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BOOKS: 1930s history
http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2665
Author:  Loryat [ Sat May 05, 2007 10:09 pm ]
Post subject:  BOOKS: 1930s history
Can anyone recommend to me a good basic (but not too basic) books covering the 1930s in Britain, specifically the social and political aspects of the period?

Also, is there any such thing as a historical study of girls' boarding schools (preferrably focusing primarily on the 1930s)? Not the schools themselves but at life at them, etc? Failing that, does anyone know of any good memoirs of girls' boarding school experiances?

Also, can anyone recommend books on being a servant in the 30s? (Hopefully with refernce to school servants).

Finally, are there any decent books about Jews in Britain in the (you've guessed it) 1930s?

If anyone could help me with this, I'd really appreciate it. :D I've got access to a big uni library and (at the moment) the National Library of Scotland, so availability shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Author:  JayB [ Sat May 05, 2007 11:35 pm ]
Post subject: 
I should think any general textbook aimed at A level students or undergraduates would give you a good starting point. I've got Post Victorian Britain, 1902-1951 by L C B Seaman, because I picked it up second hand, and it's quite a good basic introduction to the period, but I'm sure there are many more. Anything published by Longman is usually worth a look.

Newspapers are a great source, once you've narrowed down which years you're interested in. If you've got access to big libraries you should be able to access things on microfilm, and many public libraries now have access to digitised back numbers of The Times online through their websites.

I'll have a think and if I come up with anything else I'll come back.
Author:  LizzieC [ Sat May 05, 2007 11:53 pm ]
Post subject: 
JayB wrote:
I should think any general textbook aimed at A level students or undergraduates would give you a good starting point. I've got Post Victorian Britain, 1902-1951 by L C B Seaman, because I picked it up second hand, and it's quite a good basic introduction to the period, but I'm sure there are many more. Anything published by Longman is usually worth a look.


Heinemann do similar textbooks which are really good for an overview of a period. Not read this particular book but it looks like it may be helpful.
Author:  Lottie [ Sun May 06, 2007 12:11 am ]
Post subject: 
The Best Type of Girl - A History of Girls' Independent Schools by Gillian Avery is what it says, but doesn't focus particularly on the 1930s, although it does include some anecdotes, as well just historical facts.

Life in Britain Between the Wars by L.C.B. Seaman.

M.V. Hughes wrote a series of books about London family life, finishing with A London Family Between the Wars.

Winifred Foley, who was born in 1914, wrote some autobigraphical stuff. I've never actually read it, but I do remember hearing her read it on the radio many years ago, and I think there was something about being in service in it. There is a small piece about her here.

Contemporary novels often paint a good picture of life at the time, too.
Author:  Maeve [ Sun May 06, 2007 6:13 am ]
Post subject: 
You might try Not In Front Of The Servants by Frank Victor Dawes, which describes life below stairs in some detail, but I think it might end with the late '20's, so it might just miss your date range.

For school stuff, have you looked at the "Virtual World of Girls" site at http://www.ju90.co.uk/indexful.htm ? If you check out her sources, especially the secondary texts which she cites in her main bibliography, I think you will find some helpful titles.
Author:  LizzieC [ Sun May 06, 2007 6:49 am ]
Post subject: 
Maeve wrote:
For school stuff, have you looked at the "Virtual World of Girls" site at http://www.ju90.co.uk/indexful.htm ? If you check out her sources, especially the secondary texts which she cites in her main bibliography, I think you will find some helpful titles.


I sat down and read that one afternoon and found it so so interesting. I can't imagine the work that went into it, but I felt it was an afternoon well spent reading it :)
Author:  Loryat [ Sun May 06, 2007 8:00 pm ]
Post subject: 
Thanks for all the very helpful replies. :D
Author:  Kate [ Sun May 06, 2007 11:18 pm ]
Post subject: 
There is John Rae's The Public School Revolution although I think it's mostly about boy's schools and I'm not sure about the dates.

Gillian Avery's is very good though and has a useful bibliography.
Author:  Cath V-P [ Mon May 07, 2007 1:33 am ]
Post subject: 
Deirdre Beddoe's Back to home and Duty: Women between the Wars 1918-1939 gives a good overview of women's lives during this time, and Working Class Wives by Margery Spring Rice is a detailed account of life for the working classes in the 1930s.

Josephine Kamm wrote a history of the Girls' Public Day School Trust (the name of which completely eludes me at the moment!). This covers day and boarding school and has a section on the 1930s.
Author:  Loryat [ Tue May 08, 2007 3:02 pm ]
Post subject: 
Thanks again :D .
Author:  RoseCloke [ Tue May 08, 2007 3:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
The Access to History series is *amazing*. Some books are heavy-going, but they're all worth it. Very detailed books, in-between A level and degree level though. Just plug the name into Amazon and it gives you a host of titles :D
Author:  Tara [ Wed May 09, 2007 1:23 am ]
Post subject: 
I think the Josephine Kamm book Cath mentioned was Hope Deferred: Girls' Education in English History, and she also wrote How Different From Us: Miss Buss and Miss Beale.
There's Celia Haddon's Great Days and Jolly Days, too, though that's probably a bit later than you want, and Mary Evans' A Good School is interesting, though also later.

Memoirs of girls at boarding school/college include: Alice Baird I Was There: St James's, West Malvern; M.C. Bradbrook That Infidel Place: A Short History of Girton College; A.K. Clarke A History of Cheltenham Ladies' College 1853-1979; Jean Vanes Apparelled in Red (the Red Maids School in Bristol); Gladys Venning A Matron Remembers: Reminiscences of School Life over Forty-five Years.

Best of luck!
Author:  Cath V-P [ Wed May 09, 2007 1:59 am ]
Post subject: 
I am now blushing... :oops: :oops:

I knew and have read at least four of those!
Author:  Loryat [ Wed May 09, 2007 11:06 am ]
Post subject: 
Hopefully so will I, soon. :D

Thanks everyone and especially Tara.

Rosecloke, if you happen to check this thread again, does the 'access' series have any books in Jews in the interwar years? And can anyone else recommend any?
Author:  RoseCloke [ Wed May 09, 2007 12:21 pm ]
Post subject: 
Off the top of my head I wouldn't think so - mainly because access deals in rough units (i.e. a little around the unit, but mainly focussed on it) and I don't think Jewish history is taught as a specific unit over here in mainstream education.

You might be able to find some good stuff in any A level plus books that deals with interwar Germany/Europe. Although I don't know whether that would have anything about Jews in Britain specifically. I don't know much about Judaism, but is there some sort of Holocaust organisation or council of Jews in England? You might be able to find something out from them about the interwar years :D Sorry that's not very specific.
Author:  Alison H [ Wed May 09, 2007 12:41 pm ]
Post subject: 
Loryat wrote:

does the 'access' series have any books in Jews in the interwar years? And can anyone else recommend any?


The 1930s isn't my period so I'm not sure on specific books, but try anything by Martin Gilbert or Tony Kushner who tend to be the best bets for Anglo-Jewish history. Or Bill Williams, but I think he only writes about Manchester :D rather than nationwide stuff.
Author:  Tara [ Wed May 09, 2007 2:42 pm ]
Post subject: 
Forgot to mention R.M. Scrimgeour (ed.) The North London Collegiate School 1850-1950. Not boarding, but very much the same ethos.
Author:  Loryat [ Thu May 10, 2007 11:48 am ]
Post subject: 
R.M. Scrimgeour - any relation to the new Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour? (Sorry, that's the firts thing that came into my head when I saw that :oops:)

Thanks again, guys.
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