Of Summer Wine, Comic Postcards and Silent Film

In this guest post, Roger Penny looks back at his work in The Postcard Museum, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.

After seven years as a Librarian with the County of Avon, I joined Kirklees Cultural Services in November 1988 in the new post of Community Officer. This post had   responsibility for managing the Library, Postcard Museum and Civic Hall in the Pennine town of Holmfirth, home of the popular TV Series Last of the Summer Wine and of Bamforth & Co. Founded in 1870, Bamforth & Co became best known for their ‘saucy’ seaside postcards through to the 1980s. They were also one of the first companies to make silent films as well as magic lantern slides and sentimental postcards. The Postcard Museum had opened several years earlier after being planned and displayed by the Museum Service working closely with Jane Helliwell, Kirklees Local Studies Librarian. With a museum shop on the ground floor, the first floor gallery featured displays of magic lantern slides and a selection of sentimental and comic postcards by Bamforth & Co. On the second floor there was a seated area where visitors could watch early silent films by Bamforth & Co.

Visitors to The Postcard Museum came mainly by coach on Summer Wine pilgrimages from across the Pennines. People living in Holmfirth seemed to have lost interest in the Postcard Museum. After one visit there was little reason to come for a second look unless you were a Bamforth & Co enthusiast. One of my agreed goals was to encourage people to come again through putting together a series of temporary exhibitions of postcards, enhancing their experience when watching the silent films, and organising events. Over the next three years, we put on a series of temporary exhibitions of postcards in display cases on the landings before you entered the first and second floor galleries. Keep Smiling: Picture Postcards of World War 11 was the first temporary exhibition, followed by Fancy Ladies: Picture Postcards of Society Women on the Edwardian Stage by Bamforth & Co. I was fortunate to receive the continuing support of Jane Helliwell, who looked after and maintained the collection of Bamforth & Co postcards.

For Keep Smiling I wrote an exhibition brief that identified my target audience and marketing strategy, the steps in sourcing and displaying the objects to be included in the exhibition, and the budget. The postcards seemed to fall into three categories: The Home Front, Patriotism and Propaganda, and Humour. There were also photographs of the artists Douglas Tempest and Arnold Taylor. I had already been given leave to write my own press releases and was very encouraged by the level of interest shown by the Huddersfield Examiner and Radio Leeds. I was blown away when I was invited by BBC Look North to do a television interview in the museum about the Fancy Ladies exhibition, which was broadcast after the early evening news. To launch Keep Smiling, we held a 1940s evening with the staff serving a homemade supper to everyone who came, using authentic wartime recipes. A local community theatre company set the scene and led a sing-along.

After having gained some prior experience of working with video, my interest was aroused when I heard tell of a pianist accompanying the showing of silent films at a film festival in Leeds. He readily agreed to be recorded playing along to the Bamforth & Co silent films in the museum. I was fortunate to secure additional funding to pay the Production House in York to produce a new series of videos with dubbed piano soundtrack, which encouraged visitors to the Postcard Museum to extend their visits and watch the films. I undertook a second silent film project after the retired company secretary at Bamforth & Co handed me several reels of nitrate film that he’d been keeping in an old tool box in his garage. After having them collected by the National Film Archive, I eventually received back videos of lost Bamforth & Co films, including a procession by trades unions and churches through the streets of Holmfirth around the end of the Great War. A silent film evening was held to show the new films to local people and invite their comments as to the significance of the procession, which had culminated in a gathering in the local park.

One last area in which I made a particular contribution to the Postcard Museum was in respect of the museum shop. This had tended to sell confectionary and some Bamforth & Co postcards still in print to generate income and help balance the budget. After approaching the Managing Director of Dennis’s of Scarborough (the company that had bought Bamforth & Co in the 1980s), he agreed to reprint two sets of historic comic cards from Kirklees collection so they could be sold through the museum shop. I had the fun task of choosing the twelve cards, which became best sellers in the shop. Another commercial project was undertaken with the help of the Holmfirth Choral Society which recorded a music cassette for sale in the museum shop, featuring some of the songs featured on Bamforth & Co’s sentimental postcards.

