Institute of Cornish Studies

(ICS)Newsletter, June 2014

Kevewya KernowCelebrating the People & Places of Cornwall

The Institute of Cornish Studies has launched a new outreach project titled ‘Kevewya Kernow’

(Celebrating Cornwall). This project is now touring Cornwall to document and share the people and

places that make Cornwall special. This will happen through a series of workshops, which will ask

people to share memories about the people and places that are important to them, for example a

local landmark, special building, a person you know or someone significant from the past. People

and places will be documented and added to a large map of Cornwall, as well as archived on the

project blog: www.kevewyakernow.wordpress.com

Sarah Chapman, who has helped develop this project explains:

Often when we’re visiting a different community in Cornwall someone will say to us, “you know so-Often when we’re visiting a different community in Cornwall someone will say to us, “you know so-

and-so?” We reply, “no, I’m afraid I don’t”, ”You don’t?! Oh well, she/he was….”

And the story continues… amazing characters who make Cornwall what it is, often characters who

go un-documented, but whose name will spark a story amongst anyone who knows that particular

community. It is those people that we hope to document as part of this project. And it’s the same

for places… there are many places that escape the books, internet and sometimes even the maps,

but which have so many rich and interesting stories connected to them.

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Over time it is hoped that the Kevewya

Kernow project will provide a living

archive of Cornwall that can also inform

future academic work at the Institute

and be a point of interest and reference

for a range of audiences. It is important

to map the cultural landscape of

Cornwall at the micro level so that we

can understand perceptions of place in

relation to such factors as

environmental sustainability, political

and religious behaviour, community

boundaries and sites of memory.

A community-based project of this nature can combine public involvement with academic research

on an inter-disciplinary basis. If you would like to be involved with this project or know of a group of

people who might be interested in holding a workshop, then please contact Sarah on

sarah.chapman@exeter.ac.uk

Journey through Cornwall:The Cultural Landscapes of Helman Tor and West Penwith

A new project exploring the way people think and form ideas about their identity in relation to the

landscapes of Cornwall recently featured in a travelling photographic exhibition throughout

Cornwall. Libraries in Bodmin, Truro and Penzance hosted the exhibition on 17, 24 and 31 May,

which was set up by undergraduate students in collaboration with the Institute of Cornish Studies.

The West Penwith project was carried out by History students Abi Stocker and Will Orchard, who

looked at photographs and conducted oral interviews to assess the relationship of place and

identity in modern-day Cornwall. Abi explained: “Talking to people in the area has been insightful

for comparing outsider representations and local perspectives. We found that several themes

recurred during the interviews, including a sense of home and belonging to iconic landmarks, such

as St Michael’s Mount. This appeared to add to the collective and social understanding of place

through memory.” Many of these perspectives linked into the wider context of Cornish identity

and reflected the research involved in the Institute’s Cornish Story Programme.

Helman Tor is near Bodmin and the project for this area was conducted by History student Katie

Taylor as part of her year-long placement scheme on the Public History module. It involved talking

with various members of the Tor’s local community for local knowledge and through this close

rapport Katie was able to discover the Tor’s rich past. By looking at autobiographies,

archaeological reports and photographic collections the project was also able to explore the

relationships between internal and external ideas and views of Cornwall. Katie said: “Projects like

Helman Tor and the one focusing on West Penwith are very important in recording local histories

so that they can be exhibited and enjoyed by the wider public.”

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The study of Cornwall’s cultural landscapes is emerging as one of the Institute’s core areas of

research following on from the publication in 2012 of Memory, Place and Identity by Francis Boutle

Publications. Garry Tregidga, the new Director of the ICS, added that “The project is a great

example of the work carried out by the university’s students, as well as an opportunity to expand

the study to more sources and areas and tap in to the knowledge of people themselves.” The

exhibition will also feature later this year at Gunwen Chapel on 18th September and at the

Institute’s annual conference on 24th/25th October.

(from left to right: Katie Taylor, Will Orchard and Abigail Stocker at Truro Library)

The First Wave

The Cornish Audio Visual Archive at the ICS works with a range of community groups. One such

project that was completed earlier this year was The First Wave with Helen Munro Berry as

Project Manager. Belly boarding, or ‘surf riding’, was well underway by the early part of the 20th

Century, but only a small handful of ‘solo pioneers’ had experimented with stand up surfing

before 1950 and it was the 1960s before surfing really began to take off in Britain.

