australia and New Zealand in the National Library of Scotland”


2.00 Coffee/tea


2.30 Panel discussion on publishing and distribution of NZ and Australian books


4.00 Closing drinks reception


Please let us know in advance of any dietary or access requirements.

Registration £10 payable on the day to assist with catering costs

Please register in advance to david.clover@sas.ac.uk



Birkbeck events - Gender and DIY in New Zealand and Gay Rights in Uganda

Two events at Birkbeck of interest
1. College Gender Group Seminar - Rosie Cox, Materialising Gender: Men, women and home improvement in New Zealand

2. Gay Rights in Uganda


1 .College Gender Group Seminar

Weds, 28 April 2010; 12.30-2.00, Venue: 253 Malet Street, Birkbeck

Rosie Cox (Dept of Geography, Environment and Development Studies)
Materialising Gender: Men, women and home improvement in New Zealand

DIY is a booming activity in New Zealand. Households spend over NZ$1 billion at DIY stores each year and there are thought to be more ‘DIYers’ per head of the population in NZ than there are in any other country in the Western world. But what are people doing when they do-it-themselves? This paper discusses the ways that gender and national identities are made and remade as people work (or choose not to work) on their homes. It traces the relationship between materials used for home repairs, the skills and knowledges needed to use them and the (re)production of gendered identities. It argues that by focusing on routine and mundane activities in the home, we can reveal the intertwining of social history and the material environment in the continual negotiation and contestation of gendered identities.

Contact: Heike Bauer (h.bauer@bbk.ac.uk)

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2. GAY RIGHTS IN UGANDA

A Discussion with David Kato, Advocacy/Litigation officer at Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG)

7 - 9pm Thursday 18 March 2010
Birkbeck Cinema, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H OPD

Hosted by Birkbeck School of Law

In September 2009, an Anti-Homosexuality Bill was introduced in the Ugandan Parliament and is currently under debate. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which builds directly on the British colonial legacy of anti-sodomy laws, proposes to extend the criminalisation and punishment of same-sex relations and creates significant barriers for HIV/AIDS prevention and health policy. David Kato is among many activists who have been fighting against the bill since it was introduced.

Introduction by Sokari Ekine - "Criminalisation of LGBT in Sub-Saharan Africa: Cases and responses"
Lecture by David Kato - "A matter of life and death: the struggle for Ugandan gay rights"
Followed by a Q&A Session.

Spaces are limited, so please RSVP to: s.lamble@bbk.ac.uk

Thursday 11 March 2010

New lists added to archives catalogue - South Africa, Ceylon and Malaya

As part of an ongoing project to add copies of lists to our archives catalogue we have recently added lists for a number of smaller collections held. These include colelctions relating to South Africa, Ceylon and Malaya.


John Patrick Cope, was born on Mooi River, Natal, South Africa, on 17 Mar 1906, educated at St Andrews College, Grahamstown and in 1924 joined the 'Rand Daily Mail' as a reporter. In 1930 he joined the 'Natal Mercury' as their parliamentary and political correspondent, and became friendly with Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, and other prominent political figures. In 1937 he joined his former editor, R J Kingston Russell in his venture to found a political weekly 'Forum', and on Russell's retirement assumed the editorship, which he retained for 14 years under the chairmanship of Hofmeyr. In 1951 'Forum' closed, and Cope rejoined the 'Rand Daily Mail' as editorial assistant. He entered politics and was returned for Parktown in 1953 and 1958 as a United Party MP. In 1958 he was one of a group of UP members who broke away to form the Progressive Party, but he lost his seat after a smear campaign in the 1961 election. The Cope papers comprise press cuttings, from his years as a journalist in South Africa, Abyssinia and China and 96 items of correspondence; the majority of which are letters from Hofmeyr. Topics covered include the Afrikaner Broederbond, 1941, Hofmeyr's relationship with Jan Christian Smuts, 1948, report on Mau Mau outbreak in Kenya [c1952]; South African politics, 1929-1948, his decision to leave the United Party and to found the Progressive Party, 1959; and papers on the political weekly 'Forum', 1948-1951.

The papers of Edward Trevor Dyson cover his time in the Ceylon Civil Service, 1910-1929; and include a report 'The Spirit of Trincomalee', describing Trincomalee at the end of 1910, including comments on the visit by the Crown Prince of Germany, Prince Wilhelm; a report 'The Bo Tree Incident', describing events after the cutting down of a sacred Bo Tree at Anuradhapura, 1929; letters to Bertha [the future Mrs Dyson], 1911, including description of a journey to Kantalai, and the area around Kantalai, and an account of a journey from Trincomalee to Batticaloa, with an account of his first visit to the prison at Batticaloa in his capacity as Assistant Inspector of Prisons.