Roger Penny was Community Officer for Holmfirth, and subsequently Marsden as well, from 1988 until 1993. He was Hon Publications Officer of the Association of Assistant Librarians and President of the AAL in 1990.

Toolkit: Exhibitions

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Exhibitions within the library building may be a useful way of promoting services and collections, especially if exhibitions integrate with wider cross-platform promotional campaigns.

In practice, library staff often have to create exhibitions with limited display equipment, few financial resources, and limited time. Fortunately, much can be achieved even with these constraints.

Collaboration with local historians or groups may be an effective use of resources, but make sure everyone involved has a clear understanding of the exhibition aims, content and budget.

Choosing a topic

It’s often useful to tie in an exhibition with an anniversary, whether this is the anniversary of a local, national, or international event. By doing this, media coverage may be greatly increased and it can also raise the library service’s profile within the overall organisation, particularly if it helps the organisation to do something to mark an event.

Local anniversaries, or a local connection with a national anniversary or event, may be the most likely to achieve publicity and engagement.

National awareness days/weeks/months (e.g. Black History Month in October, LGBTQ+ History Month in February, Local & Community History Month in May) may also be a useful theme for exhibitions. Libraries Connected produces an annual calendar with relevant awareness campaigns that may inspire events and activities in libraries linked to the universal offers: https://www.librariesconnected.org.uk/resources

Other ideas that could be useful to inspire exhibitions are:

  • The launch of a new local book
  • The promotion of new service/resource/collection
  • Supporting a new tourism initiative – e.g. guided walks
  • A seasonal tie-in – e.g. Christmas, summer holidays

It’s as well to be mindful of the wider context of your exhibition. What may seem to be fairly innocuous can turn out to be controversial if there is a local or political sensitivity about the topic.  It may be advisable to check with your organisation’s press office or communications team to make sure there are no issues with the topic you are proposing.

Arranging content

Images attract more attention than text so, depending on the theme of your exhibition, it may be worth considering large images and small amounts of text.

As most photographs held by local studies services are likely to be smaller than would ideally be required for an exhibition, it may be worth considering copying the image and then printing it as a larger photograph or print (copyright permitting). As well as having greater impact, this also creates a surrogate that means the original image is protected from any damage during display.

If you are doing a display on traditional display boards, try not to cram too much onto the boards. Small images with lots of small text may only engage those who are already engaged, rather than having the eye-catching appeal to attract wider interest. It may be more effective to have fewer, but larger, images, or to use graphic software to create content the same size as each exhibition board. If you have the facility to print larger than A3, you can then print this as one sheet. If not, then, depending on your software, it may be possible to print the content as tiled sheets that may then be stuck together.

Copyright

In terms of copyright, the Intellectual Property Office issued a copyright notice (copyright notice 5/2015) aimed at museums, galleries, libraries, archives and other institutions that may wish to exhibit copyright works. The notice stated that: 

“In the UK, public exhibition is not an act restricted by copyright. This means that it is not an infringement of copyright to put a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work on public display (for example, in a display cabinet in a museum or gallery).” This relates to original documents and artefacts, and would not in itself permit the making of a copy for exhibition purposes.

Moving images

Moving images also attract interest and it is possible to create short videos from still images, with or without audio. If you have a TV screen available in your exhibition space, it should be possible to produce short video clips to play on a loop, as well as to upload to video-sharing sites and social media platforms.

Whilst Adobe Premiere Pro is the full-featured industry standard, much can be achieved with the more budget-friendly Adobe Premiere Elements. There are also free alternatives, such as DaVinci Resolve, Kdenlive and Lightworks. 

Be aware that, according to the Intellectual Property Office (notice 2015/5) “playing or showing a sound recording, film or broadcast in a public place [without permission from the rights holder(s)] would usually be an infringement of copyright.”