The First Wave was an oral history project that celebrated these pioneers. It also charted the

development of surfing over the decades through the stories of the people who were there by

recording first-hand accounts. In order to collect the interviews we selected and trained a group

of enthusiastic volunteer Surf History Researchers across Britain as well as a group of talented

Surfing in Britain: An Oral History

of enthusiastic volunteer Surf History Researchers across Britain as well as a group of talented

young people in Cornwall.

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As well as bringing together pre-1950s

material, The First Wave has recorded stories

from people who have had an influence on the

development of surfing in Britain from the 50s

and 60s to the present day. The full interviews

and written summaries have been deposited

with the Cornish Audio Visual Archive (CAVA)

and edited highlights of the interviews as well

as some rare archive footage have been pulled

together to form a display which was on show

at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

during 2013 and will be at the Museum of

British Surfing in 2014.

The First Wave was set up and delivered by Porthtowan Surf Life Saving Club with support from

the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, the Museum of British Surfing and the Cornish Audio

Visual Archive. The First Wave was funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund and sponsored by

Skinner’s Brewery.

More details about the project, a short film and edited clips from all 125 interviews can be found

online at www.thefirstwave.co.uk

Surfing legends Tris Cokes and Johnny Manetta enjoy

listening to surfing stories at The First Wave display launch

© Andy Hughes

Sarah Chapman - Community and Education Outreach

Sarah has worked with the Institute of Cornish Studies on a range

of community and education outreach projects over the past 4

years. These include ‘Family, Farming & Tradition,’ ‘Tallys an Tir;

Traditions & Stories of the Land’ and more recently ‘Landmark

Travels; Your past in a suitcase’ (pictured below) and ‘Kevewya

Kernow.’ Sarah is particularly interested in documenting first hand

accounts of Cornwall’s rich history and specializes in using digital

storytelling to share memories to all ages. Over the past couple of

years Sarah has taken the ICS’s work into primary schools to help

engage younger generations with Cornwall, both past and present,

looking into the future.

Sarah has recently set-up an organization called

‘Storylines’ with artists and educators Ali

Roscoe and Kim Pilgrim, both of whom also

worked on ‘Tallys an Tir’. Storylines specialises

in delivering creative, narrative based projects,

enabling people of all ages to express

themselves, share experiences and learn from

one another. Storylines will continue to

collaborate with the Institute of Cornish

Meet more members of the ICS team

A new face amongst the staff of the Institute of Cornish Studies

is Jasmin Ehrhardt, a German postgraduate student at the

Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus with a

background in World Heritage Studies and Museology.

Originally from the city of Berlin, she travelled to Cornwall to

support the Cornwall Heritage Trust during a three-months

internship and is based at the Institute for Cornish Studies as

part of the first stage of a long-term partnership programme

between the ICS and the Cornwall Heritage Trust.

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collaborate with the Institute of Cornish

Studies, with some exciting projects in the

pipeline.

Jasmin Ehrhardt – Heritage Intern for ICS and the Cornwall Heritage Trust

Her work will primarily focus on the development and

implementation of a cohesive communication strategy for the

Cornwall Heritage Trust and the exploration of a joint research and outreach programme between

the Institute for Cornish Studies and the Cornwall Heritage Trust. Jasmin's work will build on the

Landmark pilot project.

The Cornish Research Group held their fourth

Seminar at Penryn Campus on 11 June.

The Cornish Research Group Seminar Series

Landmark Travels; Your Past in a Suitcase - Sarah Chapman has been developing the

community aspects of the project to give children the opportunity to explore historic local

landmarks. Pupils from Luxulyan Primary School visited Treffry Viaduct and St. Just Primary School

made a similar trip to Carn Euny. During the workshops children enjoyed a community picnic and

produced some great artwork – as you can see below! The project will also be looking at research

themes in relation to notions of heritage and landscape in conjunction with Cornwall Heritage Trust.

Luxulyan Primary School pupils

at Treffry Viaduct

Pupils from St Just Primary

School at Carn Euny

A pupil’s artwork badge

Images courtesy of A Cornish Eye

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Seminar at Penryn Campus on 11 June.

Phil Hosken of the Trevithick Society and Garry

Tregidga discussed an exciting new project

exploring maritime links between Cornwall and

South Wales involving both documentary

research in local archive centres and oral

history interviews.

