Here at the Stuart Hall Archive Project we have had the benefit of three wonderful interns this summer. They have been exploring what might be of interest to different readers and are going to showcase what caught their attention.
The Stuart Hall Archives: Who and What Are Behind the Writing?
by Helen Cartledge, English & History BA
The below is a resource for year 5-6 children that looks into Stuart Hall’s archive. It explores what an archive is and why it is important that such a tool exists. It also looks at Stuart Hall himself and his interest in British culture and what his work can reveal about the process of writing.
Stuart Hall (1932-2014) was a Jamaican-British writer and academic best known for his work around culture and the arts which includes things like writing, music, and media. A lot of Stuart Hall’s work and documents from his life have been collected to form an archive that is available at the University of Birmingham.
Through a sample of pictures from the archive, I want to show the process behind writing and what it involves. The archive is a key tool in allowing us to do this, as it gives insight into how authors write. It lets us in behind the curtain.
Stuart Hall’s interest in culture and how it is produced and circulated makes him a perfect example to see all the steps that go into producing a final piece of work. As you read through the process have a think about how this process is the same or different from other forms of work e.g. music or a television programme.
Stuart Hall’s archives are a key resource in highlighting how there is much more to writing than just the final piece of work. But it leads to the question of why should we be interested in Stuart Hall?
This becomes clear when you look at how extensive the archive is and the range of material in it. Not only does it contain his own pieces of work, but his engagement with popular culture, specifically black culture at the time. This is very important, as Stuart Hall was a part of the Windrush generation of those who arrived in the UK from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1973. As you can see from the collage below, Hall was inspired and dedicated his work to people with black and asian origins. What is important to notice is that it wasn’t only other scholars and authors that inspired his work, but he gained inspiration from more unconventional sources like artists and singers. Ultimately it highlights Hall’s concerns with tracing the space black culture occupied within Britain, the impact it had and how it affected people’s lives. In this sense the archive again is a key tool in allowing us to find out not only about Hall as an individual but wider society and influences. For example I was able to create the collage below by looking through the archive and seeing where Hall had written notes about other people’s work and referenced them within his own work.
So, if you had to create a collage of people that inspire you and influence what you like to write about, what would it look like? What sort of people would be there? How do they inspire you? Is there a common theme like Stuart Hall’s?
Info taken from: Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham, US121 Box 19