what ho, sport – life at Oxford University in 1894
Posted: May 24, 2013 Filed under: education, traditions | Tags: A D Godley, Aspects of Modern Oxford, Lancelot Speed, Oxford University, Project Gutenberg Leave a comment »It was certainly a man’s world (and an extremely elite one) at Oxford University as described by A D Godley in his book Aspects of Modern Oxford published in 1894 by Seeley & Co Ltd.
The plates in the book were produced by five artists. They illustrate all aspects of a student’s life, in particular participation in a wide variety of sports including tennis, rowing, cricket and golf. There was swimming too. The area called Parson’s Pleasure (see image 3 in this post) was a nude bathing area in the University Parks – men only, of course. The selected images are by Lancelot or Launcelot Speed, an illustrator of fiction and fairy tale books. The picture of the rowers waiting for the coxswain begs for a caption competition!
For your interest, here’s a link to the history of women at Oxford (who were admitted as full students in 1920). It includes a list of some of the University’s more well-known graduates.
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license.
forgotten women: Rose Scott – feminist
Posted: May 24, 2013 Filed under: biography, forgotten women, politics, Trove Australia, women | Tags: Australian feminist, Rose Scott Leave a comment »One of Australia’s early feminists, Rose Scott, was apparently inspired to the cause by Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.
Image of Rose Scott c 1883 per Wikipedia
The list of organisations she was actively involved in is long. It includes The Prisoners’ Aid Association, the National Council of Women in New South Wales and the Women’s Political Education League. The well-connected Miss Scott was renowned for the salons she held in her home. She was active in industrial issues and influential in shaping legislation to improve working conditions. The Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, from which the following paragraph is extracted, mentions her opposition to Federation and the Olympic Games.
Rose Scott had strenuously opposed Federation and in 1900 wrote and spoke against Empire involvement in the South African War. Always a staunch opponent of competition and aggression, she became president of the Sydney branch of the Peace Society in 1908. As well as her involvement in post-suffrage feminist reform campaigns, including the Testator’s Family Maintenance and Guardianship of Infants (1916), Women’s Legal Status (1918) and First Offenders (Women) (1918) Acts, she took part in cultural activities and was a foundation member of the Women’s Club established in 1906 by Dr Mary Booth. She was president of the New South Wales Ladies’ Amateur Swimming Association from 1908 until 1911 when she clashed with its leading swimmer, Fanny Durack, over her competing at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games—she objected to the Olympics on pacifist grounds, also to women appearing in competitions when men were present.
Papers relating to her not insignificant contributions are held at the State Library of New South Wales.
In 1921, a few years before her death, Rose Scott gave an address to the Feminist Club in Sydney where they were honouring her with a luncheon. She concluded with these words.
My time for active work has now drawn to a close. The advice I give to you who are now to carry on the work is: Avoid distinctions of class and creed, party politics, and squabbles with men. Such things limit one’s outlook and dim one’s vision. Learn to distinguish between the good and the evil in every reform, and remember woman’s cause is man’s. Never descend to personal abuse. Be sure of your facts, and remember that every cause demands patience and self-sacrifice. And, above all, be loyal to your sex.
Her obituary appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 April 1925. She was 78 years old.
forgotten women: Hazel de Berg – oral historian
Posted: May 21, 2013 Filed under: Australian authors, authors, forgotten women, NLA, Trove Australia | Tags: Australian history, Australian poets, Doris Fitton, Hazel de Berg, Henry Lawson, Mary Gilmore, May Gibbs, National Library of Australia, oral history, Trove Australia 1 Comment »The digitising of collections in our national and state libraries and museums is making much more than just photographs and objects more accessible. The content of reels of tape, recorded decades ago, is also finding its way online.
The work of Hazel de Berg forms the basis of the oral history collection in the National Library of Australia. Around 4 years after Mrs de Berg began using a tape recorder in her work with people with visual disablities, this article in the Canberra Times noted her prolific rate of recording the voices and work of Australian poets and the modest grant she received to continue collecting their readings and stories.
The Canberra Times – 17 October 1961 
A woman with an unusual hobby visited Canberra yesterday. She is Mrs. Hazel de Berg ….. a tape-recorder enthusiast from Sydney. Mrs de Berg’s interest in tape-recording originated from her idea to present taped recitals at Blind Institutes in Sydney. She was granted £100 from the Commonwealth Literary Fund after she presented some of her recordings at the Adelaide Festival last year.
