1. ISCHE 36
Institute of Education
London
2014

2. Nazlin Bhimani
The Representation of War & Peace
in the
IOE’s Special Collections
Newsam Library & Archives
Institute of Education
University of London
Research Support & Special Collections Librarian

3. The Newsam Library &
Archives
on education from around the world.
The Newsam Library & Archives is one of
the largest education libraries in Europe.
The main collection contains a copy of
every book on education published in the
UK, and a representation of publications

4. The Historical Collections
 The historical collections comprise 27 special
collections and over 100 deposited archive
collections.
 These are unique historical resources on education,
and influential organisations and individuals
working in the field.
 Many of these are associated with the Institute and
others are deposited collections that represent the
history of education in the United Kingdom.

5. …vary in size and coverage.
Some collections such as the
History of Education
Collection have been built up
from a variety of sources.
Many of these collections are
libraries of individual
scholars which supplement
the papers in the Archives
collections.
The Special Collections

7. The following collections are highlighted in this
presentation:
BBC Broadcasts to Schools
Historical Comparative Education Collection
Historical Textbooks Collection
The Grantham Number Ones
The Grenfell Collection
The Official Publications Collections
School Histories Collection
Special Collections Highlights

8. BBC Broadcasts to Schools
Special Collection at the IOE

9. About the BBC Broadcasts to
Schools Collection at the IOE
This Collection is the BBC's own collection
of pamphlets produced to accompany
schools radio broadcasts from September
1926 till the late 1970s; the volumes from
Summer 1958 and onwards include
pamphlets for television broadcasts as well.
The Collection was deposited on permanent
loan with the Institute in 1990.

10. The Second World War brought
major challenges for British school
broadcasting: national and regional
radio variations were temporarily
abandoned in favour of a single
home service for two hours a day,
including a daily five-minute news
commentary ‘to explain events
arising out of the general news
bulletins which might give rise to
confusion in the minds of children’
(Source: The Times, 12 July 1940, p. 6).
BBC Broadcasts to Schools

11. Hans, the refugee from Nazi Germany, continues to
ask his questions. Each broadcast is designed to
provide vivid material as a starting point for a simple
project in citizenship.
BBC’s Citizenship Education

12. Images source: Kallbach, Wilhelm. (1941). Deutsches Lesebuch für höhere Schulen.
Ausgabe für Mädchen, Klasse 1 (Berlin: Weidmannsche Verlagsbuchhandlung).
Comparative Education Collection
at the IOE

13. About the Comparative Education
Collection
 This collection of resources is made up of two separate
departmental libraries in the Institute: the
Comparative Education Department Library and the
Department of Education in Tropical Areas Library.
 The two libraries were amalgamated in 1969 and
consist of books and pamphlets from all over the
world, mainly from the period 1900-1980.

14. Source: Kallbach, Wilhelm. (1941).
Deutsches Lesebuch für höhere Schulen.
Ausgabe für Mädchen, Klasse 1 (Berlin:
Weidmannsche Verlagsbuchhandlung).
Comparative Education
Collection

15. The History of Education
Special Collection at the IOE

16. About the History of Education
Collection at the IOE
This collection consists of books and
pamphlets (160 metres of shelving) on all
aspects of education published before 1940.
There about 1,200 items published in the 16-
18th centuries, but the bulk of the material
dates from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Included in this collection are about 150
bound volumes of 19th and 20th century
pamphlets amassed by the Ministry and
Departments of Education.

17. Historical Textbooks
Special Collection at the IOE

18. About the Historical Textbooks
Collection
This is a large collection of c.22,000 British
school textbooks, dating from 1890
onwards.
The collection represents all educational
levels, from nursery to sixth form.
It covers all aspects of the curriculum, with
particular strengths in history and science.

19. For the historian of education, textbooks
are useful sources of information on much
more than the development of the school
curriculum. They provide evidence of what
was defined as ‘legitimate knowledge’ and
they communicate national concepts of
identity.
The Historical Textbooks Collection
at the IOE

23. Among the possible causes of war, education
holds a particular and significant place … for in
so far as it embodies dangerous nationalistic
prejudices, it is a means of disseminating them
constantly to all the people. It is the seed of
international discord for both present and
future generations.”
A.M. Schlesinger, in the ‘Introduction’ to A. Walworth’s School Histories at War: Study
of the Treatment of Wars in Secondary School History Books of the United States and in
those of its Former Enemies (Cambridge, MA, 1938), pp. xiii-xx.
The Historical Textbooks
Collection at the IOE

25. “Practically all history teaching is
propaganda, some open, some
‘slyly insinuated’”
Source: A. Walworth’s School Histories at War: Study of the Treatment
of Wars in Secondary School History Books of the United States and in
those of its Former Enemies (Cambridge, MA, 1938), 373.

26. Source: The Mercury (Tuesday 17 January 1939), page 6. Accessed from
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/printArticlePdf/25581082/3?print=n
[07.07.14]
The Poison Called History

27. The representations of
Africa from WWII to the
present in English and
German textbooks in
relation to their
underlying social debates.

