News from the

MANCHESTER CENTRE for REGIONAL HISTORY

The Manchester Centre for Regional History (MCRH) is based in the Department of History, Politics and Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University. It was set up in 1998 with the aim of building upon the Universitys strengths in the history of Manchester and the north west of England. The Centre promotes historical research into the region, and has a particular commitment to community history. MCRH is keen to promote activities that bridge the gap between academic history and the public, through links with schools, colleges, local history organisations, museums, archives and libraries, and develop research initiatives that meet the needs of communities in the north west of England.

BEING BOYS: YOUTH, LEISURE AND IDENTITY IN THE INTERWAR YEARS

MELANIE TEBBUTT, Director of the Manchester Centre for Regional History, has published her new book Being Boys: Youth, Leisure and Identity in the Inter-War Years. It offers a fresh and original approach to the masculinities, subjectivities and emotions of adolescence by exploring the leisure lives of working-class boys and young men in the inter-war years. The book offers new perspectives on familiar and important themes in interwar social and cultural history, going beneath the collective identities and outward conformity to peer pressure which were so powerful in the lives of working-class young males to challenge many stereotypes about their behaviour. Being Boys develops a subtle analysis of the everyday conformities of youthful masculinities which suggests new approaches and questions about the inter-war history of youth and leisure. It draws on a wide range of autobiographies and personal accounts and is particularly distinctive in offering an unusual insight into working-class adolescence through the teenage diaries of the authors father, which are interwoven with the books broader analysis of a range of contemporary leisure developments, which include the cinema and mass consumption to boys clubs, personal advice pages, street cultures, dancing, sexuality, mobility and the body. This gives the book a broad appeal across the humanities and social sciences and also makes it relevant to those teaching and studying in the fields of child development, education, and youth and community studies. Being Boys is available to buy now from all good bookshops and online retailers.

a fresh perspective on inter-war boys lives a welcome addition to the literature on inter-war youth Dr John Griffiths, Massey University June 2012

Dates for your Diaries

MMU launches Manchester Time Machine App

MMU have launched the 'Manchester Time Machine': the first ever app for the iPhone which merges archive film with GPS to create a street level tour of Manchesters streets and people over the last 100 years. Manchester has changed a lot, and hardly at all. Manchester Time Machine uses rare historical film from the North West Film Archive to take you back to exactly the same location to experience the scene from the same viewpoint. See for yourself how much the city has changed through these fascinating glimpses into the 20th century. There are 80 highlights from films shot in the city centre, from the early days of film in 1911 (a Whit walk in Market Street) through every decade of the last century until the 1970s (as a student demonstration scatters in Oxford Street). In between, these enchanting films include historically significant events VE Day in Piccadilly and Albert Square, and moving documents such as the victorious Manchester City team bringing home the FA cup in Piccadilly in 1934, alongside powerful everyday views of a life long gone Piccadilly Gardens in the sunshine in 1961, and in 1914 a mounted policeman barging a cart off the tram tracks on London Road. Each is presented with a GPS locator and virtual compass so you can find exactly the same scene in the present day, even when many of the buildings may have disappeared. Manchester Time Machine offers smartphone users a true multimedia experience, a moving window through time.

20 June 2012MCRHs The Great War Conference

Be our Friend
Join the Friends of the MCRH! Memberships Rates: Individual 12 Institutional 15 The new membership introduced in January 2012 includes Friends membership and subscription (one copy per year) to the Manchester Region History Review journal Individual membership with journal 20

Key features
Over 80 unique films from the North west Film Archives collection of over 35000 items, which reflect peoples lives through work and leisure, places and events, culture and tradition a regional identity. Includes films that depict momentous times that still resonate, such as the bombings and destruction in 1940, and VE Day across the city, alongside almost forgotten events Pauldens Department store collapses in a terrible fire in 1957. But also films that show everyday life, the buildings, the people and the transport of a bygone age. Policemen march to a Royal visit in front of the Town Hall in 1914, trams make their way down London Road in 1948. The films are grouped by decade from the 1910s, but you can also select a location from the interactive Manchester map to see the same place at different times, or use your GPS to locate a film near you. Includes background information on each film clip, plus a virtual compass to orient yourself in the same direction, or tap the screen to see the original film. Create your own Manchester tour and see the city spring to life as it was in the past, or simply watch your favourite films wherever you are and whenever you want them.

