Dear all
Please read this important article by Hilda Kean about the destruction of archives at Ruskin College, pioneer of working-class education, as it moves to a new site.
http://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/whose-archive-whose-history-destruction-of-archives-at-ruskin-college-oxford/
Despite an offer from another archive (the Bishopsgate Institute) to take the material, it is being destroyed--some has already gone.
To quote from the article:
'Papers have not gone to a landfill site but have been specifically destroyed. Even the removal firm seemed puzzled and sought clarification from the principal who allegedly confirmed that indeed such material must be destroyed.'
There is a petition about the issue here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/120/368/331/stop-further-archive-destruction-at-ruskin-college-oxford/
Best wishes
Diana Paton
Dr Diana Paton
Reader in Caribbean History
Newcastle University
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
Diana.paton [at] ncl.ac.uk
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/historical/staff/profile/diana.paton
Obeah and Other Powers: The Politics of Caribbean Religion and Healing
http://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php?productid=47185
History Workshop Online http://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/
[Cross-posted, with thanks, from H-Labor]