30. Geography Textbooks
Collection at the IOE
Geography text books provide
much interesting evidence of other
aspects of everyday life in past
eras.
In addition to the ‘factual’
presentation of contemporary life
in text and illustrations, they often
reveal prevailing attitudes.
Their presentation of other races and cultures, for instance,
or of the British Empire, demonstrates the accepted view of
the establishment at the time of their publication.

31. Geography Textbooks Collection
In 2009, the Frederick Soddy Trust provides funding to
catalogue c4,200 Geography Textbooks – books from
the Historic Textbooks Collection and donations from
the University of Cambridge and the University of
Southampton Library.

32. “If the fate of the nation may depend on a
battle, a battle may depend on a knowledge
of geography.”
Royal Geographical Society. (1886) Report of the Proceedings
of the Royal Geographical Society in Reference to Improvement
in Geographical Education (Keltie Report), p. 36.
Geography Textbooks Collection
at the IOE

33. “New trends of history textbook research
acknowledge that textbooks are produced
somewhere between politics, economics, science
and education. They define “legitimate
knowledge” and they communicate desired
concepts of national identity.
“If you analyse a textbook and keep the complex
character and the social and political contexts of
the textbook in mind, the analysis tells you
something about social change.”
Lars Müller – Research Fellow, Georg Eckert Institute
Textbook Research

34. The Grantham Collection of
Number Ones at the IOE

35. About Grantham Number Ones
Collection at the IOE
 This collection consists of 71 volumes of the first
issues of a variety of journals on all subjects
dating from 1850 to 1930.
 It was put together by Major William Wilson
Grantham (1866-1942), at one time Deputy
Chairman of the London County Council, and
deposited at County Hall in 1933.
 It then passed to the Institute of Education, along
with other materials from the Inner London
Education Authority, in 1990.

36. Grantham Number Ones
Collection
at the IOE

37. The Grantham Collection
at the IOE

38. The Grenfell Collection

39. About the Grenfell Collection
at the IOE
Capt. Francis H. Grenfell was appointed the first
assistant superintendent of the Navy's Gymnastic
Department in the early 1900s.
He was instrumental in getting the much admired
Swedish system adopted by naval gymnastic schools.
After leaving the Navy, he taught in schools (including
Eton College) until 1909 when he became an H.M.
Inspector of Physical Training for the Board of Education's
new medical department.
He wanted physical education to have a respected place
in the curriculum, with fully trained teachers.

40. Grenfell amassed an extensive
collection of late 19th and early 20th
century books and journals on
physical education in its broadest
sense and donated it to the Board
of Education in 1934.
The Department for Education,
deposited the Collection (which
takes up14 metres of shelving) with
the Institute in 1992.
The Grenfell Collection
at the IOE

41. The Official Publications
at the IOE

42. About the Official Publications
Collection at the IOE
 This is an almost comprehensive collection of official
reports, taking up 200 metres of shelving of print
resources on legislation and other publications on
education and related subjects for all parts of the United
Kingdom.
 Publications of semi-official education organisations
(quangos) are included, as are those of other groups
(such as political parties and trade unions), when they
relate to education.
 The earliest documents date from the Government's
first involvement in education from the 1850s, and new
items are added to the collection as they appear.

43. The Official Publications
Collection at the IOE

44. The Official Publications
Collection at the IOE

45. The Official Publications
Collection at the IOE

46. The Official Publications
Collection at the IOE

47. The Official Publications
Collection at the IOE

48. The Official Publications
Collection at the IOE

49. School Histories Collection
college and university

50. About the School Histories
Collection
 The School Histories
Collections has c. 1,700
books from the early part
of the 20th century to the
present time.
 The histories, often
written by former
pupils/educationalists, tell
the stories of individual
schools and their
communities across
Britain.
 Schools range from local
village schools to
secondary modern,
grammar, comprehensive
and public (private)
schools.
 This collection provides a
wealth of information
about all aspects of school
life including the impact of
the wars on British
schools.

51. “As the war continued more men
were called up, and in September
1916, Mr. Strubell, the headmaster,
reported:
‘Out of the seven male teachers in
the school only Mr. Green [an
uncertificated assistant who was
medically unfit for service] and
myself remain.’
At a time when food was short, the
school garden was of extra
importance ….”
The School Histories
Collection at the IOE

52. The School Histories
Collection at the IOE
“The war passed over us, except for rationing, as we did not
see any newspapers and of course there was no radio or
television. I remember how shocked I was in the holiday to see
a newspaper placard with the number of casualties in the
battle of Somme. The girl with the plaits lost her brother and
my brother was wounded.”
“This was wartime …. We had margarine on our bread and
the margarine in those days couldn’t possibly be mistaken for
butter. …we took it in turns – a dollop of jam [from our tuck
boxes] to disguise the margarine ….”
Shaw, A.M. (1983) When you were there Reflections on Edgehill College 1884-1984,
pp. 24-25.

53. “In September/October 1918 the
school was closed for a total of 15
days for blackberrying. During this
time the boys picked 18 cwt 2 qrt 14
Ib of fruit, winning a silver cup… as
well as receiving some payment for
their efforts.
The Armistice of November 11th
brought great relief and joy to the
nation, but it was not until the new
year that the school returned to a
degree of normality.”
The School Histories
Collection at the IOE