Contact us
Manchester Centre for Regional History, Department of History, Politics and Philosophy, Geoffrey Manton Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, M15 6LL m.tebbutt@mmu.ac.uk c.horner@mmu.ac.uk f.cosson@mmu.ac.uk Tel. 0161 247 6688 www.mcrh.mmu.ac.uk

The Manchester Time Machine was developed by Manchester Metropolitan University and uses archive footage from the North West Film Archive, which is a part of the Library Service of the Manchester Metropolitan University. The Manchester Time Machine is free and available for download world-wide from the iTunes App Store for iPhone. Just search for "Manchester Time Machine". Android and iPad versions to follow.

June 2012

-NoticesMANCHESTER: LOCAL HISTORY DAY- Saturday 16 June 2012 The morning session at Local History Day in 2012 will be given by Dr Paul Carter. He will be talking on 'Records of the Victorian Poor - Poor Law Union Correspondence: an underused source for local historians'. Following the BALH AGM, and presentation of the Awards for 2012, our annual lecture will be 'The local and the everyday: inter-war women's politics' by Prof Karen Hunt of the Department of History, Keele University. Venue: at Friends' Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester. See http://www.balh.co.uk/events for more information
THE GREAT WAR: LOCALITIES AND REGIONAL IDENTITIES- Wednesday 20 June 2012 As the centenary of the Great War approaches and it slips from first-hand experience, shelves on military history in high-street bookshops testify to the misty-eyed mythical appeal it continues to have for many. This conference forestalls the coming public history bonanza by concentrating on the under-researched responses to the crisis from the regions and localities of Britain. This day conference will bring together twenty papers from scholars working on regional issues in the Great War and its aftermath. See http://www.mcrh.mmu.ac.uk/confer/gw/ for details.

NORTHERN RADICAL HISTORY NETWORK- Saturday 30th June 2012 The next open meeting of the Northern Radical History Network will take place on Saturday, 30th June 2012 from 11 am (for 1130 start) to 4 pm. The venue is the upstairs room of the Town Hall Tavern, Tib Lane, off Cross Street, close by Albert Square. Anyone with an interest in radical history in the North is welcome to come along. Please see http://northernradicalhistory.wordpress.com/ for more information.

New issue of MRHR: Growing Up in the North West

The latest issue of Manchester Region History Review (Volume 22) is now out, hot off the press. This issue focuses on Growing Up in the North West. The one hundred years covered by this issue saw perhaps the most rapid and significant changes in the experience of childhood in our history. From being seen and not heard to vociferously making their presence felt, this issue highlights just some of the ways in which growing up was transformed for children and young people in our region.

Articles include: The lives and the souls of the children: The Band of Hope in the North West Street Arabs and urban waifs in the northern novels of Silas K. Hocking Child performers in the theatre Social dancing in 1930s Lakeland Teen angst in the Manchester Evening News Juke boxes, coffee bars & Americanization
Volume 22 is available to order now, with free postage and packing (please see overleaf).
June 2012

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ORDER FORM

Manchester Region History Review

Volume 22: Growing Up in the North West, 1850s-1950s
Edited by Dr Melanie Tebbutt

I would like to receive Volume 22 of the Manchester Region History Review

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Please note, we can only accept payment in sterling.

Please return this form to: Craig Horner, Manchester Region History Review, Manchester Centre for Regional History, Manchester Metropolitan University, Rosamond Street West, Manchester M15 6LL, United Kingdom

MCRH Newsletter June 2012