Writing content

Simply exhibiting documents or artefacts is unlikely to engage casual interest. Generally, it is stories that engage people, so exhibitions should be planned with a particular theme, and content should be selected or created so that it contributes to a coherent narrative. 

Ask yourself what is the unique story that your exhibition will tell. It may be useful to outline your narrative e.g. as bullet points, on post-it notes or as a mind map, and then select relevant resources from your collection.

Original documents and artefacts should be accompanied by explanatory captions. Captions need to convey a key message rather than be a description of the item. They must be short – ideally 14-21 words – and they need to communicate something to readers, rather than just describe what visitors can see for themselves.

People generally don’t read large blocks of text. Their eyes are drawn to images, headings, sub-headings, bulleted lists, and short captions. Any blocks of text may only be skimmed, so be mindful of this when writing content.

William Strunk, in his guide The Elements of Style in 1918, wrote:

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that he make every word tell.

Write in a natural way that will resonate with your audience. Clear and precise language is usually more effective than flowery prose, which tends to distract from the exhibition content. Take care with typing, grammar and spelling. If possible, ask a colleague to proof read any content you create. Alternatively, printing proof copy and slowly reading it aloud to yourself may help you to spot any errors.

Remember the well-known design principle “KISS” – Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Environment and security

The safety and security of exhibition materials should be a paramount consideration when planning an exhibition of original documents or artefacts.

Original items should not normally be displayed without appropriate security – e.g. locked in a display cabinet – to protect against theft or damage, whether wilful or accidental.

The other main threat to display materials is the risk of damage as a result of inappropriate conditions in the display environment. In particular, the potential damage from light, heat, and humidity should be assessed before original sources are displayed.

British Standard 4971:2017 (Conservation and care of archive and library collections) offers guidance on exhibiting original items. It recommends that:

  • Objects should not be placed on permanent display
  • The duration of a display should be calculated with an understanding of the impact of the display environment on the objects
  • The display period calculated should be based on a safe level of light exposure of the material displayed, depending on the sensitivity of the materials. Background lighting in the display area should also be assessed.
  • The temperature should not exceed 24 degrees
  • Relative humidity levels should be within recommended levels (see section 5.1.3 of BS 4971)
  • Exhibition light sources either emit no UV or UV radiation emitted should be removed by the use of filters

It would be advisable to carry out a condition survey before exhibiting original items.

Borrowing artefacts

It may be worth considering asking to borrow artefacts or documents from other museums or repositories, if this is appropriate for the theme of your exhibition. Depending on the items, this may only be possible if you have secure exhibition facilities that meet the environmental conditions recommended in BS 4971. 

Some museums offer loan services to schools and cultural institutions, so it is worth checking with the relevant museum. Be aware that if you are borrowing original items, you are likely to have to:

  • Ensure that you have sufficient insurance cover for an agreed minimum amount
  • Comply with security, display and handling requirements of the loaning institution
  • Pay a loan and administration fee
  • Pay for a condition survey and any pre-loan conservation of the items
  • Arrange for suitable secure transport for the items

Publicity

Be mindful of copyright, especially in images. Make sure that you know the copyright status of any items you are using, particularly images, and ensure that you have assessed the risk of using the material for the purposes you wish. This is essential if you don’t have written permission from the rights holder(s) or a licence to use an orphan work.

Use your existing publicity channels to good effect, and try to include images that can be issued with press releases as this will make them more attractive to media organisations. If you have a blog, it can be useful to create a blog post that tells the story in more detail, and includes images of the exhibition.

If you have social media channels, rather than posting a standard poster, you are likely to have more impact by creating properly-sized images for each channel. 

  • Twitter
    The size of inline images on Twitter in 2020 should be in a ratio of 16:9 so the suggested optimum size is 1200 x 675 pixels. Any images taller than this 16:9 proportion will be cropped on mobile and desktop feeds.
  • Facebook
    The recommended size for shared images on Facebook is 1200 x 630 pixels
  • Instagram
    The recommended size is of images for Instagram is a square 1080 x 1080 pixels.