Since then she has travelled Australia collecting recordings of Australian poets for the National Archives. She has recorded all living recognised Australian poets – 68 altogether – reading their own voice. Dame Mary [Gilmore], Kenneth Slessor, [Dorothea] McKellar, Douglas Steward and Lady Hope are a few of the many she has recorded.
Last night Mrs. de Berg played some of her collection to the Canberra Fellowship of Australian writers and told them some of her experiences making the recordings. She does not interview people but records them talking about their work, interests and themselves. The tape recordings are converted later into records and sent to the National Library archives. Mrs de Berg will leave for Melbourne today to begin a series of recordings of Australian artists. This afternoon she will speak to some in the Melbourne Art Gallery. She hopes to follow that series by one on Australian authors and dramatists and another on Australian composers and musicians.
From the Australian Dictionary of Biography,
By the 1970s she was recognised as the pioneer of oral history in Australia, yet it was not a term that she favoured. She regarded herself not as an interviewer, but as a recorder of the voices, recollections and ideas of Australians of diverse ages, backgrounds and talents. She brought to this work great energy, enthusiasm, charm and perseverance, often managing to record individuals who were notoriously reticent or reclusive. Her practice of excluding her own voice from the tapes has been criticised, while the brevity of the earlier recordings limits their value. Taken as a whole, however, the de Berg tapes provide a unique record of the voices and memories of hundreds of Australians born between 1865 and 1956.
I’ve been listening to a few of the recordings. They were not sophisticated by any means and this adds to their charm. In the sessions with May Gibbs (then over 90 years old) you can hear traffic noise and bird sounds from her garden. The recordings of people who knew Henry Lawson give some of the back story away. Dame Mary Gilmore (in her late nineties at the time of recording) is adamant that Henry used some of her own family’s stories to create his – The Drover’s Wife being a case in point. Casually she drops in the odd gem – “He wanted to marry me of course”.
In 1960, Doris Fitton, actress and founder of the Independent Theatre, recorded her memories in a strong voice that was in no need of amplification from the stage.
May Gibbs (illustrator and creator of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie) had several starts for her sessions recorded in 1968, apologising for her hoarse voice brought on by fatigue. ”I could draw almost as soon as I could talk”.
There’s John O’Grady – author of “They’re a Weird Mob” using his pen name of Nino Culotta. Norman Lindsay, George Johnston, photographer David Moore and many many more. Hazel de Berg interviewed many people shortly before their lives ended. What might we have missed if she had not had such an enthusiasm for carting around a tape recorder and collecting their wisdom.
19th century songs for little children
Posted: May 20, 2013 Filed under: books, children, music | Tags: Frere Jacques, Project Gutenberg, Sur Le Pont d'Avignon, Vieilles Chansons pour les Petits Enfants Leave a comment »I keep going back to Project Gutenberg’s e-books to discover the new treasures regularly added to their collection.
Take, for example, this 1883 French book of children’s songs – Vieilles chansons pour les petits enfants.
The better known Frère Jacques and Sur le pont d’Avignon are included in the selection of over 30 songs. I’ve selected three of the rhyme illustrations. The original book would be wonderful to see as many of the images were coloured wood engravings. The first is a simple rhyme about a dance in single file. The second is about a mean person in possession of good quality snuff (ground tobacco leaves) and not sharing it. The third is a sad tale of Michael’s mother who lost her cat only to discover that it has been kidnapped and sold for a rabbit.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vieilles chansons pour les petits enfants, by
Charles Marie Widor
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Vieilles chansons pour les petits enfants
avec accompagnements de Ch. M. Widor
Author: Charles Marie Widor
Illustrator: Louis Maurice Boutet de Monvel
the beginnings of a bunny called Peter
Posted: May 19, 2013 Filed under: authors, children, illustration | Tags: Beatrix Potter, origins of Peter Rabbit story, Peter Rabbit, Tale of Peter Rabbit, Trove Australia Leave a comment »Following yesterday’s post about The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, here are a couple of drawings from The West Australian and The Argus both printed on 7 September 1946 in newspaper articles promoting the release of Beatrix Potter’s biography. Potter had illustrated letters to a child some 8 years before considering the rabbit drawings as material for a book.