Also from Ceylon are the papers of W A Davis, comprising photographs, maps and souvenirs of Ceylon (1931-1935); including  seascapes, plantations, historic monuments and people, all unidentified; a map of the City of Columbo (1932) and motor map of Ceylon (1931); and the programme of the Installation banquest of the Duke of Connaught Masonic Lodge, Columbo (1935).

The papers of J E U Exwood concern rubber estates in Malaya, 1929-1939; including reports on Bukit Selambau and Tarum estates owned by Tarun (Malaya) Rubber Estates Ltd to Bousted & Co,. Ltd, Kuala Lumpur, 1929-1931, and correspondence on Waterfall (Selangor) Rubber Estates Ltd, 1930-1939.

Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 19-25 March London

We're pleased to publicise the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, featuring films at the Ritzy, ICA, Curzon Soho and Curzon Mayfair, and encourage you to look at the full programme on their website.

Of Commonwealth interest include the following:

Good Fortune - questioning the benefits of international efforts to alleviate poverty, Good Fortune, presents a unique perspective on human rights abuses and environmental destruction carried out in the name of progress in Kenya. Screening Sunday 21st March at 6.30pm (ICA), the screening includes a question and answer session with the film's director.

Nero's Guests - documentary about the thousands of Indian farmers who commit suicide each year due to poverty and the inability to repay debts. Screening Monday 22nd March at 6.30pm (ICA).

War Don Don - tells the story of the sensational trial of Issa Sesay, a senior commander of the rebel Revolutionary United Front, Siera Leone. Screening Thursday 25th March at 6.30pm (ICA), the screening includes a question and answer session with the film's director.

Tuesday 9 March 2010

Feeding the World in the 21st Century

Serving the Next Generation - The Commonwealth in the 21st Century: Feeding the World in the 21st Century


THIS EVENT IS PART OF THE LECTURE SERIES TO MARK THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF BOTH THE INSTITUTE AND THE MODERN COMMONWEALTH.

Speaker: Sir Gordon Conway, Chief Scientific Officer, DFID

Gordon Conway trained in agricultural ecology, attending the universities of Bangor, Cambridge, West Indies (Trinidad) and California (Davis). In the 1960’s he was a pioneer of sustainable agriculture developing integrated pest management programs for the State of Sabah in Malaysia. He joined Imperial College in 1970 setting up the Centre for Environmental Technology in 1976. In the 1970s and 1980s he lived and worked extensively in Asia and the Middle East, for the Ford Foundation, World Bank and USAID. He directed the Sustainable Agriculture Programme at IIED and then became representative of the Ford Foundation in New Delhi. Subsequently he became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex and Chair of IDS. From 1998-2004 he was President of the Rockefeller Foundation and from 2004- June 2009 Chief Scientific Adviser to DFID and President of the Royal Geographical Society. He is a KCMG, Deputy Lieutenant of East Sussex, Hon Fell RAEng and FRS. He holds five honorary degrees and fellowships. He is the author of ‘The Doubly Green Revolution: Food for all in the 21st Century' Penguin and Cornell.

Given that food security is becoming a critical policy issue for the years ahead this lecture will be of keen interest to all those interested in international development, the environment, food and agriculture, and human rights.

Date: Tuesday 16 March
Time: 17:30 - 19:00
Venue: Lecture Theatre, IALS

Contact: troy.rutt@sas.ac.uk

Insights into the 'Banana Wars'

We are pleased to announce we hav added a handlist to the archives of the Caribbean Banana Exporters' Association to our archives catalogue. We wish to thank Norris Saakwa-Mante, an archives volunteer with us late last year, who worked on creating this list.


The Caribbean Banana Exporters Association established a London lobby in 1988 to defend its rights during pending trade discussions and disputes under both the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the lobby remains active. The CBEA comprises representatives of banana growers and exporting companies from all the Caribbean countries that are involved in the banana export trade. These are Belize, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Surinam and the four Windward Islands- St Lucia, Dominica, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and Grenada. The collection held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Archives provides insight into the disputes and the underlying political and economic concern, as well as revealing how the campaign to protect Caribbean growers used lobbying and public relations techniques within the UK, the European Union and the United States. The dispute came to a resolution late 2009, with a decision by the European Union to sign an agreement with Latin American countries to end the long running trade war. The new accord slashes import taxes on bananas from Latin America, from Euro 176 (US$262 dollars) a tonne to Euro 114 (US$170 dollars) over the next seven years. Caribbean governments have criticised the accord and have joined African and Pacific countries in warning that the new accord with Latin America would severely impact upon their struggling economies.

The list of records held is available at http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/resources/ICS148.pdf