It may be worth considering events that link with the exhibition, for example, a formal launch with an opening by the Mayor, and/or a brief introduction or lecture about the topic. 

Demonstrating impact

If your exhibition is part of a grant-funded project, you may have a requirement to collect evidence to justify the use of external funding. Even if your exhibition is not grant-funded, it may still be useful to collect evidence of impact so that you can use this, if needed.

More formal evaluation can include the Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) and/or Generic Social Outcomes (GSOs) which were developed to provide practitioners, government and funders with a meaningful way of reporting on the impact of engagement with visitors to museums, libraries and archives. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk/measuring-outcomes/generic-learning-outcomes

At the very least, try to capture comments from visitors and any engagements on social media.

The CILIP Marketing & Communications Group (formerly Publicity & Public Relations Group (PPRG)) has an annual Marketing Excellence Award. If your exhibition has met or exceeded your aims and objectives, and includes marketing approaches that you want to share with other organisations, it may be worth entering the annual awards.

Useful tips

  • If your organisation needs to print large-format documents such as architects’ plans or maps, then it is worth finding out whether there is a large-format plotter within the organisation.
    Depending on your setup, it may be possible to print directly to this if it is networked, or a colleague may be willing to send through prints on your behalf. Even if there is an internal recharge to your budget, this is likely to be significantly cheaper than using a commercial printer, and will give much more professional results than sticking multiple smaller sheets together.
  • Microsoft OneNote is usually included in the Microsoft Office software suite and seems to be a much overlooked and under-used programme. It is the electronic equivalent of a tabbed paper notebook and is very useful for gathering together ideas and drafting content. It may be a useful tool for collaboration, as a notebook can be shared with others.
  • Consider learning to use graphic design software such as Adobe Photoshop CC (or the more budget-friendly Adobe Photoshop Elements or Corel Paintshop Pro) or an open source free alternative such as GIMP. Even if you have no artistic or drawing skills, you can create professional-looking exhibitions using graphic design software.
  • Bear in mind the diverse needs of customers when creating an exhibition – text size, colour, height of displays, language, physical accessibility – should all be considered with your potential audience in mind.

Suppliers

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Local Studies Toolkit…. watch this space

Need some advice or top tips on all things local studies? Over the last two years a band of local studies librarians and associated hangers-on have been working away to produce the Local Studies Toolkit.

The aim of these pages is to produce a freely accessible online guide that will help and inspire local studies professionals and para-professionals to provide an excellent local studies service within their authority. 

Over the next week or two we will releasing the first versions of different sections of the guidance as blog posts. More will then follow in the coming months.

As of this moment, the only page published is a very boring introduction, but you can see the project unfold by following us on Twitter and Facebook, or just keeping an eye on our Toolkit homepage.

The toolkit will be a collection working documents for the entire community, so we need your help. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, examples of best practice that you wish to share or, even better, completely disagree with points in this guide, please let us know. Put a comment at the foot of the appropriate page or send us a comment. This guide will only be as good as the contributions you make.

A Day in the Life of a Local Studies Librarian

It’s something of a cliché in the modern workplace to proclaim that there is “no typical day” in profession x, y, or z; such is the speed of turnover in tasks, roles, colleagues and service-users. Cliché it may be – but it is, even so, an absolute truth for today’s local studies librarian, especially in these days of cross-service responsibilities. My current role, for instance – Librarian-Manager for the Local and Family History department at Leeds Central Library – combines what we might call ‘traditional’ librarianship with the responsibilities of front-line team management.