Sarah Jane, Archivist and Special Collections Officer at Falmouth and Exeter Universities talked

about her role and the variety of material held in the Cornish Collections in the library at Penryn

Campus. This includes over 13,000 images by Cornish photographer Charles Woolf, capturing

everyday life and communities.

Deborah Tritton of the Cornwall Record Office also joined the group to talk about plans for the

new Kresen Kernow archive centre due to be opened in Redruth in 2017.

Although the maritime link dates back at least to the eighteenth century, it is fascinating that

stories relating to connections between the two regions have been passed down through certain

families and the project hopes to record this rich source for the Cornish Audio Visual Archive.

To find out more about how to join the Cornish Research Group or to become an Associate member

of the Institute of Cornish Studies, please go to:

http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/history/research/centres/ics/associatescheme/

Or for more information please email: cornishstudies@exeter.ac.uk

The aim of the series is to provide some practical guidance in regard to how you go about

discovering the location and dating of photographs, for example studio portraits from the Victorian

and Edwardian periods, or images from the arrival of cheap mass produced cameras and the rise of

'popular photography' in the inter-war period. Finally it will consider the way in which the history of

photography itself can provide insights into your own family photographs.

Unpacking your Memories; Looking at Family Photographs

In future editions of the ICS

newsletter, historian Bob Keys will be

running a short series on the evolving

role of the family photograph and its

significance in researching and

analysing family histories over the last

one hundred and fifty years. The

family album has played an important

role as an adjunct to memory, both in

remembering and in celebrating

individual family members and is

often linked directly to narratives of

the family and the recording of

special events, which have been

passed down the generations.

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photography itself can provide insights into your own family photographs.

Portrait photography of individuals and family groups often provided the bulk of the output of the

early studio photographers and here posture, fashions in dress and even studio props and bric a brac

can help date a photograph, while the back of each 'carte de visite' usually provides vital information

about the original location of the photograph. In the case of those who had migrated from Cornwall

in search of work or a better life, these include 'photos home' from Australia, South Africa, or the

USA, even more exotically from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. While photographs sent

home in time of war and military service are another genre often linked to the most poignant and in

some cases tragic events for particular families. Postcard/photographs are a specific sub-genre that

became popular in the context of the growth of mass tourism, while photographs of the world of

work, the industrial landscape and the labour of ordinary people are much rarer in the family album,

despite the rise and popularity of photo-journalism, reflected in magazines such as Life and Picture

Post.

The series will try and provide useful information on internet links to more specialised sites and

archives for those interested in following up the complex relationship between, photography and

family history. More importantly it will conclude by considering the way in which the photographic

'visual image' helps to 'fix' and both condense and displace the world of appearances into

'recognisable' individual and community identities caught at a moment in time.

If you have any comments or recognise people or places in the photographs we will being using,

we’d love to hear from you.

The Cornish World/

An Bys Kernewek 3rd Annual Conference of the Institute of Cornish Studies

24th

/25th

October

2014

Penryn Campus,

Tremough

The third annual conference of the Institute of Cornish Studies focuses on the theme of Cornwall’s global connections. Topics to be discussed include the history and contemporary culture of the Cornish overseas, comparative studies of the other Celtic nations with a particular emphasis on Brittany, cultural and economic links with communities around the world, global achievements of

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For further details and to reserve a place at the conference contact Institute of Cornish Studies,

economic links with communities around the world, global achievements of individuals with Cornish connections, the impact of global factors on Cornwall like world war, economic depression and environmental change, and theoretical perspectives including the relationship of Cornish Studies to wider disciplines.

If you are interested in giving a presentation of your work at the conference please send an abstract of about 200 words to cornishstudies@exeter.ac.uk by 30th July 2014. Talks will be roughly 20 minutes with up to 10 minutes for discussion. The conference will also include a themed research strand on Cornwall’s relationship with Brittany with the support of the CRBC (Centre de Recherche Bretonne et Celtique) and BMA (Bretagne Monde Anglophone). Conference organisers would also like to hear from community heritage organisations in Cornwall who would like to promote their activities and from Cornish groups overseas who might be interested in being involved via Skype and in organising any related events.

For further details and to reserve a place at the conference contact Institute of Cornish Studies,

College of Humanities, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE

Email: cornishstudies@exeter.ac.uk Tel: 01326 371 888