Peter Rabbit – what’s wrong with this picture
Posted: May 18, 2013 Filed under: books, children, comic strips, illustration | Tags: Beatrix Potter, books for children, children's books, copyright, Ethel Hays, Frederick Warne & Co, Harrison Cady, illustration, Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Thornton W Burgess, Virginia Albert Leave a comment »In 1916, when Beatrix Potter was 50 years old and her creation Peter Rabbit was a teenager, the following version of Potter’s classic was released in the United States by The Saalfield Publishing Company. Not by Potter’s publishers Frederick Warne & Co and not with Potter’s own illustrations. Well that last bit is not entirely true as I discovered while browsing through this e-book from Project Gutenberg. Here’s the original.
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The part where it says “illustrations by Virginia Albert” is mostly true. Compare these images from both books.
....
Yes. There they are – copies of Potter’s work tucked in among the ‘new’ version of the illustrated bunny and looking a little strange in the company of the very different approach of Virginia Albert. Warne & Co must have had their copyright all stitched up in Europe as this French version [all rights reserved] was printed in Great Britain. Apparently Warne’s New York office did not register the copyright for The Tale of Peter Rabbit in the US thus opening the floodgates to imitators and blocking the considerable income stream that Warne and Potter herself would have earned.
At Abe Books (online sellers of used books) you can find pirated editions of Peter Rabbit that were published as early as 1904 when, for example, the Philadelphia publishers Altemus copyrighted The Tale of Peter Rabbit using all of Potter’s illustrations and text. They left one thing off – the author’s name! I note too that the Saalfield Peter Rabbit books were all copyrighted.
Virginia Albert went on to illustrate other Peter Rabbit books also published by Saalfield. One can only imagine the response of Beatrix Potter to the titles and content.
By Louise A Field with Albert’s illustrations there was Peter Rabbit and his Ma, then Peter Rabbit and his Pa. By an unknown author with Albert’s illustrations came Peter Rabbit and Sammy Squirrel and Peter Rabbit and Jimmy Chipmunk. The style of the illustrations is inconsistent. These images are via Amazon.
To add to the fun, another illustrator by the name of Ethel Hays put her oar into the Peter Rabbit waters. Ethel Hays was the illustrator of the Raggedy Ann stories. Images via Wikipedia and Amazon.
American children’s author and conservationist Thornton W Burgess wrote many stories based on Peter Rabbit. They included Mrs Peter Rabbit, Peter Rabbit Puts on Airs and Peter Rabbit Learns from the Striped Chipmunk. The Peter Cottontail character morphed out of these tales. (Remember that Cottontail was one of Peter Rabbit’s brothers in the original tale). Harrison Cady who illustrated many books for Burgess, including Peter Rabbit Proves a Friend, wrote and illustrated a newspaper comic strip called Peter Rabbit from 1920 to 1948. Image via e-Bay per Gibson Books.
And so it goes. Mr McGregor protected his vegetable patch. Warne & Co had one forgetful moment and let a whole lot of other rabbits slip out from under their fence.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
1934 travel poster – surf lifesavers
Posted: May 17, 2013 Filed under: culture, illustration, recreation, travel | Tags: Australian Tourism, lifesavers, travel poster 3 Comments »From Perth’s Daily News of 11 August 1934.
Potential tourists with no knowledge of surf life saving may have wondered at these stylised characters apparently doing the hokey-pokey beside the seaside. The colour photo is an iStockphoto image of contemporary lifesavers drilling with a rescue rope.
Australian passports drop the British – 1967 flashback
Posted: May 16, 2013 Filed under: culture, government, travel | Tags: Australian history, Australian passports, British passports, Robert Menzies Leave a comment »Who knew that it only took Australia well over 60 years after Federation to drop the word “British” from our passports. Apron strings indeed. It may or may not be a coincidence that Prime Minister Robert Menzies, self-confessed Anglophile, resigned as PM and retired from the parliament in 1966.
