History and Today

Manchester Archives are adding their fabulous photographic collection to flickr. Guest 'curators' select thematic groups of pics, such as 'Modernist Manchester'. I love this picture of M & S in the 1960s:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/6130191250/ I also enjoyed the pictures of the new university buildings, such as this one of the Kilburn Building in 1971: http://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/6129643335/in/photostream/ It shows how the old Victoria university kept up with 'building the new universities' (see previous post ). See also this great series of stamps from 1971 showcasing modern universities: http://dirtymodernscoundrel.blogspot.com/2012/01/modern-university-buildings.html On a somewhat tangental note, I also recommend reading Guy Ortolano's article, 'Planning the Urban Future in 1960s Britain', in Historical Journal , 54: 2 (2011). It's a thought-provoking and really well written account

For all you retronaught/ghost box/library music fans/children of the 'zone out there, this blog: http://toysandtechniques.blogspot.com/  is a great collection of books and sounds from music education across the globe. I especially like this 'Making Electronic Music' from the 1970s, which teaches children to do their own circuits and cut up tapes. The sounds are freakier than even the bbc radiophonic workshop. When I was at primary school, there was a storage area under the stairs which as I recall had similar stuff and equipment like this, ready to be thrown away as outdated. But listening to the sounds now they seem as futuristic and experimental as ever.

I'm giving a paper at the 'British History in the Long Eighteenth Century' seminar at the Institute of Historical Research this Wednesday, 5.15pm. The seminar will also be podcast on the IHR site. I'll be speaking on the main themes of my next book, and the talk is called 'Space, Place, and Popular Politics in Northern England, 1789-1848'. An extended version of my paper is available on History Working Papers project website in two parts: historical narrative and theory . Please comment on the drafts on the website and start the debate! I'll be amalgamating and summarising both papers on the day, and showing some of my experiments with historical mapping. They won't be as amazing as Locating London's Past , but it's a start.

The BBC news site has a preview of the new exhibition by James Chadderton. The exhibition is on at the Incognito gallery in the Northern Quarter. His pictures portray a post-apocalyptic Manchester in vivid detail. A little bit over the top for me, but still very striking. His website is here.