We had a brilliant turn out at our local history talks evening on 16th October, with 60 people joining us at St Cecilia's Club to hear from our speakers.
First up was Dr Oriel Prizeman from Cardiff University who has been investigating surviving Carnegie libraries, both in the UK and the USA, to see how they're being used today. Oriel gave us a fascinating insight into the similar design features of many of these libraries, which were built to reflect the environmental challenges of the time, and explained how she has been using laser scanning software to map the buildings in greater detail. As Lister Steps & The Old Library are one of the partners in her ongoing research project, we're looking forward to seeing how this work progresses over the next few years.
We then heard from Katie Taylor, one of our research volunteers, who told us about the impact of the public library movement on children, the kind of books they might have read in the early days of the Lister Drive Library and the strict rules that they had to follow!
First up was Dr Oriel Prizeman from Cardiff University who has been investigating surviving Carnegie libraries, both in the UK and the USA, to see how they're being used today. Oriel gave us a fascinating insight into the similar design features of many of these libraries, which were built to reflect the environmental challenges of the time, and explained how she has been using laser scanning software to map the buildings in greater detail. As Lister Steps & The Old Library are one of the partners in her ongoing research project, we're looking forward to seeing how this work progresses over the next few years.
We then heard from Katie Taylor, one of our research volunteers, who told us about the impact of the public library movement on children, the kind of books they might have read in the early days of the Lister Drive Library and the strict rules that they had to follow!
During the break, we were able to look at some of the finds from our archaeological dig back in June which were brought along by Vanessa Oakden, Curator of Community Archaeology at the Museum of Liverpool. Vanessa talked us through the process of the dig - including when we had to reschedule it due to heavy rain! - which led to the discovery of 582 finds and the foundations of 19th century Brook Cottage, which stood on The Old Library site in the1800s.
Next up was Susan Bennett, another of our research volunteers, who has been looking into the history of the three local streets - Russian Drive, Kremlin Drive & Moscow Drive. This is a huge task which involves going back through each house to see who has lived there since the 1860s, generating a spreadsheet with over 4000 entries! It's shown us a really interesting picture of the diversity of our local neighbourhood through the years, the huge range of occupations & the varied lives people have lived right on the doorstep of the library.
Next up was Susan Bennett, another of our research volunteers, who has been looking into the history of the three local streets - Russian Drive, Kremlin Drive & Moscow Drive. This is a huge task which involves going back through each house to see who has lived there since the 1860s, generating a spreadsheet with over 4000 entries! It's shown us a really interesting picture of the diversity of our local neighbourhood through the years, the huge range of occupations & the varied lives people have lived right on the doorstep of the library.
We finished off with Kate Deegan-Munro, also a member of the volunteer team, who entertained us with a fictional account of the day in the life of a boy-runner, based on her research into the people who used to work in Liverpool's public libraries when they first opened.
A huge thank you to our speakers for putting so much time and effort into their presentations and giving up their evening to share their work with our community. It was a really enjoyable event and it was great to meet so many people who are interested in the history of the local area. With such a positive response, we're looking forward to putting on similar events when we're up and running in the library!
A huge thank you to our speakers for putting so much time and effort into their presentations and giving up their evening to share their work with our community. It was a really enjoyable event and it was great to meet so many people who are interested in the history of the local area. With such a positive response, we're looking forward to putting on similar events when we're up and running in the library!