Comments for Out Of The Archives

Comment on The Commissions – Olivia Plender and Hester Reeve by Emily Davison Day « Out Of The Archives

Emily Davison Day « Out Of The Archives — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:52:00 +0000

[...] http://thumbsforhire.co.uk/outofthearchives/?page_id=121 Hester's Emily Davison Day action is documented thanks to the race horse photographer George Selwyn [...]

Comment on Woman’s Hour by Gail Cameron

Gail Cameron — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:44:11 +0000

Hi Gill

Thanks for your comment and I’m pleased that the Woman’s Hour piece was a trigger for you to think about stories connected with your own objects.

Also many thanks for the offer of your childhood slippers; we’ll contact you directly to discuss their possible donation to the Library.

Best wishes

Gail Cameron
Curator
The Women’s Library

Comment on The Brilliant and the Black and White by Anne Stamper

Anne Stamper — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:42:44 +0000

There is a recording of The Brilliant and the Dark made by WI choirs, I have a copy and there are others about – I will try to get hold of one for the NFWI archives at TWL. It is of course on an old 78 and will need someone to convert it.

Anne Stamper
Hon Archivist NFWI

Comment on Woman’s Hour by Gill Cawley

Gill Cawley — Tue, 18 May 2010 21:59:34 +0000

I heard the Women’s Hour piece, and found myself wanting to donate a small item to the Library. It is a pair of slippers and the story of how I acquired them mark my epiphany as a feminist and my passion for justice. They do not represent any significant political or historical movement, just unimportant people – the woman who wore them, the schoolgirl and the teacher – deeply affected by the customs and beliefs of their times.

The story is this:

When I was nine, in 1957, I came top in the class exam at my primary school. The teacher told us that a missionary had visited the school in the 1930s and given some items of interest from China. These had been in a cupboard for a long time, so she had decided to give them to the three children who had done best in the exams.

The best item was a beautiful model boat. I knew that as I had come top, I would get first choice, and I wanted that boat. But the teacher called out the boy who had come second, and of course he chose the boat. I protested, but she told me that he got first choice because he was a boy.

I got second choice. The next best item was this pair of embroidered silk slippers which had been worn by a woman with bound feet.

At the time I was only aware of the injustice that being the best wasn’t good enough if you were a girl. The irony only struck me later. I have never forgotten the lesson.

May I send you the slippers, or are they not the sort of thing you could house? If not, do you know of another institution who would appreciate them and their story?

regards, Gill Cawley.

Comment on The Brilliant and the Black and White by Philippa Popham

Philippa Popham — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:54:20 +0000

I’d love a recording too – there is a recording of us singing it I’m afraid Kate – not the Hampton Court Palace perfomance, but rather at the farewell concert for Harold Britten, it’s on a casette (that makes me feel old) Twickenham Girls singing it on one one side, Mr H paying a Rachmaninov concerto on the other.
I’d love to hear it sung again, some of the themes still play in my head sometimes – I remember some of the phrases that the ones the needle women sang like “Blue threads and green alternately” It made quite an impression on me, my first taste of more modern music, it was feindishly hard for us to sing, time changes sometimes every bar, key changes constantly! It also changed my whole perspective of history, making me think about it from a women’s perspective.
Please let me know when the performance is etc – a very unusual work.

Comment on The Brilliant and the Black and White by Kate Hardy

Kate Hardy — Sat, 08 May 2010 23:17:20 +0000

I was in a girls school choir aged 12-16 which performed ost of ‘Brilliant and the Dark’ at the Hampton Court Festival in 1977 with Malcolm Williamson sitting at the front (looking a bit uncomfortable as I recall). I would love to find a recording (not of us!!)

Kate Hardy

Comment on The Brilliant and the Black and White by Anne Stamper

Anne Stamper — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:22:51 +0000

I was at one of the performances of The Brilliant and the Dark in the Albert Hall in 1969 – and it was brilliant! There were only 4 performances.
Did you know that there are a few of the costumes from the original production at The Women’s Library? They are still uncatalogued – some of the sequences were very colourful, though there are few colour photographs in the archives.
I will certainly be coming to the performace if I can.
Anne Stamper
Hon archivist NFWI