Library news: February 2010
The latest issue
Library Notes and Queries
First, some website-related developments. We mentioned in a previous Notes and Queries that we had completed an index to the collection of 600 or so 35mm slides given to the Society by the late Frank Kilvington. This index is now here on the website.
Another of our resources is a collection of papers on a wide range of topics, including people, buildings (such as pubs, churches and schools) and events. These are stored in folders and filed alphabetically by subject. The amount of information on each topic varies a good deal. There might be just one item in a folder, or several, and the quality is variable – from the ephemeral such as a news clipping, or quite substantial, such as a scholarly journal article. Whatever the contents, which include illustrations and maps, these files are very useful, perhaps answering an enquiry in full, or providing a pointer to further sources of information. The index of subjects is here and new subject terms will be added as a s new material is acquired.
The ongoing work of cataloguing the library’s book collection proceeds, and will continue to do so, but we are now at the stage of investgating ways of putting the catalogue as it stands so far, up on the website. Fingers crossed, it might be accomplished in the next few months.
In addition to these "back office" activities, we have been kept busy with enquiries from far and wide. From Canada came a request for information on Ashwell House and the Ashwell family, and on Isaac Newton Edwards; and from Australia came the third enquiry in the last six months about St Stephens School. In dealing with the latter we discovered that the school records are held at HALS, but access is restricted because of concerns about confidentiality. We have also helped with information on 19th century coffee houses and the temperance movement in St Albans, and on the development in the late 19th century of the St Peter’s Park area. And at the time of writing, we are putting together the Society’s exhibition for the Residents’ First weekend, trying to make up for time lost during the recent wintry weather.
Books recently added to stock
Chronicles of Matthew Paris: monastic life in the thirteenth century,
edited with an introduction by Richard Vaughan. Gloucester, Alan Sutton, 1986, 286pp
Caldecott: the development and desertion of a Hertfordshire village,
by Guy Beresford and others. Society for Medieval Archaeology, Monograph no. 28, 2009. 267pp, figs, photos, plans. This the final publication of a rescue excavation of a site occupied since the tenth century.
The history of Berkhamsted Common,
by George H Whybrow. The Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths Society, 1934.159pp, figs, photos. Contains an entertaining account of a midnight assault on the fence erected round the Common in the 1860s.
The printed maps of Hertfordshire1577-1900,
by D Hodson. Dawson, 1974. 251pp. First published by the Map Collectors’ Circle, 1969-72. A bibliography of county-wide Hertfordshire maps.
Fleetville: a community in St Albans,
by Brian Adams, Elizabeth Gardner and Rosalyn Goulding. St Albans Museum Service, 2009. 56pp, illus, plans. A community-based study, making use of Fleetville residents’ recollections in oral history recordings made in 1995, and during reminiscence sessions in 2009.
The old inns of St Albans, with an illustrated account of the Peahen Hotel past and present,
by F G Kitton. Walter Price, 1899. 53pp, photos, drawing. The publisher was the proprietor of the Peahen, the history of which is described, together with its 1899 amenities, and short notes on some of the other city centre inns.
Hertfordshire windmills and windmillers,
by Cyril Moore. Sawbridgeworth, Windsup Publications, 1999. 174 pp, illus, maps. A descriptive gazetteer.
Recent journal articles
In Current Archaeology, December 2009, pp29-35. The end of Roman Verulamium, by Neil Faulkner and David Neal. A re-examination of the evidencefrom Sheppard Frere’s excavation suggests that Roman Verulamium was more short-lived as a thriving centre than currently thought.
In British Archaeology, January/February 2010, pp14-21. Newhenge, by Mike Parker-Pearson, Joshua Pollard, Julian Thomas and Kate Welham. Reports on an excavation of a previously unknown stone circle, dubbed ‘Bluestonehenge’, near Stonehenge.
Journals received
Conservation Bulletin
(English Heritage) Autumn 2009
Hendon and District Archaeological Society Newsletter
December 2009
Bricket Wood Society Newsletter
December 2009
Current Archaeology
January 2010
London Archaeologist
Winter 2009/2010
Hendon and District Archaeological Society Newsletter
January 2010
Current Archaeology
February 2010
History Today
December 2009
History Today
January 2010