The word British has been dropped from Australian passports currently being printed. The Minister for Immigration, Mr Snedden, said yesterday the word had been deleted to avoid misunderstandings, and this did not foreshadow any change in Australia’s relations with Britain. Australia was the only country in the Commonwealth, other than Britain, which had used the word British on passports in recent years. Australia would join New Zealand, Canada and other Commonwealth countries in using only the name of the issuing country on the front cover of the passport. The new passports would be issued within a few weeks.
dance cards and Sir Roger de Coverley
Posted: May 15, 2013 Filed under: celebration, recreation | Tags: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, dance card, Library of Congress Dance Instruction Manual collection, Mr Fezziwig, Sir Roger de Coverley Leave a comment »Dance cards or carnets de bals were all the rage in the 19th century whether at a Regency ball or less formal dance events. This pre-1872 sample is from the collection of the State Library of Victoria. You can find a history of the cards and associated protocols over here at Historical Hussies.
This Wikipedia sourced image illustrates a quadrille in action.
If you’re wondering about the “Sir Roger de C” reference, here’s a description of the dance Sir Roger de Coverley in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This text and colour illustration is via a Project Gutenberg e-book of the Chapman and Hall edition c 1847 with illustrations by John Leech.
There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and there was negus, and there was a great piece of Cold Roast, and there was a great piece of Cold Boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of beer. But the great effect of the evening came after the Roast and Boiled, when the fiddler (an artful dog, mind! The sort of man who knew his business better than you or I could have told it him!) struck up “Sir Roger de Coverley.” Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezziwig. Top couple, too; with a good stiff piece of work cut out for them; three or four and twenty pair of partners; people who were not to be trifled with; people who would dance, and had no notion of walking.
From the Library of Congress Dance Instruction Manual collection (hat tip to librarians for that which they choose to collect and preserve) comes this description of the dance. Click on the link for the complete instructions.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
18th century map samplers – specimens of schoolgirl proficiency
Posted: May 14, 2013 Filed under: children, education, maps, recreation | Tags: embroidery, English needlework, map samplers, Marcus Bourne Huish, Project Gutenberg, samplers Leave a comment »Marcus B Huish was an English fine arts dealer and eclectic collector with a specific interest in Japanese arts. There’s a short biography of him at this link on the University of Glasgow’s “Whistler Correspondence” site.
One of his works can be found in e-book form here on Project Gutenberg. This 1913 book includes colour plates as well as black and white illustrations of needlework from the 17th century onwards, including pieces from Huish’s own collection. The first image below (dated 1630) is a richly coloured piece called The Story of Queen Esther.
One section is devoted to map samplers where Huish talks about needlework maps as being in the same class as samplers, in that they originated as
.. specimens of schoolgirl proficiency, which when taken home were very lasting memorials of the excellence of that teaching termed “the use of the globes”.
This 1738 map of North America (by M.A.K)
.. has nothing whatever in the way of needlework to recommend it, but it shows what any map would, namely, how little was known at that date of the Western States or Canada.
Huish comments on the accuracy (or otherwise) of this Map of England and Wales by Ann Brown.
for the purposes of geographical reference [most map samplers] were at all events reliable, which is more than can be said for some of the original efforts; as, for instance, that of little Ann Brown, whose map of England and Wales is reproduced. Starting bravely, her delineation of Northumberland takes her well down the canvas, so that by the time she has reached Newcastle she has carried it abreast of Dumfries in Scotland, and Cork in Ireland! Yorkshire is so expansive that it grows downward beyond Exeter and Lundy Island, which last-named places have, however, by some mishap, crept up to the northward of Manchester and Leeds. It is a puzzle to think where the little lassie lived who could consort London with Wainfleet, the River Thames with the Isle of Wight, Lichfield with Portland, or join France to England. Although one would imagine that the dwelling-place of the sempstress would usually be made notable in the map either by large lettering or by more florid colouring, we have not found this to be the case.
Lastly this 1784 map of Africa
… which seems to have been used as a fire-screen, is interesting now that so much more is known of the continent, for many of the descriptions have undergone considerable change, such as the Grain Coast, Tooth Coast, and Slave Coast, which border on the Gulf of Guinea. The sampler is also noteworthy as having been done at Mrs Arnold’s, which was presumably a school in Fetherstone Buildings, High Holborn, hardly the place where one would expect to find a ladies’ seminary nowadays.
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
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