Leeds Central Library. Credit: librariestaskforce . Licensed under CC BY 2.0 

Even so, certain patterns do emerge in the ‘librarian’ part of that job-title equation. A typical day likely starts with the standard checking of emails and consequent actioning of immediate necessities (whatever that may mean – anything from getting stock ready for customer visits to delivering, at short notice, a heritage tour of our 1884 building). After that, if I am not required to cover our departmental counter (in truth, a frequent occurrence) comes the ‘real’ work: aiding customers with enquiries delivered by phone, email or in person; usually through painstaking research on some obscure matter of regional or ancestral history. 

In-between, or after, the settling of those priorities my attention moves to tasks with longer-term deadlines – organising a programme of public talks on relevant themes, for instance: identifying possible speakers, making contact, and then thrashing out the logistics of rooms, dates, times, the wording and imagery for promotional material. A similar amount and type of work is required for our series of family history workshops and 1-1 sessions.

Our age of the digital catalogue means physical stock work is perhaps less common today than it was 10-20 years ago. Nonetheless, those pleasures are still with us and usually form part of a typical day: anything from identifying, ordering or collecting new books and other, ephemeral material for the researchers of today and tomorrow, accepting (or rejecting!) offers of donations from the contents of your Great Aunt Lydia’s loft, to the comfortingly traditional, tactile acts of rearranging, repairing and reclassifying books. Just this past week, for instance, I spent an afternoon reboxing our (fantastic) collection of 19th and 20th-century playbills from Leeds theatres.

Finally, most days find me engaged in some level of editorial work on the Leeds Libraries’ heritage and collections blog, the Secret Library Leeds (www.secretlibraryleeds.net) – a job that covers everything from replying to user comments, through commissioning and uploading articles written by librarian colleagues or external contributors, to the researching and writing of original content myself.

That is really only a snapshot of I do, with large chunks of any given day spent improvising to rapid developments with staff, stock and the public. While all Librarians I know bemoan their lack of predictable time to devote to long-term projects, I’m not sure, in truth, any of us would swap that for the invigorating reality of never knowing quite what is to come each and every day.

Antony Ramm

January 7th 2020

Antony Ramm is Librarian-Manager of the Local and Family History department in Leeds Central Library

e-books & local studies

I was helping someone check about new local books and I was going through the library catalogue to see which were in stock and which needed ordering. I came across one title which wasn’t held so was just putting the details for ordering when I noticed that it was a Kindle only book. On further investigation I realized that it was a republication of a book first written 30 years ago, with a slightly different title, and since it was already in stock it was fine in this instance and we didn’t need this edition. It did make me wonder if anyone had come a situation where a useful local studies title was only available in e-book format and what did you do about it?

More thoughts on the future of Local Studies Librarianship

Local Studies Group NW have been hosting a series of discussions about various topics which affect Local Studies.  These are a few points from our first discussion which focused on the role of Local Studies Librarian.

As Local Studies Librarians, we take care of the Local Studies collections. We identify gaps and acquire, or even create, sources to fill them. We preserve ephemera and grey literature. We champion the user’s right to access to our collections. The majority of the collections are secondary sources. Secondary sources are important, anybody studying local history needs to know what others have already written before they start using the primary sources held in record offices.

Local Studies is the “secret weapon of the library service”. Collections and projects can engage new audiences, both in visitor figures and remotely. They can help to challenge perceptions and engage new audiences.  Ways of access to records are becoming more inventive e.g. using social media, outreach, remote volunteering, partnerships etc.

New technologies make this an exciting time for local studies. Using digitisation, the internet and social media local studies collections can be made available to users who perhaps would not visit a library. There are also opportunities with established family history websites to display our collections through their web pages. As budgets are tightened this can be an opportunity for income. Financial restrictions are also making the way we develop local studies collections become more imaginative. Manx Heritage have struck a deal with a publishing company to receive PDF copies of local newspapers.

Local Studies Librarians have to develop strong links and relationships with users including community groups, local and family history societies, schools and  online users. These relationships not only benefit local studies but also the shareholders of an organisation. For example, local authority users may promote the service through word of mouth, local and national press, talking to councillors etc.

This article first appeared in the LSGNW newsletter. The full newsletter can be accessed here.