The Working Class Movement Library in Salford is saddened to announce the sudden death of its co-founder Ruth Frow, at the age of 85, on Friday 11 January 2008.
Ruth and her husband Eddie founded the library in their home in Old Trafford in the mid 1950s. For years they travelled Britain in their holidays with a caravan, collecting items that few then valued. Eventually the collection filled every room in their house. In 1987 the Library, now a Charitable Trust, was offered a new home in Jubilee House on The Crescent in Salford, where it now fills 40 rooms.
The Library is now recognised nationally and internationally as one of Britain's most important collections of working class history. It was recently awarded a significant Heritage Lottery Fund grant which will help realise Ruth and Eddie's vision for the collection. At the time Ruth said: 'This project will ensure that the collections are preserved and accessible for generations to come'.
Margaret Cohen, chair of the library's trustees, said: 'Ruth and Eddie made a unique contribution to ensuring that the history of the world's first industrial working class was rescued and not hidden in university libraries'.
Details of a celebration of Ruth's life will be announced, via this list and elsewhere, in due course.
Working Class Movement Library, 51 The Crescent, Salford M5 4WX
tel:- 0161 736 3601
fax:- 0161 737 4115
[url]http://www.wcml.org.uk[/url]
[mailto]enquiries@wcml.org.uk[/mailto]